(14) Their suburbs.--Pasture-grounds (Numbers 35:1-8).

And their possession--i.e., the cities assigned to them among the ten tribes.

Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the Lord.--See 1Kings 12:26-31. There we are told that, as a matter of policy, Jeroboam established two centres of worship within his own dominions, so that his subjects might cease to visit the Temple of Jerusalem. In appointing priests chosen promiscuously from all classes of the people to minister in the new sanctuaries, Jeroboam struck a direct blow at the Levitical order, and "thrust them out from acting as priests to Jehovah," as our verse declares.

And his sons.--Usually explained to mean his successors on the throne. (Comp. 1Chronicles 3:16.) "For in this matter all the kings of Israel walked in the footsteps of Jeroboam" (Keil). Of Jeroboam's own sons Nadab was the only one who reigned (1Kings 15:25 sqq.); and the narrative of Kings (1 Kings 14, 15) mentions but one other son of this king. It does not, however, exclude the possibility of there having been more than these two, and if there were, they may have co-operated with their father in his religious policy.

Verse 14. - Left their suburbs (so Leviticus 25:34; Numbers 35:1, 3, 7; Joshua 14:4; Joshua 21:12). Jeroboam... had east them off. This glimpse reveals to us, with exceeding probability, that there had been some struggle on the solemn matter; we may readily imagine that Jeroboam had either tried it on in vain with the true priests and Levites, or had learned very conclusively beforehand that it would be vain to try it on (2 Chronicles 13:9).

11:13-23 When the priests and Levites came to Jerusalem, the devout, pious Israelites followed them. Such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, left the inheritance of their fathers, and went to Jerusalem, that they might have free access to the altar of God, and be out of the temptation to worship the calves. That is best for us, which is best for our souls; in all our choices, religious advantages must be sought before all outward conveniences. Where God's faithful priests are, his faithful people should be. And when it has been proved that we are willing to renounce our worldly interests, so far as we are called to do so for the sake of Christ and his gospel, we have good evidence that we are truly his disciples. And it is the interest of a nation to protect religion and religious people.For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession,.... The cities and the fields adjacent to them, which were given them in the several tribes, and were in all forty eight; see Joshua 21:1 and came to Judah and Jerusalem; to the cities of Judah, which belonged to the Levites; and to Jerusalem, where they exercised their functions:

for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from exercising the priest's office unto the Lord; neither suffering them to go to Jerusalem in their courses, as they used to do by turns, nor to perform their office in their own dwellings, according to the law of God, in teaching and instructing the people.