1 Kings 13:20-30

20 As they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back;

21 and he proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, "Thus says the Lord: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you,

22 but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, "Eat no food, and drink no water,' your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb."

23 After the man of God had eaten food and had drunk, they saddled for him a donkey belonging to the prophet who had brought him back.

24 Then as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.

25 People passed by and saw the body thrown in the road, with the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the town where the old prophet lived.

26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him according to the word that the Lord spoke to him."

27 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle a donkey for me." So they saddled one,

28 and he went and found the body thrown in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey.

29 The prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city, to mourn and to bury him.

30 He laid the body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

1 Kings 13:20-30 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 13

In this chapter is an account of a man of God being sent to exclaim against Jeroboam's altar, and threaten its destruction, of which he gave a sign, which was accomplished, and with it the withering of the king's hand, which was healed upon the prophet's prayer for him, 1Ki 13:1-7, who would have entertained him at his house, but he refused the offer, and departed, 1Ki 13:8-10, but an old prophet in Bethel hearing of him, rode after him, and fetched him back to eat bread with him, through a lie he told him, 1Ki 13:11-19 upon which the word came to the old prophet, threatening the man of God with death for disobeying his command, and which was accordingly executed by a lion that met him in the way, and slew him, 1Ki 13:20-24, of which the old prophet being informed, went and took up his carcass, and buried it in his own sepulchre, where he charged his sons to bury him also when dead, believing that all the man of God had said would be fulfilled, 1Ki 13:25-30 and the chapter is closed with observing the continuance of Jeroboam in his idolatry, 1Ki 13:33,34.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb [he]
• [b]. Gk: Heb [he came to the town of the old prophet]