The First Book of the Kings, commonly called the Third Book of the Kings
1 Kings 13
Chapter XIII · Vol. II, pp. 744–745
1 Jeroboam's hand, that offered violence to him that prophesied against his altar at Bethel, withereth, 6 and at the prayer of the prophet is restored. 7 The prophet, refusing the king's entertainment, departeth from Bethel. 11 An old prophet, seducing him, bringeth him back. 20 He is reproved by God, 23 slain by a lion, 26 buried by the old prophet, 31 who confirmeth his prophecy. 33 Jeroboam still persisteth in his evil courses.
1 And, behold, there came a man of aGod out of Judah bby the word of the LORD unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to cburn incense.
B.C. 974.
a 2 Ki.23.17. ch.12.22.
b ch.14.7,8. 2 Ch.9.29. Eze.2.7; 3.17. Je.23.28. Mat.28.20.
c Or, to offer, ch.12.33. 2 Ch.26.18.—[Like gods, like priest. Let there be a departure from the true worship of Jehovah, and other innovations will easily follow. The priests and Levites were faithful, and would not be partakers in Jeroboam's sin so that while he was glad to make men priests out of any tribe, he dared to assume the functions of the high-priest.—I.]
2 And he dcried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, eJosiah 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.1
d Is.58.1; 1.2. Je.22.29. Ho.8.1. De.32.1.
e 2 Ki.22.1,2; 23.14-17. Is.44.28.
1 This prophecy, according to Hales, was fulfilled 366 years afterwards, and for distinctness nobly puts to shame all the obscure and equivocal oracles of paganism, while the boldness and faithfulness of the prophet may well read an impressive and admonitory lesson to all who are surrounded with idolatry, even under the Christian name, and who are bound by their sacred office to exhort and rebuke with 'all long-suffering and doctrine.' C.——Here is one of the clearest and most remarkable prophecies in the Bible, and we know it was fulfilled about 360 years after its delivery, 2 Ki. 23. 15-20. It was attested by both nations. The Jews would guard it most carefully; and it was the interest of the Israelites, against whom it was levelled, to impugn its authenticity and expose its falsehood had that been possible.—I.
3 And he fgave 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.
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 gput forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, hdried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
g Am.7.10,11. Ac.12.1. Je.20.2; 38.4-6.
h Ac.13.8-11. 2 Co.10.6. Je.20.2-4; 36.29,30; 28.17. Am.7.10-17. De.18.22. Mar.16.20.
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.
6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, iEntreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God kbesought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before., and: Heb. the face of the LORD, etc
7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and lrefresh thyself, and I will give thee a mreward.2
m 1 Co.2.14. ch.14.3. 2 Ki.5.15. 1 Sa.9.7,8. 2 Co.12.14.
2 For the restoration of his hand from the paralysis: but freely he had received the gift and right of prayer, and freely he gave, and would receive no return that might identify him with idolatry.—C.
8 And the man of God said unto the king, nIf thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water3 in this place:
9 For oso was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, pEat no bread, nor drink water,4 nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.5
o De.12.32. Job 23.12. Jn.4.34.
p 2 Jn.10. Ro.16.17. 1 Co.5.11.
4 This would have been a symbol and seal of mutual friendship and peace, and it sufficiently explains why he was forbidden to refresh himself in this evil place.—I.
5 To extend his witness against idolatry as far as the time of his mission would permit, his appearance in every new locality being calculated to excite inquiry as to who he was, what he had done, and the God who had sent him.—C.
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.
11 Now there dwelt qan old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
q ver.20,21. 2 Ki.23.18. Nu.23.5. ch.18.20. Je.2.8. Eze.13.2. Mat.7.22,23. 2 Pe.2.1.
12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went which came from Judah.
13 And he said unto his sons, rSaddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon;
r Nu.22.21. Ju.5.10; 1.14; 10.4. 1 Sa.25.20. 2 Sa.19.26. ver.27.
14 And went after the man of God, and found him ssitting under an oak: and he said unto him, tArt thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
s Jn.4.6. ch.19.4.
t Heb. a word was, ch.20.35. 1 Th.5.15,20.
16 And he said, xI may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:
x ver.8,9.
17 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 thou camest.
18 He said unto him, I am a prophet6 also as thou art; and an yangel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto 7him.
6 Most probably he was so, even as Balaam was, and as reluctantly as Balaam, compelled to bear witness for God. Wicked men are still occasionally so compelled, if not to foretel future events, yet to confess and announce truth, however contrary to their habitual feelings, wishes, and interests.—C.
y Nu.22.35. Je.5.12. Mat.7.15. 1 Jn.4.1.
7 It is not, perhaps, possible to say what motive moved the aged prophet to lie so deliberately, when he knew that he could only inflict evil on his brother by bringing him back. Probably he proposed to weaken the solemn warning of the man of God, and prevent the people from becoming alienated from Jeroboam. But certain it is, that the calamitous death by the lion was peculiarly fitted to awaken inquiry concerning the message from heaven, and this might prove an unspeakable blessing to many Israelites, by leading them to repent of their idolatry.—Davidson.
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto thea prophet that brought him back:8
A.M. 3030. B.C. 974.
a Nu.23.5. Jn.11.51. Mat.7.22,23. ver.11.
8 In ver. 23 the same words are translated 'whom he had brought back,' and it is obvious they should likewise be so translated here, as the translation obviates the objection urged from the word of the Lord seeming to be addressed, not to the true, but to the lying prophet. This view is farther confirmed by the false prophet's declaration, ver. 26.—C.
21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuchb as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,
22 But camest 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; cthy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
c ch.14.13. 2 Ch.21.20. Is.14.19,20. Je.22.19.
23 And 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.
24 And when he was gone, da lion9 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.
d ch.20.36. Ec.9.2. 2 Sa.6.7. 2 Ki.2.24. 1 Co.11.30. Le.10.2,3. 1 Pe.4.17,18.
9 In 2 Ki. 2. 24 we find that there was a wood near Bethel, out of which came two she-bears; and it is probable that this lion came from the same wood. All the circumstances of this transaction, 'the cluster of miracles' (as Patrick calls them), viz. that the lion did not devour the body, nor rend the ass, nor molest the passing travellers, nor the old prophet and his ass—all was calculated in the most striking manner to direct the attention of the people to that divine power which thus authenticated its own message by the very destruction of the messenger; and all counteracted the inference which Jeroboam might otherwise have drawn from his death against the truth of his prophecy.—I.
25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath etorn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.
27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
28 And he went, and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion fhad not eaten the carcass nor torn the ass.1
29 And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back; and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
30 And he laid his carcass in his own grave; and they gmourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!2
g ch.14.13. Je.22.18.
2 An anxious curiosity, with the vanity of entertaining a distinguished guest, joined to an unscrupulous carelessness about truth, with a portion of that esprit de corps, that if not affection, may be its substitute, seems to have been the leading motives in the mind of the prophet, in tempting the brother whom he now uselessly laments.—Note, In all the lamentation there is no recorded acknowledgment of his own sin. Does not the dead here, as in many cases, seem to say, 'Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves?'—C.
31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then hbury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
h 2 Ki.23.17,18. Nu.23.10. Ps.26.9.
32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the ihouses of the high places which are in the cities of kSamaria, shall surely come to pass.
33 After this thing Jeroboam lreturned not from his evil way,3 but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he mconsecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
34 And this thing nbecame sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
n ch.12.30; 15.29,30. 2 Ki.10.31; 17.21, with ch.12.26-33; 14.7-14; 15.29,30.
Notes
Reflections.—God warns men before he strikes. And his prophets must, without fear of the greatest or the worst, faithfully declare his messages. Nothing, however contingent or distant in futurity, is unknown to God: he has definite complete knowledge with respect to even the smallest circumstances of our lot. Shame and disgrace attend sin and sinners at last. Most daring is their presumption who persecute the faithful messengers of God: but faithful rebukes will often provoke proud wrath. Faithful preachers are the butt of wicked men's malice; but God will protect them. In the way of duty we need fear no danger. But it is infinitely dangerous to contemn God's warnings, when he can so easily make us monuments of his justice. They who in prosperity contemn the messengers of God, may soon be obliged by their troubles to have recourse to their prayers. Nor must saints ever be averse to pray even for them who despitefully use them.—Impenitent sinners are in general more affected with their sufferings than with their sins: neither mercies nor judgments will make any lasting impression upon reprobates. And men are often more ready to thank the instruments of their deliverance than to thank God, the author of them. God and his faithful servants detest false worship, and everything which contributes to the support of it: and we should rather deny ourselves the common comforts of life than have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. How dangerous enemies to God's people are false prophets and unfaithful ministers, who pretend intercourse with God! Men may be seduced to evil by appearances of piety, when no fears of suffering can drive them to it. And none are more ready to upbraid and torment us than those who have seduced us. God severely punishes the disobedience of his dearest saints; and yet how marvellously he bounds their trouble! How great his divine power in permitting the tempter to escape while the seduced is so awfully punished! How necessary is constant readiness for death! But hypocrites in vain claim kindred to and connection with the people of God, and wish their last end to be like theirs.—God will never want witnesses for his cause. If the man of God be dead, the false prophet must attest his warnings. And how desperate those sinners who, after repeated warnings, corrections, and mercies, continue impenitent! For, sooner or later, the judgment of God will overtake the sinner, and he shall perish in his own deceivings.