Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 13:4
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, 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.
4. he put forth his hand from the altar ] He was busy in the operations connected with the sacrifice, but the words of the prophet roused his anger, and the raised hand is the sign of his wrath, as well as a signal to those who were near him, pointing out that the speaker was to be seized. Hence it is said immediately ‘which he put forth against him.’ The R.V. has observed the order of the Hebrew in which the proper name Jeroboam comes in the second clause of the verse and not in the first: thus ‘when the king heard Jeroboam put forth, &c.’
dried up ] The effect described is that of a limb becoming rigid, not so much shrivelling, as stiffening. Josephus says it was ‘numbed and dead’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1Ki 13:4-6
He put forth his hand.
The prophecy against Jeroboam and its attendant circumstances
I. All human power and skill engaged against God will wither. The hand of man is the bodily mark of his superiority to the animal creation; it represents his power and skill. It is the bread winner of the body. By its skilful use he imitates the works of God in nature, and by its means he sends down his thoughts to posterity. Jeroboams outstretched hand was the type of all human opposition to Gods rule, especially the opposition of the rulers of the world. Its withering was the exposition of No weapon formed against thee shall prosper (Isa 54:17); He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh (Psa 2:4, etc.)
II. Physical blessing is of more importance to the ungodly man than morality of character. Christs teaching is, If thy hand offend thee, cut it off (Mat 18:8), count no earthly loss worthy of a thought compared with an injury to the spiritual life. (Outline from Sermons by a London Minister.)
Hospitality refused
As the man of God from Judah so nobly refuses Jeroboams royal hospitality, I am reminded of Lord Napier. On one occasion his lordship was sent down to Scotland by the Queen on a royal errand of review and arbitration between a great duke and his poor crofters. The duke, the administration of whose estate was to be inquired into, was good enough to offer his lordship his ducal hospitality for as long as the royal session of review lasted. But Her Majestys Deputy felt that neither his Royal Mistress nor himself could afford to be for one moment compromised, or even suspected, by her poorest subject; and therefore it was that his lordship excused himself from the dukes table, and took up his quarters in the little wayside inn. At any rate, you will come to the manse, said the minister, who was on the crofters side. Thank you, said Napier. But in your college days you must have read Plutarch about Caesars wife. No, thank you. And his lordship lodged all his time in the little hotel, and went back to his Royal Mistress when his work was done, not only with clean hands, but without even a suspicion attaching to her or to him. Come home with me and refresh thyself. But the man of God said to 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 with thee. So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. (A. Whyte, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Lay hold on him.] No doubt, stretching out his own hand at the same time, through rage, pride, and haste, to execute his own orders.
And his hand dried up] The whole arm became suddenly rigid; the nerves no longer communicated their influence, and the muscles ceased to obey the dictates of the will.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He put forth his hand, to point out the man whom he would have the people lay hands on, and to stir them up to do so.
From the altar; where it was employed in offering something upon it. Dried up, or withered; the muscles and sinews, the instruments of motion, were shrunk up. This God did, partly, to chastise Jeroboam for offering violence to the Lords prophet; partly, to secure the prophet against further violence; and partly, that in this example God might show how highly he resents the injuries done to his ministers in and for the faithful discharge of their office.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it came to pass, when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who had cried against the altar in Bethel,…. He was highly provoked: so that he put forth his hand from the altar; on which he was burning incense:
saying, lay hold on him; he put forth his hand, and either shook it at the prophet, threatening what he would do to him; or as beckoning to the people to seize him, and which he also expressed:
and his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him; he could not move it one way nor another, but it remained in the same position, the nerves and muscles being shrunk; which was a further confirmation of the prophet’s mission from God, being one of those concerning whom he says, “do my prophets no harm”, and a fresh token of the certain performance of what he had said.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Put forth his hand from the altar This seems to show that he was at the time actually performing priestly functions. Compare above 1Ki 13:1 and 1Ki 12:32.
His hand dried up Here was another miracle, wrought, not by the agency of the prophet, but by God himself. It confuses, and for the time terrifies, the king, but produces in him no reformation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 13:4-6. And his handdried up, &c. The Almighty employs here three striking proofs to convince a deluded people that HE is the true God, and not those calves which an idolatrous king had set up from a principle of false policy. We see the seducer punished in the first miracle, cursed in the second, and his altar rent in the third. The king was in a good state of health; the circulation of his blood was regular; the nervous fluids proper for sensation and motion visited every organ of his body; his fibres were in just tension. In this state, attempting to point out the prophet, he stretched forth the hand with which he offered incense. And instantly, his hand which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back. It does not seem as if this drying up should be understood of the arm’s really becoming dry; as if all the vital fluids had ceased to flow thither, and it grew shrivelled, as is the case with those whose nerves are contracted; but that he became paralytic, and deprived of all voluntary motion. The paralytics of the New Testament will give room to treat more fully on this matter. However, the source of the nervous fluids as it were dried up; the fibres lost their tone, and the motion which depends upon them instantly ceased. It cannot be doubted, that a quick transport of passion may sometimes be the natural cause of a palsy, or of some similar maladies. But the anger of Jeroboam was a fury of short duration: as soon as he was smitten by the Almighty, he uttered not a word more against the prophet; but, suddenly changing his style, addressed him, as in 1Ki 13:6 and the prophet having prayed for him, the king’s hand was restored, and became as before. There is no physician who does nor confess this cure to be miraculous. The palsy is not cured suddenly, nor by words; it is a work of time, length of which is required to give a current to the nervous fluid, a tone to the fibres, and an equilibrium to the blood and spirits. This disorder demands a long use of various remedies. We see none of these applied. The God of Israel shews the apostate king, that he is the sole matter of his body and of his life, as well as of the kingdom which he has given him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 339
JEROBOAMS IDOLATRY REPROVED
1Ki 13:4. And 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.
TO be raised to a situation of eminence and authority is generally thought a subject of congratulation: but if preferment be not accompanied with a proportionable increase of grace to fit us for it, it is rather to be dreaded than desired. Distinctions of every kind open a wider sphere for the exercise of our own corruptions, and too frequently become to the possessors of them an occasion of deeper condemnation. This is strongly illustrated in the case of Pharaoh, who was raised up to the throne of Egypt on purpose that he might have an opportunity of shewing all that was in his heart, and that Gods power might be displayed and magnified in his destruction [Note: Rom 9:17.]. In like manner Jeroboam was raised to the throne of Israel, not, alas! for any benefit either to himself or others, but for the ultimate augmentation of his own guilt and misery. Whilst in a humble situation, he was industrious, and trust-worthy [Note: 1Ki 11:28.]: but when he was preferred to a higher post, he became ambitious [Note: 1Ki 10:3-7.], turbulent, rebellious [Note: 2Ch 13:6.]: and when he was placed on the throne of Israel, he drew away that whole people to idolatry; and has from that hour been never mentioned but with abhorrence, as the man that caused Israel to sin. In considering the account here given of him, we shall notice,
I.
His unbelieving expedient
Scarcely was Jeroboam raised to the throne, before he established idolatry throughout his dominions
[Wishing to make the breach between Israel and Judah irreparable, he determined to cut off all intercourse between them; and to establish a worship of his own devising, that the people might not go up any longer to worship at Jerusalem. He knew that it would be in vain to prohibit religion altogether; but that to establish a false religion would be comparatively easy; since, if men have something wherewith to satisfy their own minds, they are not very scrupulous about inquiring what is agreeable to the mind of God. Having recently come out of Egypt, he introduced the idols that were there worshipped, even golden calves; and set them up in Dan, and Beth-el. One would have supposed that such an innovation would have shaken his throne to its foundation; but it seems to have created no uneasiness at all, nor to have produced one single remonstrance throughout the land. Do we not in this behold a true picture of human nature in every age and place? The worst of men must have some forms, by the observance of which they may satisfy their own consciences: but the easier and cheaper their religion is, the more suited it will be to their taste. To be told they need not comply with the self-denying commands of God [Note: 1Ki 12:28.], will be agreeable to their corrupt hearts: Master, spare thyself, is to them a gratifying advice; and, wherever the Gospel is faithfully administered, the effect of this advice is clearly seen: the express commands of God oppose, in many instances, but a feeble barrier to the solicitations of carnal ease ]
To this he was instigated by unbelief
[He was afraid lest his subjects, by going up to Jerusalem at the stated feasts, should be drawn away from him, and be induced to return to their former prince. Nor were these fears altogether groundless. The very exercises of religion would tend to convince them that they had sinned in casting off the yoke of Rehoboam; and the familiar intercourse which they would have with the other two tribes, would tend to reconcile their minds to the idea of being again united with them under one head. But Jeroboam was bound not to listen to any such considerations as these, because he had the express promise of God, that his house should be built up, like the house of David [Note: 1Ki 11:38.], provided he would walk in the path of duty. This was a sufficient security to him, that the evil which he dreaded should never happen, whilst he remained faithful to his God. In God therefore he should have put his trust. But he gave way to unbelief, and sought for that in the violation of Gods commands, which was only to be obtained in the observance of them; yea, he madly sought the establishment of his throne by the commission of those very crimes which had subverted the throne of Solomon. This is a weakness to which even the best of men have yielded on some occasions: the great father of the faithful himself repeatedly denied his wife through fear, as Isaac also did; and Jacob gained by deceit and falsehood the blessing, which he could not wait to receive in Gods own time and way. But such unbelief, even in the smallest instances, is most sinful; and, in the instance before us, it brought the curse of God upon that whole people. Let us therefore guard against its influence on our hearts; for its suggestions are always evil, and its effects are uniformly destructive ]
His conduct, when reproved for this device, leads us to consider,
II.
His vindictive wrath
A prophet was sent from Judah to reprove him
[God had decreed that the utmost indignity should be offered to the altar at Beth-el, where Jeroboam was now officiating in his own person. He had appointed the priests, and sacrifices, together with the sacred feasts, without any reference to the divine commands, having devised them of his own heart: and now he was warned before all the people, that the very priests who offered their sacrifices upon it, should have their own bones burnt upon it by a prince of the house of David, whose name was Josiah. Now it is remarkable that no king of the house of David had a son named Josiah, for the space of three hundred years; and that then it was a wicked [Note: 1Ki 11:38.] king who so named his son: so far was man from making any attempt to fulfil this prophecy. But God had ordained that such an one should m due time arise; and that he should execute what was now foretold: and, as a certain pledge of its ultimate accomplishment, the altar was miraculously rent in the very presence of Jeroboam, and the ashes that were upon it were poured out [Note: ver. 3, 5.]. This was humiliating to Jeroboam, not only on account of the indignity that should be offered to his altar, but because its being offered by one of the house of David was a pledge, that Judah should regain the ascendant, and thereby be enabled to execute the threatened judgments.]
This, instead of humbling him, incensed him in the highest degree
[Instantly he stretched out his hand to lay hold on the prophet, determining probably to put him to death. Thus it is that the carnal heart is ever ready to rise against God. Men will insult God by every means in their power; yet, if reproved for it by a servant of the Most High, they account it an indignity, to be expiated only by the death of the offender. This was strongly exemplified in Jeremiah, and John the Baptist [Note: Jer 26:7-8; Jer 26:11; Mat 14:3-5; Mat 14:10.]: and indeed in every company we go into, we see the hand stretched out by wicked men against every one that dares to advocate the cause of God Not that the servants of God are on this account to refrain from bearing their testimony against iniquity: they must do so wherever they are, without fearing the face of man, or regarding any consequences that may come upon them.]
This rage of his brought on him, what we are next to consider,
III.
His exemplary punishment
God instantly smote his arm, so that he could not pull it in again to him
[On many occasions has God vindicated the cause of his afflicted people, and shewn himself the avenger of their wrongs. Ahab menaced Micaiah; but God cut him off, according to Micaiahs word. Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks; but God soon made him a terror to himself [Note: Jer 20:2-4.]. In truth, God regards every thing that is done against his people as done to himself. When Paul was persecuting the saints, the language of Jesus to him was, Saul, Saul, why persecutes! thou me? We do not indeed expect that God will often interpose in the visible manner that he did in the instance before us; but he will record every thing in the book of his remembrance, and requite every man according to his works. Then shall it be seen, that, however contemptible the saints may now appear, it were better for a man to have a millstone hanged about his neck and be cast into the depths of the sea, than that he should offend one of those little ones who believe in Christ. He that toucheth you, says God, toucheth the apple of mine eye.]
Now was this proud persecutor constrained to ask for the prayers of him, whom he had just before endeavoured to destroy
[Thus was Pharaoh reduced to seek the intercession of Moses: and thus are many amongst ourselves compelled in a season of adversity to desire the prayers of those very ministers, whom in time of prosperity they have reviled and persecuted. And happy will it be for those who find their error now, and have grace given them to repent of it: for assuredly they who will not humble themselves in this world, will be made monuments of Gods wrath to all eternity.]
Improvement
1.
Let nothing ever induce us to sin against God
[The hope of preserving his temporal interests led Jeroboam into all his sins: and similar hopes are apt to produce the like baneful influence on us. But, supposing we should succeed, what can repay us for the loss of the divine favour? To adhere with steadfastness to the path of duty is our truest wisdom. Whilst faithfully serving God, we may safely leave events in his hands. If we suffer for well doing, we may console ourselves with this reflection, that to lose by virtue is infinitely better than to gain by sin. Our losses will be soon made up in the eternal world; but our gains will terminate in everlasting woe.]
2.
If we have sinned at any time, let us be thankful for reproof
[How thankful should Jeroboam have been to the prophet, who at the peril of his life declared the unalterable purpose of his God! So should all be who are reproved for sin. It is no pleasing task to denounce the judgments of God against sin or sinners: but it is necessary: and it is at the peril of his own soul, if the watchman forget to warn the citizens of their approaching danger. A necessity is laid upon Gods ministers; and woe be to them, if they neglect their duty! Let reproof then be ever welcome to you; and let all watch over each other with tender love, and inflexible fidelity.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(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, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. (5) The altar also was 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.
Observe, to what a daring height of impiety was the king arrived. Alas! how doth sin harden the heart. Think Reader! what effect must the sinew-struck hand of the king, and the pouring out of the ashes, with the altar’s rending, have had upon the minds of the spectators. But we do not hear of any one act of conversion wrought by it. No! until the Lord turns the heart, the most awful signs lose their power. When our dear Lord on the cross bowed his sacred head, and with a loud voice, that all in heaven and hell might hear, said; It is finished; though not the altar only was smitten, but the vail of the temple divided, and rocks rent, and the graves opened, yet we read of no heart being rent, nor a soul, except the dying thief, converted. Oh! to what state of obduracy hath sin hardened the soul!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Ki 13:4 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, 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.
Ver. 4. That he put forth his hand. ] To apprehend the prophet, or for a sign to others to do it. “Hear and give ear,” saith the prophet, “be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken it.” Jer 13:15 But
“ Corde stat inflato pauper honore dato. ”
Jeroboam – a poor widow’s son, 1Ki 11:26 or, as the Septuagint hath it, a harlot’s son – being advanced by God to a kingdom, rebelleth, and becometh a ringleader of rebellion against him putting forth the same hand against the prophet, that he had lifted up before against his prince. 1Ki 11:26 But what came of it?
And his hand which he put forth against him dried, &c.
a Nullum spicem complere potuit. – Hist. Tripart.
b Mr Clark’s Mirror, 204.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
put forth his hand. One of the eleven rulers who thus assaulted Jehovah’s witnesses. See note on Exo 10:28.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lay hold: 2Ch 16:10, 2Ch 18:25-27, 2Ch 25:15, 2Ch 25:16, Psa 105:15, Jer 20:2-4, Jer 26:8-11, Jer 26:20-23, Jer 38:4-6, Amo 7:10-17, Mat 25:40, Mat 26:57, Mar 14:44-46, Joh 13:20, Act 6:12-14
his hand: Gen 19:11, 2Ki 6:18-20, Jer 20:4-6, Luk 3:19, Luk 3:20, Luk 6:10, Joh 18:6, Act 9:4, Act 9:5, Act 13:8-11, Rev 11:5
Reciprocal: 2Sa 12:13 – David 1Ki 12:22 – the man Eze 11:13 – when Hos 7:5 – he stretched Zec 11:17 – his arm Mat 12:10 – which Mar 3:1 – withered Luk 6:6 – there Joh 5:3 – withered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 13:4-5. He put forth his hand To point out the man on whom he would have the people to lay hands. From the altar Where he stood, and where his hand was employed in offering something upon it. And his hand dried up Or withered, the muscles and sinews, the instruments of motion, shrinking up or becoming relaxed. This God did, not only to give another token, besides those which the man of God had mentioned, that his words would be fulfilled; but also to chastise Jeroboam for offering violence to the Lords prophet; to secure the prophet against further violence, and that in this example God might show how highly he resents the injuries done to his ministers for the faithful discharge of their office. The altar also was rent, &c. This train of miracles, instantly wrought, and confirming so evidently the prophets mission, so amazed all the people, that we do not find any of them attempted to lay hold on him. And Jeroboam himself, for the present, was astonished and confounded at the sight of the effects produced by Gods miraculous power.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
13:4 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, saying, {d} 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.
(d) The wicked rage against the prophets of God, when they declare God’s judgment to them.