Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 14:21–end
Judah's story and Israel's are intermixed in this book. Jeroboam out-lived Rehoboam, four or five years, yet his history is despatched first, that the account of Rehoboam's reign may be laid together; and a sad account it is.
I. Here is no good said of the king. All the account we have of him here is, 1. That he was forty-one years old when he began to reign, by which reckoning he was born in the last year of David, and had his education, and the forming of his mind, in the best days of Solomon; yet he lived not up to these advantages. Solomon's defection at last did more to corrupt him than his wisdom and devotion had done to give him good principles. 2. That he reigned seventeen years in J…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 14:21
REHOBOAM'S WICKED REIGN. (Kg1 14:21-24)
he reigned . . . in Jerusalem--Its particular designation as "the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there," seems given here, both as a reflection on the apostasy of the ten tribes, and as a proof of the aggravated wickedness of introducing idolatry and its attendant vices there.
his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess--Her heathen extraction and her influence as queen mother are stated to account for Rehoboam's tendency to depart from the true religion. Led by the warning of the prophet (Kg1 12:23), as well as by the large immigration of Israelites into his kingdom (Kg1 12:17; Ch2 11:16), he continue…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 1 Kings 14:19
The rest of the acts of Jeroboam - are written in the - chronicles - For some important particulars relative to this reign, see 2 Chronicles 13:1-20.
John Gill on 1 Kings 14:23
For they also built them high places,.... Which, though allowed of, or at least connived at, before the temple was built, and when the tabernacle was unfixed, yet afterwards unlawful; and the tribe of Judah could have no excuse for them, who had the temple in their tribe:
and images; contrary to the express command of God, Exodus 20:4,
and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree; that is, set up idols, and temples for idols, amidst groves of trees, and under all green trees; as was the custom of the Heathens, who sacrificed on the heights of hills and tops of mountains, as was particularly the custom of the Persians, as both Herodotus (m) and Xenophon (n) relate; and with the…
