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1 Kings 13

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1 Kings 13 Overview

A man of God from Judah confronts Jeroboam at Bethel and prophesies that a future king named Josiah will defile the altar. Jeroboam’s hand withers, the altar splits, and the man of God refuses the king’s hospitality because God commanded him not to eat or drink there. An old prophet deceives him into returning for a meal. Because he disobeys the command he had received, a lion kills him without eating the body. Jeroboam still does not turn from his false priesthood.

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Before you read 1 Kings 13

Coming from

Chapter 12 ended with Jeroboam creating his own altars, priests, feast, and calf worship.

In this chapter

God condemns the altar and gives a remarkable long-range prophecy, while the messenger himself becomes an example of the seriousness of obeying revealed truth.

Leads into

Chapter 14 moves from public altar judgment to judgment on Jeroboam’s dynasty.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter places a true prophecy, a lying prophet, and a disobedient man of God together. The old prophet’s claimed angelic message contradicts the direct command already given; that contradiction should have settled the matter. The lion’s unusual behavior marks the death as extraordinary judgment. The Josiah prophecy is explicitly fulfilled in 2 Kings 23.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

God condemns Jeroboam’s invented worship despite Jeroboam’s divinely permitted political rise.

Truth 2

A later religious claim does not overturn a clear earlier word when the two contradict.

Truth 3

The messenger’s failure does not make his original prophecy false.

Truth 4

Jeroboam experiences signs and restoration yet continues in false worship.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Second Kings 23:15-18 explicitly fulfills the Josiah prophecy.

Connection 2

Deuteronomy 13 and 18 provide tests for religious claims and prophets.

Connection 3

Galatians 1:8 later gives a related principle that even a claimed angel must not overturn established divine truth.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not conclude the old prophet’s lie became true because he later received a genuine word.

Keep this clear 2

The man of God’s temporal death does not prove loss of eternal salvation.

Keep this clear 3

Do not let the lion story distract from the chapter’s main indictment of Jeroboam’s altar.

Read 1 Kings 13 watching for…

The exact prophecy against the altar.

The signs confirming the message.

The command about eating, drinking, and route.

How the old prophet contradicts it.

The unusual details around the lion.

Jeroboam’s response afterward.

Chapter outline5 sections

1-10A man of God condemns Jeroboam’s altar, and the LORD gives signs 11-19An old prophet deceives the man of God into returning 20-25The word of the LORD judges the man of God, and a lion kills him 26-32The old prophet mourns and buries the man of God 33-34Jeroboam continues in his evil way

And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

The altar also was rent, 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.

And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.

And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,

And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:

For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:

And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.

And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.

And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.

And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.

And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:

For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

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1 Kings 13:11

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