John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 9. But hast done evil above all that were before thee , etc.] Not only above David, but above Saul, who never gave into idolatry, yea, even above Solomon, who, though he connived at idolatry, and might be guilty of it in some instances, yet did not attempt to draw his people into it; and if this was the latter end of Jeroboam’s reign, which is probable, Rehoboam and Abijam might be both dead; and though they were blameworthy in some things, yet not so bad as Jeroboam; though perhaps this may respect only such who had been kings of Israel before him: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger ; the two calves of gold; for however he might colour things over, and pretend he did not look upon these as gods, but as representations of God, and that he did not worship them, but God by them, yet the Lord considered it as idolatry, than which nothing is more provoking to him: and hast cast me behind thy back ; as unworthy of his regard; or my worship, as the Targum, which he neglected, and showed no concern for.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-20 - Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not, he does; an he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to ou greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child the sick, in mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affectio for the true worship of God, and disliked the worship of the calves. To show the power and sovereignty of his grace, God saves some out of the worst families, in whom there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. The righteous are removed from the evil to come in thi world, to the good to come in a better world. It is often a bad sig for a family, when the best in it are buried out of it. Yet their deat never can be a loss to themselves. It was a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been instructed. God also tells the judgments which should come upon the people of Israel for conforming to the worship Jeroboam established. After they left the house of David, the government never continued long in one family, but one undermined and destroyed another. Families and kingdoms are ruine by sin. If great men do wickedly, they draw many others, both into the guilt and punishment. The condemnation of those will be severest, wh must answer, not only for their own sins, but for sins others have bee drawn into, and kept in, by them.
Original Hebrew ותרע7489 לעשׂות6213 מכל3605 אשׁר834 היו1961 לפניך6440 ותלך1980 ותעשׂה6213 לך אלהים430 אחרים312 ומסכות4541 להכעיסני3707 ואתי853 השׁלכת7993 אחרי310 גוך׃1458
