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1 Kings

About this book
Chapter 14

1 At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick.⁠ 2 Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise yourself so that people cannot recognize you are Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh; Ahijah the prophet, who told me I would rule over this nation, lives there. 3 Take 10 loaves of bread, some small cakes, and a container of honey and visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” 4 Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age. 5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her such and such. When she comes, she will be in a disguise.” 6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only what I approve. 9 You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me.⁠ 10 So I am ready to bring disaster on the dynasty of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed. 11 Dogs will eat the members of your family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”’⁠ Indeed, the Lord has announced it! 12 “As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. 14 The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty. It is ready to happen! 15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water. He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles. 16 He will hand Israel over to their enemies because of the sins which Jeroboam committed⁠ and which he made Israel commit.” 17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, in keeping with the Lord’s message that he had spoken through his servant, the prophet Ahijah. 19 The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including the details of his battles and rule, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.⁠ 20 Jeroboam ruled for 22 years; then he passed away. His son Nadab replaced him as king.⁠ 21 Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah. 22 Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done. 23 They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.⁠ 24 There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites. 25 In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made. 27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom. 29 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.⁠ 30 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 31 Rehoboam passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah replaced him as king.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Kings 14:16 and 4Q398 11–13 2

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices

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Summary

In 1 Kings, Jeroboam’s sins bring punishment on Israel. In 4Q398 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, his reign begins a chain of curses reaching to Jerusalem’s exile, making royal history a warning to obey the Torah.

Passages

1 Kings 14:16

Hebrew Bible
7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only what I approve. 9 You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me. 10 So I am ready to bring disaster on the dynasty of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed. 11 Dogs will eat the members of your family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.”’ Indeed, the Lord has announced it! 12 “As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. 14 The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty. It is ready to happen! 15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water. He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles. 16 He will hand Israel over to their enemies because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit.”
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

4Q398 11–13 2

Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices · 4QMMT/The Halakhic Letter
1 [the blessings that] came … in the days of Solomon son of David, and also the curses 2 that came in the days of Jeroboam son of Nebat and until the exile of Jerusalem and Zedekiah king of Judah, 3 that he would bring them to […] And we recognize that some of the blessings and the curses have come 4 that are written in the book of Moses. And this is the last days, when they will return in Israel 5 [forever …] and will not turn back. And the wicked will act wickedly, and … 6 and … […] Remember the kings of Israel and consider their deeds: that whoever among them 7 feared [the … of the] Torah was delivered from troubles, and they were seekers of the Torah.
150–100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q398

References

“... N. T. Wright (2002: 660–61) wishes to see the “end of exile” and eschatological blessing of Deut. 30 as it is taken up in 4QHalakhic Letter as the background to Paul’s appeal to the “nearness” of righteousness. Wright, however, fails to observe that in 4QHalakhic Letter it is not only the blessings that will come at the “end of days,” but also the curse (singular) (4Q398 14–17 I, 6–7). A “portion of the blessings and the curses” has come (4Q398 11–13, 3), but not all of them. The Qumran text proceeds from the emphatic prediction of Deuteronomy that all the blessings and curses will come upon Israel (Deut. 28:2, 15, 45; 29:21, 27). The defining pattern has been established in Solomon and Jeroboam, in whose days came, respectively, blessings and curses (1 Kings 3:10–14; 14:7–16). Curses were repeated in the exiles (plural) of Jerusalem and Zedekiah (4Q398 11–13, 1–2; 2 Kings 24:10– 17, 18–20; 2 Chron. 36:5–21). In view of the impending end time, the letter correspondingly issues its warning and appeal for adherence to the law where obedience is lacking: “We have written to you a portion of the works of the law that we regard as good for you and your people so that you might rejoice in the last time when you find (this) portion of our words so” (4Q398 14–17 II, 2–6 [cf. Deut. 10:13]). The Qumran halakhic letter, like most early Jewish writings, sees the pattern of Scripture recapitulated in the end time. Final blessing, which has not yet arrived, is contingent on obedience. The suggested parallel is nonexistent. ...”
Mark A. Seifrid, “Romans,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), PDF 1530.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Kings 14:16 and 4Q398 11–13 2

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