1 Kings 13

1Ki 13:1-22.

JEROBOAM'S

HAND

WITHERS.

1. there came a man of God out of Judah--Who this prophet was cannot

be ascertained, He came by divine authority. It could not be either

Iddo or Ahijah, for both were alive after the events here related.

Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense--It was at one of the

annual festivals. The king, to give interest to the new ritual, was

himself the officiating priest. The altar and its accompaniments would,

of course, exhibit all the splendor of a new and gorgeously decorated

temple. But the prophet foretold its utter destruction

[1Ki 13:3].

2-9. he cried against the altar--which is put for the whole system of

worship organized in Israel.

Behold, a child shall be born . . . Josiah by name--This is one of the

most remarkable prophecies recorded in the Scriptures; and, in its

clearness, circumstantial minuteness, and exact prediction of an event

that took place three hundred sixty years later, it stands in striking

contrast to the obscure and ambiguous oracles of the heathen. Being

publicly uttered, it must have been well known to the people; and every

Jew who lived at the accomplishment of the event must have been

convinced of the truth of a religion connected with such a prophecy as

this. A present sign was given of the remote event predicted, in a

visible fissure being miraculously made on the altar. Incensed at the

man's license of speech, Jeroboam stretched out his hand and ordered

his attendants to seize the bold intruder. That moment the king's arm

became stiff and motionless, and the altar split asunder, so that the

fire and ashes fell on the floor. Overawed by the effects of his

impiety, Jeroboam besought the prophet's prayer. His request was

acceded to, and the hand was restored to its healthy state. Jeroboam

was artful, and invited the prophet to the royal table, not to do him

honor or show his gratitude for the restoration of his hand, but to

win, by his courtesy and liberal hospitality, a person whom he could

not crush by his power. But the prophet informed him of a divine

injunction expressly prohibiting him from all social intercourse with

any in the place, as well as from returning the same way. The

prohibition not to eat or drink in Beth-el was because all the people

had become apostates from the true religion, and the reason he was not

allowed to return the same way was lest he should be recognized by any

whom he had seen in going.

11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el--If this were a true

prophet, he was a bad man.

18. an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord--This circuitous

mode of speaking, instead of simply saying,

"the LORD spake to me," was

adopted to hide an equivocation, to conceal a double meaning--an

inferior sense given to the word "angel"--to offer a seemingly superior authority to persuade the prophet, while really the authority was

secretly known to the speaker to be inferior. The "angel," that is,

"messenger," was his own sons, who were worshippers, perhaps priests,

at Beth-el. As this man was governed by self-interest, and wished to

curry favor with the king (whose purpose to adhere to his religious

polity, he feared, might be shaken by the portents that had occurred),

his hastening after the prophet of Judah, the deception he practised,

and the urgent invitation by which, on the ground of a falsehood, he

prevailed on the too facile man of God to accompany him back to his

house in Beth-el, were to create an impression in the king's mind that

he was an impostor, who acted in opposition to his own statement.

21. he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah--rather,

"it cried," that is, the word of the Lord.

1Ki 13:23-32.

THE

DISOBEDIENT

PROPHET

SLAIN BY A

LION.

24. a lion met him by the way, and slew him--There was a wood near

Beth-el infested with lions

(2Ki 2:24).

This sad catastrophe was a severe but necessary judgment of God, to

attest the truth of the message with which the prophet had been

charged. All the circumstances of this tragic occurrence (the

undevoured carcass, the untouched ass, the passengers unmolested by the

lion, though standing there) were calculated to produce an irresistible

impression that the hand of God was in it.

31. bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried--His

motive in making this request was either that his remains might not be

disturbed when the predicted events took place (see

2Ki 23:18),

or he had some superstitious hope of being benefited at the

resurrection by being in the same cave with a man of God.