Useful Bible Studies > 1 Kings Commentary > chapter 14
Ahijah the prophet (holy man) continued to declare the message that he received from God for Jeroboam’s family. That whole family would die because of Jeroboam’s evil acts; and people would even deal shamefully with their dead bodies. As evidence that this would really happen, Jeroboam’s son would die at once.
Ahijah now explained how Jeroboam’s family would die. His words in verse 14 seem to express a sense of shock. God would appoint a new king to rule northern and central Israel, who would take Jeroboam’s place. This king would take control over the country by a sudden revolution; he would be responsible for the deaths of Jeroboam’s family. He would not permit any of them to remain alive.
However, these terrible events would be just the beginning of Israel’s troubles. Jeroboam had taught Israel’s people a new religion that directed them away from the true God. Now that they had learned to do that, they would choose their own false gods. That would include in particular the female false god Asherah. Her religion emphasised sex; it had a connection to the religion of the false male god, Baal. For her, people planted trees and they put up poles.
In the end, these religions would cause God to act against the people in northern and central Israel. They would lose their own country to a cruel enemy. That enemy would take them from their homes and from the land that God had given to them. They would have to live abroad as foreigners far away, in a country beyond the river Euphrates.
Next part: The royal palace at Tirzah (1 Kings 14:17-18)
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