1 Kings 14:15
For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.
The warning was given by the aged prophet Ahijah at Shiloh before the death of Jeroboam, the same prophet who many years before had foretold Jeroboam's rise to the throne. It foretells the utter ruin of the kingdom of Israel as the final outcome of an apostasy that would become more and more marked. The Lord would smite Israel as a reed shaken in the water, root Israel up out of the good land given to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the river, because they had made their groves and provoked Him to anger. The cause of that ruin and judgment was apostasy and idolatry under Jeroboam, who sinned and made Israel to sin. Jeroboam and all who follow his example bear responsibility for the terrible results of such a course.
That giving up of Israel was not at once, for first all that could be done was done to lead them back to allegiance. Through long dark years, when ruler after ruler stood in defiance of Heaven and led Israel deeper into idolatry, message after message was sent to the backslidden people, and through the prophets every opportunity was given to stay the tide of apostasy and return. After the rending of the kingdom Elijah and Elisha lived and labored, and the tender appeals of Hosea and Amos and Obadiah were heard in the land. The kingdom was never left without noble witnesses to the mighty power of God to save from sin. Even in the darkest hours some remained true to their divine Ruler and lived blameless amid idolatry, numbered among the goodly remnant through whom the eternal purpose would finally be fulfilled.
The likeness to a reed trembling in the water describes a character with no stability, easily led in the wrong direction by the judgment of others. Children who have been taught to respect experienced judgment will not be like that reed when they go out from guiding care to act for themselves. Those who have learned to unite their minds with the minds of parents and teachers, and to see the rightness of heeding counsel, gain the steadiness that keeps them from being swayed.