Who was Ahijah in the Bible?

Prophet called the Shilonite, who foretold to Jeroboam that he should be king over ten of the tribes. 1 Kings 11:29-31. God revealed to him that the wife of Jeroboam was coming in disguise to know if their son Abijah would live, and Ahijah had to tell her the dire judgements that should fall upon Jeroboam and his house. 1 Kings 14:2-18; 1 Kings 15:29; 2 Chr. 9:29; 2 Chr. 10:15.

Designation of Ahijah the prophet, which (cf. 1 Kings 14:2, 4) points him out as a resident of Shiloh. 1 Kings 11:29; 1 Kings 12:15; 1 Kings 15:29; 2 Chr. 9:29; 2 Chr. 10:15.

"At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam was sick" (v. 1); this was a blow keenly felt and a reason for great anxiety on the part of the king. If this cherished son, his successor, should die, what would become of the monarchy he had thought to secure to himself by so much cunning? For Jeroboam was what men call a great politician. He had other sons, no doubt, but this one, the heir, enjoyed God's favor and that of the people. It is thus that the folly of human strategy devised apart from God becomes manifest. The Lord had assured Jeroboam of the kingdom, but he had preferred to secure it for himself by forsaking the Lord. He must learn whether his way was the way of wisdom. He had not reckoned with death; his plans had not taken into consideration the one thing men can never escape, and they were at the point of being reduced to nothing.

What to do? He remembers the prophet "who told [him] that [he] should be king over this people" (v. 2). He knew these things. "He will tell thee what shall become of the lad." Jeroboam acknowledges the man of God's ability and thinks that he can help him. One thing, however, is lacking, that which an unconverted soul always lacks — the consciousness of having to do with God; it just does not enter his mind that he is about to come before Him. If it were otherwise, could he be telling his wife to disguise herself? No, even this profane king could hardly suppose he could hide from God by being disguised. But God was not in his thoughts, so he does not take account of the connection between the prophet and Jehovah. That which the man of God had said had come to pass; therefore it was worthwhile to consult him. Jeroboam would as easily consult a fortuneteller. "Disguise thyself," he tells his wife, "that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam." And indeed he had good reason for this. What would his people say if he, their head, who had fabricated a new religion, should turn back to the representatives of the old faith, to the prophets of Jehovah, to seek help and light from them? And then, had he not learned at his own expense that these prophets were not favorably disposed towards him? Perhaps Ahijah who at one time had spoken well of him would be more favorable … In any event, disguise yourself, he says, and bring him some presents — not such as would go with the dignity of a queen, which would give us away, but after all, a present is always in order when one goes to consult a prophet!

Ahijah was dwelling in his own city in the territory of Ephraim. He is called Ahijah the Shilonite (1 Kings 11:29; 1 Kings 12:15). It was fitting that God have His prophet in Israel and on the other hand, how well suited was this place for the prophet of the Lord! It was at Shiloh that the ark had remained during the long period of the judges and of the priesthood of Eli. One could call it to mind in Israel now that one could no longer go up to the temple at Jerusalem. To the faithful, obliged to dwell among the ten tribes, at least there remained the remembrance of the worship of former days, the initial blessings connected with the presence of the tabernacle at Shiloh. "For go now," said the Lord, "unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first" (Jer. 7:12). A man of faith must not forget that the name of the Lord had been placed there, and he could consequently reside there as well. In the troublesome circumstances in which Israel now was, perhaps Ahijah had no more to do at Shiloh than did the old prophet at Bethel, but he was separated from idolatry there and fit to receive communications from God who had placed His name there. How good it is in a day of ruin to remember that which was from the beginning! One can always find God there, for if His ways change in the different dispensations, He Himself never changes. He can still reveal Himself to the faithful soul there in the place where He has placed His name in the beginning.

Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chron. 9: 29; 2 Chron. 10: 15).

Prophets of the Lord are multiplied under these ill-omened reigns. We have first seen Ahijah the Shilonite prophesying to Jeroboam that he would be king over the ten tribes (1 Kings 11:29), then pronouncing the death of his son and the annihilation of his whole line to the same king (1 Kings 14). After him Shemaiah, the prophet to Rehoboam, persuading the king and his people not to fight against their brethren, the children of Israel (1 Kings 12:22; 2 Chr. 11:2), the only thing appropriate for those who yet maintained the lamp of David. They, the Lord's witnesses, ought to accept the division as the result of their sin and ought to commit themselves to God who would know how to remedy the situation once His judgment, having run its course, would bear its fruit. And that is why Ahijah had said to Jeroboam: "And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever" (1 Kings 11:39). Before these prophets, under the reign of Solomon Iddo the seer had prophesied concerning Jeroboam,* to say nothing as to Nathan, who had played such a marked role in the days of David and at the opening of the reign of his son. Lastly, Azariah the son of Oded encouraged Asa, the king of Judah, to restore the worship of the true God after his victory over Zerah the Ethiopian (2 Chr. 15:1, 8).

All these prophets were, properly speaking, prophets of Judah, for even Ahijah the Shilonite first prophesied to Jeroboam near Jerusalem, and would not have been found in the territory of the ten tribes were it not through the circumstances of the division of the kingdom. It is so too with regard to "the man of God from Judah" who prophesied against Jeroboam in 1 Kings 13. We will not speak of the "old prophet" in that same 1 Kings 13, remaining behind at Bethel through his unfaithfulness.

God sent the prophet Ahijah to announce to Jeroboam that because of His people's unfaithfulness under Solomon, He would rend the kingdom out of Solomon's son's hand and make Jeroboam king over ten tribes. Yet because of His promises to David He would not entirely take the kingdom from David's family nor do this during Solomon's lifetime. While God is ever faithful to His word, He is never in a hurry to execute His righteous judgments.

I do not mean that the mischievousness of either Hadad or of Rezon was only when Solomon became an idolater, but I do draw attention to the fact that the Holy Ghost reserves the account of the vexation they caused the king till then. It is put by the Spirit Himself as a direct chastening of his idolatry. And these were, not the only ones. They were external. Solomon might say, "Well, we cannot expect anything better. They have private grudges, or national grudges, against our family." But "Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite," was no foreigner, nor was it a question of avenging the supposed wrongs that were done to his family or his race. Not so; he was "Solomon's servant whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king; Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they, two were alone in the field; And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces; and he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee."

Now a prophet appears. Just as Samuel at the time of the ruin of the priesthood, so the fall of the kingship now raises up a prophet. He becomes, as we shall see so strikingly in the course of these books, the bond between the people and God when kingship in responsibility has failed. Ahijah the prophet meets Jeroboam outside Jerusalem. He rends the new garment with which he is clothed (indeed, the kingdom was still quite new), and gives ten parts to Jeroboam. At that very moment the kingdom is torn out of the hands of Solomon, although this fact is only realized later. One tribe is left to the house of David on account of the free choice of grace with regard to David and Jerusalem. "They have forsaken me," says the Lord, "and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my sight, and my statutes and mine ordinances, as David his father" (v. 33). "They" was Solomon, the king! No doubt, all the people later followed that same path, but at this moment one man had sinned — the king. Set before God in a position of responsibility for all the people, his unfaithfulness brought judgment upon Israel. What a severe punishment Solomon had incurred.

"And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field. And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: and he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (but he shall have one tribe for My servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) because that they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do that which is right in Mine eyes, and to keep My statutes and My judgments, as did David his father. Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David My servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept My commandments and My statutes: but I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David My servant may have a light alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen Me to put My name there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel. And it shall be, if thou wilt harken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in My ways, and do that is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever." It was a solemn word, to which Jeroboam ought to have given earnest heed. Had he done so, he would never have come to his own melancholy end, nor would his dynasty have been so suddenly and violently terminated — ere the second generation had barely begun.

God then stirred up adversaries against Solomon, and by the prophet Ahijah He foretold that Jeroboam would reign over ten of the tribes. He would reserve two to keep in memorial before Him the name of David. Still Solomon did not repent, but sought the life of Jeroboam. God did not prolong Solomon's days, for he died at about the age of 58.