f h i¹ 1,2. Jeroboam. Warned. Arrival.
j¹ 3. Sign given. "
i² 4. Jeroboam. Smitten. "
j² 5. Sign fulfilled. "
i³ 6. Jeroboam. Healed. "
h k¹ 7-10. Obedience. Return.
l¹ 11-14. Old prophet. "
k² 15-19. Disobedience. "
l² 20-32. Old prophet. "880-858 B.C.
1 Kings 13)
1 And, behold, there came a man of God (cp. Deut.33:1) out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord; ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah (= whom Yahaveh heals. Cyrus is the only other so foretold [177 years before]. Josiah knew [2 Kings 23:17,18]. Cyrus knew [2 Chron.36:22,23. Isa.44:28]) by name; and upon you shall he offer ([in sacrifice] = slay, or slaughter) the priests of the high places that burn incense upon you, and human bones shall be burnt upon you.’ ” (this was fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:16 [360 years later])
3 And he gave a sign the same day (we have similar signs in Ex.3:12. 2 Kings 19:29; 20:8. Isa.7:14; 8:18), saying, “This [is] the sign which the Lord has spoken; Behold, the altar shall be torn, and the ashes that [are] upon it shall be poured out.”
4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar (1 of the 11 rulers who thus assaulted the Lord's witnesses. See Ex.10:28), saying, “Lay hold on him.” And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
5 The altar also was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6 And the king answered and said to the man of God, “Entreat now the face of the Lord your God (he dare not say "my God"), and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again.” And the man of God besought the Lord , and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as [it was] before.
7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give you a reward.”
8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you will give me half your house (remembering Num. 22:18; 24:13), I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that you came.’ ”
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.
11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el (a true prophet could not have remained there. Cp. 2 Chron. 11:16,17); and whose sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: and the words which he had spoken to the king, them they told also to their father.
12 And their father said to them, “What way went he?” For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle for me the ass.” So they saddled for him the ass: and he rode thereon,
14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under the oak: and he said to him, “[Are] you the man of God that came from Judah?” And he said, “I [am].”
15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me, and eat bread.”
16 And he said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place:
17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord (cp. "charged": showing a weakening from v.9), ‘You shall eat no bread (to avoid what might have been offered to idols) nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.’ ”
18 He said to him, “I [am] a prophet also as you [are]; and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord (a solemn warning for all who listen to any revelation outside Scripture which purports to come from God, even though an "old prophet" asserts it. Cp. Gal. 1:8,9. Of all such it may be said "he lied to him"), saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” [But] he lied to him.
19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back:
21 And he cried to the man of God that came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord , ‘Forasmuch as you have rebelled against the mouth of the Lord (the same expression used of Moses and Aaron at Moriah [Num.20:24; 27:27;14]. Safety found only in the path of obedience. Cp. v.26), and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,
22 But came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to you, ‘Eat no bread, and drink no water;’ your carcass shall not come to the sepulchers of your fathers.’ ” (Heb. keber, a burying-place)
23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, [that is to say], for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way (for lions in Palestine see Judg. 14:5. 1 Sam. 17:54. 2 Sam. 23:20. 1 Kings 20:36), and slew him: and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass.
25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass: and they came and told [it] in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard [thereof], he said, “It [is] the man of God, who was disobedient to the word of the Lord (by listening to the alleged word of an angel, instead of obeying the voice of Yehovah. See v.18): therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke to him” (cp. v.22).
27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle for me the ass.” And they saddled [him].
28 And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass.
29 And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
30 And he laid his carcass in his own sepulchre (see v.22, a pit); and they mourned over him, [saying], “Alas, my brother!”
31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God [is] buried; lay my bones beside his bones (i.e. lay them not with the bones of those referred to in v.2. Cp. 2 Kings 23:18):
32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Beth-el (cp.v.2), and against all the houses of the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”
33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the People priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became [one] of the priests (some codices read "became priests) of the high places.
34 And this thing became the sin to the house of Jeroboam (see 12:30), even to cut [it] off, and to destroy [it] from off the face of the earth.