1 Kings 13:9

9 The LORD gave me a command. He said, 'Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return 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 The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me. Have something to eat. I'll give you a gift."

8 But the man of God replied to the king. He said, "What if you were to give me half of what you own? Even then I wouldn't go with you. I wouldn't eat bread or drink water here.

9 The LORD gave me a command. He said, 'Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.' "

10 So he took another road. He didn't go back on the same road he had taken when he came to Bethel.

11 An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and spoke to him. They told him everything the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king.