1st Kings Chapter 14 verse 10 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 10. - Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house [The punishment fell on the house (1 Kings 15:29), not, however, to the exclusion of the prime offender (2 Chronicles 13:20; cf. 1 Kings 21:29). The reader will observe that the judgments denounced against Jeroboam's sin, like all those of the Old Testament, are temporal. The recompense to come is completely ignored. These severe retributions are calculated and proportioned precisely as if there were no hereafter] of Jeroboam, and win cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall [This phrase, which Rawlinson observes is confined to the period from David to Jehu, is by him, and generally, understood to mean "every male." (It is found in 1 Samuel 25:22; 1 Kings 16:11; 1 Kings 21:21; and 2 Kings 9:8.) But it is noteworthy, as Gesenius has remarked, that this is not a habit of Eastern men. Every traveller in Egypt will confirm the remark of Herodotus (ch. 2:35) on this subject, and the same applies to Palestine; i.e., the men sit down for this purpose, covered with their garments (Judges 3:24; 1 Samuel 24:3). Some, consequently, have been led to suppose that the reference is to the dog, but animals would hardly share in the destruction of the royal house. Gesenius is probably right when he interprets it of boys. Thus understood, it lends additional meaning to the passages where it occurs. It expresses extermination, root and branch, man and boy], and him that is shut up and left in Israel [A proverbial expression (Deuteronomy 32:36; 1 Kings 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8), and involving some play upon words. It evidently means "men of all kinds," but as to the precise signification of the terms "shut up" and "left," there has been much difference of opinion, some (1) interpreting them to mean respectively married and single also Keil, al.); others (2) bond and free Gesen, al.); others (3) precious and vile; and others again . . .

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(10) Him . . . and him.--The first phrase is used also in 1Kings 21:21, 2Kings 9:8, to signify, "every male," implying (possibly with a touch of contempt) that even the lowest should be destroyed. The words following have in the original no conjunction and between them. They are in antithesis to each other, signifying in some form two opposite divisions of males. The literal sense seems to be "him who is shut up, or bound, and him who is left loose;" and this phrase has been variously interpreted as "the bond and the free," "the married and the unmarried," "the child" who keeps at home, "and the man" who goes abroad. Perhaps the last of these best suits the context; it is like "the old and young" of Joshua 6:21, Esther 3:13, Ezekiel 9:6, &c.As a man taketh away dung.--The same contemptuous tone runs on to the end of the verse. The house of Jeroboam is the filth which pollutes the sacred band of Israel; to its last relics it is to be swept away by the besom of destruction. (Comp. 2Kings 9:37; Psalm 83:10.) . . .