I Kings 14:15
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For the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The kingdom being divided into that of Judah and that of Israel, we must henceforward, in these books of Kings, expect and attend their separate history, the succession of their kings, and the affairs of their kingdoms, accounted for distinctly. In this chapter we have, I. The prophecy of the destruction of Jeroboam's house (Kg1 14:7-16). The sickness of his child was the occasion of it (Kg1 14:1-6), and the death of his child the earnest of it (Kg1 14:17, Kg1 14:18), together with the conclusion of his reign (Kg1 14:19, Kg1 14:20). II. The history of the declension and diminution of Rehoboam's house and kingdom (Kg1 14:21-28) and the conclusion of his reign (Kg1 14:29-31). In both we may read the mischievous consequences of sin and the calamities it brings on kingdoms and families.
Open source ↗14:15 Asherah was thought to be the consort of El, the elder god of ancient Canaan. Asherah worship included fertility rites at sacred trees or poles; it became a chronic sin for God’s people (15:13; 16:33; 18:19; Deut 16:21; Judg 3:7).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.
But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.
But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.
Finally, the LORD removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?