1 Kings 13

1The Lord ordered a man of God from Judah to go to Bethel. He arrived just as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar about to present a burnt offering. 2He shouted out the Lord's condemnation of the altar: “Altar, altar, this is what the Lord says. A son will be born to the house of David. His name will be Josiah, and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn offerings on you, and human bones will be burned on you.” 3The same day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “This is the sign to prove that the Lord has spoken. Look! The altar will be split apart, and the ashes on it will spill out.”

4When King Jeroboam heard the condemnation the man of God had shouted out against the altar in Bethel, he pointed his hand at him and said, “Arrest him!” But the hand the king had pointed at him had become paralyzed and he couldn't draw it back. 5The altar split apart, and the ashes spilled out from it, fulfilling the sign that the man of God had given from the Lord.

6Then the king said to the man of God, “Please plead with the Lord your God—pray for me that I may have my hand back!” The man of God pleaded with the Lord, and the king was given back the use of his hand as it was before.

7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to my home and have a meal so I can give you a present.”

8But the man of God told the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I still wouldn't go with you. In fact I refuse to eat or drink anything in this place. 9The Lord ordered me not to eat or drink anything, and not to return by the way I came.” 10So he went a different way—he did not return the way he had come to Bethel.

11It so happened that an old prophet lived in Bethel. His sons#13:11. “Sons”: the Hebrew text has “son” here, but in view of the plural being used later it seems best to use it here too. came and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. 12“Which way did he go?” their father asked them. So his sons showed him the way taken by the man of God from Judah. 13“Saddle up a donkey for me,” he told his sons. They saddled up a donkey and he got on.

14He rode after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” he asked him. “Yes I am,” the man replied.

15“Come home with me and have something to eat,” he told him.

16“I can't turn around and go with you, and I won't eat or drink with you in this place,” the man of God replied. 17“The Lord ordered me, saying ‘You must not eat or drink anything there, or return by the way you came.’”

18But the old prophet told him, “I am also a prophet, just like you. An angel told me God said, ‘Take him home with you so that he can have something to eat and drink’” But he was lying to him.

19So the man of God went back with him, and ate and drank in his house. 20As they were sitting at the table, a message from the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21He called out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not followed the orders that the Lord your God gave you, 22instead you went back and ate and drank in the place where he told you not to, your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.”

23After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his own donkey for him. 24But as he went on his way a lion came across him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying in the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25Some passers-by saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing beside it, so they went and let people know about it in the town where the old prophet lived.

26When the old prophet who had led the other astray heard what had happened, he said, “It's the man of God who disobeyed the Lord's orders. That's why the Lord put him in the path of the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, just as the Lord told him would happen.”

27The prophet told his sons, “Saddle up a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey, 28and he went and found the body. It was still lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey. 29The prophet picked up the body of the man of God, placed it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own town to mourn over him and bury him. 30He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, crying, “My poor brother!”

31After he'd buried him, he told his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32For the message from the Lord that he gave in condemnation against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria, will definitely happen.”

33But even after all this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways. He went on choosing priests from all kinds of people. He appointed anyone who wanted to be a priest of the high places. 34It was because of this sin that the house of Jeroboam was wiped out, completely destroyed from the face of the earth.

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1 Kings 13: FBV

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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com

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I Kings 13

The Message of the Man of God

1And behold, #2 Kin. 23:17a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, #1 Kin. 12:32, 33and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, #2 Kin. 23:15, 16Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be #(Lev. 26:30)burned on you.’ ” 3And he gave #Ex. 4:1–5; Judg. 6:17; Is. 7:14; 38:7; John 2:18; 1 Cor. 1:22a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

4So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. 5The altar also was split apart, 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. 6Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please #Ex. 8:8; 9:28; 10:17; Num. 21:7; Jer. 37:3; Acts 8:24; (James 5:16)entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. 7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and #1 Sam. 9:7; 2 Kin. 5:15I will give you a reward.”

8But the man of God said to the king, #Num. 22:18; 24:13; 1 Kin. 13:16, 17“If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. 9For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, #(1 Cor. 5:11)‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’ ” 10So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

Death of the Man of God

11Now an #1 Kin. 13:25old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. 12And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. 13Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, 14and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

And he said, “I am.”

15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

16And he said, #1 Kin. 13:8, 9“I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. 17For I have been told #1 Kin. 20:35; 1 Thess. 4:15by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’ ”

18He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (He was lying to him.)

19So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, 22but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the #1 Kin. 13:9place of which the Lord said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ”

23So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. 24When he was gone, #1 Kin. 20:36a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. 25And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.” 27And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it. 28Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey. 29And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him. 30Then he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, #Jer. 22:18“Alas, my brother!” 31So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; #Ruth 1:17; 2 Kin. 23:17, 18lay my bones beside his bones. 32#1 Kin. 13:2; 2 Kin. 23:16, 19For the saying which he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which are in the cities of #1 Kin. 16:24; John 4:5; Acts 8:14Samaria, will surely come to pass.”

33#1 Kin. 12:31, 32; 2 Chr. 11:15; 13:9After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 34#1 Kin. 12:30; 2 Kin. 17:21And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as #(1 Kin. 14:10; 15:29, 30)to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.

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