1 Kings 14:12

1 Kings 14:12

I. Whose child shall die? King Jeroboam's child, the beloved son of a king, most likely the heir to the throne. There was another king the one who has been called the king of terrors. All the crowned heads in the world bow before him. And the prince was to become the subject of King Death. He was the child of a very bad man. Jeroboam was a teacher of sin, yet he had a very good child.

II. Why was the child to die? To punish his ungodly father. God had given Jeroboam the chance of being a very great man, but he made Israel to sin, and for that God determined to punish him. It is likely that this wicked man was very fond of his children, for when God means to punish, He can strike us on the most tender place.

III. When did the child die? The prophet told the poor mother that the boy would die just as she reached home. She returned to the palace with her heart heavy and sad, for she felt, "I am killing him in my haste to see him. He will die before I reach home."

IV. Life may be a worse thing than death. All Israel mourned for Abijah. It was not to be so with the other children of Jeroboam. They were to be so hated and despised on account of their great wickedness, that men would rejoice when they were dead and out of the way. Abijah was the best off, for though he died so early, it was better to die and be buried quietly than to live to be hated in life and loathed in death.

Serve the Lord God of Abijah; then, whether we live to be old or die in the springtime of life, all shall be well.

T. Champness, Little Foxes that Spoil the Vines, p. 95.

Reference: 1 Kings 14:12-27 . Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 352.