(19) And the rest.--The preceding verse closes the detailed record of Jeroboam's reign. His exaltation and the promise to him, his idolatry and its punishment, are all that the historian cares to narrate. All else is summed up in the words "how he warred" (see below, 1 Kings 14:30, and 1 Kings 15:6) and "how he reigned." It is probable that his reign was prosperous enough in peace and war, though his attempt to subdue Judah failed. (See 2 Chronicles 13) But all this the Scriptural record passes over, and only commemorates him as "Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."
Verse 19. - And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred [see ver. 30; 2 Chronicles 13:2], and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. [As to this work, see Introduction, Section VI. The exact title is "the book of the words (or matters) of the days," i.e., the record of daily occurrences.]
14:7-20 Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not, he does; and he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to our greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child then sick, in mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affection for the true worship of God, and disliked the worship of the calves. To show the power and sovereignty of his grace, God saves some out of the worst families, in whom there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. The righteous are removed from the evil to come in this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is often a bad sign for a family, when the best in it are buried out of it. Yet their death never can be a loss to themselves. It was a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been instructed. God also tells the judgments which should come upon the people of Israel, for conforming to the worship Jeroboam established. After they left the house of David, the government never continued long in one family, but one undermined and destroyed another. Families and kingdoms are ruined by sin. If great men do wickedly, they draw many others, both into the guilt and punishment. The condemnation of those will be severest, who must answer, not only for their own sins, but for sins others have been drawn into, and kept in, by them.
And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred,.... As he did with Rehoboam, 1 Kings 14:30, and with Abijam his son, who was an more than a match for him, see 2 Chronicles 13:1.
and how he reigned; over the people of Israel, whether wisely, and justly, and in clemency, or not:
behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel; not in that canonical book of Scripture, so called, for in that there is very little account of the reign of Jeroboam; but in the annals and diaries of the kings of Israel, written by persons appointed for that purpose, and out of which it is generally thought that inspired writers, by divine direction, took what was thought proper to be transmitted to future times. So with the Romans, from their very beginning to the times of Mutius, all the events of every year were committed to writing by the order of the Pontifex Maximus, and lay open to be read by the people in common; and these, as Tully (l) says, were what are called annals.
and how he reigned; over the people of Israel, whether wisely, and justly, and in clemency, or not:
behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel; not in that canonical book of Scripture, so called, for in that there is very little account of the reign of Jeroboam; but in the annals and diaries of the kings of Israel, written by persons appointed for that purpose, and out of which it is generally thought that inspired writers, by divine direction, took what was thought proper to be transmitted to future times. So with the Romans, from their very beginning to the times of Mutius, all the events of every year were committed to writing by the order of the Pontifex Maximus, and lay open to be read by the people in common; and these, as Tully (l) says, were what are called annals.
(l) De Oratore, l. 2. c. 34.