Ch. 14 tells essentially parallel stories about Jeroboam in Israel and Rehoboam in Judah. Both kingdoms start putting up shrines to other Gods Yahweh gets mad. However, in the case of Jeroboam his vengeance is for some reason delayed. He kills one of Jeroboam's babies but another son does succeed Jeroboam, and the kingdom otherwise goes along just fine for the time being. (Yahweh will get around to clobbering them later.) As for Rehoboam and Judah, the consequences aren't really all that bad. Pharaoh comes and takes some treasures, and Rehoboam has to replace Solomon's gold shields with bronze ones, but that's about it. Nevertheless it's the same basic Groundhog Day story we've been reading since Judges. The people fall away from perfect allegiance to Yahweh and pay consequences.
Just a couple of specific points. David is once again represented as a paradigm of virtue but of course he was not, in fact he was one of the most despicable characters in all of literature.
There are two references here to other books which have been lost, The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. This raises the question of when and how this particular set of books, and not others, ended up being canonized and becoming part of the Tanakh. The Septuagint (as we have noted before, a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Koine Greek) was completed in the second century B.C. It includes some books that are not in the Masoretic text but all of the Masoretic text is there, although the aforementioned chronicles are not. (The book called Chronicles, which we will get to anon, is not either of the missing books mentioned here.) These additional books are called "apocrypha" by protestants, but they are included in the Catholic Bible. Just so you know.
14 At that time Abi′jah the son of Jerobo′am fell sick. 2 And Jerobo′am said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it be not known that you are the wife of Jerobo′am, and go to Shiloh; behold, Ahi′jah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people. 3 Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what shall happen to the child.”
4 Jerobo′am’s wife did so; she arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahi′jah. Now Ahi′jah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age. 5 And the Lord said to Ahi′jah, “Behold, the wife of Jerobo′am is coming to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.”
When she came, she pretended to be another woman. 6 But when Ahi′jah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jerobo′am; why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with heavy tidings for you. 7 Go, tell Jerobo′am, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you leader over my people Israel, 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you; and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments, and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, 9 but you have done evil above all that were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods, and molten images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back; 10 therefore behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jerobo′am, and will cut off from Jerobo′am every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will utterly consume the house of Jerobo′am, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone. 11 Any one belonging to Jerobo′am who dies in the city the dogs shall eat; and any one who dies in the open country the birds of the air shall eat; for the Lord has spoken it.”’ 12 Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jerobo′am shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jerobo′am. 14 Moreover the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jerobo′am today. And henceforth[a] 15 the Lord will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the Euphra′tes, because they have made their Ashe′rim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jerobo′am, which he sinned and which he made Israel to sin.”
Death of Jeroboam
17 Then Jerobo′am’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahi′jah the prophet. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Jerobo′am, how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 And the time that Jerobo′am reigned was twenty-two years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
Rehoboam Reigns over Judah
21 Now Rehobo′am the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehobo′am was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Na′amah the Ammonitess. 22 And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built for themselves high places, and pillars, and Ashe′rim on every high hill and under every green tree; 24 and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehobo′am, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; 26 he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made; 27 and King Rehobo′am made in their stead shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 28 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard bore them and brought them back to the guardroom.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehobo′am, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 30 And there was war between Rehobo′am and Jerobo′am continually. 31 And Rehobo′am slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Na′amah the Ammonitess. And Abi′jam his son reigned in his stead.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 14:14 Heb obscure
No comments:
Post a Comment