1 Kings 13:9

9 For the LORD gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”

1 Kings 13:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 13:9

For so it was charged me by the word of the Lord
The command of the Lord, by which he came to Bethel, and cried against the altar there, ( 1 Kings 13:1 1 Kings 13:2 )

saying, eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way
that thou camest:
signifying that no communion was to be had with idolaters, nor any example to be set and followed; but the way to them, and to their idolatry, was to be shunned and avoided.

1 Kings 13:9 In-Context

7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.”

8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place.

9 For the LORD gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”

10 So he left Bethel and went home another way.

11 As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king.