Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Shall the dogs eat - They shall not have an honorable burial: and shall not come into the sepulchres of their fathers.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The dogs are the chief scavengers of Oriental cities (compare Psalm 59:6, Psalm 59:14). And the vulture is the chief scavenger in the country districts, assisted sometimes by kites and crows (see Job 39:27-30, where the vulture, not the eagle, is intended). Vultures are very abundant in Palestine.

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

FURTHER BAD NEWS FOR JEROBOAM

"Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the birds of the heavens eat; for Jehovah hath spoken it. Arise, thou therefore, get thee to thy house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. All Israel shall mourn for him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam."

Jeroboam inquired of the prophet concerning one of his sons, but here he learned the fate of all of them, and these indeed were heavy tidings as the prophet had promised in 1 Kings 14:5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat,.... The meaning is, that they should have no burial:

for the Lord hath spoken it; and therefore shall be fulfilled, for what he hath said he will do, Numbers 23:19.

Geneva Study Bible

(i) They will lack the honour of burial in token of God's curse.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Eat — So both sorts shall die unburied.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 14:11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken [it].

Ver. 11. Shall the dogs eat.] A fearful judgment, such as befell Euripides the poet, and Lucian the atheist, eaten alive by dogs, as it is storied.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

So both sorts shall die unburied.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

11.Dogs eat’ fowls of the air eat — The horrible punishment threatened in the law to the impious transgressor, (Deuteronomy 28:26,) and the foulest indignity that a conquered and slaughtered foe could be exposed to. Compare marginal reference and 1 Samuel 17:46. “Dogs are the chief scavengers of Oriental cities. Troops of dogs, more than half wild, scour the streets by night, clearing away all the offal and carrion that they can find. The vulture in the country districts, assisted sometimes by kites and crows, does the work of the dog in towns.” — Rawlinson.

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

“Him who dies of Jeroboam in the city will the dogs eat, and him who dies in the field will the birds of the heavens eat. For YHWH has spoken it.”

Furthermore the deaths of all his household would be violent. Thus if they died in the city their bodies would be left for the scavenger dogs which infested every city to eat. And if they died in the open countryside they would be left to the scavenging birds, for there would be no one to bury them. The picture was a dismal one, but it was the consequence of disobedience, and failing to walk in YHWH’s ways. It would in fact happen almost literally, for when Baasha assassinated Jeroboam’s son he then proceeded to murder all the other members of the royal family (1 Kings 15:29).

1 Kings 14:12-13

“Arise you therefore, get you to your house, and when your feet enter the city, the child will die, and all Israel will mourn for him, and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing towards YHWH, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.”

Furthermore he had no good news for them even as regards their ailing son. For as soon as she returned home her son would die. But he pointed out that he would be the fortunate one, for he alone of Jeroboam’s sons would be properly mourned and buried. He alone would come to a respectable grave. And that was because there was that in him, alone of all the house of Jeroboam, which pleased YHWH. Paradoxically then YHWH was in fact looking after his best interests in letting him die. He was doing it because of His love for him. While there was at this stage no inkling of the resurrection, David had made declarations in the Psalms that suggested some kind of continuing existence (Psalms 16:11; Psalms 17:15; Psalms 24:6), and that alone really makes sense of this promise. True believers knew that they were in the hand of God.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Devour. They shall have the burial of asses, Jeremias xxii. 19.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it. No JFB commentary on this verse.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Him that dieth.—The same judgment is repeated in 1 Kings 16:4; 1 Kings 21:24. (Comp. also Jeremiah 36:30.) The “dogs” are the half-wild’ dogs, the scavengers of every Eastern city; the “fowls of the air” the vultures and other birds of prey. In ancient times the natural horror of insult to the remains of the dead was often intensified by the idea, that in some way the denial of the rites of burial would inflict suffering or privation on the departed soul. Whether such ideas may have lingered in the minds of the Israelites we have no means of knowing. But certainly their whole system of law and ritual was calculated to give due honour to the body in life, as consecrated to God; and this would naturally tend to teach them that the body was a part of the true man, and therefore to deepen the repugnance, with which all reverent feeling regards outrage on the dead.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

that dieth

16:4; 21:19,23,24; Isaiah 66:24; Jeremiah 15:3; Ezekiel 39:17-19; Revelation 19:17,18