1 Kings13
New Living Translation
1 At the Lord’s command, a man of God from Judah went to Bethel, arriving there just as Jeroboam was approaching the altar to burn incense.
2 Then at the Lord’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you.”
3 That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message. He said, “The Lord has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the man of God speaking against the altar at Bethel, he pointed at him and shouted, “Seize that man!” But instantly the king’s hand became paralyzed in that position, and he couldn’t pull it back.
5 At the same time a wide crack appeared in the altar, and the ashes poured out, just as the man of God had predicted in his message from the Lord.
6 The king cried out to the man of God, “Please ask the Lord your God to restore my hand again!” So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and he could move it again.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place.
9 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”
10 So he left Bethel and went home another way.
11 As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king.
12 The old prophet asked them, “Which way did he go?” So they showed their father which road the man of God had taken.
13 “Quick, saddle the donkey,” the old man said. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
14 Then he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under a great tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “Yes, I am,” he replied.
15 Then he said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16 “No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this place.
17 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”
18 But the old prophet answered, “I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this command from the Lord: ‘Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.’” But the old man was lying to him.
19 So they went back together, and the man of God ate and drank at the prophet’s home.
20 Then while they were sitting at the table, a command from the Lord came to the old prophet.
21 He cried out to the man of God from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: You have defied the word of the Lord and have disobeyed the command the Lord your God gave you.
22 You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”
23 After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own donkey for him,
24 and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
25 People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”
27 Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey,
28 and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey.
29 So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn over him and bury him.
30 He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”
31 Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
32 For the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”
33 But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the common people. He appointed anyone who wanted to become a priest for the pagan shrines.
34 This became a great sin and resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty from the face of the earth.
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1 Kings 13Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 1 Kings 13. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Jeroboam's sin reproved. (1–10). The prophet deceived. (11–22). The disobedient prophet is slain, Jeroboam's obstinacy. (23–34).
vv1-10
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.
vv11-22
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.
vv23-34
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.
Key Words
הִנֵּה: lo!
אִישׁ: a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
מִן: properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses
יְהוּדָה: Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five Israelites; also of the tribe descended from the first, and of its territory
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
בֵּית־אֵל: Beth-El, a place in Palestine
יָרׇבְעָם: Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kings
עָמַד: to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)
Cross References
1 Kings 13Direct historical fulfillment of the prophecy naming Josiah and burning priests' bones on Bethel's altar.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Josiah spares the tomb containing the bones of both the Judean and Bethel prophets.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Josiah fulfills the prediction by burning the bones of idolatrous priests on their altars.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Tests of true prophets; warning against following signs that contradict God's clear direct commands.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Verifies that the forest region near Bethel was famously infested with wild beasts.
Supported by JFB
Jeroboam's persistent, unlawful appointment of non-Levitical priests from the lowest of the people.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallels Pharaoh asking Moses to entreat Yahweh, seeking relief from physical judgment without repentance.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Underscores that absolute obedience to God's specific commands is better than any sacrifice.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The fulfillment of the judgment to cut off and completely destroy Jeroboam's lineage.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Balaam's similar verbal refusal to disobey God's command for half a house of gold.
Supported by Matthew Henry
New Testament warning against accepting a contradictory message, even if delivered by an angel.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Illustrates the traditional Near Eastern lamentation formula, 'Alas, my brother!' used for mourning.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Establishes the context of Jeroboam's self-appointed feast at Bethel where he offered incense.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Contrast where Christ miraculously restores a withered hand, unlike Jeroboam's judgment.
Supported by Matthew Poole