and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.
Rehoboam, king of Judah, is remembered less for what he built than for what he let stand. His people took up the very evil that had emptied Canaan of its earlier peoples — so what would God do with a land like that?
The Word Behind the Verse
Older translations say "sodomites." The ESV says "male cult prostitutes." The Hebrew word comes from a root meaning "consecrated," and some have taken it to name a holy office.
Far more probable is the usual view, which takes it as a "consecration" to the corrupt Astarte, or Venus, of early and later idolatry. ... The masculine form of the word occurs in Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14. Can it be argued that holy men, or seers, are meant there? If, on the contrary, it is plain that a class of extreme moral vileness is meant, the argument falls to the ground. These are forms of the same word, and the idea of holiness, or consecration, of course runs through both. Terrible to say, prostitution was an almost universal element of what the nations counted as holy!
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Idolatry First, Then Corruption
Verse 23 listed the high places and the pillars. Verse 24 tells what grew out of them.
Leslie M. GrantYet wickedness between people is bound to follow when they despise their Creator, as verse 24 shows. There were perverted people in the land. They practiced sodomy and prostitution in their religious ceremonies, just as the nations did whom God had driven out before Israel when they came to Canaan.
Guilty for Letting It Stand
The text blames Judah, not Rehoboam, for starting the idolatry. That does not clear the king.
H. L. RossierIt does not appear to be he himself who introduced idolatry into his land. It was rather the act of the people (v. 22), but Rehoboam, in allowing the evil to become established in his kingdom, is just as guilty as Judah, because he was responsible for Judah's conduct. ... Idolatry goes hand in hand with the most horrible corruption (v. 24; Romans 1) — and such things took place among the people of God!
How Quickly It Happened
Judah did begin well. It did not last.
C KnappFor three years all went well, and they walked "in the way of David and Solomon." But their goodness was like the early dew and like the morning cloud, and it soon passed away — as everything that is only human does. ... But alas, most people soon forget even serious lessons like this. Before five years had passed, both king and people had sunk so far into idolatry that they stood at the very edge of abandoning the LORD.
Outward correctness continued long after the inward reality was gone. In the next generation Abijah could still claim that Judah had not forsaken the Lord, that the priests served and the lamps were lit — and the historian has already told us otherwise.
C KnappHowever true this might be outwardly, we have already seen the Spirit's testimony as to the inward or real condition in Judah, as declared in 1 Kings 14:22-25.
The Land That Was Emptied for This Very Sin
The last clause is the sting. Judah was doing the very thing that had got the earlier peoples thrown out of the land. God had already shown twice what He does with it.
H. L. RossierGod had destroyed the cities of the plain and had cast out before His people the nations whose iniquity had become full. What would He do to Judah?
Why Judah Was Not Wiped Out
The answer was not immediate destruction. Reading these same verses, the same writer is struck less by the sin than by God's restraint.
Henri L. RossierReading these words, we marvel all the more at God's infinite goodness. For the sake of a few righteous people, He was not willing to destroy this people completely, as He had once destroyed Sodom.
The Evil Could Be Removed
What Rehoboam tolerated, his grandson Asa cleared out. It cost him, because the idols were family property.
Leslie M. GrantHe did what was right, and he acted firmly against the perverted worship of idols. He banished those who practiced sodomy and prostitution in their religious ceremonies, and he removed all the idols his father had made. This was no light matter. The idol worshippers would resist him hard, claiming that he was dishonouring his father. But he meant to honour the Lord, and he would not let family ties get in the way of obeying God's Word.
Summary
- Consecrated. The word comes from a root meaning "consecrated," yet it names a class of extreme moral vileness. Among the nations, prostitution counted as holy.
- Root. The corruption of verse 24 grows out of the idolatry of verse 23. Despise the Creator, and wickedness between people follows.
- Tolerated. The people brought the evil in; Rehoboam let it settle, and allowing it made him as guilty as those who started it.
- Reversal. Judah was doing what had filled up the guilt of the nations God drove out. He had already destroyed the cities of the plain for the same sin.
- Spared, then cleansed. God did not destroy Judah as He destroyed Sodom, for the sake of a few righteous people. Later Asa drove these very men out, at real cost to himself.