The Reign of Jeroboam over Northern Israel (930-909 B.C.) In 1Ki 12:1 to 1Ki 14:20 we have the story of Jeroboam ruling over the northern kingdom of Israel. It is important to draw a parallel account of Jeroboam’s reign to that of King David and Solomon. The reigns of both David and Solomon record the judgment of adversaries, the establishment of their thrones, the institution of national worship, God makes a covenant with David and Solomon, the prosperity of their reigns, their sin and judgment, and an epilogue. Jeroboam’s rule follows a similar sequence of events.

1. Jereboam Establishes His Throne 1Ki 12:1-24

2. Jereboam Institutes National Worship 1Ki 12:25-33

3. God Speaks to Jereboam thru a Prophet 1Ki 13:1-32

4. Jereboam’s Sin and Judgment 1Ki 13:33 to 1Ki 14:18

5. Epilogue to Jereboam’s Reign 1Ki 14:19-20

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Jeroboam Reproved for his Sin

v. 1. And, behold, there came a man of God, a prophet, out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel, like a power which drove and compelled him to make known the Lord’s will; and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense, presuming upon a right which was not his.

v. 2. And he, the prophet, cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, his addressing the altar making his words all the more significant and emphatic, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burned upon thee, the greatest possible desecration which could come to an altar, Num 19:16. The prophecy was literally fulfilled, as history relates, 2Ki 23:15-20.

v. 3. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, utterly destroyed, torn to pieces, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out, the fat of the sacrifices being mixed with the ashes, to indicate that the entire worship was unclean.

v. 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, in an angry and threatening gesture, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand which he put forth against him dried up, paralyzed or stiffened in a peculiar manner, so that he could not pull it in again to him. The miracle had the effect of terrifying the king’s attendants and keeping them from executing his orders.

v. 5. The altar also was rent, 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, all of which served to substantiate the prophet’s words and to terrify the king, at least for the time being.

v. 6. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face of the Lord, thy God, literally, “Soften His face,” which was now turned against him in hardness and anger, beseeching Him so earnestly that He cannot refuse, and pray for me that my hand may be restored me again, so that he would again have its full use. And the man of God besought the Lord, he succeeded in softening Jehovah’s hard face by the fervor of his intercession, and the king’s hand was restored him again and became as it was before, he once more had control of it.

v. 7. And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward, a present, or gift, to win him over to his side, and to weaken or remove the impression made by the awful threat; for Jeroboam was by no means repentant.

v. 8. And the man of God said unto the king, refusing the hand of fellowship extended by an idolater, if thou wilt give me half thine house, half of all that he possessed, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place;

v. 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 thou camest, lest some one, knowing of his passing, might detain him.

v. 10. So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. It is God’s will, most emphatically expressed, that His servants should not fellowship with such as teach, or adhere to, false doctrine.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE TESTIMONY OF GOD AGAINST THE CALF WORSHIP.We have in this chapter, which some commentators consider to be derived from a different source from the narratives which precede and follow itthe expression of 1Ki 13:32, “the cities of Samaria,” according to them, proving it to be of a later date, while the style and colouring of the story suggest that it embodies a tradition current in the time of the compileran account of certain circumstances of profound significance which marked the inauguration of Jeroboam’s first great feastfor the close connexion with 1Ki 12:1-33. shows that it is “the fifteenth day of the eighth month” that is here described. The Chapter divides itself into two sections, the first (1Ki 12:1-10) containing the public testimony of the prophet of Judah against the schismatic worship, the second (1Ki 12:11-32) his subsequent perversion and his tragical death.

1Ki 13:1

And, behold, there came a man of God [see on 1Ki 12:22. The “man of God” is throughout carefully distinguished from the “prophet.” Josephus calls the former Jadon, probably the Grecized form of Iddo, , which appears as Ia’do in the Keri of 2Ch 9:29. Iddo, however, notwithstanding his “visions against Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2Ch 9:29), it cannot have been, for he survived to the reign of Abijah, and indeed wrote a “story” (Heb. Midrash, i.e; Commentary) of that reign, whereas this man of God died forthwith. For a similar reason, we cannot believe it to have been Shemaiah, the historian of the reign of Rehoboam (2Ch 12:5, 2Ch 12:15)] out of Judah [whither, as a rule, both priests and prophets would seem to have retreated (2Ch 11:14, 2Ch 11:16). It is clear, however, that the migration of the latter was not so general as that of the former. In 2Ch 9:11 we find a prophet at Bethel; in 2Ch 14:1-15. Ahijah is still at Shiloh, and at a later day we find schools of the prophets at Bethel, Jericho, etc. (2Ki 2:8, 2Ki 2:5). Stanley says with truth that “the prophetical activity of the time is to be found in the kingdom, not of Judah, but of Israel,” but omits to add that it was because the northern kingdom more especially needed their ministry. It was just for this reason that Ahijah and others remained at their posts.] by [Heb. in, same word as in verses 2, 9, 17, 20, 32, etc. Similarly, 1Sa 3:21. The is not merely instrumental, but, like the , of the N.T; denotes the sphere or element. “By the word” would imply that he had received a Divine communication; “in the word,” that his message possessed him, inspired him, was “in his heart as a burning fire shut up in his bones” (Jer 20:9)] the word of the Lord unto Bethel [It is worth remembering that the new sanctuary at Bethel would probably be visible from the temple, so that this function was an act of open defiance]: and Jeroboam stood by [Heb. upon. See on 1Ki 12:32, 1Ki 12:33. It is the same occasion] the altar to burn incense [or to burn the fat, etc; of the sacrifice. See on 1Ki 12:33. This altar was clearly, pro hac vice, an altar of burnt offering; not an altar of incense, as is proved by the next verse.]

1Ki 13:2

And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord [This apostrophe of the altar is very striking and significant. It is as if the prophet disdained to notice the royal but self-constituted priest; as if it were useless to appeal to him; as if his person was of little consequence compared with the religious system he was inaugurating, the system of which the altar was the centre and embodiment]; Behold a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name [This particular mention of the Reformer by name was formerly regarded, as by many it is still, as a remarkable instance of prophetic foresight. But the tendency of late, even amongst orthodox theologians, has been to doubt the authenticity of these two words, on the ground that it is unlike Scripture prophecy in general to descend to such details, which rather belong to soothsaying than prediction. Prophecy concerns itself not with names, times, and similar particulars, but with the “progressive development of the kingdom of God in its general features” (Keil). It is not for a moment denied that the prophet could just as easily, speaking “in the word of the Lord,” have mentioned the name of Josiah, as the circumstance that a son of the house of David would utterly destroy the worship of calves. But it is alleged that the latter prediction is quite in accordance with Scripture usage, and the former altogether contrarient thereto. The case of Cyrus (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1), it is true, is an exception to the rule, unless (which means the sun) is, like Pharaoh and Hadad, a name of office, a title of the Persian kings. The instances of Isaac (Gen 17:19) and Solomon (1Ch 22:9) are not parallels, as in both these cases the name was highly significant, and each was mentioned, not by way of prophecy, but as a direction to bestow that name on a child shortly about to be born. And it is certainly noticeablethough the argument e silentio is necessarily a precarious one”that where this narrative is again referred to (2Ki 23:15-18) there is no allusion to the fact that the man of God had prophesied of Josiah by name“ (Rawlinson). On the whole, therefore, it seems probable that the two words were no part of the original prophecy, but a marginal note which in course of time found its way accidentally into the text. The idea of Keil, that “Josiah” is mentioned here not as a proper name, but as an appellation, “he whom Jehovah sustains,” is hardly worthy of serious consideration. It may be allowed, however, that the meaning of the name affords some slender reason for its mention]; and upon thee shall he offer [lit; sacrifice] the priests of the high places [see on 1Ki 12:32] that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones [Heb. bones of man, i.e; human bones. Nothing could more completely foreshadow the future desecration of the altar. The presence in the congregation of a living man who had merely touched a dead body and had not been purified, defiled the tabernacle (Num 19:13), how much more the dead body itself, burnt on the very altar. The Samaritan who once strewed the temple with human ashes (Jos; Ant. 18.2. 2) knew that he took the most effectual way to pollute it] shall be burnt [Heb. shall they burn] upon thee. [For the fulfilment, see 2Ki 23:20, “At the ground of this judgment, as of the whole theocratic law, lies the jus talionis”.]

It is worthy of note how completely this brief protest proclaimed to Jeroboam the utter and shameful overthrow, both of his political and religious systems. A child of the rival house of David should stand where he then stood, his successors extinct or powerless to prevent him, and should cover this new cultus with disgrace and contempt. The man of God, he must have felt, has proclaimed in few words the fall of his dynasty, the triumph of his rival, and the failure of all his schemes.

1Ki 13:3

And he gave a sign [The Heb. rather signifies a portent (, miraculum, prodigium) than a sign, the proper word for which is . The word occurs repeatedly in the Pentateuch, where it is rendered wonder, or miracle, by our translators (Wordsworth). Signs had, of course, been given before (Exo 4:30; Exo 7:9; 1Sa 12:17; etc.) but hardly in such immediate attestation of a special message. From this time forward such signs are not infrequent (Isa 7:14; Isa 38:8; 2Ki 19:29). They mark the decline of faith (Mat 12:39). As to the need at this crisis for some miraculous token, see Homiletics. The fitness of this particular sign is obvious] the same day, saying, This is the sign which [Rather that; = quod. The A.V. rendering hardly makes sense. Nor does it agree, as Rawlinson seems to think, with the LXX; which reads , etc.] the Lord hath spoken [i.e; by me. “This is the proof that my message is from Him, and is no idle threat.” Wordsworth sees in this sign “a proof vouchsafed by God Himself to the man of Judah, as well as to Jeroboam, that he was really sent by God,” etc. But surely a man who came “in the word of the Lord,” and cried, “Thus saith the Lord,” wanted no proof that “he was doing God’s bidding” (see 1Co 14:22)]; Behold, the altar shall be rent and the ashes [strictly, fat ashes. ; properly, “fatness” (see Jdg 9:9; Psa 63:5. , LXX.), is the fat of the sacrifice, which was burnt upon the altar, mixed with the ashes that consumed it] that are upon it shall be poured out. [The sign, a partial destruction of the altar, and the scattering of the sacrifice, was admirably calculated to presage its ultimate and final and ignominious overthrow. The idea favoured by Stanley (“Jewish Ch.” 2:280) that this prediction was fulfilled “if not before, at least” in the time of Amos, when the altar was destroyed by an earthquake shock (Amo 9:1; cf. Amo 3:14), does not seem to take account of verse 5.]

1Ki 13:4

And it came to pass when king Jeroboam [The A.V. follows the LXX. The Heb. omits “Jeroboam”] heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand [instinctively. His first thought was, not to wait and see whether the promised sign was given, but to seize and punish the man who had dared thus to denounce and thwart him. And we may imagine how extremely mortifying this interruption must have been to him. It threatened the complete frustration of his policy at the very moment when it seemed certain of suceess] from the altar [the ledge or platform, i.e; where he stood. He did not leave it, but shouted his commands to his servants], saying, Lay hold on him. [“Arrest him,” “let him not escape.” One word in the Heb.] And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up [Possibly the result of paralysis or tetanus (Ackermann in Bhr). It was like the “withered hand” of the New Testament (Mat 12:10, etc.) deprived of feeling and vital force, as the next words show], so that he could not pull it in again to him. [It was not only powerless to punish, it was punished. “Now stands the king of Israel, like some antique statue, in a posture of impotent endeavour” (Hall). This was a warning to the king, not so much against his unauthorized and schismatical rites, as against his attempt to avenge himself on the messenger of God (Psa 105:14, Psa 105:15).]

1Ki 13:5

The altar also was rent [by the same invisible power, and probably at the same moment], 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.

1Ki 13:6

And the king [humbled and alarmed by the judgment he had experienced in his own person] answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now [The Heb. is very expressive”Smooth or stroke the face.” It is an expression which occurs several times. See especially Exo 32:11; 2Ki 13:4; 2Ch 33:12; Pro 19:6] of the Lord thy God [i.e; whose messenger thou art. “Jeroboam, conscience stricken, does not dare to call Jehovah his own God” (Wordsworth). This was probably the case, yet surely it is an inference not warranted by the text. The expression, “The Lord thy God,” is of constant occurrence, especially when a “man of God” is addressed; cf. 1Ki 17:12; 1Ki 18:10], and pray for me [This sudden change in his bearing shows how much Jeroboam was frightened. The sight, too, of the king humbly supplicating the prophet who a moment before had protested against the calf worship was calculated to make an impression on the minds of the people], that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought [lit; stroked the face of] the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored him, and became as it was before.

1Ki 13:7

And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself [with food, ablutions, etc. We are hardly justified in seeing in these words (with Bhr and Keil) an attempt to “gain the prophet over to his side by friendliness,” and to render his threat harmless in the eyes of the people. The king doubtless may have hoped that it would “blunt the edge of the prophet’s denunciation of his schismatical altar” (Wordsworth); but this was not the object, or not the sole object, with which the invitation was given. Jeroboam could not possibly have clone less, after the signal service the man of God had rendered him, than invite him to his palace. Eastern courtesy alone (Gen 18:4; Gen 19:2; Gen 43:24, etc.) would require him to offer hospitality to his benefactor. And he could scarcely hope that any hospitalities would either neutralize the impression which the recent miracles had made, or win over to his side one who had a direct commission from the Most High to oppose him. With more reason, Wordsworth cites 1Sa 15:30, “Honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people.” A feeling of gratitude may have prompted the invitation, while the king at the same time was very sensible of the advantages which would accrue to himself if it were accepted], and I will give thee a reward. [The services, especially of seers and prophets, were invariably requited in the East with presents, as are those of Judges, Kadis, Kaimakams, and other officers at the present day (see 1Ki 14:3; Gen 24:53; Gen 33:11; Gen 43:11; Num 22:17; Jdg 3:17; Jdg 6:18; Jdg 13:15; 1Sa 9:7, 1Sa 9:8; 1Sa 12:3; 2Ki 5:5, 2Ki 5:15; 2Ki 8:8, 2Ki 8:9).]

1Ki 13:8

And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house [cf. Num 22:18, of which, however, there is hardly a reminiscence. Obviously, half the contents or wealth of thy house], I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place.

1Ki 13:9

For so was it charged [Heb. he, sc. the Lord, charged me] me by [Heb. in] the word of the Lord, saying, Fat no bread, nor drinkwater [Participation in foodthe “eating salt”is in the East a token of friendship and affinity; a sign of close communion and fellowship. The prophet’s refusal to participate was consequently a practical and forcible disclaimer of all fellowship, a virtual excommunication, a public repudiation of the calf worshippers.

Cf. 1Co 5:11,” With such an one, no, not to eat.” As Corn. Lapide, “Ut ipso facto ostenderet, Bethelitas idololatras adeo esse detestabiles, et a Deo quasi excommunicates, ut nullum fidelium cum iis cibi vel potus communionem habere velit”], nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. [ the object of this command was not “simply to test the obedience of the prophet” (Rawlinson), nor yet that no one might “force him to a delay which was irreconcilable with his commission” (Keil), for that was practically executed, but to avoid as far as possiblewhat, indeed, happened in spite of these precautionshis being traced and followed. Because of this provision, the old prophet (1Co 5:10) was reduced to ask, “What way went he?” But the charge, we can hardly doubt,was also designed to serve another purpose, viz; to warn the prophet against doing what he did presentlyagainst returning to Bethel. When he was followed, and when he was told of a revelation commanding his return, he should have remembered, among other things, that it had clearly been part of God’s purpose, as evidenced by the explicit instructions given him, that he should not be followed. This alone should have led him to suspect this old prophet of deceit.]

1Ki 13:10

So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

HOMILETICS

1Ki 13:2, 1Ki 13:3, 1Ki 13:8

Protest and Excommunication.

The sin of Jeroboam, the schism which he inaugurated in person at the first feast of tabernacles held in Bethel, was not consummated without protest. When the king, possibly in the “golden garments” of the priesthood, mounted the altar platform and stood before the vast multitude assembled to witness this first great function of the new regime, a messenger of God, sent from Judah, the seat of the true religion, lifted up his voice and witnessed against these irregular and impious proceedings, against the unsanctified altar, the unhallowed sacrifice, and the intrusive priesthood. It must have been pretty clear beforehand that any protest addressed to Jeroboam, who had devised and elaborated this corruption of Mosaic worship, would be unavailing, but nevertheless it must be made. It was probably in part because Jeroboam was beyond the reach of remonstrance that the warning was addressed to the altar itself In other words, it was made for the sake of the people rather than of their king. They should be mercifully, and therefore distinctly, taught that this calf worship had not and could not have the sanction of the Most High. Whether they would hear, or whether they would forbear, they should see that God had not left Himself without witness; they should know that at this crisis there had been a prophet amongst them. The breach should not be made without due warning of its sinfulness and its consequences. “For a testimony unto them” the man of God addresses the dumb altar, the sign and centre of the new system, and proclaims not only its overthrow but the destruction of Jeroboam’s house and the defeat of all his schemes.

And as, under such circumstances, mere threats, of whatsoever character and by whomsoever spoken, would have had but little weight without “signs following,” the message straightway receives the confirmation of a miracle. That the man of God “came from Judah” was in itself reason enough why the men of Israel should not listen to him, unless he compelled their attention by prodigies. “A partizan,” they would say, “perhaps a hireling of Rehoboam, it was natural such a one would prophecy evil of the Northern Church and kingdom,” and so his words would have been unheeded, even if his life had been spared. Besides, one who professed to come as he did, “in the word of the Lord,” they had a right to ask for his credentials, and those credentials could only be miraculous. Had not Moses and Aaron “wrought signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh and all his servants?” Had not Samuel, too, supported his message by a portent? (1Sa 12:18.) If the denunciation of the schism, consequently, was not to be inoperative, he must “give a sign” the same day.

And to these “two witnesses””the “sure word of prophecy” and the “sign following”the rashness and impiety of Jeroboam procured the addition of a third, or rather of two moresilent, but eloquent attestations, each of them, that the prophet had not spoken in his own name. For, enraged at this bold, this most unwelcome and sinister interruption of his ritual, and fearing the effect of this brave protest on his audience and the thousands of Israel to whom the news would ultimately come, and forgetting at the moment the sacred character of the speaker and the unseen panoply which protected him, he stretches forth his hand intuitively, as if to detain the prophet, and thunders his commands to the attendant soldiery to arrest him. But that hand, really raised against the Most High, suddenly becomes rigid and powerless, and he must needs stoop to beg the prophet’s prayers that it may be restored to him again. And so it came to pass that the heretic king furnished in his own person, much against his will, two powerful proofs that the “man of God” did indeed speak the word of God and was supported by the power of God. It is thus that God makes the wrath of man to praise Him.

Such, then, was the PROTEST, in word and deed, which marked the first great service of the schismatic Church. But that was not all. The protest was to be followed by an INTERDICT. The man of God was commissioned at the same time to put the city and inhabitants of Bethel under a ban. He was to treat them as lepers, as so tainted with heresy, so polluted and unclean in the sight of God, that he could neither eat of their bread nor drink of their cup. For this was clearly the object of the injunction, “Eat no bread nor drink water there;” it was to show that all who participated in this unhallowed worship were thenceforward to be treated by Divine command as heathens and publicans. And to the children of the East this public disclaimer of fellowship, this practical excommunication, would have a significance such as with our altered conditions of society we can hardly conceive, though the “Boycotting” of our own time may help us to understand its operation. Every citizen of Bethel, every worshipper of the calves, would feel himself branded as unclean. The “scarlet letter” which the Puritans of New England printed on the bosom of the adulteress hardly involved a greater stigma. It was for this reason, therefore, that when the king bade the man of God to his palace and promised him a royal recompense for the service he had rendered him, the latter flung back his invitation in his face, and swore that half the king’s house would not tempt him to eat of his dainties. Jeroboam, and his people through him, should learn that if they would persist in their wanton defiance of Divine law; if they would have two churches and three sanctuaries where God had decreed there should in either case be but one; if they would sacrifice before the works of their own hands, and by ministers of man’s ordaining, and at times of man’s devising, then the pious Hebrews who preserved inviolate the ancient faith should wipe their hands of them, and treat them as renegades and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel

The lessons of this history are manifold. Two, however, occupy a position of pre-eminence above the rest.

1. That corruptions of religion are not to be consummated without PROTEST on the part of the Church. That Christianity, as well as Judaism, should have its heresies and schisms was distinctly foretold by St. Paul himself (1Co 11:19; Act 20:29, Act 20:30). But if they are inevitable, because of the frailty of our nature and the hardnesss of our hearts, they are none the less sinful, and it is none the less our duty to strive and to witness against them. If God did not suffer that first great schism to pass unreproved, can we do better, or do less, than follow His example? It may be said that we cannot always distinguish between heresy and orthodoxythat we “call our doxy orthodoxy, and other people’s doxy heterodoxy,” and this is quite true. But individual opinion is one thing and the teaching of the Church another. Has the Church, then, no teaching office? Is she or is she not “the pillar and ground of the truth”? Has she or has she not the promise of our Lord’s guidance and illumination? (Mat 18:17, Mat 18:18; Mat 28:20.) Or can the Church universal err? (Mat 16:18.) Is her “Quod semper, quod ubique,“ etc; no test of truth? It is not for the private Christian to claim any infallibility, but it is for the Church to say what is in and what is against her depositum fidei. And furthermore it is her duty, in her synods and by her officers, to protest against all corruptions of the faith. “A man that is a heretic reject,” Tit 3:10; cf. Tit 1:9-11; 1Ti 6:3-5 (“From such withdraw thyself”); Rom 16:17; Mat 18:17; Mat 8:1-34 Joh 9:1-41, Joh 10:1-42; Gal 1:8; Gal 2:11. The Christian verity is not less dear to God than was the teaching of Hoses. The preacher is as much bound to preserve the faith whole and undefiled as was the prophet. And it is idle to say, as it sometimes is said, that mere protests are worse than useless. They may not avert a schismthis protest did notbut they may have their use nevertheless, as this had. Or if they are entirely futile as regards others, they are not forgotten of God. Besides, who shall say that success or non success is to alter the standard of Christian duty? It is surely something to be able to say, whatever the issue, Liberavi animam meam. It is to be remembered that God knew beforehand that this His protest, though enforced by signs and wonders, would be comparatively unavailing.

2. That certain crimes against morality and religion are still to be visited by EXCOMMUNICATION. Not the excommunication of bell and book and candlethat finds no place in Holy Scripturebut social excommunication such as that described to us in this history. Indeed, there is also an ecclesiastical excommunication which must sometimes be wielded. There are persons with whom we have no right to eat and to drink at the Table of our Blessed Lordpersons who must be repelled at any cost from Holy Communion, lest we should indirectly make ourselves “partakers of other men’s sins” (1Ti 5:22). When Jn Wesley once proposed to give a note of admission to the Lord’s Table to a man of dubious character, Henry Moore, one of his preachers, bluntly said that if that man were admitted he should refuse to attend. “Sir,” said Wesley, “I should attend even if the devil came to Holy Communion.” “So should I,” was the answer; “but not if John Wesley gave him a note of admission.” For it is obvious that the Eucharist, the closest rite of fellowshipthe rite which makes and proclaims us members one of another (Rom 12:4, Rom 12:5)if knowingly administered to the “notorious evil liver” is a virtual condoning of his sin; it is equivalent to bidding him God speed (2Jn 1:10, 2Jn 1:11), and so it makes the Church “partaker of his evil deeds.” “Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (1Co 5:1-13 :15). But our history points rather to social than ecclesiastical interdict. And it must be distinctly understood that the refusal to eat and drink with notorious and incorrigible evil livers is a part of Christian duty (see 1Co 5:9-11; 2Th 3:14, 2Th 3:15; Mat 18:17). We are not permitted to know them and to treat them like other men. The story of St. John’s hurriedly leaving the bath because of the presence there of the heretic Cerinthus, is one for which the so called tolerance of the age can only afford a contemptuous smile; but the age is often wiser in its own conceit than Christ and His apostles. Only let us remember, if we must treat any as heathens and publicans, how Christ treated the penitent publicans (cf. Luk 15:1, Luk 15:2); and then let us not shrink from discharging this painful duty both to our country, our Church, and our God. Among the secondary lessons of our story are these:

1. That right shall triumph in the long run. The schism throve for 250 years, but the altar was ultimately dishonoured and overthrown. The Reformer who should desecrate it with bones of men was already appointed in the counsels of God. Even so, sooner or later, “every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up” (Mat 15:18). “If this work be of men, it will come to nought” (Act 5:38).

“Our little systems have their day,
They have their day and cease to be.”

Magma est veritas, etc. The Babel of sects cannot last forever.

2. The ministers of God are secure so long as they do their duty. Jeroboam, with the ten tribes at his back, was powerless against the unprotected missionary. “He reproved kings for their sakes, saying Do my prophets no harm” (Psa 105:14, Psa 105:15). The stars shall fall from their courses before a hair of their heads shall be injured. Cf. Dan 3:27; Dan 6:22; 2Ki 1:10, etc. But it may be objected, “The saints and messengers of God have often been brutally outraged and murdered” (Heb 11:35-37). True, but who shall say that they were not then most secure? “Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God“ (Act 14:22). It was when Stephen was martyred that he saw “Jesus standing”i.e; to help”at the right hand of God.” It has been suggested that it was when St. Paul was stoned and taken up for dead (Act 14:19) that he was caught up into Paradise (2Co 12:4). Sic iter ad astra.

3. The wicked cannot dispense with the prayers of the saints. “Entreat the face of the Lord thy God and pray for me” (cf. Exo 9:28; Num 12:2, Num 12:13; Act 8:24). How often has this history repeated itself; and what a foreshadowing of the world to come! Here was one of the synagogue of Satan worshipping at the prophet’s feet, etc. (Rev 3:9). Observe, too, it is the part of a man of God to answer threats with prayers. “They are mine adversaries, but I, prayer” (Psa 109:4, Heb.; cf. Psa 35:13 sqq.) It is the very best way of overcoming evil with good.

4. Men are often more concerned about their sufferings than about their sins. Jeroboam’s entreaty is, not that his sin may be forgiven, but that his hand may be restored. How many pray, “Heal my body;” how few, “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee” (Psa 41:4). The plague of head or hand extorts more cries for mercy than the plague of the heart (1Ki 8:38).

5. “Law and order cannot be violated with impunity by any ruler under any religious pretext“ (Maurice). The rent altar teaches the lesson of Psa 2:2-5 : “Those betray themselves that think by any sin to support themselves.” “He promised himself that the calves would secure the crown to his family, but it proved they lost it” (M. Henry).

6. Let the ministers of God beware of bribery. “Come home with me and I will give,” etc. The device of Jeroboam for silencing and conciliating the prophet has often been tried since, and with fatal success. How many men’s mouths have been stopped by a sopby place or pension, nay, by an insignificant present. Men know wellthe enemy of man knows wellthat the preacher finds it hard to reprove a benefactor. The writer once heard an influential person boasting that he had silenced his clergyman’s remonstrances and appeals by a present of game! The world has a shrewd suspicion that the clergy are not incorruptible; that they, like others, have their price. Let us be on our guard against social corruption. How sinister the influence of some homes on the younger clergy. The cordial “Come home with me” was to them a snare of Satan. With the State clergy how strong the temptation to sacrifice independence for a benefice; with Nonconformists, to speak smooth words lest the congregation should “stop the supplies.” The man of God thus speaks to all ministers of God.

HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD

1Ki 13:1-3

The Fire of Jehovah.

Jeroboam went to inaugurate his feast of tabernacles at his principal temple in Bethel, and to give effect to the ceremonies officiated in person as high priest. Then, as he stood by the altar, censer in hand, he was confronted by the word of the Lord. A man of God from Judah denounced the altar in the words before us, which contain a very remarkable prophecy; and he authenticated his message by a miraculous sign. The subject teaches

I. THAT GOD SEES THE END FROM THE BEGINNING.

1. This is evinced in His works of creation.

(1) There is foresight in the constitution and adjustments of the framework, and in the motions, of the orbs.

(2) Also in the anticipatory instincts of animalsstoring of food, provisions for young. Moths deposit their eggs upon leaves, not used by themselves as food, but proper to sustain the larvae.

(3) And in the anticipatory faculties of man. Intelligent foresight in business, in politics, in science, in religion.

2. It is evinced in prophecy.

(1) Great outlines of the world’s history pre-written there (see Gen 9:25-27; Dan 7:1-28.).

(2) Particular example here. (Compare this with 2Ki 23:15-20.) The facts here were attestedBy the Jews, on whose behalf they were orderedBy the Ephrathites, who would have impugned their authority if they could.

3. This example is too circumstantial to have been accidental.

(1) The child was to be of the house of David. Who but God could foresee that the house of David should occupy the throne of Judah at a distance of 856 years?

(2) Who but God could foresee that Bethel would then have passed from the kings of Israel under the dominion of Judah? (See 2Ch 13:19.)

(3) Who but God could foresee that at a distance of 840 years a child should be born to the house of David, bearing the name of Josiah, who should in due time do these things?

(4) Who else could anticipate, even when Josiah received his name, that the grandson of the wicked Manasseh, and son of the no less wicked Amen, should come to the throne, and with pious zeal bring these things to pass? Note: Such prescience as God displayed in this prophecy, and such providence as He evinced in its accomplishment, encourage faith. They assure us that our very names are in His book (Php 4:8). They encourage prayer.

II. THAT HE WILL CONFRONT THE SINNER IN JUDGMENT.

1. The message to Jeroboam was to this very effect.

(1) He bore His testimony against the altar. It had been consecrated, after a fashion, by the king, but God would desecrate it. The bodies of its priests were to be sacrificed upon it, and the bones of men were to be burnt upon it (1Ki 13:2). God will accept no will worshipno worship ordered after the policy of statesmen.

(2) In the demolition of the altar, not only is the religion connected with it doomed to be overthrown, but the judgment involves its votariesthe king, his priests, his people.

(3) The testimony was strong. The man of God cried aloud. He did not quail in the presence of the king amidst his friends. God’s messengers should never cringe nor quail God’s word can never fail.

2. These things were an allegory.

(1) Many of the wonderful narratives of Holy Scripture may be thus understood. We have the famous example, Gal 4:21-31.

(2) Here Jeroboam, like all other leaders in apostasy, was a forerunner of the Antichrist. As the religion of the “man of sin” is a caricature of the religion of Christ, so was that of Jeroboam a parody upon the Mosaic.

(3) Josiah was a type of Christ, the true Son of David. (Compare Isa 7:14.) Warning and mercy come before destruction. The army of Judah was stayed from crushing Jeroboam (1Ki 12:24), and in the mission of the man of God there was mercy in the warning. Let the sinner be admonished not to refuse the gospel.J.A.M.

1Ki 13:4-6

The Man of Sin.

When the man of God predicted the confusion of the political religion of Jeroboam, and gave the sign that the altar at Bethel should be rent and its ashes poured out, the pride of the king who stood there as a priest was mortified, and his resentment was manifested as described in the text.

I. JEROBOAM WAS A TYPICAL SINNER.

1. He transgressed God’s law

(1) In making images. The law forbad this (Exo 20:4, Exo 20:5). But he made two golden calves. Note: Images of God must be caricatures, and God will not be mocked, solemnly or otherwise, with impunity. How many frightful caricatures of Deity has the “man of sin” perpetrated! (2Th 2:3-12.)

(2) In multiplying altars. Legal worship was limited to one altar “in the place which the Lord should choose” (Deu 16:16). This was to keep before men the one only Mediator (Joh 14:6; 1Ti 2:5). Therefore other altars than that at Jerusalem were “altars unto sin” (Hos 8:11).

(3) In creating priests. According to the law, none but sons of Aaron had a Divine vocation to the priesthood (Exo 30:7, Exo 30:8; 2Ch 26:18; Heb 5:4). According to the gospel, Christ is sole Priest. Jeroboam, an Ephrathite, invaded the law principle, making himself high priest, and making subordinate priests of the lowest of the people.

2. He did so impudently.

(1) His sin was not of ignorance, for he had access to the Scriptures; but it did not serve his purpose to refer to them.

(2) Prophecy was particularly distasteful to him, for his doom is written there. Jeroboam had this from the lips of Ahijah, and now has it from the man of God from Judah. Beware of the spirit that would discourage a study upon which God has pronounced a blessing (Rev 1:3).

(3) The spirit of his religion was political. He would not have troubled himself with it had he not political ends to serve (1Ki 12:26-29). And to carry out these he dissembled: “It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem!”

II. HIS DOOM ALSO WAS TYPICAL.

1. He was confronted by the word of God.

(1) With this the man of God from Judah withstood him at his altar. So by the word of the Lord, and especially with the spirit of prophecy, has the man of sin been confronted by Waldenses, Paulikiaus, Hussites, Lutherans, and such like men “from Judah.”

(2) But against this testimony he invoked the civil power under his usurped control (1Ki 13:4). The spirit of persecution was there. The modern Jeroboam carried it further (Dan 12:1-13 :21; Rev 13:7; Rev 17:6).

2. He was humbled by the power of God.

(1) His hand was withered; his power to persecute was paralyzed. How powerless is the hand of man when arrested by the hand of God! Behind the political restraints which now hold the persecuting hand of our enemies we must discern the invisible hand of God.

(3) The altar, then, was cloven, and the ashes of the spurious sacrifices poured out as with contempt. This also was effected by the same invisible hand. Who can resist the might of God?

(4) Constrained by these judgments, he confessed the finger of God, and entreated the man of God to pray for the restoration of his hand (see Exo 10:16, Exo 10:17; Num 21:7; Mat 5:23, Mat 5:24).

3. Yet he persisted in his sin.

(1) His humiliation was selfish. It was the creature of his terror and suffering, so it was transient.

(2) True repentance is of a loftier principle, and is enduring. It is a life, as faith also is a life.

(3) Instead of using his restored hand to demolish his high places, he used it to repair the altar at Bethel, and persisted in his sin (1Ki 13:33, 1Ki 13:34; 2Ch 13:20). But Josiah executed the judgments of prophecy in due time, So will the modern Jeroboam and his monstrous organization of sin perish in the fires of the judgment (Dan 7:10, Dan 7:11; 2Th 2:8). Note: Let those come out of Babylon who would escape her plagues.J.A.M.

1Ki 13:7-10

The Man of God.

We may view “Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,” as the “man of sin” of his time, and a forerunner of the Antichrist of more modern times (2Th 2:3). In contrast to him we have to consider the “man of God,” in which character this prophet who confronted Jeroboam at Bethel, is described. The instructions under which he acted teach us how a saint should behave amongst workers of iniquity.

I. HE MUST HOLD NO FELLOWSHIP WITH THEM.

1. He must not eat and drink with them.

(1) For this was anciently a profession of fellowship. Hence the Hebrews in Egypt would not eat with the Egyptians (Gen 43:32). The Jews would not eat with the Samaritans (Joh 4:9); and they were shocked to see Jesus eating with publicans and sinners (Mat 9:11). For the same reason Christians were forbidden to eat with ungodly persons (1Co 5:11; see also Rom 16:17; 2Th 3:6,2Th 3:14; 2Ti 3:5; Jas 4:4; 2Jn 1:10).

(2) The law of distinction between clean and unclean meats set forth not only the duty of avoiding fellowship with moral uncleanness, but also with those who are morally unclean; for the unclean animals represented “sinners of the Gentiles” while the clean stood for the “holy people” of Israel (Act 10:14, 84, 85).

(3) The eating of the forbidden fruit in Eden at the instigation of the serpent, who also seems to have eaten of it first, expressed fellowship with Satan! As the trees of Eden were sacramental, it may have expressed a covenant with the Evil One! Those who ate together were understood to stand to each other in a covenant relationship (Gen 31:43-46).

(4) In this light the Christian Eucharist sets forth the covenant fellowship, that we have, first, with Christ, and secondly, with those who are in such fellowship with Him (see, in this light, Joh 6:53-56).

2. He must refuse their presents.

(1) Some think Jeroboam’s offer to “reward” the man of God was to give him a bribe. This is not evident. Yet good men are liable to be tempted with bribes, but should stoutly refuse them (1Sa 12:3; Job 15:34).

(2) The king’s intention was to do honour to the man of God, according to a constant custom in the East (see 1Sa 9:7; 2Ki 5:15). The word here translated “reward,” would have been better rendered “gift,” as in many other places it is. But such a gift or present, if accepted, would express friendship, and therefore, coming from the hand of an arch idolator and schismatic, it must be declined,

(3) Good men must be careful how they accept favours from the wicked, lest in doing so they may compromise to them their independence, or come unduly under their influence (see Gen 14:1-24 :28; Gen 23:13-16; 2Ki 5:16).

II. HIS INTERCOURSE WITH THEM SHOULD BE BRIEF.

1. While serving God he is safe.

(1) His very testimony for God commits him to a course of conduct consistent with it. This element of moral strength is lost to those who hide their light under a bushel.

(2) He has a right to claim God’s help (Mat 10:19, Mat 10:20; Mat 28:20).

2. But it is perilous longer to remain.

(1) The very disposition to remain amidst circumstances with which we should have no sympathy argues weakness which should alarm.

(2) He lays himself open to temptation. He may find the “king” disposed to honour him. Some are foolishly susceptible to flattery from the great ones of this world. The man of God should be proof against this (1Ki 13:8).

(3) He may be taken at a disadvantage. Being away from the influence of godly friends. Having now no claim to special help from God.

3. But why must he return by another way?

(1) Not only did the man of God give a sign, but he was also himself a sign. As Jeroboam was the sign of the man of sin, this prophet was, at least in his instructions, a typical “man of God.”

(2) In coming from Judah, where God was purely worshipped in His temple, to Ephraim, where “altars were made unto sin,” he would personate that moral lapse into which Ephraim had fallen.

(3) In his speedy return from Ephraim to Judah, after deprecating the sin of the place, he would represent to the Ephrathites what God expected from them, viz; repentance and reformation.

(4) But the way hack to God is not precisely the reversal of the way from Him. Adam fell by sin of his own and was turned out of Eden, but must return by the righteousness of another (Gen 3:24). Our way hack to God is the “new and living way opened in the blood of Jesus.”J.A.M.

HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND

1Ki 13:1, 1Ki 13:2

The Nameless Prophet.

Jeroboam’s inauguration of the high place at Bethel was an imitation of Solomon’s dedication of the temple at Jerusalem. Like Solomon, he chose the feast of tabernacles as the season for this ceremony, although he daringly altered the date of the feast from the seventh month to the eighth. Describe the scene: the crowds of people, the new-made priests, the gorgeous shrine, the conflicting feelings of the worshippers. None dared to oppose the king, and at the expected moment he stepped forward to burn incense before the calf. Just then one, who had been till then unnoticed, pressed to the front of the crowd. He came from the neighboring kingdom of Judah. In words of terrible invective he delivered the message of the Lord. Who was he? Josephus (Ant; 1Ki 8:8. 5) identifies him with Iddo the seer. There is no proof of this. He was one of the many servants of Jehovah who have done their work without emblazoning on it their name. Like John the Baptist, he was content to be “a voice crying” out a testimony for God. In considering the service rendered in his day by this NAMELESS PROPHET let us look at the following:

I. HIS MESSAGE.

1. Its Divine origin. “He cried in the word of the Lord.” A remarkable expression. It represents the word as the sphere in which he lived, the atmosphere he breathed. A sense of the Divine presence, a confidence in the Divine call, a certainty of the Divine message, characterized him. This was a sign of the true prophet. Compare with this the call of Samuel, the announcements of Elijah, the commission of Isaiah, etc. To some the declarations of God’s will came fitfully. Prophecy was never a constant possession of a servant of God. There was a tidal flow of inspiration, the law of which we know not. So was it with the miraculous powers of the Apostles.

2. Its definite nature (verse 2). The very name of the coming avenger is mentioned more than three hundred years before Josiah’s birth. It was foretold that the priests would be sacrified on the altar at which they had insulted God. The lex talionis is the ground of this, as of other theocratic laws. It reminds us that the sinner is destroyed by his own sin; that punishments are not arbitrary, but are the legitimate issues of crime against God. It was further announced that the bones of the dead would be taken from the graves and burnt on the altar, so that the place of idolatry might be defiled and dishonoured. See Num 19:16. For fulfilment of prophecy read 2Ki 23:15-20.

3. Its merciful design. In 1Ki 12:24 we read that God forbade the advance of the army of Judah on Jeroboam. Instead of carnage he sends this message. He willeth not the death of a sinner, but would rather he should turn from his wickedness and live. Suggest the warnings God now sends to rouse us to thought and penitence.

II. HIS COURAGE. It was a bold thing to venture amongst the people at a time when they were full of hatred to Judah, and of unwillingness to be reminded of Jehovah; and to face the king, who was a man of despotic and resolute temper, in the very pride of his royal strength. But in the presence of them all the prophet’s cry arose, “O altar, altar, thus saith Jehovah,” etc; as if the stones would listen more readily than the people. Give examples of similar courage being displayed by men who have had the Consciousness they were speaking for God; e.g; Moses before Pharaoh, Elijah before Ahab, John the Baptist before Herod, Peter and John before the Sanhedrim, Paul before Felix. From church history, too, such examples as that of Ambrose, John Knox, etc; may be cited. Show how requisite courage is now to genuine fidelity to conviction, amongst sceptical or sinful associations.

III. HIS CREDENTIALS. A sign was given there and then. The altar was cleft in twain, and the ashes were poured out. For the significance of the latter see Le Joh 16:3, Joh 16:4. Point out the credibility of supernatural signs as attesting supernatural revelations. Refer to the miracles of Christ, of which He said, “Believe me for the very works’ sake.” See also Mar 16:20; Act 2:1-47 :48. Indicate the nature of the credentials which the world may fairly demand of Christian men in the present day; and show how far we fail in giving these, and the causes of our failure.

IV. HIS SAFETY. Amidst all the perils encircling him he was “kept by the power of God.” The hand that would have slain him was withered; the man who cursed his message besought his prayers. “Man is immortal till his work is done.” When God’s servants die, it is because they have fulfilled the purpose of their lives. They have many enemies, but God can disable all their foes. The path of duty is the path of safety. Illustrate this from the records of the Christian Church; Luther at Worms, etc.

1. Learn to listen for God’s message. He would make you His “voice.”

2. Learn to dare anything in God’s name. The rarity of Christian chivalry.

3. Learn to trust in God’s protection. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

4. Learn to pray even for your persecutors. Compare Act 2:6 with Mat 5:44.A.R.

HOMILIES BY J. WAITE

1Ki 13:6

The King confronted by the Prophet.

Jeroboam is not allowed to pursue his iniquitous career without solemn Divine rebuke and warning. Though Rehoboam has been forbidden to attempt forcibly to suppress the revolt of the tribes (1Ki 12:24), a “man of God out of Judah” is sent sternly to denounce the rival altar, and to give the sacrilegious king something like a symbolic forewarning of the disasters that should surely befall him. The scene, described here with so much simplicity and dramatic force, is full of moral instruction.

I. In the person of the king we see THE HELPLESSNESS OF A WICKED MAN IN THE HANDS OF AN OFFENDED GOD. The physical associations and the mental conditions here presented are alike suggestive of this. It is a striking picture of restrained infatuation and impotent rage.

1. The king’s withered arm tells how God can in a moment turn the strength that is used against Him to weakness. “When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,” etc. (Psa 39:11).

2. The rent altar suggests the certain frustration, sooner or later, of the purposes and plans of those that are at enmity with God. “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought,” etc. (Psa 33:10). “If this counsel or this work be of man,” etc. (Act 5:38).

3. The king’s inability to pray for himself reminds us how God sometimes forsakes those who forsake Him, so that it seems utterly vain for them to call upon Him. Many a man has felt like Saul, “I am sore distressed, and God is departed from me,” etc. (1Sa 28:15).

4. His appeal to the prophet to intercede for him is typical of the way in which ungodly men are often contrained by force of circumstance to seek succour from those whom they have despised. “The wheel of fortune turns and lowers the proud,” and they are placed, perhaps, at the mercy of the very men whom they once scorned and injured. Such are the penalties that God often inflicts on those who trifle with His authority and defy His power. Such is the curse that falls upon “presumptuous sin.”

II. The behaviour of the prophet presents A FINE EXAMPLE OF MORAL DIGNITY AND CONSCIOUS STRENGTH. See here

(1) The courage of a man who knows that God is on his side. The prophets of old, conscious of a more majestic Presence and a higher Sovereignty, never trembled before the face of wicked kings. The fear of God casts out all other fear. “Be not afraid of them that kill the body,” etc. (Luk 12:4, Luk 12:5). “If God be for us,” etc. (Rom 8:31).

(2) The magnanimity of one who feels that he is called to witness for God among men. The prophet will not take advantage of the king’s helpnessness; rather responds at once to his appeal. He who is inspired by God’s Spirit will not return scorn for scorn, or retaliate an attempted injury, but rather use for beneficent ends the power that he possesses. “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,” etc. (Luk 9:54, Luk 9:56).

(3) The efficacy of the prayer of a righteous man. The withered arm is restored, and though this had no happy moral effect, as might have been expected, on Jeroboam, the whole transaction, in which mercy was thus blended with judgment, vindicated the honour of Jehovah, and established afresh His sovereign claim to the allegiance alike of king and people.W.

HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART

1Ki 13:1-10

I. THE PRETENSIONS OF ERROR DEEPEN ITS SHAME. The idolatrous altar was being solemnly consecrated. The people’s eyes were dazzled with the splendour of the priestly and regal display. Jeroboam himself stood by the altar to offer incense. And then the cry arose which arrested every ear and thrilled through every soul.

1. The attempt to give importance to the new idolatry only broadened the mark for God’s rebuke: it simply lent emphasis to His condemnation. They had come to consecrate, and had really come to attend upon God while He desecrated the work of their hands. Heathenism in its splendour thus rebuked by the preaching of the cross, Rome by the light of the Reformation.

2. The agent by whom God’s glory was vindicated. The insignificance of the poor, weary, travel-stained man deepened their disgrace. “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”

II. THE DOOM OF IDOLATROUS WORSHIP.

1. The altar will be desecrated. The place will be made an abomination and horror. Sin’s judgment will in the end be sin’s destruction.

2. The sin will be wiped out in the blood and shame of those who have wrought it. The priests will be offered upon the altar, the bones of its worshippers burned upon it. The world’s sin will be ended in God’s fiery judgment upon the sinful.

3. The certainty of God’s purpose. Centuries intervened between the prediction and the fulfilment, but all was arranged. The time was fixed, the avenger named. There is no uncertainty in God’s mind regarding the end of iniquity. The decree has been recorded, the time fixed, THE MAN named by whom He will judge the world in righteousness.

4. The sign meanwhile given. The altar was rent and its ashes poured out. The wrath revealed from heaven now is proof that all God’s purpose shall be fulfilled.

III. MAN‘S INABILITY TO CONTEND WITH GOD.

1. The withered arm. The arm outstretched in eager, wrathful command to arrest the man of God, withered in the very attitude. It was the emblem of his house and of his people; they were withered in the attitude of rebellion against God.

2. The prophet’s safety. He needed none to shield him. God protects all those who serve Him.

3. Jeroboam’s humiliation. He turns from idol and altar and priests, and requests the prophet’s intercession with Jehovah.

4. His arm is restored at the prophet’s request, and he thus bears in his person another token that the word he has heard is from God. It is the story of God’s contest with darkness and wrong today.

IV. SEPARATION ESSENTIAL FOR TESTIMONY. Jeroboam’s hospitality and reward were alike refused. The prophet was even forbidden to return by the same way: he was not to enter even into acquaintance with men who were sinning so deeply against God. Unless there be separation our testimony is a sham. Our life unsays our speech. If we will speak God’s word to the sinful, our attitude must reveal their distance from God and the peril in which they stand. If our own heart be filled with holy fear it may pass item us to them.J.U.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

1Ki 13:1-3. There came a man of God Commentators are not agreed who this prophet was, neither is there any foundation for so much as a conjecture. The prophesy, however, is one of the most remarkable that we have in sacred writ. It foretels an action which exactly came to pass above three hundred and forty years afterwards. It describes the circumstances of the action, and specifies the very name of the person who was to do it; and therefore every Jew who lived in the time of its accomplishment must have been convinced, one would think, of the divine authority of a religion founded upon such prophesies as this; since none but God could foresee, and consequently none but God could foretel, events at such a distance. See Le Clerc and Calmet.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

SECOND SECTION

Jeroboams Government In Israel

1Ki 13:1 to 1Ki 14:20

A.The admonition of Jeroboam by a Prophet, and the disobedience and end of the latter

1Ki 13:1-34

1And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord 2[Jehovah] unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord [Jehovah], and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord [Jehovah]; Behold, a child shall be born-unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and mens bones shall be burnt upon thee.1 3And he gave a sign2 the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord [Jehovah] hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes3 that are upon it shall be poured out. 4And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, 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. 5The altar also was rent, 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 [Jehovah]. 6And the king answered and said unto the man of God, In treat now the face of the Lord [Jehovah] thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord [Jehovah], and the kings hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. 7And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. 8And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: 9for so was it charged me by the word of the Lord [Jehovah], saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. 10So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.4

11Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons5 came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. 12And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen5 what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. 13And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, 14and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak [the terebinth6]: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. 15Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 16And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: 17for it was said to me by the word of the Lord [Jehovah], Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. [And7] 18he said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord [Jehovah], saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. 19So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. 20And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came unto the prophet that brought him back: 21and he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah], Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord 22[Jehovah], and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord [Jehovah] thy God commanded thee, but earnest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 23And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.8 24And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass. 25And, 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. 26And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord [Jehovah]:9 therefore the Lord [Jehovah] hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, 27according to the word of the Lord [Jehovah], which he spake unto him. And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. 28And 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. 29And 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. 30And he laid his carcass in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! 31And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake 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:10 32for the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord [Jehovah] against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. 33After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest [mass] of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated11 him, and he became one12 of the priests of the high places. 34And this thing13 became [was a] sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

Preliminary

This section, over against the preceding and following chapters, bears an unmistakably peculiar character, and is doubtless inserted here from some other source. Nevertheless it is closely connected with chap. 12. and chap. 14., as is sufficiently obvious from its beginning and conclusion. The words, 1Ki 13:1 : clearly refer to the concluding words of the former chapter (1Ki 13:33); refer back and connect the present section completely with the foregoing. When Jeroboam ascended the altar at the feast he had instituted, and stood on it to offer incense, behold! there came a man of God out of Judah, &c. The man of God did not appear at an ordinary sacrifice, but on a solemn public occasion, most probably at the first of the new festivals. This gave peculiar significance to his appearing; Jeroboams dreadful apostasy was not to escape severe chastisement from God (v. Gerlach). With the appearing of the man of God (1Ki 13:1-10) the full account of his conduct and fate is conjoined (1Ki 13:11-32). That this account, though it says nothing of Jeroboam, is not a mere episode, but bears upon the principal subject, namely, the sin of Jeroboam, which had such a marked influence on all Israels future history, is obvious from the conclusion of the narrative (1Ki 13:33-34): After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again, &c. These words form the connecting link with the 14th chap. The connection is, briefly, this: Jeroboam not only entered on an evil way (1Ki 12:28-33), but let nothing turn him from it, neither the warning and the miracles of the man of God (1Ki 13:1-10) nor his remarkably significant fate (1Ki 13:11-32). He remained hardened in his apostasy. The divine sentence on him and his house, recorded in chap. 14., was therefore announced to him by the prophet Ahijah, who had promised him the kingdom on condition of fidelity to Jehovah (1Ki 11:31-39). In respect of the contents of our section here, in its phraseology, its source was not contemporaneous with the events, as is the case with the other sources of our books, which are written by contemporaneous prophets (cf. Introduc. 2). 1Ki 13:32 shows this; the old prophet of Bethel speaks of the cities of Samaria, after the burial of the man of God. But the city of Samaria did not even exist then; it was built by Omri, who was king fifty years after Jeroboam (1Ki 16:24); and there certainly could not have been at that time any province named after it. The explanation that the expression is proleptic (Keil) is untenable, because it was not written by our author, who lived in exile, but it is given by him as an expression of the Bethel prophet. Later critics, Ewald and Thenius, for instance, have inferred that the whole account is of a much later date, from 1Ki 13:2, where the man of God does not speak of a future son of David only, but mentions the proper name of a king who lived more than 300 years later; the narrative must therefore date from after Josiahs time (2Ki 23:15-20) and have been written down as it was repeated among the people. The calling of proper names, certainly, does not characterize prophecy, which differs from foretelling in this, that it does not notice more or less accidental outward circumstances, but announces only such things as are connected with the divine economy and development of Gods kingdom; it describes the persons whose future appearances it announces by their qualities, but not by their names. In the only exceptional case (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1) the name may be appellative = sun, as a name of honor for the Persian kings (Hengstenb., Christol. I. 2, s. 192 sq.). Keil says that the name (in our passage) only follows its appellative meaning; he whom Jehovah sustains, from to sustain, and means, a son shall be born to the house of David, whom Jehovah shall support and establish, so that he shall execute judgment on the high priests at Bethel. This prophecy was afterwards so fulfilled by divine Providence, that the king who executed the sentence bore the name of Josiah as his proper name. But this name is never used anywhere else as an appellative, and only belonged to one person. If we must take the expression all the cities of Samaria (1Ki 13:32) as proleptic, we cannot see the reason why this may not also be the case with the words Josiah by name (1Ki 13:2). We need not suppose they were the gloss of a later interpolator; our author took them as he found them in the document from which he borrowed; this document, however, was, as we have said, not a contemporary one, but the later record of what had been preserved in the verbal traditions of the people, and had been revived by Josiahs act (2 Kings 23. If any section of our books bears the stamp of tradition, the present one does; and that by no means because a miracle is recorded in it. The names of the two prophets with whom the whole narrative is taken up are wanting, which is an evidence of tradition, as are also the difficulties in 1Ki 13:6 sq. and 1Ki 13:18-22, about which opinions differ widely, and which can scarcely be satisfactorily explained. Although those facts which are most important here are historical and unchanged, yet the traditional coloring of single and less important circumstances can be plainly perceived; every attempt to determine what is purely historical and what is traditional is vain. We must not forget the general grand aim of the whole section, which is to make known the wonderful ways and judgments of God.

Exegetical and Critical

1Ki 13:1-3. And behold there came a man of God, &c. We cannot ascertain who this was. Josephus calls him Jadon, thinking no doubt of the or who is called after the kri in 2Ch 9:29; we cannot accept this, however (as Jarchi does), because he lived under king Abijah, according to 2Ch 13:22, while the prophet spoken of here died now. For the same reason we cannot think, with Ephrem and Tertullian, that it was Shemaiah, see 2Ch 12:1, (Thenius). It expressly says that he came out of Judah, therefore he did not spring from the apostate part of the nation. does not mean: on the word or command of Jehovah, but, as appears from 1Ki 13:2; 1Ki 13:9; 1Ki 13:17 (cf. 1Ki 20:35 and 1Sa 3:21): in (through) the word. The word of the Lord is spoken of as a power that came upon the prophet and forced him to utter the revelation made to him (Keil). O altar, altar! the altar is metonymically for what was done on it and concentrated in it; in short, of the worship performed there. The fact that the prophet addressed the altar was incomparably more significant than if he had turned himself to the person of the king; the sentence of destruction which he pronounces on the altar as the type of the new worship, and of Jeroboams sin, includes the rain of the latter. For Josiah see preliminary remarks. The burning of mens bones on the altar is the greatest possible desecration of it, as according to the law (Num 19:16) every, even involuntary, contact with a dead body made a person unclean; nothing else could have represented the altar as so utterly useless and abominable. In the genuine prophetic manner, the man of God adds to his words a deed (see on 1Ki 11:30) as a pledge of his prophecy. is not so much a sign (), as an act producing astonishment, prodigium (Hengstenberg, Christol. II. s. 45 sq.). (really fat, hence the Sept. gives here) is the fat of the parts sacrificed on the altar, and ran out mixing with the ashes, therefore is not ashes absolutely. These ashes of sacrifice were, on that account, usually taken to a clean place (Lev 1:16; Lev 4:12). The spilling of them out, in this case, denoted that they, and consequently the sacrifice from which they came, and the whole worship, were unclean; it was no natural result of the bursting of the altar. 2 Kings 23. relates the fulfilment of the prophetical act and word.

1Ki 13:4-7. And it came to pass when king Jeroboam heard the saying, &c., 1Ki 13:4. Jeroboam did not raise his hand to offer the incense (Thenius); but as he stood on the altar, he stretched out his hand towards the man of God as he spoke, and cried out, Lay hold on him! It dried up. Jeroboams hand, so suddenly affected that he could not draw it back, was either paralyzed or, what seems more explanatory of the expression dried up, struck with tetanus; this last is what Ackermann accepts (in Weises Materialien III. s. 131 sq.) (Winer, R.- W.-B. II. s. 192). Jeroboams order thereby lost all effect; no one ventured to seize the prophet; it was also a warning to the king himself, and had a momentary effect on him. He was terrified, and begged the prophet to entreat now [to make inattentive] the face of the Lord thy God for me () i. e., to beseech Him so earnestly that He cannot refuse. The Lord thy God, he says, not that He was not his God, but: thy God in whose name and behalf thou hast come here. When he was succored he invited the prophet to go home with him, and offered him a present, but not from genuine repentance or gratitude, but only because he wished to win him over, and to do away with or lessen the impression his conduct (the prophets) made on the people present; for he himself remained the same apostate after as before.

1Ki 13:8-10. [But] And the man of God said, &c., 1Ki 13:8. The object of this prohibition of eating and drinking in Bethel was not to effect the prompt execution of the commission (Thenius). Eating and drinking with a person, sitting down to table with any one, is the sign of communion or fellowship, and used as such here, as often elsewhere in Scripture (1Co 5:11; cf. Gen. 43:32; Luk 15:2; Gal 2:12; 1Co 10:18; 1Co 10:21). The man of God, chosen to announce Gods judgment by word and deed on the apostate and his followers, was to avoid fellowship with him, for this would be utterly inconsistent with his commission; the command was given him, ad detestationem idololatri; ut ipso facto ostenderet, Bethelitas idololatras adeo esse detestabiles et a Deo quasi excommunicatos, ut nullum fidelium cum iis cibi vel potus communionem habere velit (Corn. a Lapide). When he afterwards ate and drank there, he transgressed a much higher and more important command than one relative to fasting only. This, too, was why he was to take another way home; not to remain unnoticed and to avoid being detained (Ewald), but to avoid being brought back, and persuaded to do anything inconsistent with his commission or not contained in it; this alone he was to do, and then vanish as quickly as he came. This sheds the necessary light on the following narrative, 1Ki 13:11-32.

1Ki 13:11-22. An old prophet in Bethel, 1Ki 13:11. He lived in the town (1Ki 13:25; 1Ki 13:29), but the high place was probably outside the town. Instead of his son, the Sept., the Vulg., and the Syr. give the plural, as in 1Ki 13:12. One spake in the name of the others, or they agreed with what the one said. These were actual sons of the prophet, not pupils, for the latter would scarcely have witnessed the golden calf worship. The Terebinth (1Ki 13:14) is a tree that resembles an oak,. has evergreen leaves, and grape-like fruit. It attains a great age, and therefore often serves as a monument or for topographical purposes; Gen 35:4; Jdg 6:11; Jdg 6:19; 1Sa 17:2; 1Sa 17:19; 2Sa 18:9 (Gesenius). The article points to a certain terebinth known in Bethel. The resting under this tree was not at all the beginning of his sin, as the older commentators think, for delay in Bethel alone was prohibited; still the delay gave time for others to come up to him. The 1Ki 13:18 is the same as in 1Ki 13:17 and 1Ki 13:2; the angel said to me, by the word, i. e., the power of Jehovahs word; he does not venture to say Jehovah spake to him, but says an angel did. See the His. Ethic, below, for the announcement of punishment (1Ki 13:20-22) by the same old prophet who had lied to the man of God. The final words of 1Ki 13:22 : thy carcass, &c., do not mean, morte violenta, antequam in patriam redeas, peribis (J. H. Michaelis, Keil, and others), for means all dead bodies (Isa 26:19), not only those killed with violence; the Sept. simply gives . The emphasis falls on the sepulchre of thy fathers. It was thought a misfortune to be buried among strangers, far from home and relations; so it was a very natural wish to be buried in the grave of his fathers (every respectable family had a family sepulchre, cf. Winer, R.-W.-B. I. s. 444), (2Sa 19:38; Gen 47:29 sq.;1Ki 1:5). But this blessing so coveted by every Israelite was refused to the refractory.

1Ki 13:23-34. And it came to pass, after he had eaten, &c., 1Ki 13:23. The subject of the last part of the sentence cannot be other than that of the first part; so it was not the prophet of Bethel who saddled the ass, neither is it one saddled (Luther, Bunsen), but the man of God did it or had it done. is not in opposition with , so that we could translate: he saddled the ass for him, for the prophet he had fetched back (Keil, Luther, De Wette); for throughout the whole section, is only used for the prophet of Bethel; the Judaish one is called the man of God; and the clause , that occurs three times, cannot be translated differently here from 1Ki 13:20; 1Ki 13:26, where it is impossible to take as the accusative. is the general form of the genitive when it denotes possession and belonging, and must be connected with immediately preceding it. The old prophet either offered his ass to the man of God, who hastened home after eating and drinking, or he gave it to him at his request. , used in 1Ki 13:26; 1Ki 13:28 to express killing by the lion, does not mean: to tear (Ewald, De Wette), but, to break, crush, and is very expressive, for the lion kills with one blow (Thenius). The grave in which the man of God was laid (1Ki 13:30) was the family sepulchre of the old prophet; see on 1Ki 13:22. seems to have been the usual form of lamentation, cf. Jer 22:18. The man of God from Judah was mourned and buried as a relative of the family. The Sept. adds at the end of 1Ki 13:31, , which Thenius thinks was original, because the in the following verse becomes thus perfectly justified. But this sentence, evidently borrowed from 2Ki 23:18, is unnecessary here; the connection is: My bones shall rest next his, for he was a true prophet; what he prophesied against the altar at Bethel will come to pass. For the expression cities of Samaria see Prel. Remarks. The connection of 1Ki 13:33-34 with the preceding verses has been given above. If in 1Ki 13:33, in the various directions for worship devised by Jeroboam, mention only of the priests he appointed is made, the reason of this is that they were the main supports of the whole of the unlawful worship, which could not have lasted without them. To fill the hand is the formula for investiture with priesthood, because the pieces of the sacrifices which belonged to Jehovah were solemnly laid in the hands of the candidate for consecration; Exo 29:24; Lev 8:27 sq. (Symb. des Mos. Kult. II. s. 426).

Historical and Ethical

1. The appearance of the man of God from Judah, at the feast in Bethel, shows in few strokes the characteristic nature of the prophet system, which stands alone in the history of the world. Unknown hitherto and living in retirement, neither named nor called, when the right moment came he stood there as suddenly as lightning from heaven, not coming in any mans service but as a messenger of the Lord, borne up and sustained by the might of the word of God alone. Without any human help he stood before the proud, energetic king, knowing his hatred to Davids house and to Judah, knowing how Adoniram had fared (1Ki 12:18), but he fears nothing, and boldly announces the divine sentence, not at a private interview, but in presence of all the kings followers, of the whole priesthood, and crowd of spectators. He adds a divine act to the divine word, which act is a significant sign and pledge of the fulfilment of the prophecy. Having spoken and acted in the name of the Lord, he was under Jehovahs protection, no one dared to seize him; the hand of the king, when stretched forth against him, dried up and became powerless. When the king, thus punished, begs the prophet for help, the latter calls upon the Lord, who hears him, thus showing Himself to be a gracious as well as a just God (Rom 11:22), in order to bring him back from his evil ways. He vanished as suddenly as he came, without eating a bit of bread or drinking water, or receiving a present, even though it were the half of the house. He was to disappear completely, that every one should think of the Lord and His word alone; of what they had heard and seen.

2. Jeroboams conduct is full of contradictions and inconsistency. At first he was haughty and violent to the man of God, wishing to seize his person. But when he failed in this, and he felt a higher power, he became humble and dejected, begged the man he had just threatened to intercede for him, gave him a friendly invitation and offered him a present; he then let him go on his way, but paid no regard whatever to his words and deed. The cause of this conduct was not weakness of character, but rather, on the contrary, the obstinacy with which he pursued what his soul desired, and which was the mainspring of all his actions, i. e., the resolve to keep himself on the throne at any cost and under all circumstances, and not to come under the dominion of the hated house of David and Judah again (1Ki 12:26 sq.). The petition to have his hand restored was only the effect of momentary fright; when this passed, instead of listening to the man of God, he tried to bribe him and win him over, and the whole transaction left no trace behind it. He is a type of those usurpers who have no other aim in life than to gratify their ambition and love of power, and whose apparently good and noble actions are only the fruit of this passion. It seems from 1Ki 13:11 that the appearance of the man of God made an impression upon the surrounding people, but the account does not say of what sort this impression was, and it passes on at once to the much more important occurrence related in 1Ki 13:10-32.

3. The old prophet in Bethel was called a false prophet and a lying prophet in old times, because he induced the man of God to return by telling him a lie. Josephus regards him as such (Antiq. viii. 9), but he misunderstands the whole narrative in a truly frightful manner (Ewald); but Jonathan, several Rabbins, and older R. Catholic commentators, even Hess also, agree in the principal thing, and pronounce the motives of this old prophet, in what he said and did, to have been unworthy. The recent commentators, following Ephrems example and that of Theodoret, Witsius, and others, have very rightly rejected this view. The sentence he announces to the man of God (1Ki 13:21) shows that he was no partaker of Jeroboams calf-worship, but was a worshipper of Jehovah; still more does this appear from his belief in the fulfilment of the prophecy of the destruction of that false worship (1Ki 13:32), but most of all when, on hearing of the death of his guest, although he perceived divine punishment in it, he at once proceeded to the dangerous place to find the corpse and bury it in his family sepulchre, lamented over him as his brother, and desired his sons to lay his bones beside his bones (1Ki 13:31). We may see from 2Ki 23:18, that he never was regarded afterwards as a false prophet, but as a true comrade of the man from Judah. From all this it appears that he could have had no bad intention when he at first hastened after the man of God (1Ki 13:12-13) and pressed him to return and go into his house. On the contrary, when he had heard from his sons what he had said and done, he was seized with a strong desire to see and speak to the faithful and courageous messenger of Jehovah, to enter into friendship with him, and edify himself in his company. One thing alone he was guilty of, that he used a lie to reach his end. This, however, by no means shows that he was a false, bad, and hypocritical man, but only shows he was no saint, just as dissembling did not make the apostle Peter (Gal 2:13) a pseudo-apostle. This was one of the many lies spoken in good intentions by otherwise enlightened persons of the Old Testament, but who were weak in faith (Von Gerlach); old age, too, may have partly accounted for it. It is, however, a difficulty that the same prophet who had lied to the man of God announced his punishment to him afterwards. Perhaps his conscience awoke meantime, when he heard more at table, so that he saw his own guilt as well as that of the man of God, and in this condition became the instrument to announce the punishment, so that what happened to the man of God might not seem an undeserved fate. We ought to notice that he did not announce his death by a lion, but only said that he should not come into the sepulchre of his fathers (see above on 1Ki 13:22). Of all the conjectures about the reason and motive, of the old prophets conduct, the least tenable are such as that he followed the Judah-man from more curiosity or from human envy (Thenius), or because God had charged him to speak to the king (Dereser), and that he felt his prophetical reputation injured (Hess). Apart from everything else, the commission of the man of God was no enviable one, but difficult and dangerous, and also a fruitless one. According to Hengstenberg (Beitrge II. s. 149), with whom Keil and Lisco agree, the old prophet had sinned by silence about Jeroboams innovations. What the Judah-prophet did, showed him what he should have done. Penetrated with shame for his neglect, he endeavored to restore himself in his own opinion and that of others by intercourse with the witness for the Lord. In this case, his purpose in hurrying after him could not have been a good one, but selfish and objectionable, and the he would have been so much the greater sin. Besides, if silence were a sin, the prophet Ahijah would have been peculiarly guilty of it, as he was an Ephraimite and had placed the prospect of the kingdom before Jeroboam (1Ki 11:31-39). Neither prophet undertook the mission to Bethel, because no commission was given them from abovea man of God was to come from Judah. According to Knobel (Der Prophetismus der Hebr. II. s. 66 sq.), the old prophet induced him to return because no doubt he wished to test the firmness and obedience of the Judah-man to Jehovah; perhaps the Ephraimite wished to form some theocratic plan with him, and thought it needful to ascertain first whether he was reliablea very natural measure for an old and cautious man who lived among hostile idolatrous priests. This, it is supposed, explains how he announced his punishment to the Judah-man, but could not refuse him his pity and esteem, as one in the same vocation. This opinion is also untenable, for, according to it, the old prophet would have taken the very opposite means to attain his end (the formation of a theocratic plan); if his test of the fidelity and obedience of the Judah-man had succeeded, and he had continued his home journey without delay, the old prophet could not have communicated his plan to him, still less have carried it out together with him.

4. The tragical end of the man of God out of Judah is clearly represented as a divine dispensation, in consequence of disobedience to Jehovahs command, wholly conformable to the stern legal character of the Old-Testament economy (cf., for instance, Num 20:24; Num 27:14; 1Sa 12:15, &c.). The question has often been asked, why the prophet of Judah came to such an end, and the Bethel prophet who lied to him went unpunished? To this we may reply with another question: Who can say to Him who is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works (Psa 145:17), Lord, what doest Thou (Job 9:12)? We do not know what fate God allotted to the old prophet; he acts only a minor part in the narrative, compared with the prophet of Judah. It is quite wrong to assert, as is so often done, that the sin of the lie was much greater than the disobedience to Jehovahs command. This was distinct from Jeroboams sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, for it touched the whole of the prophet-system, i. e., the institution of the office of divine guardians and witnesses. By not eating or drinking in that place, where that sin fully showed itself, he was to prove (as well by word as by deed) that there could be no fellowship between those who kept Jehovahs covenant and those who had broken it. If he ate and drank in that place, he nullified the important end of his mission, and deprived the threat he had solemnly pronounced of all its force, by appearing as one who himself did not fear to transgress the express command of Jehovah. The fate that overtook him was a confirmation of the truth of the sentence he had pronounced against Jeroboams sin, and which sentence had appeared doubtful through his conduct; it showed also to all the people, as Theodoret remarks, that if God so punished the man of God, he would certainly not leave Jeroboams sin unpunished. In that the man of God did not come unto the sepulchre of his fathers (1Ki 13:22), but was buried in Bethel, (i. e., in this place), he was, even after death, a witness against the apostasy, and his grave was a lasting monument that reminded the apostates of Jehovahs judgments and exhorted them to conversion. But for the prophet-system itself, his fate was of great significance. With it began the active working (henceforth uninterrupted) of the prophet-system in the kingdom of organized apostasy: here it had a mission, on the unconditional fulfilment of which everything depended, namely, the constant struggle against the pseudo-theocracy. The fate of the man of God contained the strongest warning to all who should afterwards receive a similar charge, not to allow themselves to be enticed by anything, however plausible and alluring it might be (1Ki 13:18), from implicit obedience to the divine commission. This is very probably the reason that the narrative is so explicitly detailed. As to the old prophet, his lamentation (1Ki 13:31-32) evidently proceeds from a heart that mourns over his own sin; he says, as it were, If I can have no more fellowship with my brother in life, I will at least be united to him in death; our common grave, to which I shall soon go down in sorrow, shall be a lasting testimony against the sin of Jeroboam.

5. Witsius says of the wonderful circumstances which accompanied the end of the man of God (Miscell, sacr. I. cap. 15, s. 145): Denique tot admiranda in unum concurrentia effecerunt, ut vaticinium adversus aram Betheliticam in omnium ore atque memoria versaretur, et legatio hujus Prophet multo redderetur conspectior et illustrior. The extraordinary nature of these circumstances distinguishes his end from every ordinary accidental death, and bears the impress of a special dispensation; this is peculiarly apparent in the fact that the corpse remained untouched, instead of falling a prey to the wild beasts (cf. 1Ki 14:11), and that it was honorably carried to the grave without any pollution. To pronounce this deeply serious and significant narrative to be a sensational story (Vatke), on account of its miraculous disclosures, seems to indicate an almost frivolous character. For, though one or another part may bear the trace of a verbal tradition (see Prelim. Remarks), having been written down at a later date, yet the chief point remains, and that is that this history of the two prophets loudly and sternly proclaims the wonderful ways and judgments of God, and therefore lived for hundreds of years in the mouths of the people. The fact of the man of God out of Judah being killed by a lion is significant, inasmuch as God carried out His judgments elsewhere by lions (2Ki 17:25 sq.; Wis 11:15-17), and He Himself, when He comes as a judge, is likened to a lion (Isa 31:4; Jer 4:7; Amo 3:8), and those also who execute His judgments are called lions (Jer 25:30; Jer 25:38; Jer 49:15). That the lion did not tear the dead so that he could not be buried, is a sure evidence that all creatures are in His hand (the Almightys), and that they cannot stir against His will (Heidelberg Katech.). Cf. Job 38:11.

Homiletical and Practical

1Ki 13:1-10. The man of God out of Judah. (a) He comes, led by the word of God, and goes on his dark, difficult way in faith, without taking counsel with flesh and blood. (b) He stands, strong and bold, before the king, fears him not, testifies against his sins, and announces the judgment of God. (c) He makes entreaty for him, who was about to lay hold on him, and heaps coals of fire on his head. (d) He resists the offers of the king, and will not be secured by bribes. The testimony against the service of the false gods. (a) It proceeded from a nameless, unknown, insignificant man who, without worldly consequence, has nothing and knows nothing, except only the power of the divine Word. That is the manner of the Lord in His kingdom. He accomplishes by means of small, insignificant instruments what no king, with all his power, can do. The altars of heathendom are shattered by means of the testimony of fishers and tax-gatherers (1Co 1:27-29), even as were the altars of the false worship of God by means of a poor world-despised recluse. It was received, at first, with scorn, wrath, and violence; but the wrath is powerless and avails nothing; the altar is rent, and the threatening arm is dried up. Humble entreaties then take the place of wrath, for: Isa 26:16. But, though the withered hand be restored, the heart remains withered as before. Physical aid is alway readily received by men, whilst they shut their hearts to the testimony against their sins.

1Ki 13:1. God has never, even when apostasy was almost universal, suffered His Church to fail for want of messengers, who would cry aloud in the world, Down with the false idols! The Lord is God! the Lord is God! Give God all honor!God not only warns and admonishes men, as Jeroboam by Ahijah (1Ki 11:38) before they set out in the path of evil, but when they are already walking in it, even then He strives with them, in order to reclaim them, for He has no pleasure, &c. (Eze 33:11; Rom 2:4-5).

1Ki 13:2. God announces beforehand to sinners His judgments, that they may have time and space, for repentance. Woe to them who misemploy the respite, for the measure of their sins will be full. In the new covenant we have a far weightier prophecy. Unto us is born a Son, named Jesus, out of the House of David; who will come again, and pronounce judgment upon those who know not God, and who obey not the Gospel, &c. (2Th 1:8-9).

1Ki 13:3. The miracles which the Lord our God performs are not only proofs of His almighty power, to amaze us, but likewise significant signs which reveal to us His eternal decrees, and lead us to the recognition of that heavenly truth which sanctifies our hearts.

1Ki 13:4. Cramer: Although faithful teachers often accomplish nothing, and fail, most signally, with men of high degree, yet must they never on this account abandon their office. For if thou warn him, thou hast delivered thy soul (Eze 3:19), and although the obdurate remain untouched, yet it shall not remain without fruit (Isa 55:10). How did even this warning work itself out, and bear fruit, after 300 years (2Ki 23:15). Sinners, eminent by wealth and position, will only listen to prophets who are dumb dogs, and cannot bark (Isa 56:10). When a true servant of the Lord cries out The axe is already laid at the root of the tree, they arise in wrath, and cry out, Seize him! (2Ti 4:1-5). He who attacks a servant of God, on account of his testimony, never remains unpunished. In vain doth the enemy stretch forth his hand against those who are under Gods protection (Job 7:44; Lev 4:29 sq.; Psa 37:17). Those who will not listen to the word of truth, God often visits with bodily pain in order to humble them, and teach them to pray and supplicate.

1Ki 13:6. He who desires for himself the intercession of others must himself draw near, humbly and penitently, to God and implore His mercy. In this wise can we know if we are indeed children of God, and guided by His spirit, if we pray and supplicate for those who have done their worst to us, and thus overcome evil with good (1Pe 3:9).

1Ki 13:7. Osiander: Although the ungodly often hold in high esteem these holy men especially raised up by God, yet they never follow their instructions and warnings (Mar 6:19 sq.). What boots it that we gratefully acknowledge the material blessings which meet us, if we leave unfulfilled the very object of these blessings, viz., the turning of our hearts from sin and the world to God. Unbelief and impenitence cannot be outweighed by even the highest friendship and humanity. When the world can effect nothing more by force and threats, it seeks to gain its ends by plausible love-tokens.

1Ki 13:8-9. There is no bribe to which the man of God will yield: to him, that which God has commanded him seems, in all times and all places, in evil as in good days, the fixed and definite plan of action.Starke: The best weapon and defence against the snares of our spiritual enemy is the word and law of God. It must always be said: God has forbidden me (Mat 4:4; Mat 4:7; Mat 4:10). It is far from being unimportant with whom we eat and drink, i. e., in fellowship and intimate alliance (1Co 5:11).

1Ki 13:10. If in a certain position thou hast done what God commanded, and left undone what he forbade, then go on thy way peaceful and content, how dark and unknown soever it may seem to thee.

1Ki 13:11-32. Von Gerlach: The history of these two prophets offers an important view of the relation of this class to the new order of things; in the prophet out of Judah we see a man of God full of life and strength, but who yet proved unstable in these disturbed times; in the old Israelite we look upon one in whom the fire is almost quenchedit only glimmers faintlya type of the expiring high and manly strength of Israel; he is still upheld by faith in Gods word rather than by self-reliance. They both yet speak and testify in death. The fall and death of the man of Judah set forth two great truths: (a) He who thinketh he standeth, let him take heed, &c. (1Co 10:12). (He had conducted himself grandly and nobly, and victoriously withstood a severe temptation, yet he yielded to a lesser one. The higher a man stands the deeper is his fall, and to whom much is given from him will much be required. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, &c. 1Co 16:13; 1Co 10:13. Only those who are true unto death can obtain the crown of life.) (b) How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out, Rom 11:33. He who is holy in all his ways knows how to establish firmly that which is threatened with destruction and annihilation by human treachery and deceit. The death and the grave of the man of God announce in louder and more threatening accents than did his lipsthe altar is rent.

1Ki 13:11-15. The old prophet when he hears of the man of God hastens upon his way and spares neither care nor pains to see him and bring him to his house; how much time, pains, and money are expended by the children of this world to see and to hear what will gratify their senses, whilst they stir neither hand nor foot to acquire that which pertains to their peace and salvation.

1Ki 13:16-19. So in indifferent ordinary matters, which God has either ordered or forbidden, we must observe unerring obedience, for he who is faithful in that which is least, &c. (Luk 16:10; Luk 19:17). Hearken not unto him who says: I am a prophet, declaiming that he announces divine truth, whilst he deprives your heart of the dear and steadfast word of God, which shall remain until heaven and earth shall pass away. Hence the warning of the apostle: Beloved, believe not, &c. (1Jn 4:1-3), and, But though we or an angel, &c. (Gal 1:8). Whatever obtains success and position by means of deceit cannot be followed by a blessing, but rather by a curse. The Scripture is not silent concerning the sins of the man of God; and this, not that we may excuse our sins by his, but that we may guard ourselves from haughtiness and spiritual pride, and pray earnestly: Search me, O God, &c. (Psa 139:23-24).

1Ki 13:20-22. The same sentence which the old prophet pronounced upon the man of God he pronounced upon himself, while he had led and betrayed him to disobedience. How often does the judgment which we utter for others fall upon ourselves, when we have sinned equally or in greater measure (Rom 2:1): for wherein thou, &c.

1Ki 13:23-25. The judgments of God often fall suddenly and unexpectedly, thus proving that although long delayed they are sure to come, even as this, after the lapse of three hundred years, was the punishment threatened for the golden ealf worship.

1Ki 13:24. see Histor. and Eth. 5.

1Ki 13:25-29. The chastisement with which God visits our fellow-men for their sins is both a warning to reflect upon our own sins and deserts, and a call to work active deeds of love with all our might, in life and in death.

1Ki 13:30-31. We often for the first time, at the grave of a friend, recognize what we possessed in him, and how we have sinned against him. One look into the open grave of one dear to us in life is adapted, beyond anything, to remind us of our own end. It is a very natural wish to rest in death near those who were closely bound to us in life by ties of blood or strong affection; but yet stronger should be the wish to die in the Lord, and enter into eternal glory. Then, wherever in the providence of God we may find our grave, there shall we rest in peace, for the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof (Psa 24:1).

1Ki 13:33-34. When neither the severity nor the patient long-suffering of his God brings to repentance a man who walks in evil ways, he is brought by his own sin under the sentence for the obdurate, viz., temporal and eternal ruin (2Ti 3:13; Joh 8:34).Starke: Church patrons should not abuse their so-called jus patronatus, to place in charge of themselves and congregations teachers having itching ears (2Ti 4:3), or one who will preserve silence concerning every kind of godlessness and misrule. Should they do so they become followers of Jeroboam, and must expect Jeroboams punishment. The spiritual office is put to shame if borne by men who make a traffic of religion, and are intent only upon filling their own hands.

[R. South: 1Ki 13:33-34. The means to strengthen or ruin the civil power is either to establish or destroy the right worship of God. The way to destroy religion is to embase the dispensers of it. This is to give the royal stamp to a piece of lead. It is a sad thing when all other employments shall empty themselves into the ministry; when men shall repair to it not for preferment but refuge; like malefactors flying to the altars only to save their lives, or like those of Elis race (1Sa 2:36), that should come crouching, and seeking to be put into the priests office that they might eat a piece of bread.E. H.]

Footnotes:

[1]1Ki 13:2.[The Alex. Sept. omits the last clause of this ver.

[2]1Ki 13:3.[On the meaning of = see the Exeg. Com. It is to be remembered, however, that any portent must have had the significance of a sign and hence this meaning appears in the Vulg., Chald., and Syr., as well as in the A. V. the Vat. Sept. curiously puts the verb in the future .

[3]1Ki 13:3.[ from the root to be or become fat, primarily meaning fatness (Cf. Jdg 9:9; Psa 63:6, &c.), and hence translated here and in 1Ki 13:5 by the Sept. , is used for the ashes of animals offered in sacrifice, in contradistinction to , common ashes. Cf. Lev 1:16; Lev 4:12, &c.

[4]1Ki 13:11.[The Heb. has here in the sing., followed by the sing. verb. With this agree the Chald. and Arab., and our author, like Luther, so translates. On the other hand the Sept., Vulg., and Syr., like the A. V., have the plural.]

[5]1Ki 13:12. according to the understanding of all the VV. (except the Arab.) is to be pointed [i.e. in the Hiphil = showed], and so we have translated: they looked on or after the way gives no proper sense. [The A. V. has followed the masoretic punctuation in the Kal, but by taking it in a pluperfect sense has avoided the difficulty.

[6]1Ki 13:14.[ is usually rendered in the A. V. oak; in Isa 6:13 it is translated teil tree, because , also rendered oak, is in immediate connection with it; for the same reason, in Hos 4:13 it is rendered elm. The Sept. have , the Vulg. terebinthus, which is the interpretation of most moderns. The article is by all means to be retained, as pointing out some well-known tree.

[7]1Ki 13:18.[There seems no good reason for omitting the conjunction of the Heb., which is retained by the Sept. and Vulg.

[8]1Ki 13:23.[Our author translates the ass of the prophet who had brought him back. The VV. differ from one another, the Vulg. and Chald. understanding the ass of the prophet whom he had brought back; the Syr. and Arab. simply the ass for the prophet of God; while the Sept. omits the words altogether.

[9]1Ki 13:26.[The Vat. Sept. omits from this point to the end of 1Ki 13:27.

[10]1Ki 13:31.[The Sept. adds doubtless with reference to 2Ki 23:18, when the bones of the Samarian prophet were left undisturbed with the bones of the prophet from Judah.

[11]1Ki 13:33.[Lit. filled his hand, a figurative expression for consecration, but rendered literally in the Sept. and Vulg.

[12]1Ki 13:33.[The Heb. noun is in the plural , and is rendered in the plural by the Chald. and Arab.; the Sept., Vulg., and Syr. use the sing. as in the A. V.F. G.]

[13]1Ki 13:34.Instead of we must read here with all the VV. and several [eight] of the MSS., as it is also in 1Ki 12:30. The translation: The reason for sinning was in this thing (through the same) (Keil) is forced.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

A prophet cometh to Beth-el. Jeroboam, in opposing him, hath his hand withered; which at the prayer of the man of God is restored, The prophet himself for his disobedience is afterwards slain by a lion. Jeroboam still continueth hardened.

1Ki 13:1

(1) And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

It should seem that Jeroboam the king was in the very act of prophanation and idolatry when this man of God came in the Lord’s name with this solemn commission.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Disobedient Prophet

1Ki 13:26

I. Jeroboam had just successfully completed his idolatrous stroke of policy. He had set up a form of religion which, however much it might offend against God’s truth, had at least this merit in his eyes, that it would strike a great blow against the established Church at Jerusalem, and be a serious injury to the State religion whose influence he abhorred and whose prestige more than anything else he dreaded as a dangerous political menace to his separatist policy. It was all-important therefore that there should be no hitch in what was now practically the inauguration of a new religion. Certainly it was a bold stroke, and at this moment when the scene is depicted he was in the very agony of his crafty device, restless, no doubt suspicious, and pledged to desperate measures for men are most suspicious when they are most conscious that they are doing wrong and have ‘bribed themselves to disbelieve things which their conscience tells them are true, by doing acts which their conscience tells them are wrong’. And it is at this moment that the nameless prophet out of Judah bursts in upon him, a prophet from God in itself an unwelcome phenomenon just then; as a prophet from Judah doubly hateful. It seems likely to end in his death had not God intervened to save His prophet. Jeroboam while raising his hand to order his arrest, finds it paralysed and useless, while the altar is rent by invisible powers and the ashes are poured out. So far you see the man of God had done his work well. He had executed a commission dangerous enough to try the strongest nerve. The hardest part was done. He could relapse now. There were certainly three distinct temptations which the prophet had to face. First, there was the temptation, which comes from the natural fear in a man’s heart, not to deliver his message, to hesitate to confront the fury of the king in the moment of his pride and successful sin. Then there was the still more dangerous temptation of flattery and bribery, for Jeroboam turned round and, when force had failed, tried to take the edge off his humiliation by feasting and entertaining the prophet. Then there was the more subtle temptation still, namely, to forget his instructions which were three: first, to deliver his message, which he did; secondly, not to eat bread, nor drink water in the place; and thirdly, not to return by the way by which he came. And in these two last, the easiest of all to execute, he failed.

II. We feel at the outset that there is an appeal to us here in that title which we have heard more than once this afternoon, ‘The Man of God,’ a title wonderful in its dignity and grand in its significance; for it speaks to us of many things. It tells us where the man comes from, straight from the court, straight from the presence, straight from the inspiration of the Almighty, from God Himself. The man of God, God’s representative, God’s ambassador; here is a service in which, alas! there are many vacancies. And we notice now, once more, where the man of God in the Bible fell. He fell in the easiest point of his duty, he fell by the neglect of the details of his mission, ‘troublesome restrictions,’ ‘irritating items,’ as he might think them, in which, to put aside the strict letter of obedience, he might say involved, could involve, no principle. And is not this the very region in which so many a man of God fails? The main duties are done with bravery, activity, and vigour no waste of time, no waste of money, no frivolity, no unseemly gaiety, no foolish idleness, no serious, gross, open sin. But in some little matter at home by peevish ill-temper, or exacting selfishness, or from disregard of Christian practice, as the outcome of Christian principle, in these things the man of God falls. Exact obedience, attention to minute trifles, involve principles of the highest authority. These same prohibitions are given now to every man of God who has wisdom to follow them out. ‘Eat no bread and drink no water there.’

W. C. E. Newbolt, Words of Exhortation, p. 276.

References. XIII. 1. Bishop Bickersteth, Sermons, p. 238. XIII. 6. R. Heber, Parish Sermons, vol. ii. p. 92. A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix. p. 165. XIII. 21, 22. Bishop Bethell, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 277. XIII. 26. E. A. Askew, Sermons Preached in Greystoke Church, p. 214. T. Arnold, The Interpretation of Scripture, p. 76. H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx. p. 136. T. Arnold, Sermons for the Christian Seasons, vol. iii. p. 729. XIII. 33. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. ii. p. 102. XIV. 13. J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii. p. 169. C. Bosanquet, Blossoms for the King’s Garden, p. 216. XVI. 7. F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings, p. 105.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

1Ki 13

This chapter opens with a strange incident. A man of God came out of Judah by the express command of God, and when he came to Bethel, behold Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And the man of God having been told what to do cried against the altar and said, “O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.” And the man of God gave a sign ( 1Ki 13:3 ) and Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him, but the hand was dried up so that he could not pull it in again to him, and it was only by the prayer of the man of God that the king’s hand was healed again. Learn: (1) God knows all the uses to which his altars are being put; (2) He knows for what purpose we profess his name, or take up our places in his sanctuary; (3) Even kings must be smitten if they defile or degrade the altar; (4) Men of God must speak the word of the Lord whatever consequences may ensue.

Prayer

Almighty God, it is our joy to know that though our sin be great thy grace is infinitely greater. Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound, as where death abounds, life doth much more abound. This is thy method in thy universe, that life shall always be in excess of death, and that out of death itself shall come elements that shall tend to extend life. Thou movest marvellously: our eyes cannot follow the rapidity of thy movements, nor can our understanding bring within its judgment all thy methods and purposes. But we have seen enough to give us quietness and to deepen our childlike and loving trust. When the mystery is thickest and the cloud is densest, then we say, This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working; in his own due time he will turn these clouds into stars, and all his heaven will he bright with the shining of a great glory. Thou hast done so much in our life that we are able to say this with all the emphasis of unquestioning confidence.

Thou hast trained us when there was no hand to take hold of our little life; thou didst understand us when our prayer was but a dumb sign to our eager mother. Thou hast fed us with food convenient for us: when we have said there was no water, thou has caused the rocks to melt into streams. We have said, We shall die here, for there is no road beyond, and behold thou didst make a way for us in the mountains, and we walked by the feet of the great rocks which we expected to shut up our way. Thou hast dealt wonderfully with us; all thy mysteries are in our own life; we need not be startled or stunned by the mysteries in thy great book, for every one of them is repeated in the living book of our own experience. We have now learned wisdom enough to put ourselves absolutely into thy hands; we do not want any plan or purpose for to-morrow we do not want to have any tomorrow in our possession or prospect at all. We would crowd our urgent life into the present trembling moment and make it the greatest crisis of our experience. Help us to work with both hands diligently; may we be good and faithful servants, using our talents, few or many, with all industry and with ever-growing zeal.

Thou knowest us altogether as a company of Christian worshippers. The old man is here, to whom life was once a dream; now it is a hope, for its life is not here, it is risen. The child is here who has no history, whose life spreads out like a golden dream, a prospect of glee and laughter exceedingly; the patient heart-broken woman, the sorrowing mother, with a grief she cannot tell; the prodigal who has edged his way in here, hoping not to be seen by reason of the crowd we are all here; speak to us, thou tender One, and let thy speaking, every tone of it, be a gentle gospel that shall bring light into dark hearts, that shall dry tears from eyes used to great weeping, that shall stimulate every one of us to a higher industry and rebuke us gently for the despondency which comes of our want of faith. If any soul is here in peculiar trouble with a distress it may not put into words, let the Lord himself heal the great wound, lest it end in death.

As for our sin, there stands in front of us the infinite cross, the great sacrifice, the complete atonement, the great transaction never to be explained but always to be felt. The Lord touch every heart with the redeeming blood, and the sin shall be found no more. Pity us, great Father; if we are very tired, take us into thine arms awhile till we get our breath again, and according to the necessity and the pain of every life, command thy gracious blessing to rest upon us all. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

III

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TWO KINGDOMS

1Ki 12:25-15:8 ; 2Ch 11:5-13:22

The theme of this section is the beginnings of the two rival kingdoms, or the measures adopted by the rival kings to establish their respective kingdoms. This is a period of twenty-four years and covers the reigns of Jeroboam and his son Nadab) kings of Israel, and of Rehoboam and his son Abijah, kings of Judah.

The initial measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom was as follows: First, he built a city at Shechem, where the great popular assembly was held, and which was and had been since Jacob’s time, a holy place. That, he made his capital. Second, as a large part of his territory, including two and a half tribes, was across the Jordan, he built another city and fortified it at Penuel, so as to command the fords of the Jordan, and this secured his kingdom on both sides of this river. Third, he established his residence at Tirzah, first mentioned in the book of Joshua, and in Solomon’s Song we have the expression: “As beautiful as Tirzah.” It was also in the hill country of Ephraim, and it was a beautiful mountain palace.

The initial measure of Rehoboam was to fortify and supply with provisions, garrisons, and munitions of war, fifteen cities on the southern and western frontiers, for a defense mainly against Egypt. A new dynasty had come to the front in Egypt. Shishak was a very formidable and vigorous opponent, not to be compared with the weak dynasty with which Solomon made an alliance by marriage. This Shishak was really a great man. Egypt was the power that Rehoboam and Judah feared.

Other measures of Jeroboam were political expedients in, order to keep the ten tribes from going to Jerusalem to the great feasts. He saw what had been the great power of Jerusalem and its Temple and worship as a unifying force, and he said to himself, “If my people go every year to Jerusalem they will imbibe its spirit, and the result will be that they will ultimately turn back to Rehoboam the king of Judah and will kill me. Now, how am I to stop this annual pilgrimage of my people to Jerusalem?” And these were the expedients that he devised: First, he established calf worship. He had two molten calves put up, viz: one at Dan, in the extreme upper part of his territory and one at Bethel, the place where Jacob was converted and a holy place. It will be remembered that when the tribe of Dan left the territory allotted to them, they migrated to the very northern part of the country, captured the places there, and worshiped the images they had taken there from Micah. There had been, then, ever since the times of the judges, a place of worship at Dan, but it was an image worship.

Second, he established a new order of priesthood. He refused to permit the Levites and their priests, left in the citiesin his territory, to minister for him; he was afraid of them. And so he created a new order of priesthood by taking any man from any tribe that pleased him and making him a priest. Third, he made a new feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles. That feast the Jews generally attended, and millions would go every year, and they would dwell in tents. Now, he determined to have a feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles, and as the season of the year was later in the northern part of the country, he made his feast just one month later than that of Tabernacles, as the record tells us: “He ordained a feast devised in his own heart.” The Feast of Tabernacles was on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and he put his feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just a month later.

Fourth, he established high places for worship of wooden images. In the book of Judges we learn how Gideon cut down the groves, that is, the forest of images. However, Jeroboam established what is called in the Revised Version, “he-goat worship.” What is meant by it? Among the Greeks it was the worship of Pan. Pan is an image with a man’s face and the form of a goat; these he-goats are sometimes called satyrs. These are heathen minor deities, and allusion is made to them in the book of Leviticus. They are sometimes called devils, and that is what they really were, i. e., demons: it was a kind of demon worship. Now, for his priesthood he made houses at Dan and at Bethel, and in all of these high places, and there this he-goat, or demon worship, was carried on. These were his political expedients.

The calf worship that he established was a mixture of calf and Jehovah worship. When Moses stayed up in the mountain so long, the people asked Aaron to mold a calf for them to worship, as a symbol of Jehovah. It was not an entire abandonment of Jehovah worship, but it was the worship of Jehovah under the symbol of a calf, and they said of that calf that Aaron made, “Behold the god that brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” That was an express violation of the commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven or molten image, in the likeness of anything in the heaven above or the earth beneath, and bow down and worship before it.”

This fundamental innovation in religion weakened his kingdom and strengthened Judah. Now, 2Ch 11:16-17 tells us as follows: “And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong, three years: for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.”

The priests and the Levites were the teaching forces, as well as the guides in religion. When they banish religious teachers from a kingdom, or expatriate its best men, they do a great harm to that kingdom; they take away those who have the power to keep up the religious idea. That was a tremendous loss to the nation of Israel. These were laymen, too, the best people of the land. As I have already said, one of the peculiarities of the book of Chronicles is to record every secession from Israel back to Judah, and we will come to many a one before we get through, and thus we will see that a remnant of the ten tribes was saved.

Now, it weakened Jeroboam in the following ways: It completely separated his people from God; second, it perpetuated a sin for 253 years that readily ate out the heart of the religious nature of the people and caused their ultimate downfall. Two passages of Scripture show how far-reaching the effect of this sin was. 1Ki 14 , commencing at 1Ki 14:15 reads as follows: “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 he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he has made Israel to sin.” Now, when we come to the end of the period of the divided kingdom, we will find the other passage, 2Ki 17:21-23 . This passage accounts for the downfall of the ten tribes. Commencing at 1Ki 14:21 : “For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nabat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight. . . . So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day.” Now, we cannot overemphasize the magnitude of a sin that destroys a nation, and I do not know any sin but the sin of Adam more far-reaching in its consequences than the sin of Jeroboam.

How often at the end of a reign of an Israelitish king does this refrain come: “He did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin”? We may say that this was the inscription on the tomb of every Israelitish king, not one of them a good man. I used to say that sin is like Bermuda grass, indestructible, and that no man can commit a single sin; that it is a great breeder, it makes other sins. I have used this illustration: A hunter may think that he sees just one quail, but when he flushes him there is always a pair or a covey. And I have used this passage from Longfellow’s “Hiawatha” to show the multiplying power of sin: Never swoops the soaring vulture Oil his quarry in the desert, on some Sick or wounded bison, but another vulture watching From his high aerial lockout Sees the downward plunge and follows. And a third pursues the second; Coming from the invisible ether, first a speck, And then a vulture, till the air is dark with pinions.

All have witnessed the way in which buzzards flock to a car-cass. From these illustrations we get some conception of this multiplying power of sin. And I repeat that aside from the sin of Adam, no sin described in the Bible as I can now recall, has such a long fearful sweep as the sin of Jeroboam. Jehovah announced his displeasure by sending a man out of Judah, a man of God, it does not give his name and he came to Bethel on the day that the worship of the calf was to commence, and came into the presence of Jeroboam who was about to officiate as high priest and used these words (what solemn words they are): “Oh, Altar, Altar, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall they burn upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.” How long before that was fulfilled? We have to turn forward to the reign of Josiah to find an exact fulfilment of it.

Let us see how Jeroboam received this announcement of the prophet of God. In 1Ki 13:4 we have these words: “And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him.” And his hand which he put forth toward the prophet became rigid (he could not move it) and it dried up. There he stood with that dried up, shriveled arm. He then begged the prophet to pray for him, and the prophet prayed for him and the hand was healed.

The tragic end of the nameless prophet was as follows: Jeroboam asked this prophet to be his guest. He declined because God had told him not to go into anybody’s house, and not to tarry in that place, but to come straight back when he had delivered his message. The prophet refused to accept the invitation of Jeroboam. But there was an old man in Bethel, who was himself a prophet, there were schools of the prophets established over the land. Now, this prophet heard of the miracles performed by the prophet from Judah and sent after the man of God, urging him to come back and take bread with him. The nameless prophet said, “I have been commanded not to do that.” The other said, “I also am a prophet, and bid you to come back,” and he went back, and then came the warning to him that he should die. On leaving the house a lion met him and smote him from the ass upon which he was riding and killed him. The lion did not eat him he was not mangled but the people found his dead body there.

I shall never forget that when I was a little bit of a child this was the Sunday school lesson, “The Fate of the Disobedient Prophet.” There was a picture of it in the Sunday school book. The old prophet that lived there at Bethel took him and buried him in a secret place, that his bones should not fall under the denunciation he had himself given. The old prophet said to his children, “When I die, bury me by the side of this man of God; I do not want my bones taken up and burned on that altar.”

Jeroboam did not relent in his purpose on the announcement of this prophecy and its marvelous sign, for that very day the altar split wide open and the ashes fell out; and then there was the miracle of staying his hand, but he did not repent and give up his evil purpose. The record says, “After this thing Jeroboam returned not away from his evil ways, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, he consecrated him that there might be priests of the high places. And this thing became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam,” and he destroyed it off the face of the earth. So this sin not only destroyed the people ultimately, but it destroyed him and all of his house. His policy in the main accompanied his object. The record tells us that the people, the main body of them, quit going to Jerusalem, but joined in this idolatrous worship that Jeroboam had prescribed. The effect on Jeroboam himself was destructive. The record says that the Lord smote him and all of his house perished not a man, woman, or child was left. This is voiced by Jehovah himself, and the occasion of it was that his son was sick, and he told his wife to go to the prophet, Ahijah, who had announced to him that he would get ten tribes in the division of the kingdom. He told his wife to disguise herself, and take presents with her, and go and ask that prophet that the child might live. But the Spirit of God informed the prophet of the disguise before the woman got there, and he met her with this terrible announcement: “And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go, tell Jeroboam, that because of this evil I will cut off every man child, him that is shut up and him that is left out, and I will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepest away refuse, and him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls eat. The Lord hath spoken. Rise and get thee to thine own house, and when thy feet enter into the city the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave.” He is the only one of the family that shall ever receive burial. And then he goes on to say that this sin would destroy the entire nation. This is one of the most solemn utterances in the Bible.

The next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself was an alliance with Shishak. It will be remembered that he fled to Egypt in the days of Solomon, and married into the family of this very Shishak. He made an alliance with Shishak to invade Judah, of which we will speak presently. Jeroboam himself reigned twenty-two years; his son reigned after him two years; his dynasty, therefore, lasted twenty-four years. Rehoboam and his son Abijah, and his son Asa, came to the throne before Jeroboam died. The attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other was war continually, all the days of Jeroboam’s life and the life of his son. But Rehoboam prospered three years just as long as the people remained faithful unto God. His sin and the sin of his people we find in 1Ki 14:22-24 , and some of it is awful. Let us look at it: “And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord;… For they also built them high places on every high hill and under every green tree; and there were also Sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the children of Israel.”

This sin was punished. The record tells us that Shishak, the king of Egypt, invaded the land with a vast army, with much cavalry and many chariots of war. He easily broke through those fifteen cities of defense and came up to Jerusalem, and as his armies surrounded Jerusalem Rehoboam and all the peopie prayed to God and repented of their sins. Mark this difference between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. And God delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. But Shishak carried away all of those rich treasures that had been gathered by Solomon; the golden shields he took away with him, and made the land tributary to Egypt.

Archeology throws some light on this invasion of Shishak. Not a great while ago, in uncovering the ruins of the temple of Karnak on the Nile, there was found the inscription of Shishak on his return from this invasion. It shows what cities he captured, and how he had taken away the treasures from Jerusalem. But the important light that it throws on the period is this: Among the cities captured it gives the names of the Levitical cities in Israel. He did not destroy any of the cities of Jeroboam, but all the Levitical or Canaanite cities that remained faithful to Judah he captured. That is shown in the inscriptions such of them as are discernible. Is it not strange that after thousands of years the spade keeps turning up proof of the truth of the Bible? When archeology first commenced the radical critics said that it would destroy the Bible. Inscriptions on monuments, deep carvings in rock that the dust of centuries has settled upon, are brought to light and demonstrate that this book does not deal in lies. We need to fear nothing as having the power to destroy the testimony of this book.

The length of Rehoboam’s reign was seventeen years; that of his son was three years. The great event in Abijah’s reign was the war with Jeroboam. He raised an army of 4,000,000 men and went into Ephraim and met Jeroboam with 8,000,000 men, and Jeroboam divided his forces into two parts, to take them on two sides. But before the battle commenced there was a prelude that to me has always been interesting. We find it in 2Ch 13:4-12 , as follows: “And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel; ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his Lord. And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the land of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude) and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the people of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and we have priests ministering unto Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work; and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the shewbread also they set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.”

That was a very hard message, and in the battle which followed Abijah’s army killed more Israelites than there were in his own army he had only 40,000 men and he killed half a million. The effect of this battle was terrific. The record tells us that Jeroboam never recovered from that battle. But Abijah was a very strong man, yet not as faithful to Jehovah as he boasts to Jeroboam.

The state of affairs at the end of the twenty-four years was as follows: Jeroboam was dead, smitten of God; his son, after an inglorious reign of two years, was murdered by Baasha, and only one of the family of Jeroboam ever received burial; Baasha killed every one of them that was alive. Now, in the other kingdom, Asa, one of the greatest of the kings of Judah, had come to the throne, and that is the way they stand at the end of the twenty-four years.

QUESTIONS

1. What was the time period of this chapter, who were the kings of Israel and Judah and the time each reigned respectively?

2. What were the initial measures adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom?

3. What was the initial measure of Rehoboam and why this particular measure?

4. What other measures, or political expedients, adopted by Jeroboam?

5. What was the calf worship which he established?

6. What was the effect of this fundamental innovation and how do you account for it?

7. What was the sad refrain at the end of the reign of each of the Israelitish kings? Illustrate.

8. How did Jehovah show his displeasure and what was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the “nameless prophet”?

9. How did Jeroboam receive the message and what the result?

10. Relate the tragic story of the nameless prophet.

11. What was the effect of this great demonstration on Jeroboam?

12. Did his policy in the main accomplish his object?

13. What was the effect on Jeroboam himself?

14. How was this voiced by Jehovah and what the occasion of it?

15. What was the next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself?

16. How long did Jeroboam reign, how many kings of Judah during his reign, how long his dynasty and what its end?

17. What was the attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other?

18. How long did Rehoboam prosper?

19. What was his sin and the sin of his people?

20. How was this sin punished?

21. What light does archeology throw on the invasion of Shishak?

22. What was the length of Rehoboam’s reign, how long his son’s reign and what great event of Abijah’s reign?

23. What was the effect of the battle between Abijah and Jeroboam?

24. What were the characteristics of Abijah?

25. What was the state of affairs in each kingdom, respectively, at the end of twenty-four years?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

1Ki 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

Ver. 1. And, behold, there came a man of God. ] A prophet, 1Ki 13:18 but whether Shemaiah, as Tertullian saith, or Joel, or Theodoret, or Iddo, as Josephus, or some other, it is not known.

Out of Judah. ] Who “yet ruled with God, and was faithful with the saints,” Hos 11:12 though shortly after the faithful city became a harlot, a very Poneropolis. Isa 1:21

By the word of the Lord. ] Or, With the word of the Lord.

Unto Bethel. ] Now become Bethaven: where at that mock feast of tabernacles 1Ki 12:33 was a great assembly, and so the fitter opportunity for a prophet to warn this backslidden people: but they were revolted and gone. Jer 5:23 Once they quarrelled the erecting of but a new altar by the Reubenites, and were ready to kill and slay, Jos 22:10-34 but now it was far otherwise. Oh, where is our ancient fervour and forwardness? and why is our “silver become dross, our wine mixed with water” Isa 1:22

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

a man of God. Compare Deu 33:1, and see App-49.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 13

And so there came a young man out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel: where Jeroboam was standing by the altar ready to burn incense. And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD ( 1Ki 13:1-2 );

There is that character in Los Angeles that has the golden altar and I’ve been tempted to go up and cry against his altar. “O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord.”

Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones will be burnt upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath [This is the sign by which the Lord has spoken.]spoken; Behold, the altar shall be torn, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out ( 1Ki 13:2-3 ).

Now he prophesies that there’s going to be a king raised up, a descendant of David, Josiah by name. Now this is long before Josiah was ever born. But he prophesies exactly what Josiah is going to do in the offering of the priest there upon the high places that burn incense on this altar. And in order that you might know that God has really spoken, this altar is going to be torn in two and the ashes are going to be spilled out.

So it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which cried against the altar there at Bethel, that he said, Lay hold on him. [Put forth his hand, lay hold on that man.] And his hand, he just lost its use, it just dropped and he had no use for that hand or arm. He could not pull it back to him again ( 1Ki 13:4 ).

He just lost use of it.

And the altar was torn or rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign of the man of God that he had given by the word of the LORD. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Pray now the face of Jehovah thy God, pray for me, that my hand may be restored again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and it became as it was before. And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give you a reward. And the man of God said unto the king, If you will give me half your house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: 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. So he went home another way, other than what he had come to Bethel. Now there was an old prophet there in Bethel; and his sons came home and they told him all of the things that happened ( 1Ki 13:5-11 ):

How this young prophet came from Judah and prophesied and how the king’s arm lost its use and was restored, how that the whole prophesy. And the old man said, “What way did he go?” And so the sons told him.

And he said, Saddle my donkey. And he got on his donkey: and he pursued after this young prophet. And he came to him and found him under an oak and he was just sitting there: and he said, Are you the prophet who came from Judah? And he said, I am. And he said, Come on home with me, and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with you, nor go in with you: neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came. And he said unto him, I am a prophet myself; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. And it came to pass, as they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet that had brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as you have disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and you have not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, But you came back, and you have eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of which the LORD did say unto thee, Eat no bread, drink no water; thy carcase will not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. And so it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and he had drunk, that he saddled for him the donkey. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it, and the lion also stood by the carcase. [So men came into town, and they said, we saw an interesting sight, a young man out there. He was killed by a lion and the lion and the donkey are standing by his carcase.] And the old man said, That truly must be the young prophet. He said, Saddle my donkey. And he went up and he found the young man lying there, and the lion and the donkey standing by. And he brought him back: and he buried him in his own sepulchre. And he said to his boys, he said, When I die, [he said,] I want you to bury me next to the bones of this young prophet ( 1Ki 13:13-31 ).

Now it’s an interesting story that surely has an important lesson for us. And that is we better pay attention to what the Lord has to say to us and not what man has to say to us.

There is a movement afoot within the United States that is called the Shepherding Doctrine. And in this you are to submit yourself unto a shepherd who is responsible to lead you and to guide you in your spiritual development and growth. So you take an older person in the Lord, one with more maturity, an older man, and you submit yourself to him. He becomes your shepherd. He tells you when you can buy a house, when you can sell a house, when you can buy a car and just what job you should take, and so forth. I mean, you bring all of your decisions to him and he shepherds over you and he watches over you and your spiritual growth. He tells you when to do things and what to do and so forth. And you are to submit totally to your shepherd. You are to pay all your tithes to that shepherd, and you commit totally your decisions in your life to him.

It’s really sort of a pyramid thing. Some guys at the top started it. They’re the head shepherd and all of these other shepherds are under them. And it’s sort of like those pyramid sales games where you know you get so many reps under you and then you get a certain percentage of all what your reps sell and they get reps under them and you get a certain percentage of what their reps sell and you know you get this pyramid thing going and the guys at the top really make out great. And so these shepherds that are at the top, and all of the shepherds pay their tithes, of course, on up the line ultimately get up here to the top shepherds. And they’ve got this whole thing going and many people have gone for it.

Now they say that if your shepherd tells you to do something, you’ve got to submit to him and do it even if it is wrong. And if it is wrong, your shepherd is responsible and will have to answer to God. You are right because you submitted and obeyed your shepherd. So you’re free, even though what you’ve done is wrong, you’ll be free because you obeyed your shepherd and you were submitting to him. And thus, he will be the one that will be responsible to God for the wrong things that you’ve done because he told you to do them. If they would only read this account, they would find out that God holds each man responsible for what God has told them to do.

Now this young prophet, the Lord said, “When you get there, don’t eat any bread, don’t drink any water in that place. And when you come back don’t even come back by the same route you went.” So the old man, an old prophet, finds him and he says, “Come on home with me. Eat bread and drink water.”

And he said, “No, I can’t. The Lord commanded me not to. Wow, I’m also a prophet, you see. I’m an older man. And an angel came and spoke to me and said, Come and bring him and invite him back.”

The old man was lying to him. Told him to do something that was not according to the word of the Lord to him directly. And as the result, the young man disobeyed the Lord’s command that the Lord had given to him.

You are responsible to listen to God and to follow the Lord and the Lord’s command. And God will hold you responsible for that. And of course, he’s back there eating bread and drinking water and the true prophecy then came from the old man that he was not going to get back home, that the Lord would take him before he could get home, which of course, did happen.

Now after this experience that Jeroboam had where God was giving to him a warning, verse thirty-three.

Jeroboam did not turn away from his evil doings, but he made the lowest people priests there in the high places: and whoever he would, he consecrated, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the eaRuth ( 1Ki 13:33-34 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

In this chapter are two lessons of supreme value; first, the patient grace of God, and, second, the solemn responsibility of such as bear His message.

The first of these is brought out in the story of Jeroboam. While he stood at the altar which his sin had erected he was rebuked and smitten. This was really his opportunity for repentance. His heart, however, was set on sin, and therefore he manifested no genuine repentance, but only a selfish desire for healing. Thus the opportunity for repentance became the occasion of the outworking of his own evil determination.

In his dealings with men, God ever leads them to circumstances through which they may either return to Him or by their continuance in sin make more certain their own ultimate doom. The second lesson is the deception and death of the prophet who had been sent to deliver the Lord’s message. While there can be no excuse for the man who lied to him in order to draw him aside, that fact does not for one moment change his responsibility. No direct command of God must be disregarded by His messengers, even if it be m e that an angel suggest the change of method. A divine purpose directly communicated must never be set aside by any supposed intermediation of any kind.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Judgment upon Worthless Worship

1Ki 13:1-10

What a noble name for anyone to bear-a man of God! Yet we all might so bear the impress of God in our character that those who come in contact with us might feel that ineffable something which you cannot define, which does not need advertising, but which tells that the person who bears it is truly a child of God.

The altar by which Jeroboam expected to consolidate his kingdom was the cause of its overthrow and disaster, until at last Israel was carried into captivity. When we turn from the fountain of living waters and hew out for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water, we start on a course of unfailing disaster and loss.

Literal obedience to God is indispensable to those who would carry his messages. It was a fit and proper answer that the prophet, in the first instance, gave the king. He rightly told Jeroboam that he must abide by the exact terms of his commission, and that the bribe of half of Jeroboams house would not induce him to tarry even so long as to take a meal at the royal table. This minute and rigorous obedience stood out in striking contrast to the conduct of Jeroboam. God is exact and requires exact obedience.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

1Ki 13:2

These words are a prophecy against the form of worship set up in the kingdom of Israel. Consider what this kingdom and this worship were, and how this woe came to be uttered by a prophet of God.

I. When Solomon fell into idolatry, he broke what may be called his coronation oath, and at once forfeited God’s favour. In consequence a message came from Almighty God revealing what the punishment of his sin would be. He might be considered as having forfeited his kingdom for himself and his posterity. In the reign of his son Rehoboam ten tribes out of twelve revolted from their king. In this they were quite inexcusable. Because the king did not do his duty to them, this was no reason why they should not do their duty to him. Say that he was cruel and rapacious, still they might have safely trusted the miraculous providence of God to have restrained the king by His prophets and to have brought them safely through.

II. That Jeroboam was an instrument in God’s hand to chastise Solomon’s sin is plain; and there is no difficulty in conceiving how a wicked man, without its being any excuse for him, still may bring about the Divine purposes. God had indeed promised him the kingdom, but He did not require map’s crime to fulfil His promise. Jeroboam ought to have waited patiently God’s time; this would have been the part of true faith. But he had not patience to wait; he was tried and found wanting.

III. It is not surprising, after such a beginning, that he sinned further and more grievously. His sins in regard to religious worship depended on this principle, that there is no need to attend to the positive laws and the outward forms and ceremonies of religion so long as we attend to the substance. He was but putting another emblem of God in the place of the cherubim. Yet after all his wise counsels and bold plans he has left but his name and title to posterity, “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.”

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. III., p. 60.

References: 1Ki 13:6.-R. Heber, Parish Sermons, vol. ii., p. 92. 1Ki 13:7, 1Ki 13:8.-A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 165. 1Ki 13:7-15.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 23. 1Ki 13:8, 1Ki 13:16, 1Ki 13:19.-Ibid., vol. ix., p. 23. 1Ki 13:18.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 72.

1Ki 13:20-22

I. Consider what was the mission or work of this prophet of Judah. Jeroboam, like many a statesman since his time, looked upon religion, not as the happiness and strength of his own life, but simply as an instrument of successful government. He saw that if, after the separation of the ten tribes, Jerusalem should still continue to be the religious centre of the whole nation, sooner or later it would become the political centre too. The prophet was to Jeroboam what Samuel was to Saul after the victory over Amalek. He announced God’s displeasure at the most critical moment of his life, when an uninterrupted success was crowned with high-handed rebellion against the gracious Being who had done everything for the rebel. The prophet placed the king under the ban of God. It was a service of the utmost danger; it was a service of corresponding honour.

II. Consider the temptations to which the Jewish prophet was exposed in the discharge of his mission. It was not difficult for him to decline Jeroboam’s invitation to eat and drink with him. The invitation of the old prophet was a much more serious temptation, and had a different result. This old prophet was a religious adventurer who had a Divine commission and even supernatural gifts, yet who placed them at the service of Jeroboam. He wanted to bring the other prophet down to his own level. Looking at the sacred garb, the white hairs, of the old prophet of Bethel, the prophet of Judah listened to the false appeal to his own Lord and Master, and he fell.

III. Notice the prophet’s punishment. By a solemn, a terrible, irony the seducer was forced to pass a solemn sentence on his victim. If the sterner penalty was paid by the prophet who disobeyed, and not by the prophet who tempted, this is only what we see every day. The victims of false teaching too often suffer, while the tempter seems to escape. The lesson from the story is that our first duty is fidelity to God’s voice in conscience.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 667.

References: 1Ki 13:20-22.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 95. 1Ki 13:21, 1Ki 13:22.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 20. 1Ki 13:23, 1Ki 13:24.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 214.

1Ki 13:26

Of all men living, Jeroboam was the last to whom such a message as the prophet’s could be delivered with impunity. Doubtless as the prophet trod the solitary upland road from Judah to Bethel he forecast within himself all the coming struggle. And he bears his witness. As before the great altar on the feast-day of the king’s own devising the king’s own arm is raised to offer incense, from the dark, unbidden form which had thrust itself into the inmost circle of worshippers there wakes up the awful voice of denunciation. Jehovah’s power is seen in the withering of the king’s arm; the prophet sternly rejects the proffered gifts, and takes his triumphant departure. But his triumph is soon turned into shame, for he yields to the soft suggestions of the old prophet of Bethel, and meets the doom of disobedience. From his story we may gather these lessons:-

I. There is in this history a witness of the presence with us all our life through of the God of truth and righteousness.

II. Notice how terribly distinct are the evil features of the old prophet who dwelt at Bethel. What a history is his of illuminations of grace darkened, of visitings of the Spirit resisted and banished, of the transition from a teacher to a seducer, from being a prophet of the Lord to being a prophet of lies!

III. Is there not written, as in a legend of fire, on this nameless tomb the glory or the shame which must be the portion of every prophet of the Lord? How great are his ventures, how grand his triumphs, how irresistible his strength, how strict his account. Let us watch especially after successes. Let us beware of resting under wayside trees. Let us press on and cry mightily for God’s grace.

Bishop Mackarness, Oxford Lent Sermons, 1869, p. 1.

References: 1Ki 13:26.-H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 136, Penny Pulpit, No. 1167, and Contemporary Pulpit extra, Jan. 1887; T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 76; W. Scott, Sermons for Sundays, Festivals, and Fasts, 2nd series, vol. iii.,p. 57. 1Ki 13:30.-Sermons for the Christian Seasons, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 729; H. Whitehead, The Sunday Magazine, 1871, p. 91. 1Ki 13:33.-J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 309; J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. ii., p. 102. 1Ki 13:34.-H. Thompson, Concionalia: Outlines of Sermons for Parochial Use, vol. i., p. 356. 1Ki 13-Parker, vol. vii., p. 358; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 71. 1Ki 14:6.-A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 33; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 584.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

2. Jeroboam and Rehoboam and their Reign

CHAPTER 13 The Man of God from Judah

1. The man of God and Jeroboam (1Ki 13:1-10)

2. The temptation and lying message (1Ki 13:11-19)

3. Judgment announced (1Ki 13:20-22)

4. The fate of the man of Judah (1Ki 13:23-32)

5. Jeroboams impenitence (1Ki 13:33-34)

A dramatic scene opens this chapter. The idolatrous King is engaged in his religious ceremony when an unnamed man of God interrupted him. He did not rebuke Jeroboam, but addressed himself to the altar, uttering a remarkable prophecy: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and mens bones shall be burned upon thee. More than 300 years later, and nearly a century after the ten tribes had been carried away captive, this prophecy was fulfilled (2Ki 23:15-18). The man of God announced the unborn king by name and also what he would do, just as Isaiah announced the unborn King Cyrus and his work. Higher criticism has labored in vain to destroy this great evidence of prophecy. Then the man of God added a sign which happened literally in the presence of the king. The angry king commanded the seizure of the prophet, but the outstretched arm withered. The withered arm was restored in answer to the prophets prayer. Jehovah was seeking in mercy even Jeroboam in all his wickedness. It was unsuccessful, for it is written: After this King Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. The man of God and what happened to him occupies the greater part of the chapter. The King invited him to a feast, probably an idol feast, and wanted to give him a reward. He refused both because the Lord had charged him not to eat bread nor drink water, nor return the same way he came. The man of God was to have no fellowship with the works of darkness. The same principle is laid down for Gods people in the New Testament (2Co 6:14-18; Eph 5:11; 2Jn 1:9-11). Then comes his great failure, showing that while he was a messenger of God, his heart was not altogether right with God. It was through the old prophet that a lying spirit induced him to disobey the Word of the Lord. And when the old prophet announced his coming judgment we read not a word that he turned to the Lord with confession and prayer. Then the predicted fate overtook him. It is a solemn lesson which teaches us obedience to the Word of God. It teaches us that, whenever God has made His will known to us, we are not to allow any after thought whatever to call it in question, even although the latter may take the form of the Word of God, If we were nearer to the Lord, we would feel that the only true and right position is to follow that which He told us at first. In every case our part is to obey what He has said. The lion who had killed the disobedient prophet remained for a time with the body without touching it. It was to show the divine character of the judgment. If we look upon Jeroboams departure from God and idolatrous worship as typical of the corruption of Romanism, we may see in the Man of God from Judah, who rebuked the false altar, a type of Protestantism. Like the prophet who delivered the message faithfully but became disobedient, Protestantism is disobedient to the Word of God and the judgment of God will overtake it in the end.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

there came: 1Ki 12:22, 2Ki 23:17, 2Ch 9:29

by the word: 1Ki 13:5, 1Ki 13:9, 1Ki 13:26, 1Ki 13:32, 1Ki 20:35, Jer 25:3, 1Th 4:15

Jeroboam: 1Ki 12:32, 1Ki 12:33, 2Ch 26:18

burn: or, offer, Num 16:40, Jer 11:12, Jer 32:29, Mal 1:11, Rev 8:3

Reciprocal: Lev 10:1 – put incense Deu 33:1 – the man Jos 14:6 – the man 1Sa 2:27 – a man 1Sa 9:6 – city 2Sa 12:1 – the Lord 1Ki 11:26 – Jeroboam 1Ki 13:14 – Art thou 1Ki 13:17 – by the word 1Ki 17:18 – O thou man 1Ki 20:28 – there came 2Ki 2:2 – Bethel 2Ki 4:9 – man of God 2Ki 8:7 – General 2Ki 16:12 – approached 2Ki 17:11 – burnt 2Ki 23:16 – burned 2Ki 23:18 – the bones of the prophet 2Ch 8:14 – so had David the man of God commanded 2Ch 25:7 – a man of God 2Ch 26:16 – to burn Psa 90:1 – the man Jer 35:4 – a man Hos 12:10 – have also Amo 7:13 – for 1Ti 6:11 – O man 2Pe 1:21 – in old time

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE PROPHET OF JUDAH

The prophet of Judah.

1Ki 13:1-25

The altar at Beth-el was an ill-omened altar. The shadow of ruin was on it from the first. On the very morning of its inauguration, when Jeroboam stood with the incense ready, an unknown prophet of Judah strode forward from the crowdand what a thrill ran through the people! He seemed to see nobody, not even the king. His eye was riveted upon the altar. He cried to it, O altar, altar! and foretold that a child should be born of the house of David who would offer on it the bones of its ministering priests. Then, as a sign that the word was from the Lord, the altar was rent, and the ashes on it scattered. Well for the people, as the ashes were drifted over them by the mountain breeze, had they thought that ashes were the symbol of repentance! Jeroboam was furious; he pointed to the intruder; he cried to his retinue to seize him. But in that instant his outstretched and pointing arm was withered, and was only healed at the prophets intercession. Then the unknown herald disappeared, refusing all kingly offers of entertainment. And the Lesson concludes with the pitiful tragedy that opened in disobedience and closed in death. Two centuries later the altar was rent again. Then came Josiah, who stamped it small to powder, and who took the bones of the priests out of their sepulchres, and burned them there. So was fulfilled the word of the Lord, which the man of God proclaimed.

Now let us note three lessons here.

I. The same temptations will come back again.This unnamed prophet was tempted by the king, and he had the strength and courage to be firm. God had bidden him accept no hospitality, and he was true to the bidding of his Lord so far. No doubt he felt the strength of having conquered; there was something of the glow of victory upon him. He could lay aside his spiritual armour now, and take a little ease under the oak tree. And it was then, just when he seemed victorious, that the same temptation leaped back on him again. The battle with self and ease had to be refought, and he had slackened his grip upon his sword. It was the very temptation meeting him again that he was congratulating himself on having conquered. I think the man was lost, because he won. Now that is a lesson in temptation. Satan is rarely content with one assault. He sometimes lets himself be beaten in the first, just to get us at greater advantage in the second. Never cease watching. Beware of that oak tree. The time has not come to be pleased with our little victories. Some day we shall sit under His shadow with great delight. But to-day our Lord is saying to us, Watch!

II. Mark how others may be ruined by our falsehood.When the old prophet went after the prophet of Judah, he told him that the Lord had bidden him come. This was not an invitation from the king; it was an invitation (he said) from the King of kings. But, says the scripture, he lied unto him. Now what was the purpose of that lie I hardly know. There was all manner of treachery behind it. The old prophet would be a poorer man for ever, for having taken Gods name in vain like that. But what I want to note is, that the brother-prophet was ruined by that lie. It was that lie that led him into danger; it was that lie that cost him his life. Learn, then, that in every falsehood we are doing certain injury to others. Some one suffers, be quite sure of it, every time you tell a lie. Not only for your own sakes, but for others sakes, determine, whatever it costs, never to deceive. We serve others just by being true.

III. This is the main lessonour safety lies in simple obedience.The prophet of Judah was a true prophet of God. God had honoured him by giving him this work. Still more, God granted him the power of working miraclesthe altar was rent and the kings hand restored. Surely with all these gifts and signs of favour the prophet might think himself tolerably safe? Yet spite of them all, what a terrible end he came toand all because of disobedience. Learn, then, that our gifts may be our danger; our talents or genius may be our peril, if we ever think that in the strength of these we can dare be disobedient to God. It is the brightest and the cleverestit is those whom God has dowered most liberallyit is they who are often tempted to be careless, and to take their ease under the oak tree. God teaches us that gifts are no safeguard. The brightest must obey just like the dullest. For the little genius, as for the little dunce, there is only one road to safety and to happiness. It is to obey God unswervingly.

Illustration

The penalty was very severe; but it was necessary. Else Jeroboam might have argued that he was not a true prophet, and that the word which he spake as Gods would not stand. The prophets death for his disobedience must have been an awful message to the king. If a man of God was not spared, how should he fare? If judgment begins at the house of God, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? Remember, too, that death is not the worst calamity that can befall; spiritual deterioration is worse.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Ki 13:1. Behold, there came a man of God A holy prophet; for none are called men of God in the Old Testament, but prophets. By the word of the Lord By divine inspiration and command. There is no foundation for so much as conjecture who this prophet was. His prophecy, however, is one of the most remarkable which we have in sacred writ. It foretels an action that exactly came to pass above three hundred and forty years afterward. It describes the circumstances of the action; and specifies the very name of the person who was to do it; and therefore every considerate Jew, who lived in the time of its accomplishment, must have been convinced of the divine authority of a religion founded on such prophecies as this; since none but God could foresee, and consequently none but God could fore-tel events at such a distance. Le Clerc, Calmet, and Dodd. Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense Upon the feast day which he had instituted.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Ki 13:1. Bethel. See the notes on Genesis 28 :1 Samuel 2 :1 Kings 12. The man of God from Judah is called Jaddo by Josephus.

1Ki 13:2. Josiah. Cyrus is mentioned by name, as well as Josiah. Isaiah 44. 45.

1Ki 13:9. Nor return by the same way: a hint that if we have walked to the profane feasts of the wicked, we should return to Zion by a new and living way.

1Ki 13:11. An old prophet. The Chaldaic reads, a false prophet.

1Ki 13:18. An angel spake to me. Truly so; the devil prompted him to dishonour the prophet. What a caution, not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits, by the sure tests of holiness and truth.

1Ki 13:31. Lay my bones with his bones. Here the LXX give us an erroneous paraphrase, That my bones may be saved with his bones, when his prediction shall be fulfilled in burning mens bones.

REFLECTIONS.

We are again led on tragic ground, where we may gather some instruction. The Lord having raised up Jeroboam to scourge the haughty house of David, graciously restrained the vast army of Judah and Benjamin from commencing a civil war; for he was desirous first to afford the apostate king some milder tokens of his displeasure. We have seen in the preseding chapter, that the craft and the crimes of this king were very great. Instead of being grateful for past mercies, and relying on the Lord, he followed the idolatrous phantoms of his own mind, and attempted everything to secure the kingdom by policy. The better to deceive the people and allure them to his altar, he mimicked as far as possible, the temple worship. He appointed a feast of tabernacles for the consecration of his idols; and by his munificence, intended to make it a day of consummate gratification and joy to his people. An immense multitude were assembled to partake of the royal treat, and applaud the scheme. His new-made priests were sprinkled with the gore; and pleading the high example of Jacob on that identical spot, they made the lofty altar smoke like a mighty furnace. The king, perverted while in Egypt, and self-appointed as the first of priests, presumed to take coals from the altar and burn incense, while all the people, emboldened by his example, prostrated, at once to insult and adore the God of their fathers.

But mark now, when they were just about to glory in the devotion of the day, how God disconcerted all their joys, by tokens of his high displeasure. While all were prostrate before the calf, there was one stranger clothed in a rough garment, who stubbornly scorned to bow the knee; and this man, waiting a pause of silence, cried with a loud voice, Oh altaraltar! Thus saith the Lord, behold a child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name: and upon thee shall he offer the guilty priests who presume to burn incense, instead of innocent victims. Yea, he shall dig up the bones of thy priests, to burn them with the living. And this is the sign that the Lord will perform what he has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent; and its ashes, with all its victims and fat, shall be scattered. Here was a sign near, to confirm a very remote prediction. Here was a most luminous prophecy, which the darkness of idolatry could not obscure. The priests hearing their sentence, were appalled as criminals at the bar; the elders, confounded in their error, were silent; the king alone had courage to stretch forth his hand and order the prophet to be arrested. But his presuming hand was arrested; he could not draw it back; and the same power which paralyzed his hand, instantly rent the altar, and all their victims shamefully fell into the ash-pit, leaving the multitude affrighted and unpurged. In this sign the apostate Israelites had a full warning to approach that altar no more, lest God should for ever rend them from his covenant and favour. The king feeling the divine power, was also appalled, and supplicated mercy from the angry presence of God; for the men who are boldest in bidding defiance to threatenings, are often among the first to flinch when death stares them in the face. He became a humble suppliant to the prophet, whom but a moment before, he had undoubtedly doomed to die! Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God, that my hand may be restored. Aye; the wicked pray first of all that their pains may he removed. Why did he not pray to his new made calves? Ah, the wicked well know that their gods can do nothing for them in the day of trouble.

In this prophet we see the character of a divine minister of the first class. Entrusted with a high mission from God, he feared not the face of man. He approached the profane altar; he stood before the elevated king, surrounded by his nobles, his priests, his guards; he delivered the terrific message of God, nor softened the severity of its terms. And after the triumph, being still supported by the Lord, he refused the feast and high rewards of the king; he would neither eat bread, nor drink water in so foul a place; he retired with all the glory of sacred reverence, leaving the multitude covered with the greatest shame. Let us meekly learn of this blessed man to magnify our ministry. Let us faithfully deliver the counsel of God, and fairly accuse the wicked at his bar; and what have we to fear from priest or prince, from the rich or the poor, while God is our shield? Above all let us not eat bread at the wicked mans table, so as to give him countenance, while he is resolved to retain his sins.

While God was thus displaying his power, and covering his cause with glory, it was high time for Satan to be busy, lest he should lose a kingdom which now promised him full sovereignty. The multitude were indeed vanquished, and by a single servant of God; but he had yet one friend in Bethel, an old prophet; and Satan has no faster friends than apostates in religion. The sons of this man went home, and recited to their father the sermon, the courage, and the prodigies of the man of God; and while they spake, their looks seemed to reproach him with bearing no resemblance, except in name, to so divine a person. The old man who had stayed at home during the declension, having long lost the spirit of his profession, now felt all the springing of a rival pride. He had lived neglected and despised, and could not bear to see a brother so greatly honoured, and little less than adored. He had been a temporizing prophet, and the wicked ever wishing to make others like themselves, he resolved to make the stranger temporize also. He overtook him sitting under an oak, hungry indeed, but feasting on reflection, while his exhausted ass cropped the herbage of the open way. Unable by arguments of affected courtesy to move the minister of heaven, he at length dared to forge a revelation in the name of God. The unsuspecting prophet, somewhat dazzled with the glory of the day, and pressed with hunger, hastily believed, and obeyed the seducer. He thought himself safe in the house of a prophet. But while the food was in his mouth, the word of the Lord came to the deceiver, for God has sometimes spoken by such men, when they have obtruded themselves on his regards: and he declared that the carcase of the disobedient prophet should not come to the sepulchre of his fathers. Happy indeed, that this sentence was denounced against his body only; his mind not having presumptuously consented to dishonour God. The old prophet had scarcely time to triumph in his success, or to tell his neighbours that he had done more by his address than Jeroboam could do by his presents; nor had the terrified priests of the broken altar time scarcely to reproach the cause of all their terror with a defection worse than theirs; before travellers told what they had seen, namely, the lion divinely commissioned to kill the prophet, to guard his sacred corpse, and protect his ass. Nor was it a less evident mark of an instructive providence, that this prophet was interred adjacent to the profane altar, and an inscription affixed on his tomb: for however much the idolaters might exult in his death, his sepulchre would announce both to them and their children, the still greater punishment suspended over their heads.

In the charge which the old prophet delivered to his sons, to bury him by the bones of the man of God, we see realized the wishes of all hypocrites and temporizers with the sacred ministry. They would wish to partake of the altar, and be famed for wisdom and talents; above all, they would wish to die the death of the righteous, and be mingled with their dust. There is however one difficulty in the gratification of their final wishes, the angels of God shall gather out of his kingdom all that offend, and shall burn them with unquenchable fire.

Lastly, we cannot but lament that this extraordinary mission had but a momentary effect on the king. Israel was accustomed to revolt. So was it with the Jews in our Saviours time; so it is with sinners in our own time. When the hand of God is removed from a wicked man, his devotion is dried up like the morning dew, and the evil fountain of his heart flows again in its former course.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Ki 12:25 to 1Ki 13:34. The Sin of Jeroboam. The Prophet at Bethel.The sources cannot be exactly determined. Some (see Cent.B) may belong to the annals of the northern kingdom, but the tone is decidedly Deuteronomic. The prophets message to Jeroboam is certainly late.

Jeroboams first act as recorded was to build or fortify Shechem (1Ki 12:25). Then for some reason he transferred his seat of government to the E. of Jordan to Penuel. Possibly he was hard pressed by his former patron Shishak, who invaded Israel in his reign (1Ki 14:25-28). There is no proof of this; but Abner after Sauls death set up Ishbosheth as king of Israel in the same district at Mahanaim (2Sa 2:8 f.). Jeroboam may have established himself at Penuel in anticipation of a Syrian invasion. 2Sa 2:26 f. tells of his apostasy. Fearing lest the Israelites would return to the house of David if they continued to visit Jerusalem, he built two sanctuaries, at Bethel in the S. and Dan in the N.

As Kings attributes Israels spiritual ruin to his sin we must state what is here said to have been its features. (a) Dissuading the people from going up to Jerusalem; (b) setting up Bethel and Dan as sanctuaries; (c) making houses of high places; (d) ordaining priests who were not Levites; (e) keeping a feast in the eighth instead of the seventh month. The question is whether any of those offences could have been considered acts of apostasy in the days of Jeroboam, as they were undoubtedly in the reign of Josiah three centuries later. (f) The calf worship.

(a) Jerusalem was certainly not considered to be the one legal sanctuary. In the days of the Judges it was regarded as a heathen town to be avoided by Israelites (Jdg 19:11 f.). Even the prophets shortly before the fall of Samaria never reproach the people for the sin of schism in deserting Yahwehs Judan Temple. (b) Bethel, connected with Jacob, was an ancient and honoured holy place (Gen 28:19, 1Sa 10:3), and Dan was served by a priesthood which was descended perhaps from a descendant of Moses himself (Jdg 18:30). (c) The high places or local sanctuaries had existed from the days of the patriarchs, and were part of the worship of ancient Israel (2Ki 3:3*). Gideon, Samuel, Elijah, made use of them for solemn sacrifices. (d) The Levitical priesthood was preferred to any other (Jdg 17:9-13); but in early Israel the priestly office was certainly not confined to a tribe. In 2Ch 11:13, the Levites are said to have deserted Jeroboams kingdom and settled in Judah, but this is a very late view of the affair. (e) The feast in the eighth month is said to be the vintage festival or Feast of Tabernacles. In Neh 8:17, it is said to have been kept in accordance with the Law, but that it had never been kept since the days of Joshua. (f) The only point remaining for discussion is the calves. The following points must be borne in mind: (i.) the second commandment was not at this time strictly interpreted, or cherubim, lions, and bulls would not have been allowed in Solomons Temple and palace; (ii.) the bullfor calf is not used in a contemptuous sensewas the special symbol of the Joseph tribes (Deu 33:17), and even of Yahweh (Exo 32:5); (iii.) calf-worship had existed even in the wilderness, and in Exodus 32, when Aaron made the golden calf, he proclaimed a feast to Yahweh. Indeed the whole story in Exodus has a remarkable affinity to that here related. (iv.) As Jeroboam was not an innovator in setting up altars at Bethel and Dan, he may here not have introduced a new worship, but one which was already common in Israel. He may have imitated an Egyptian form of worship; but this is highly improbable. The ceremony of kissing the calves is alluded to just before the fall of Samaria (Hos 13:2). Calf-worship apparently never infected Judah.

The story of the prophets visit to Jeroboam has been called one of the strangest in the OT (Cent.B). The prophet, who is not named, predicts the destruction of the altar of Bethel by a king of Judah named Josiah. The definiteness of this prediction would not necessarily render it impossible, any more than the mention of Cyrus, nearly two centuries before his birth, attributed to Isaiah (Isa 44:26). But the whole tone of this story, as of that of Isaiah 40 ff., forbids us to accept it as contemporary. To take but one instance, the allusion to the cities of Samaria (1Ki 13:32) is a patent anachronism (1Ki 16:24). That the tradition of a prophets visit to Jeroboam was current may be witnessed to by 2Ki 23:16. The prophet or man of God, as he is consistently called (except in 1Ki 13:23, where the reference to the prophet is an obvious interpolation), in contrast with the old prophet, does not denounce Jeroboam but curses the altar. Apparently the punishment of the man of God, who was very excusably deceived, is intended to emphasize the extreme wickedness of rebellion against God. The story throughout is intentionally miraculous; the withering of the kings hand, the death of the prophet by a lion who refused to touch the corpse or to injure the ass, cannot be explained by any attempt to rationalise the story.

1Ki 13:33. consecrated: lit. filled the hand (Leviticus 8*, Num 3:3*, 1Ch 29:5*) of each new priest. This term (found also in Assyrian) is used of regular consecration, e.g. Aarons (Exo 28:41), and irregular, e.g. Micahs Levite (Jdg 17:5). It probably means to put him in possession of the office.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

A SOLEMN MESSAGE FROM GOD

(vs.1-10)

God would not leave Jereboam without clear witness to God’s abhorrence of the evil that Jereboam had introduced in Israel. The Lord sent a man of God from Judah to Bethel at a time that Jereboam was using his altar to burn incense (v.1). The prophet addressed the altar with a strong voice, “Thus says the Lord, Behold a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David, and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you” (v.2). Before Jereboam had time to speak, the man of God told him, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out” (v.3).

Jereboam did not like to be so rudely interrupted in his false worship and he stretched out his hand, giving the order to arrest the man of God. But God abruptly intervened, causing the king’s hand to immediately wither and become so paralyzed he could not withdraw it (v.4). But not only that. The sign the man of God spoke of the took place before their eyes: the altar was split apart and the ashes poured out (v.5).

Now it was Jereboam’s withered hand that most affected him. The hand would not be helped by the arrest of the man of God, and Jereboam knew that he would now be dependent on the kindness of the prophet if he was to be healed. So he asked him to entreat the Lord that his hand might be restored. The man of God did so, and the Lord graciously answered by immediately healing his hand. What a lesson was here for Jereboam, that God is both a God of truth and a God of grace!

Instead of arresting the prophet, Jereboam invited him to his own home to be refreshed and to receive a reward (v.7)! Ungodly men are often ready to give money or other gifts to God, thinking that God can be bribed to be favorable to them while they remain indifferent to the Word of God.

The man of God refused the king’s hospitality, telling him that whatever the king would give him, he would not go into Jereboam’s house, nor eat or drink in Bethel. The Word of the Lord had commanded him not to eat or drink in that place, and not to return by the same route he had taken into the city (vs.8-9). The Word of God that Jereboam had despised must not be ignored by the prophet. The prophet then left by a different route.

THE MAN OF GOD DECEIVED

(vs.11-34)

An old prophet lived in Bethel, but he did not have the energy of faith to resist the idolatrous worship of Jereboam. His sons told him of the man of God who came from Judah, what he had done and what he had spoken for the Lord to Jereboam (v.11). These things evidently spoke to the old prophet’s conscience and he thought he should have some contact with the man of God from Judah. He and his sons followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree (vs.12-14). If seems, now that he had gotten away from Bethel, he thought he could idly savor the experience in which he had been faithful to God. What a mistake! If he had a proper abhorrence of the evil he prophesied against, would he not have wanted to get far from that scene?

What a lesson for us! At a time when we have done something for the Lord, we are in great danger of being deceived by our self-complacency. When David, after many victories, relaxed on his rooftop when his men went to war, he was drawn away by strong temptation and became guilty of adultery and murder (2Sa 11:1-27). We today also are warned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1Pe 5:8).

The old prophet invited the man of God to go home with him for a meal, but the man of God rightly responded that he could not do so, for by the Word of the Lord he must not eat bread or drink water in that place (vs.15-17). The old prophet responded that he also was a prophet and that an angel had spoken to him by the Word of the Lord, telling him to bring the man of God back to his home to eat and drink with him. But this was a deliberate lie (v.18).

Certainly the man of God should not have been deceived by this, for God’s Word to him directly was decisive: God would not change His mind. The prophet said an angel had spoken to him, but such second-hand or third-hand messages are not to be compared to the direct Word from God. We too must be careful to cling absolutely to the Word of God, and not be deceived by men who claim to be prophets, as many do today. The man of God accepted the word of the old prophet in preference to the Word of God, and returned with the old prophet to Bethel (v.19).

However, while they were eating, the Lord intervened by giving the old prophet a solemn message for the man of God. He told him, “Thus says the Lord, Because you have disobeyed the Word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but came back, ate bread and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers” (vs.20-22).

At least we might expect the old prophet to apologize for lying but there is no mention of this. But after giving his solemn message to the man of God, he saddled the donkey for him, to send him on his way (v.23). He did not go far, for a lion met him on the road and killed him (v.24). Yet the lion did not try to eat the corpse, nor did it touch the donkey, and the donkey did not run away. Both the lion and the donkey remained standing by the corpse. How strange this would appear to all who saw it! Clearly God had one object in view in this incident, that His servant would be taken away in death!

People passing by witnessed this strange sight and reported it in Bethel. When the old prophet heard of it, he realized the victim must be the man of God, and he went to the spot, possibly with his sons (vs.26-28). He took up the corpse and laid it on a donkey. He evidenced unusual courage in the presence of the lion, but the lion did not interfere (v.29). Taking the body back to Bethel, he buried it in a tomb prepared for himself. The old prophet and his sons were apparently the only mourners. Likely any relatives of the man of God would know nothing of what became of him.

The old prophet instructed his sons that when he died they should bury him in the same grave beside the man of God (v.31), for he knew the prophecy of the man of God against the altar of Jereboam would be fulfilled (v.32). God’s testimony remained true in spite of the failure of the messenger.

Jereboam’s experience with the man of God, and the message he heard, had no lasting effect on him. He continued in his evil course of idolatry and made priests of anyone he desired, to serve Jereboam’s interests in the idolatrous high places (v.33). This glaring sin would call down God’s solemn judgment in exterminating the house of Jereboam from the face of the earth (v.34). After this Jereboam became known as the king who made Israel sin (ch.14:16).

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

13:1 And, behold, there came {a} a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto {b} Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

(a) That is, a prophet.

(b) Not that that was called Luz in Benjamin, but another of that name.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The prophecy of judgment on Jeroboam’s religious system 13:1-32

God sent a young Judahite prophet to Bethel to announce a prophecy that God would judge Jeroboam for his apostasy. When he arrived, the king was exercising his priestly function at the Bethel altar (1Ki 13:1).

"Though kings could function as priests in certain circumstances (2Sa 6:12-15), it was strictly forbidden for them to offer incense for this was limited to the Aaronic priests alone (Num 16:39-40; 2Ch 26:16-18)." [Note: Merrill, "1 Kings," p. 260.]

The prophet predicted Josiah by name 290 years before he became king of Judah (1Ki 13:2; cf. Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1). God fulfilled this prophecy when Josiah destroyed Jeroboam’s religious system (2Ki 23:15-20). The sign God gave was a miracle designed to prove the truthfulness of the prophecy to those who heard it (1Ki 13:3). According to the Mosaic Law, the priests were to carefully carry away the ashes from the altar to a clean place for disposal (Lev 1:16; Lev 4:12; Lev 6:10-11). The pouring out of them there, along with the destruction of this altar, symbolized God’s rejection of this sacrificial system. Jeroboam stretched out his hand in a gesture of authority (1Ki 13:4). By incapacitating his hand, a symbol of power, God showed He had greater authority than the king and was sovereign over him (1Ki 13:4).

We can see that Jeroboam had no regard for Yahweh when he called the Lord the prophet’s God rather than his own God (1Ki 13:6). By offering the prophet a reward, Jeroboam was seeking to compromise him. If the prophet had accepted the reward, there would have been a question in the minds of onlookers concerning whether he was in Yahweh’s service or in Jeroboam’s (1Ki 13:7). The young man wisely declined even to eat with the king, which in that culture implied mutual affection and protection (1Ki 13:8).

The old prophet living in Bethel was a compromiser, as 1Ki 13:11-32 make clear. If he had been faithful to Yahweh, he might have left Bethel and Israel when Jeroboam brought his nation under a humanly devised system of worship. Many of the faithful in Israel did this (1Ki 13:11; cf. 2Ch 11:13-17). However, several other faithful prophets lived and ministered in the Northern Kingdom (e.g., Hosea, Jonah, Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, et at.). The old prophet tried to turn the young prophet away from what God had told him to do (1Ki 13:15). He lied about God’s revelation to him (1Ki 13:18). Like Rehoboam (1Ki 12:13) and Jeroboam (1Ki 12:28), the young man listened to bad counsel rather than obeying a direct word from the Lord.

However, the old prophet did receive some revelations from God (1Ki 13:20). He predicted that because the young prophet had not been completely faithful to God, he would have a dishonorable burial (1Ki 13:22). A person’s burial made a statement about whether his life was honorable or not in the ancient Near East. Since the lion did not eat the prophet or maul his donkey, it was clear that this was an unusual slaying. God had sent the lion to judge the young prophet (1Ki 13:24).

"Lions were attested in Palestine until at least the thirteenth century AD." [Note: Wiseman, p. 147.]

If God had not judged His own prophet for his disobedience, there might have been some doubt about whether God would judge Jeroboam for his. In spite of his own unfaithfulness, the old prophet admired his young friend and gave him as honorable a burial as was possible (1Ki 13:30).

"Perhaps he felt that association with a true prophet of the Lord, even if only in death, would help erase his disobedience in life and ministry." [Note: Merrill, "1 Kings," p. 261.]

"Whatever his motives, and it is impossible to know them for sure, the old man is a mixture of curiosity, dishonesty, accuracy, and conviction." [Note: Wiseman, p. 189. Cf. W. Gross, "Lying Prophet and Disobedient Man of God in 1 Kings 13 : Role Analysis as an Instrument of Theological Interpretation of an OT Narrative Text," Semeia 15 (1979):122; and Leon J. Wood, The Prophets of Israel, pp. 184-89.]

This incident illustrates the importance of complete obedience to God’s Word. God used it to impress this truth on Jeroboam, the Israelites, and all who heard about it, as well as us.

"From beginning to end, the story dwells on a single theme-the fulfillment of the word of the Lord in its due time, having transcended the weakness of its bearer and converted its violators into its confirmants." [Note: Uriel Simon, "1 Kings 13 : A Prophetic Sign-Denial and Persistence," Hebrew Union College Annual 47 (1976):115.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

JEROBOAM AND THE MAN OF GOD

1Ki 13:1-34

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.”

– 1Jn 4:1

WE are told that Jeroboam, whose position probably made him restless and insecure, first built or fortified Shechem, and then went across the Jordan and established another palace and stronghold at Penuel. After this he shifted his residence once more to the beautiful town of Tirzah, where he built for himself the palace which Zimri afterwards burnt over his own head. Although the prophet Shemaiah forbade Rehoboams attempt to crush him in a great war, Jeroboam remained at war with him and Abijah all his life, till his reign of two-and-twenty troubled years ended apparently by a sudden death-for the chronicler says that “the Lord struck him, and he died.”

Nearly all that we know of Jeroboam apart from these incidental notices is made up of two stories, both of which are believed by critics to date from a long subsequent age, but which the compiler of the Book of Kings introduced into his narrative from their intrinsic force and religious instructiveness.

The first of these stories tells us of the only spontaneous prophetic protest against his proceedings of which we read. So ancient is this curious narrative that tradition had entirely forgotten the names of the two prophets concerned in it. It probably assumed shape from the dim local reminiscences evoked in the days of Josiahs reformation, when the grave of a forgotten prophet of Judah was discovered among the tombs at Bethel, three hundred and twenty years after the events described.

A nameless man of God-Josephus calls him Jadon, and some have identified him with Iddo-came out of Judah to atone for the silence of Israel, and to protest in Gods name against the new worship. His protest, however, is against “the altar.” He does not say a word about the golden calves. Jeroboam, perhaps, at his dedication festival of the kings shrine at Bethel, was standing on the altar-slope, as Solomon had done in the Temple, to burn incense. Suddenly the man of God appeared, and threatened to the altar the destruction and desecration which subsequently fell upon it. We cannot be sure that some of the details are not later additions supplied from subsequent events. Josephus rationalizes the story very absurdly in the style of Paulus. The sign of the destruction or rending of the altar, and the outpouring of the ashes, may have been first fulfilled in that memorable earthquake which became a date in Israel. The desecration which it received at the hands of Josiah reminded men of the threat of the unknown messenger. Then we are told that Jeroboam raised his hand in anger, with the order to secure the bold offender, but that his arm at once “dried up,” and was only restored by the man of at the kings entreaty. The king invites the prophet to go home and refresh himself and receive a reward; but he replies that not half Jeroboams house could tempt him to break the command which he had received to eat no bread neither drink water at Bethel. An old Israelite prophet was living at Bethel, and his son told him what had occurred. Struck with admiration by the faithfulness of the southern man of God, he rode after him to bring him to his house. He found him seated under “the terebinth”-evidently some aged and famous tree. When he refused the renewed invitation, the old man lyingly said to him that he too was a man of God, and had been bidden by an angel to bring him back. Deceived, perhaps too easily deceived, the man of God from Judah went back. It would have been well for him if he had believed that even “an angel of God,” or what may seem to wear such a semblance, may preach a false message, and may deserve nothing but an anathema. {Gal 1:8} With terrible swiftness the delusion was dispelled. While he was eating in Bethel, the old prophet, overcome by an impulse of inspiration, told him that for his disobedience he should perish and lie in a strange grave. Accordingly he had not gone far from Bethel when a lion met and killed him, not, however, mangling or devouring him, but standing still with the ass beside the carcass. On hearing this the old prophet of Bethel went and brought back the corpse. He mourned over his victim with the cry, “Alas, my brother,” {Comp. Jer 22:18} and bade his sons that when he died they should bury him in the same sepulcher with the man of God, for all that he had prophesied should come to pass.

Josephus adds many idle touches to this story. If in a tale which assumed its present form so long after the events imaginative details were introduced, the incident of the lion subserves the moral aim of the narrative. {2Ki 17:25; Jer 25:30; Jer 49:19 #/RAPC Wis 11:15-17, etc.} The significance of the story for us is happily neither historic nor evidential, but it is profoundly moral. It is the lesson not to linger in the neighborhood of temptation, nor to be dilatory in the completion of duty. It is the lesson to be ever on our guard against the tendency to assume inspired sanction for the conduct and opinions which coincide with our own secret wishes. Satan finds it easy to secure our credence when he answers us according to our idols, and can quote Scripture for our purpose as well as his own; and God sometimes punishes men by granting them their own desires, and sending leanness withal into their bones. The man of God from Judah had received a distinct injunction from which the invitation of a king had been insufficient to shake him. If the old prophet willfully lied, his victim was willingly seduced. We may think his sin venial, his punishment excessive. It will not seem so unless we unduly extenuate his sin and unduly exaggerate the nature of his penalty.

His sin consisted in his ready acceptance of a sham inspiration which came to him from a tainted source, and which he ought to have suspected because it conceded what he desired. Gods indisputable intimations to our individual souls are not to be set aside except by intimations no less indisputable. There had been an obvious reason for the command which God had given. The reason still existed; the prohibition had not been withdrawn. The sham revelation furnished him with an excuse; it did not give him a justification. Doubtless Jadons first thought was that

“He lied in every word,

That hoary prophet, with malicious eye

Askance to watch the working of his lie.”

Why did he yield so readily? It was for the same reason which causes so many to sin. “The tempting opportunity” did but meet, as sooner or later it always will meet, “the susceptible disposition.”

Yet his punishment does not justify us in branding him as a weak or a vicious man. We must judge him and all men, at his best, not at his worst; in his hours of faithfulness and splendid courage, not in his moment of unworthy acquiescence.

And his speedy punishment was his best blessing. Who knows what might not have happened to him if the speck of conventionality and corruption had been allowed to spread? Who can tell whether in due time he might not have sunk into something no better than his miserable tempter? Rather than that we should be in any respect false to our loftiest ideals, or less noble than our better selves, let the lion meet us, let the tower of Siloam fall on us, let our blood be mingled with our sacrifices. Better physical death than spiritual degeneracy.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary