(9) But hast done evil above all that were before thee.--The language is strong, in the face of the many instances of the worship of false gods in the days of the Judges, and the recent apostasy of Solomon--to say nothing of the idolatry of the golden calf in the wilderness, and the setting up of the idolatrous sanctuaries in olden times at Ophrah and at Dan (Judges 8:27; Judges 18:30-31). The guilt, indeed, of Jeroboam's act was enhanced by the presumptuous contempt of the special promise of God, given on the sole condition of obedience. In respect of this, perhaps, he is said below--in an expression seldom used elsewhere--to have "cast God Himself behind his back." But probably the reference is mainly to the unprecedented effect of the sin, coming at a critical point in the history of Israel, and from that time onward poisoning the springs of national faith and worship. Other idolatries came and passed away: this continued, and at all times "made Israel to sin."

Other gods and molten images.--See in 1Kings 11:28 the repetition of the older declaration in the wilderness, "These be thy gods, O Israel." Jeroboam would have justified the use of the calves as simply emblems of the true God; Ahijah rejects the plea, holding these molten images, expressly forbidden in the Law, to be really objects of worship--"other gods,"--as, indeed, all experience shows that such forbidden emblems eventually tend to become. Moreover, from 1Kings 14:15 it appears that the foul worship of the Asherah ("groves") associated itself with the idolatry of Jeroboam.

Verse 9. - But hast done evil above all that were before thee [perhaps preceding kings are not meant, so much as judges - judices et duces Israelis (Le Clerc). Kings, however, are not excluded. Both Saul and Solomon had sinned (1 Samuel passim; 1 Kings 11:5, 6), though neither had set up an organized idolism and "made Israel to sin"]: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods [in defiance of the decalogue (Exodus 20:4). Jeroboam, no doubt, insisted that his calves were not idols, but cherubic symbols. But God does not recognize this distinction. Practically they were "other gods," and so they are here called derisively], and molten images [the word is used of the golden calf, Exodus 32:4, 8. See also Exodus 34:17; Deuteronomy 9:12; Judges 17:3, 4. The "other gods" and the "molten images" are but two names for the same thing, viz., the calves of Bethel and Dan], to provoke me to anger [This was the result, not, of course, the object of Jeroboam's idolatrous worship], and hast cast me [The order of the Hebrew stamps the "me" as emphatic, "and ME hast thou cast, etc.] behind thy back [This strong expression only occurs here and in Ezekiel 23:35. It forcibly expresses Jeroboam's, contemptuous disregard of God's revealed will. In Psalm 50:17; Nehemiah 9:26, we have somewhat similar phrases]:

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.But hast done evil above all that were before thee,.... Not only above David, but above Saul, who never gave into idolatry, yea, even above Solomon, who, though he connived at idolatry, and might be guilty of it in some instances, yet did not attempt to draw his people into it; and if this was the latter end of Jeroboam's reign, which is probable, Rehoboam and Abijam might be both dead; and though they were blameworthy in some things, yet not so bad as Jeroboam; though perhaps this may respect only such who had been kings of Israel before him:

for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger; the two calves of gold; for however he might colour things over, and pretend he did not look upon these as gods, but as representations of God, and that he did not worship them, but God by them, yet the Lord considered it as idolatry, than which nothing is more provoking to him:

and hast cast me behind thy back; as unworthy of his regard; or my worship, as the Targum, which he neglected, and showed no concern for.