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With a heavy heart the queen of Jeroboam moved along the road from Shiloh to Tirzah, and received the salute of death at the threshold of the palace. This sad event was soon followed by a state funeral and by a public mourning. In all this note how -

I. SORROW TARNISHES HUMAN SPLENDOUR.

1. Survey this palace of Tirzah.

(1) This is not the only palace of Jeroboam. Soon alter his promotion to the crown of Israel we find him building a palace at Shechem. That commemorated the event of his elevation; for there those circumstances occurred which gave rise to it (see ch. 12.)

(2) But this palace did not long satisfy the royal ambition. We find the king presently engaged in building a second at Penuel, in the tribe of Gad, eastward of Jordan (1 Kings 12:25). Those who come suddenly to fortune commonly affect great splendour.

(3) Now we find him occupying a third. This probably was the most magnificent. It is situated in a place famous for its beauty in the days of Solomon (see Song of Solomon 6:4). From this it had its name (תרצה), which signifies pleasantness. Doubtless the palace was in keeping with the place, for it was preferred as the royal residence until its destruction by fire (1 Kings 16:18).

2. Behold in this paradise a corpse!

(1) Death has smitten Abijah, the best and most promising of the royal family. What a scene of grief when the mother, arrived from Shiloh, entered that chamber! What a dense gloom would rest on the household! In that solemn moment how vain must earthly splendour have appeared!

(2) And does not sorrow still mingle with all earthly scenes! Why, then, should we not rather set our affections upon things above?

(3) Wealth cannot bribe death. The King of Terrors enters the palace of royalty as certainly as he enters the cottage of poverty. To the great this enemy is even more formidable than to the humble, for they have more to leave. The acquisitions of the worldling, therefore, are only giving point and venom to the sting of death.

II. IT HAS RELIEFS AND AGGRAVATIONS.

1. The reliefs are the fruits of virtue.

(1) The public mourning would be a solace to the royal family. A king might provide a pompous funeral for his son, but he could not command the heart of the nation to mourn

(2) This public mourning was a tribute to the virtues of the prince (see ver. 13).

(3) There was pure comfort in the reflection that the spirit of the pious youth is away from a world of sin, in the companionship of saints and holy angels.

2. The aggravations are the fruits of sin.

(1) How the grief of Jeroboam must have been embittered by the fact that this bereavement came not as a messenger of mercy to him, but as a visitation of judgment!

(2) How it must have alarmed him to know that it was but the first of a series of judgments destined to issue in the extermination of his house!

(3) The very virtues of the prince first taken, in this view, became an aggravation, for he is removed as too good a prince for so wicked a people, and to make way for the succession of a wicked prince to punish them. - J.A.M.

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KJV: And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;

WEB: Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.