(15) And he shall root up Israel.--The first prophecy of future captivity, and that "beyond the river" (Euphrates), is here pronounced against the kingdom of Israel, on account of their share in the idolatry of Jeroboam, and in the worse abominations of the "groves." Of all such utterances we must remember the express declaration of Jeremiah 18:7-8 : "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation . . . to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy; if that nation . . . turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them." The prophecy uttered does not foreclose the probation of future ages. This is, after all, only one illustration of the great truth that--however impossible it is for us to comprehend the mystery--the foreknowledge of God does not preclude the freedom and responsibility of man.

The metaphor is of the reed shaken to and fro in the river, till at last it is rooted up, swept down the stream, and cast up on some distant shore.

Their groves.--The word rendered "grove" is properly Asherah, an idol: apparently the straight stem of a tree, surmounted by an emblem of the goddess represented (whence, perhaps, the wrong translation which, from the LXX. and Vulgate, has made its way into our version). (See Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:2; Judges 3:7; Judges 6:25; Judges 6:28, &c.) It is thought to have been an image of some deity like Astarte; and Gesenius infers from the derivation of the name that it was dedicated to her, as the goddess of good fortune. But the worship dates from a far earlier time than the introduction of the worship of the Tyrian Astarte, and the word itself is etymologically distinct from Ashtoreth or Ashtaroth. It is notable that in 2Kings 23:15 Josiah is said not only to have destroyed the altar and high places at Bethel, but to have "burned the Asherah;" whence it may probably be concluded that (as is perhaps implied in this passage) the old worship of the Asherah, with all its superstitious and profligate accompaniments, grew up under the very shadow of the newer idolatry. From the worship of images as emblems to superstitious veneration of the images themselves, and thence to worship of many gods, the transition is unhappily only too easy.

Verse 15. - For [Heb. And. The prophet now proceeds to state the share of the people in the punishment. They had acquiesced in the wicked innovations of Jeroboam and had joined in the worship of the calves] the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed [קָנֶה κάννα, canna, cane] is shaken [The construction is pregnant, viz., "shall smite Israel so that it shall be shaken as a reed," etc. (cf. Luke 7:24). "The image is very striking, for Israel was brought so low that every political influence bore it along" (Thenius)] in the water, and he shall root up [same word as in Deuteronomy 29:28; Jeremiah 24:6] Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river [i.e., the Euphrates; see on 1 Kings 4:24. This is the first clear prophecy of the captivity foreshadowed by Moses (Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:25, 36, 63, 64), and by Solomon (1 Kings 8:46-50). For its fulfilment, see 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11, etc.], because they have made their groves [Heb. their Asherahs, i.e., images of Astarte. The translation "grove" after the LXX. ἄλσος, Vulg. lucus, is now abandoned. It is clear some sort of idol is intended by the term. This is evident from ver. 23, where it is said the Asherahs (A.V. groves) were built "under every green tree" (cf. 2 Kings 17:10); from 1 Kings 15:13 (where see note); from 2 Kings 23:6, which tells how Josiah "brought out the Asherahs out of the house of the Lord," and from the connexion in which the word is found with "molten images, carved images," etc. (ver. 23; 2 Chronicles 33:19; 2 Chronicles 34:3, 4; cf. also Judges 3:7; 1 Kings 18:19). They were doubtless effigies of Ashtoreth, made of wood (Deuteronomy 7:5; cf. 2 Kings 23:6), planted erect in the ground (Deuteronomy 16:21), and were consecrated to her impure and revolting worship. It is clear from this passage that the frightful impurities of the Canaanitish races had subsisted in the new kingdom by the side of the new sacra. They had probably revived under Jeroboam's rule, having apparently been in abeyance since the time of Gideon], provoking the Lord to anger. [1 Kings 14:22; 1 Kings 15:30; 1 Kings 21:22; 2 Kings 17:11, 17; 2 Kings 22:17; Deuteronomy 4:25; Deuteronomy 32:16, 21; Judges 2:12; Psalm 78:58.

14:7-20 Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not, he does; and he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to our greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child then sick, in mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affection 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 this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is often a bad sign for a family, when the best in it are buried out of it. Yet their death 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 ruined by sin. If great men do wickedly, they draw many others, both into the guilt and punishment. The condemnation of those will be severest, who must answer, not only for their own sins, but for sins others have been drawn into, and kept in, by them.And the Lord shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water,.... Either by the wind or by the stream; and may signify the fluctuating and uncertain condition Israel should be in future reigns, through civil wars, and the translation of the kingdom into different families; so that there was continually disquietude and uneasiness, and no settled peace and tranquillity:

and he shall root up Israel out this good land he gave to their fathers; which was brought about, first by Tiglathpileser, and then by Shalmaneser, kings of Assyria, that carried them captives from hence:

and shall scatter them beyond the river; the river Euphrates, as the Targum: or, as others, the river Gozan, 2 Kings 17:6.

because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger: in which groves they placed idols, and worshipped them, which was highly provoking to the Lord, and the cause of their dispersion.