Verse 20
(20) Neither did Jeroboam recover strength.—And Jeroboam retained strength no longer. LXX. καὶ οὐκ ἔσχεν ἰσχὺν Ιεροβοαμ ἔτι. See 1 Chronicles 29:14 (the same phrase).
And the Lord struck him, and he died.—All that is known of Jeroboam’s death is that it took place two years after that of Abijah (1 Kings 15:8-9). The expressions of the text cannot mean, as Zöckler suggests, “visited him with misfortune till his death.” His death is regarded as a judicial visitation (compare the use of the same Hebrew phrase, 1 Samuel 25:38). The verse, then, states that during the rest of Abijah’s reign Jeroboam remained powerless to injure his neighbour; and that the circumstances of his death were such that men recognised in them “the finger of God.” It is not likely that the reference is to the event of 2 Chronicles 13:15 (Bertheau), nor to the death of his son (1 Kings 14:1-8), as Keil supposes.
Be the first to react on this!