The big picture
Illness strikes the family of Jeroboam, king of Israel, the northern kingdom. He sends his wife to seek news from a prophet while hiding who she is. The message she receives concerns much more than the child. Judah, the southern kingdom ruled by Rehoboam, also turns towards forbidden worship. Both royal houses face loss. Private grief and stolen treasure show that neither side of the divided nation stands secure.
In this chapter
- A Disguise Cannot Hide the Queen 1 Kings 14:1-6
Abijah, Jeroboam's son, becomes ill.
- A Sentence Against the Royal House 1 Kings 14:7-16
Ahijah tells the queen what God says to Jeroboam.
- The Child Dies at Her Return 1 Kings 14:17-20
Jeroboam's wife goes back to Tirzah, the town where the royal family lives.
- Judah Also Turns Away 1 Kings 14:21-24
Rehoboam rules Judah from Jerusalem for seventeen years.
- Gold Shields Give Way to Bronze 1 Kings 14:25-31
Shishak, king of Egypt, attacks Jerusalem in Rehoboam's fifth year.
Central truth
Both kingdoms turn away from God, and their rulers face grief, judgment, and the loss of royal wealth.
Scripture beside the summary
1 Kings · King James Version · 311 Kings 14:1-6
A Disguise Cannot Hide the Queen
Abijah, Jeroboam's son, becomes ill. The king sends his wife in disguise to Ahijah, the prophet who once foretold his rise. She takes bread, cakes, and honey to his home in Shiloh. Age has left Ahijah unable to see. Yet God tells him who is coming and what to say. As he hears her footsteps, he calls her Jeroboam's wife. He asks why she pretends to be someone else and warns that his news is grave.
In everyday life
A caller uses a false name when she reaches a family support desk about her son's illness. The counsellor already knows which case she is handling and gently names the family. The disguise cannot make the difficult news easier to hear. Ahijah knows the visitor because God has told him.
Notice
1 Kings 14:5 Ahijah cannot recognise her by sight, but God tells him who she is. Her disguise fails before she reaches his door or asks her question.
1 Kings 14:1-6
King James Version1At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
2And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.
3And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.
4And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
5And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.
6And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.
1 Kings 14:7-16
A Sentence Against the Royal House
Ahijah tells the queen what God says to Jeroboam. God raised him to rule, but he made idols and led the people away. His male descendants will be destroyed, and their bodies left for animals. The sick child will die as she reaches home. He alone will receive burial and public mourning because some good towards God is found in him. A new king will cut off Jeroboam's house. Israel itself faces removal from its land for following these sins.
In everyday life
A hospice visitor sits with a mother on a shaded bench after several grave losses in her family. She listens without filling each silence and sets a glass of water within reach. No hopeful phrase can reduce the weight of the news. Ahijah declares God's judgment on a royal house and nation.
Notice
1 Kings 14:13 The child receives honour in death because good is found in him. His death is not described as proof that he is the worst offender.
1 Kings 14:7-16
King James Version7Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,
8And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;
9But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:
10Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.
11Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it.
12Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
14Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.
15For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.
16And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
1 Kings 14:17-20
The Child Dies at Her Return
Jeroboam's wife goes back to Tirzah, the town where the royal family lives. As she reaches the doorway, her child dies. The people bury him and mourn, as Ahijah said they would. The account then refers to other records of Jeroboam's wars and rule. His reign lasts twenty-two years. After his death, his son Nadab becomes king. The promised end of the royal house has not yet arrived, but the child's death has already confirmed the prophet's grave message.
In everyday life
A neighbour sets a covered meal on a grieving family's doorstep and waits without knocking. She knows the house has changed for ever and that ordinary words will not repair it. Her quiet act respects a loss shared by the street. This child's death also confirms a specific warning from God.
Notice
1 Kings 14:18 The nation's mourning matches the prophet's words as well as the death itself. The child receives public grief rather than the disgrace foretold for the family.
1 Kings 14:17-20
King James Version17And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;
18And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
1 Kings 14:21-24
Judah Also Turns Away
Rehoboam rules Judah from Jerusalem for seventeen years. His mother, Naamah, comes from Ammon, a neighbouring nation. Under his rule, Judah does evil that provokes God. The people build hilltop shrines, sacred pillars, and groves used for forbidden worship. The account also names male shrine prostitutes in the land. Judah copies practices of the nations removed before Israel settled there. The southern kingdom possesses the chosen city and temple, but those gifts have not kept its people faithful.
In everyday life
A monastery gardener finds a locked corner of the grounds being used for activities the house has long forbidden. Respected walls and old vows have not kept the community from breaking its own commitments. He reports what he sees. Judah's conduct is judged against its bond with God and his commands.
Notice
1 Kings 14:23 The forbidden worship spreads across hills and beneath trees. This is not described as one hidden royal act, but as a practice across the land.
1 Kings 14:21-24
King James Version21And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
22And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.
23For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
1 Kings 14:25-31
Gold Shields Give Way to Bronze
Shishak, king of Egypt, attacks Jerusalem in Rehoboam's fifth year. He takes treasure from the temple and palace, including Solomon's gold shields. Rehoboam replaces them with bronze shields for the royal guard. They still accompany him to the temple, then return to storage. The court keeps its ceremony with less costly objects. Conflict with Jeroboam continues through his reign. Rehoboam is buried with his ancestors, and his son Abijam succeeds him. The wealth inherited from Solomon has been badly reduced.
In everyday life
A club caretaker hangs inexpensive replacement cups where stolen silver trophies once stood. The annual procession still takes place, and the shelves look full from the doorway. Close inspection tells a different account of what has been lost. Judah's losses follow a foreign attack on both palace and temple.
Notice
1 Kings 14:27 Bronze shields replace gold ones while the royal ceremony continues. The routine survives, but its materials reveal how much wealth has left the kingdom.
1 Kings 14:25-31
King James Version25And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:
26And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
27And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.
28And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.
29Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
1 Kings 14:1 begins with “At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.”
Where the chapter turns
1 Kings 14:14 forms a natural hinge: “Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.”
The final note
1 Kings 14:31 leaves the reader with “And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Jeroboam, Israel, LORD, house, Rehoboam, Ahijah help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- cracknels
- A kind of dry cake or bread carried with the food gift.
- cruse
- A small container, often used for oil or other food.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
