What Does 1 Kings 12:15 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The king’s refusal is not an interruption of the LORD’s word; it is the turning through which that word stands.
THE MEANING
The sentence holds a hard claim: the king’s refusal is real, and its cause is from the LORD, serving the purpose of establishing the word spoken through Ahijah. A human decision that looks like an obstruction can become the occasion through which a larger purpose takes shape. The refusal and its consequences remain visible; the verse does not soften them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a human refusal means the LORD’s spoken purpose has failed; here, the refusal becomes the occasion through which that purpose stands.
THE ROOT
סִבָּה
sibbāh
GROWS FROM
סבב
Turn around, go around, surround.
The word translated “cause” belongs to the סבב (sabab, turn around or surround) word family. The verse presents the refusal as a turning from the LORD, the very occasion through which the spoken word is established.
ALSO GROWS
sabab: Turn around, go around.
סָבַב
It gives the “cause” the shape of a turning point in the events.
saviv: Around, surrounding.
סָבִיב
The shared root carries the sense of events gathering around a particular turn.
שָׁמַע
shama
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, respond.
“hearkened” in this verse is shama. שָׁמַע (shama, hear and respond) holds hearing and response together. The king does not merely miss the people’s words; he withholds a response to them.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
It makes clear that the king’s refusal is a failure to answer, not simply a failure to receive sound.
shemuʿah: A report, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The branch keeps the root tied to what reaches the ear and calls for a response.
הָקִים
haqim
GROWS FROM
קום
Stand, rise, be established.
The Hebrew behind “perform” means to establish, to make stand. The LORD’s word does not remain a statement: through the king’s refusal, it takes form and stands in events.
ALSO GROWS
qum: Stand, arise.
קוּם
The spoken word is brought into a standing reality.
maqom: Place, a standing place.
מָקוֹם
This branch carries the root’s sense of standing into a place where something can take its position.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s purpose can take shape through human choices that appear to oppose it.
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:THE THREAD
And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken 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.The same שָׁמַע (shama, hear and respond) root appears in the promise to Jeroboam: he is to hearken to the LORD. Here, the king’s refusal to hearken to the people becomes the turning through which the word about Jeroboam stands.
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