Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho - I wish the reader to refer to my note on Joshua 6:26, for a general view of this subject. I shall add a few observations. Joshua's curse is well known: "Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born; and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it," Joshua 6:26. This is the curse, but the meaning of its terms is not very obvious. Let us see how this is to be understood from the manner in which it was accomplished.

"In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho; he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub; according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun." This prediction was delivered upwards of five hundred years before the event; and though it was most circumstantially fulfilled, yet we know not the precise meaning of some of the terms used in the original execration, and in this place, where its fulfillment is mentioned. There are three opinions on the words, lay the foundation in his first-born, and set up the gates in his youngest son.

1. It is thought that when he laid the foundation of the city, his eldest son, the hope of his family, died by the hand and judgment of God, and that all his children died in succession; so that when the doors were ready to be hung, his youngest and last child died, and thus, instead of securing himself a name, his whole family became extinct.

These expressions signify only great delay in the building; that he who should undertake it should spend nearly his whole life in it; all the time in which he was capable of procreating children; in a word, that if a man laid the foundation when his first-born came into the world, his youngest and last son should be born before the walls should be in readiness to admit the gates to be set up in them; and that the expression is of the proverbial kind, intimating greatly protracted labor, occasioned by multitudinous hinderances and delays.

That he who rebuilt this city should, in laying the foundation, slay or sacrifice his firstborn, in order to consecrate it, and secure the assistance of the objects of his idolatrous worship; and should slay his youngest at the completion of the work, as a gratitude-offering for the assistance received. This latter opinion seems to be countenanced by the Chaldee, which represents Hiel as slaying his first-born Abiram, and his youngest son Segub.

But who was Hiel the Beth-elite? The Chaldee calls him Hiel of Beth-mome, or the Beth-momite; the Vulgate, Hiel of Beth-el; the Septuagint, Hiel the Baithelite; the Syriac represents Ahab as the builder: "Also in his days did Ahab build Jericho, the place of execration;" the Arabic, "Also in his days did Hiel build the house of idols - to wit, Jericho." The MSS. give us no help. None of these versions, the Chaldee excepted, intimates that the children were either slain or died; which circumstance seems to strengthen the opinion, that the passage is to be understood of delays and hinderances. Add to this, Why should the innocent children of Hiel suffer for their father's presumption? And is it likely that, if Hiel lost his first-born when he laid the foundation, he would have proceeded under this evidence of the Divine displeasure, and at the risk of losing his whole family? Which of these opinions is the right one, or whether any of them be correct, is more than I can pretend to state. A curse seems to rest still upon Jericho: it is not yet blotted out of the map of Palestine, but it is reduced to a miserable village, consisting of about thirty wretched cottages, and the governor's dilapidated castle; nor is there any ruin there to indicate its former splendor.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

This seems to be adduced as a proof of the general impiety of Ahab‘s time. The curse of Joshua against the man who should rebuild Jericho had hitherto been believed and respected. But now faith in the old religion had so decayed, that Joshua‘s malediction had lost its power. Hiel, a Bethelite of wealth and station, undertook to restore the long-ruined fortress. But he suffered for his temerity. In exact accordance with the words of Joshua‘s curse, he lost his firstborn son when he began to lay anew the foundations of the walls, and his youngest when he completed his work by setting up the gates. We need not suppose that Jericho had been absolutely uninhabited up to this time. But it was a ruined and desolate place without the necessary protection of walls, and containing probably but few houses (Judges 3:13 note). Hiel re-established it as a city, and it soon became once more a place of some importance 2 Chronicles 28:15.

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

JOSHUA'S PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED IN THE BUILDING OF JERICHO

"In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Jehovah which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun."

The prophecy spoken by the Lord through Joshua was:

"Joshua charged them ... saying, Cursed be the man before Jehovah, that riseth up and buildeth this city of Jericho: with the loss of his first-born shall he lay the foundation thereof, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." (Joshua 6:26).

It would be difficult indeed to find a clearer example than we have here of a prophecy of God, literally and circumstantially fulfilled many centuries after it was spoken.

This account of the rebuilding of Jericho was probably introduced at this time for the sake of showing the widespread apostasy and unbelief of the people. That man, Hiel the Bethelite, challenged the well-known prophecy regarding the person who would build Jericho, but, sure enough, it turned out exactly as God had prophesied. Of course, the radical critics who deny any such thing as predictive prophecy explain it this way, "Some tragic fate overtook them."[24] However, no matter what happened to the builder's oldest and youngest sons, their death most certainly fulfilled the prophecy. Gates asserted that there is a newer view among commentators which holds that, "The lives of the builder's two sons were cut off as a divine visitation upon Hiel for his disobedience in rebuilding the city that God had cursed."[25] Of course, Dentan explained their death as, "Fatal accidents"![26] But no matter what happened, the prophecy proved to be true.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And in his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho,.... Which was forbidden by Joshua under an anathema; but this man, either ignorant of that adjuration of Joshua, or in contempt and defiance of it, and knowing it might please the king and queen, set about the rebuilding of it; and it being done by the leave and under the authority of Ahab, is mentioned together with his wicked actions:

he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn: that is, his firstborn died as soon as he laid the foundation of the city, but this did not deter him from going on with it:

and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub; all the rest of his children died as he was rebuilding the city, until only his youngest son was left, and he was taken off by death just as he had finished it, signified by setting up the gates of it: all which was

according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun: between four hundred and five hundred years ago. It was after this a place of great note, and so continued many hundreds of years; See Gill on Joshua 6:26 but is now, as Mr. Maundrell says^F11Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 81. , a poor nasty village of the Arabs.

Geneva Study Bible

In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build ⁿ Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest [son] Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

(n) See (Joshua 6:26).

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

1 Kings 16:34. Joshua‘s curse fulfilled upon Hiel the builder of Jericho.

In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho — (see on Joshua 6:26). The curse took effect on the family of this reckless man but whether his oldest son died at the time of laying the foundation, and the youngest at the completion of the work, or whether he lost all his sons in rapid succession, till, at the end of the undertaking, he found himself childless, the poetical form of the ban does not enable us to determine. Some modern commentators think there is no reference either to the natural or violent deaths of Hiel‘s sons; but that he began in presence of his oldest son, but some unexpected difficulties, losses, or obstacles, delayed the completion till his old age, when the gates were set up in the presence of his youngest son. But the curse was fulfilled more than five hundred years after it was uttered; and from Jericho being inhabited after Joshua‘s time (Judges 3:13; 2 Samuel 10:5), it has been supposed that the act against which the curse was directed, was an attempt at the restoration of the walls - the very walls which had been miraculously cast down. It seems to have been within the territory of Israel; and the unresisted act of Hiel affords a painful evidence how far the people of Israel had lost all knowledge of, or respect for, the word of God.

Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

In his time Hiכl the Bethelite ( האלי בּית ; compare Ges. § 111. 1 with § 86, 2. 5) built Jericho: “he laid the foundation of it with Abiram his first-born, and set up its gates with Segub his youngest, according to the word of Jehovah,” etc. (for the explanation see the Comm. on Joshua 6:26). The restoration of this city as a fortification, upon which Joshua had pronounced the curse, is mentioned as a proof how far ungodliness had progressed in Israel; whilst the fulfilment of the curse upon the builder shows how the Lord will not allow the word of His servants to be transgressed with impunity. Jericho, on the border of the tribe of Ephraim (Joshua 16:7), which was allotted to the Benjaminites (Joshua 18:21), had come into the possession of the kingdom of Israel on the falling away of the ten tribes from the royal house of David, and formed a border city of that kingdom, through the fortification of which Ahab hoped to secure to himself the passage across the Jordan.

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary

(34) In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

It was about 500 years before this period when, at the destruction of Jericho, Joshua pronounced a curse on the man that should rise up to build it again. But in the impious reign of Ahab, one of his subjects, more daring in impiety than the rest, calling to mind perhaps this prophecy, as if to make a jest both of God and his servant, undertook it; and the event exactly corresponded to the prediction. See Joshua 6:26. Who hath hardened himself against God, and hath prospered? Job 9:4.

REFLECTIONS

PAUSE, my soul, over the reading of this chapter, and carefully mark the dreadful end of all the workers of iniquity! and what doth the history of all ungodly men furnish, whatever rank or situation they move in, but sad examples of the same. Under what striking images and similitudes doth the word of God represent them. They are said to be captives and slaves, the servants of sin, and that cannot cease from sin. And how do their lives give evidence, to the reality of such figures! For what is the wretched effect of carnal pursuit in the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, but the hire, the wages, the sure reward, in the sorrow that must follow? And are not all characters of this description, however diversified in their different occupations and pursuits, treasuring up unto themselves sure misery, here in this life not unfrequently recompensed to them, and endless sorrow in that which is to come; and are not these like the covenanted wages of the hireling and the servant, which he expects and hath a right to, in the termination of his labour?

Blessed Jesus! how refreshing is the thought to thy people, that thou hast brought them out of the service of Satan, and made them free in thy service. Thou graciously didst search for them in their haunts of sin, when, like others, they were children of wrath, and were wandering far from thee, on the same mountains of iniquity, and vanity, and worldly enjoyments. And now, having brought them, by the illumination and conviction of thine Holy Spirit, into the bond of the covenant, thou preservest them from falling into those depths of sin which swallow up the ungodly. Dearest Jesus! be thou my Guide, my Counsellor, my Keeper, and my supreme joy; then sin shall not have dominion over me, nor the vanities of the world draw me into perdition. Having put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, I shall put on the new man, which after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

In his days — This is added, 1. as an instance of the certainty of divine predictions, this being fulfilled eight hundred years after it was threatened; and withal, as a warning to the Israelites, not to think themselves innocent or safe, because the judgment threatened against them by Ahijah, chap14:15, was not yet executed. Or, 2. as an evidence of the horrible corruption of his times, and of that high contempt of God which then reigned.

The Bethelite — Who lived in Bethel, the seat and sink of idolatry, wherewith he was throughly leavened.

He laid, … — That is, in the beginning of his building, God took away his first-born, and others successively in the progress of the work, and the youngest when he finished it. And so he found by his own sad experience, the truth of God's word.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 16:34 In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest [son] Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

Ver. 34. In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho.] Al despite di Die, as that blasphemous Pope once said. But this bold wretch paid dearly for his presumption. See on Joshua 6:26. He sought for a name, but hath left it for a curse, as Isaiah 65:15. He might do it also to curry favour with Ahab, as his fellow condemner of God and his prophets.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

1 Kings 16:34. In his days did Hiel, &c.— The sentence which we here see executed was pronounced above four hundred and forty years before, and is a most striking proof of the divine prescience, as well as of the authority of those sacred writings which contain so remarkable a prediction. Hiel was probably a professed idolater; and therefore might undertake the rebuilding of Jericho, either at the instigation of the court, or in defiance of God, and to let the world see that whatever was denounced in his name was of no significance at all: but the event proved the contrary, and he met with his condign punishment.

REFLECTIONS.—Ahab, that monster of iniquity, succeeds his father Omri in the 38th year of Asa. We have,

1. A general account of his wicked reign, the particulars of which may be thus recapitulated: he out-did all the worst of his predecessors; even Jeroboam's sins were light compared to his. He began with marrying a Zidonian wife, worse, if possible, than himself, idolatrous, proud, imperious, lewd, malicious, the adviser and encourager of every abomination. Her gods pleased him better than his own; and he went, probably, at first to Tyre to worship; and then, that he might have his idol nearer home, he reared a magnificent temple in Samaria, set up an altar before the image of Baal, and planted a grove around it, to perform those shocking rites which the day blushed to behold. Note; (1.) Of all the earthly plagues that can light upon miserable man, there is not a greater than to be joined to a wicked and abandoned woman. (2.) The idolater grudges no expence to serve his abominations; and shall we be niggards at the altar of the true and only God? (3.) Deeds of lewdness shun the light; but what thick grove can exclude the piercing eye of God?

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

In his days: this is here added,

1. As a character of the time, and an instance of the truth and certainty of Divine predictions and comminations, this being fulfilled eight hundred years after it was threatened; and withal, as a warning to the Israelites, not to think themselves innocent or safe, because the judgment threatened against them by Ahijah, 1 Kings 14:15, was not yet executed, though they continued in that calf-worship which he condemned; but to expect the certain accomplishment of it in due time, if they persisted in their impenitency. Or,

2. As an evidence of the horrible corruption of his times, and of that high contempt of God which then reigned.

Hiel the Beth-elite; who lived in Beth-el, the seat and sink of idolatry, wherewith he was thoroughly leavened.

Built Jericho; a place seated in the tribe of Benjamin, but belonging to the kingdom of Israel; which place he seems to have chosen for his buildings; not so much for his own advantage as out of a contempt of the true God, and of his threatenings, which he designed to convince of falsehood by his own experience; and out of an ambitious desire to. advance his own reputation and interest thereby, by attempting that which he knew his king and queen too would be highly pleased with.

He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub; i.e. in the beginning of his building God took away his first-born, and others successively in the progress of the work, and the youngest when he finished it. And so he found by his own sad experience the truth of God’s word, and how vain it was to contend with him.

Quest. Why did not God rather punish Hiel himself?

Answ. This was a terrible punishment, to see his children cut off by Divine vengeance before their time, one after another; and all this for his own folly and rashness. Compare Jeremiah 52:10. And as for Hiel himself, possibly after he had been spared so long, that he might be an eyewitness of his sons untimely deaths, he also might be cut off, though it be not recorded, as not belonging to the prophecy here mentioned; or if not, his present impunity was his greatest misery; either as it continued his torment in the sad and lasting remembrance of his loss and misery; or as it was a mean to harden his heart so for greater judgments, to which he was reserved.

According to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua; of which See Poole "Joshua 6:26".

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

34.Hiel the Bethelite — A native of that city which had so long been the scene of Israelitish calf-worship, and, perhaps, a despiser of Jehovah and his laws. He was thus a fit person to undertake the daring work here mentioned.

Build Jericho — Joshua pronounced a curse upon the man who should attempt to rebuild the walls of Jericho, (Joshua 6:26; where see note,) and several hundred years had passed with no one so impious as to despise that curse. The place had been inhabited, but no one had ventured to fortify it and set up the gates. It seems to have now become the possession of the northern kingdom, and Ahab’s design in having it fortified was probably to make it a frontier garrison to command the passage over the Jordan.

Laid the foundation thereof in Abiram — That is, at the cost of his life. Thus, in 1 Kings 2:23, Solomon says that Adonijah had spoken a certain word בנפשׁו, in his life, that is, at the cost of his life. The manner in which the Divine judgment fell upon Hiel’s sons — whether by natural or by violent deaths — whether the firstborn died when he laid the foundation, and the youngest when he set up the gates — is nowhere stated, and so far as that is unknown so far will there be a degree of mystery hanging over this text. But the record will ever stand as a warning that no man may lightly treat Jehovah’s word and live.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

1 Kings 16:34. In his days, &c. — This is mentioned here, 1st, As an instance of the certainty of the accomplishment of the divine predictions; that here referred to being fulfilled upward of five hundred years after it was delivered: a most striking proof of the divine prescience, as well as of the authority of those sacred writings which contain so remarkable a prophecy; 2d, It is recorded as an evidence of the horrible corruption of Ahab’s times, and of the high contempt of God which then reigned; this Hiel beginning to build in defiance of the curse well known in Israel, probably jesting with it as a bug-bear, or fancying its force worn out by length of time; and going on to build in defiance of the execution of the curse in part. For though his eldest son died when he began, yet he would proceed in spite of God and his wrath revealed from heaven against his ungodliness; 3d, It was intended to be a warning to the Israelites not to think themselves innocent or safe, because the judgment threatened against them by Ahijah was not yet executed. The Bethelite — Who lived in Beth-el, the seat and sink of idolatry, wherewith he was thoroughly leavened. He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn — Whom God took away in the beginning of his building, and others of his children successively in the progress of the work, and the youngest when he finished it. So that he found by his own sad experience the truth of God’s word, the sentence which Joshua pronounced against the builder of this city being literally and exactly executed. (See Joshua, chapter 6. 1 Kings 16:26.) A remarkable instance this of the certainty of the accomplishment of God’s threatenings, and that he never forgets what he has spoken!

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Hand. Josue had committed this curse to writing. (Haydock) --- Hiel, an idolater, did not regard it, and Achab had not zeal to attempt to hinder him. But divine Providence punished his audacity. (Calmet) --- All his sons perished, while the city was rebuilding. (Worthington) --- See Josue vi. 26. (Calmet)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

build = to fortify and complete. It had been partially restored (Judges 3:13. 2 Samuel 10:5), but now became a fortified city of Israel.

in = at the cost of.

which He spake. Compare Joshua 6:26.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho - (see the note at Joshua 6:26.) The curse took effect on the family of this reckless man; but whether his oldest son died at the time of laying the foundation, and the youngest at the completion of the work; or whether he lost all his sons in rapid succession, until, at the end of the undertaking, he found himself childless, the poetical form of the ban does not enable us to determine. Some modern commentators think there is no reference either to the natural or violent deaths of Hiel's sons; that he began in presence of his oldest son; but some unexpected difficulties losses, or obstacles, delayed the completion until his old age, when the gates were set up in the presence of his youngest son. But the curse was fulfilled more than 500 years after it was uttered; and from Jericho being inhabited after Joshua's time (Judges 3:13; 2 Samuel 10:5), it has been supposed that the act against which the curse was directed was an attempt at the restoration of the walls-the very walls which had been miraculously cast down. It seems to have lain within the territory of Israel; and the unresisted act of Hiel affords a painful evidence how far the people of Israel had lost all knowledge of, or respect for, the word of God.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(34) Did Hiel . . . build Jericho.—This marks both the growth of prosperity and power, and the neglect of the old curse of Joshua (Joshua 6:26). The place had not, it would appear, been entirely deserted. (See Judges 3:13; 2 Samuel 10:5.) But it was now made—what it continued to be even down to the time of Herod—an important place. Its natural advantages were great. It stood in a position well watered, and accordingly of great beauty and fruitfulness (“the city of palm trees”), and was, moreover, a city of military consequence, as commanding the pass from the valley of the Jordan to the high ground of Ai and Bethel. Having been assigned to Benjamin (Joshua 18:21), it should have properly belonged to the kingdom of Judah. Its being rebuilt by a Bethelite, evidently under the patronage of Ahab, is one of the indications of a half-dependent condition of the Southern kingdom at this time.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

Joshua 6:26; 23:14,15; Zechariah 1:5; Matthew 24:35 Reciprocal: Judges 9:57 - upon them;  2 Samuel 10:5 - Jericho;  2 Kings 2:4 - Jericho;  2 Kings 2:19 - the water;  1 Chronicles 19:5 - at Jericho;  Ezra 2:34 - Jericho;  Habakkuk 2:12 - him;  Luke 19:1 - Jericho

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Bibliographical Information
Torrey, R. A. "Commentary on 1 Kings 16:34". "The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/1-kings-16.html.

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