14:24 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the {l} sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
(l) Because this idolatry was so vile and almost incredible, that men should forsake the living God, to worship calves, the work of man's hands, therefore the Scripture often repeats it in the reproach of all idolaters.
14:23-29 God raised up the prophet Jonah, and by him declared the purposes of his favour to Israel. It is a sign that God has not cast off his people, if he continues faithful ministers among them. Two reasons are given why God blessed them with those victories: 1. Because the distress was very great, which made them objects of his compassion. 2. Because the decree was not yet gone forth for their destruction. Many prophets there had been in Israel, but none left prophecies in writing till this age, and their prophecies are part of the Bible. Hosea began to prophesy in the reign of this Jeroboam. At the same time Amos prophesied; soon after Micah, then Isaiah, in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Thus God, in the darkest and most degenerate ages of the church, raised up some to be burning and shining lights in it; to their own age, by their preaching and living, and a few by their writings, to reflect light upon us in the last times.
