1 Kings 13

1 And lo! a man of God came from Judah, by the word of the Lord, into Bethel, while Jeroboam stood upon the altar, casting incense (while Jeroboam stood by the altar, throwing incense).

2 And he cried out against the altar, by the word of the Lord, and said, Altar! altar! the Lord saith these things, Lo! a son, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and he shall offer upon thee the priests of (the) high things, the which burn now incense in thee, and he shall burn the bones of men upon thee (and he shall offer upon thee the priests of the hill shrines, who now burn incense upon thee, and he shall burn men's bones upon thee).

3 And he gave a sign in that day, and said, This shall be the sign that the Lord spake, Lo! the altar shall be cut, and the ash which is therein, shall be shed out. (And he gave a sign on that day, and said, This shall be the sign that the Lord spoke, Lo! the altar shall be split open, and the ashes that are upon it, shall be poured out.)

4 And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, the king held forth his hand from the altar, and said, Take ye him. And his hand dried (up), which he had held forth, and he might not draw it again to himself.

5 Also the altar was cut, and the ash was shed out of the altar, by the sign which the man of God before-said, in the word of the Lord. (And the altar was split open, and the ashes were poured out of the altar, by the sign which the man of God had foretold, by the word of the Lord.)

6 And the king said to the man of God, Beseech thou (before) the face of the Lord thy God, and pray thou for me, that mine hand be restored to me. And the man of God prayed (before) the face of the Lord; and the hand of the king turned again to him (and the king's hand was restored to him), and it was made as it was before.

7 And the king spake to the man of God, (and said,) Come thou home with me, that thou eat, and I shall give gifts to thee.

8 And the man of God said to the king, Though thou shalt give to me the half part of thine house, I shall not come with thee, neither I shall eat bread, neither I shall drink water in this place.

9 for so it was commanded to me by the word of the Lord, commanding, Thou shalt not eat bread, neither thou shalt drink water, neither thou shalt turn again by the way by which thou camest.

10 Therefore he went by another way, and turned not again by the way, by which he came into Bethel.

11 Forsooth an eld prophet dwelled then in Bethel, to whom his sons came, and told to him all the works which the man of God had done in that day in Bethel; and they [also] told to their father the words which he spake to the king.

12 And the father of them said to them, By what way went he? His sons showed to him the way, by which the man of God went, that came from Judah (who came from Judah).

13 And he said to his sons, Saddle ye an ass to me. And when they had saddled the ass, he went up, (And he said to his sons, Saddle ye up a donkey for me. And when they had saddled up the donkey, he rode on it,)

14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a terebinth. And he said to the man of God, Whether thou art the man of God, that camest from Judah? He answered, I am.

15 And he said to him, Come thou with me home, that thou eat bread. (And he said to him, Come thou home with me, so that thou can eat some bread.)

16 And he said, I may not turn again (I cannot return), neither come with thee, neither I shall eat bread, neither I shall drink water in this place;

17 for the Lord spake to me in the word of the Lord (for the Lord spoke to me by the word of the Lord), and said, Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there, neither thou shalt turn again by the way by which thou wentest thither.

18 And he said to him, And I am a prophet like thee; and an angel spake to me by the word of the Lord, and said, Lead again him into thine house, that he eat bread, and drink water (Bring him back to thy house, so that he can eat some food, and drink some water). (But) He deceived the man of God,

19 and brought him (back) again with him. Therefore he ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And when he sat at the table, the word of the Lord was made to the prophet that brought him (back) again;

21 and he cried [out] to the man of God that came from Judah, and said, The Lord saith these things, For thou obeyedest not to the mouth of the Lord, and keptest not the commandment which thy Lord God commanded to thee,

22 and thou turnedest (back) again, and atest bread, and drankest water in the place in which I commanded to thee, that thou shouldest not eat bread, neither shouldest drink water, thy dead body shall not be borne into the sepulchre of thy fathers.

23 And when he had eaten and drunk, the prophet, whom he had brought again, saddled his ass (the prophet, whom he had brought back, saddled up his donkey).

24 And when he had gone forth, a lion found him in the way, and killed him. And his dead body was cast forth in the way; soothly the ass stood beside him, and the lion also stood beside the dead body. (And when he had gone forth, a lion found him on the way, and killed him. And his dead body was thrown down on the way; and the donkey stood beside him, and the lion also stood beside his dead body.)

25 And lo! men passing saw the dead body cast forth in the way (And lo! men passing by saw the dead body thrown down on the way), and the lion standing beside the dead body; and they came, and published it in the city, in which the eld prophet dwelled.

26 And when that prophet, that brought him (back) again from the way, had heard this, he said, It is the man of God, that was unobedient to the mouth of God; and the Lord betook him to the lion, that hath broken him, and killed him, by the word of the Lord which he spake to him.

27 And he said to his sons, Saddle ye an ass to me (Saddle ye up a donkey for me). And when they had saddled (it up),

28 and he had gone, he found his dead body cast forth in the way, and the ass and the lion standing beside the dead body; and the lion ate not the dead body, neither hurted the ass. (and he had gone there, he found his dead body thrown down on the way, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the dead body; and the lion had not eaten the dead body, nor had hurt the donkey.)

29 Therefore the prophet took the dead body of the man of God, and put it on the ass; and he turned again, and brought it into the city of the eld prophet, that he should bewail him. (And so the prophet took the dead body of the man of God, and put it on his donkey; and then the old prophet returned, and brought the body back to the city, so that he could bewail, or mourn, him.)

30 And he put his dead body in his (own) sepulchre, and they bewailed him, and said, Alas! alas! my brother!

31 And when they had bewailed him, he said to his sons, When I shall be dead (When I shall die), bury me in the sepulchre, in which the man of God is buried; put ye my bones beside his bones.

32 For soothly the word shall come, which he before-said in the word of the Lord, against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the temples of [the] high places, which be in the cities of Samaria. (For truly the word shall come to pass, which he foretold by the word of the Lord, against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the temples of the hill shrines, which be in the cities of Samaria.)

33 After these words Jeroboam turned not again from his worst way, but on the contrary, of the last of the people he made priests of (the) high places; whoever would, [he] fulfilled his hand, and he was made [a] priest of (the) high places. (And after this thing Jeroboam turned not away from his worst ways, but on the contrary, he made priests for the hill shrines from the lowest people; yea, whoever desired it, he consecrated him, and he was made a priest of the hill shrines.)

34 And for this cause the house of Jeroboam sinned, and it was destroyed, and done away from the face of the earth.

1 Kings 13 Commentary

Chapter 13

Jeroboam's sin reproved. (1-10) The prophet deceived. (11-22) The disobedient prophet is slain, Jeroboam's obstinacy. (23-34)

Verses 1-10 In threatening the altar, the prophet threatens the founder and worshippers. Idolatrous worship will not continue, but the word of the Lord will endure for ever. The prediction plainly declared that the family of David would continue, and support true religion, when the ten tribes would not be able to resist them. If God, in justice, harden the hearts of sinners, so that the hand they have stretched out in sin they cannot pull in again by repentance, that is a spiritual judgment, represented by this, and much more dreadful. Jeroboam looked for help, not from his calves, but from God only, from his power, and his favour. The time may come when those that hate the preaching, would be glad of the prayers of faithful ministers. Jeroboam does not desire the prophet to pray that his sin might be pardoned, and his heart changed, but only that his hand might be restored. He seemed affected for the present with both the judgment and the mercy, but the impression wore off. God forbade his messenger to eat or drink in Bethel, to show his detestation of their idolatry and apostacy from God, and to teach us not to have fellowship with the works of darkness. Those have not learned self-denial, who cannot forbear one forbidden meal.

Verses 11-22 The old prophet's conduct proves that he was not really a godly man. When the change took place under Jeroboam, he preferred his ease and interest to his religion. He took a very bad method to bring the good prophet back. It was all a lie. Believers are most in danger of being drawn from their duty by plausible pretences of holiness. We may wonder that the wicked prophet went unpunished, while the holy man of God was suddenly and severely punished. What shall we make of this? The judgments of God are beyond our power to fathom; and there is a judgment to come. Nothing can excuse any act of wilful disobedience. This shows what they must expect who hearken to the great deceiver. They that yield to him as a tempter, will be terrified by him as a tormentor. Those whom he now fawns upon, he will afterwards fly upon; and whom he draws into sin, he will try to drive to despair.

Verses 23-34 God is displeased at the sins of his own people; and no man shall be protected in disobedience, by his office, his nearness to God, or any services he has done for him. God warns all whom he employs, strictly to observe their orders. We cannot judge of men by their sufferings, nor of sins by present punishments; with some, the flesh is destroyed, that the spirit may be saved; with others, the flesh is pampered, that the soul may ripen for hell. Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. He promised himself that the calves would secure the crown to his family, but they lost it, and sunk his family. Those betray themselves who think to support themselves by any sin whatever. Let us dread prospering in sinful ways; pray to be kept from every delusion and temptation, and to be enabled to walk with self-denying perseverance in the way of God's commands.

Chapter Summary

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.