1 Kings 13 – 14 part 9
Last week we looked at chapter 12 and we learned how
Jeroboam took the 10 tribes of
1 Kings 13:1 And
behold, a man of God went from
Here we have a very brave
prophet who was dedicated to serving God as he stood before King Jeroboam
without fear and pronounced God’s judgment upon him and his newly formed
kingdom. To prove that his words were from God he was going to show sign by
splitting open the alter and ashes being poured out. Also this unnamed man of
God makes a prophecy that will happen to Jeroboam by a man named Josiah and
some 350 to 360 years later this prophecy comes true as it is recorded for us in
2 Kings 23:16.
1 Kings 13:4 So 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. 5 The 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. 6
Then the king answered and said to the man of God, "Please 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.
Could the be a more a
powerful sign that demonstrated that God was the one behind this mans words.
Not only did he make the alter split and spill ashes as soon as Jeroboam stuck
at his had toward this man to have him arrested his hand withered right before
his eyes. There was no denying that what just took place happened because of
God and Jeroboam understood this and this is why he ask the prophet to ask God
to restore his hand. But, interesting to note that Jeroboam said ask the favor
our your lord God. This to me indicates that he no longer considered our Lord
his God. Then sure enough God heals his hand.
1 Kings 13:7 Then
the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself,
and I will give you a reward." 8
But the man of God said to the king, "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. 9 "For so it
was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall not eat bread, nor
drink water, nor return by the same way you came.' " 10 So he went another way and did
not return by the way he came to
Here Jeroboam seems to
want to show his gratitude but the prophet cannot indulge in his offer because
he must follow God’s instructions and so he leaves another way.
1 Kings 13:11 Now an
old 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. 12
And 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
Now we are not told who
this prophet is but one thing we can know is that he was a lying prophet and
since he was living in the northern kingdom he was most likely was involved
with the idolatry and was separated from God. The saddest thing about what we
just read is that the man of God who had just showed great courage to face the
king and then turn him down for food and
water to then allow himself to put his trust in another mans words which
obviously contradicted what God had told him earlier. Now he should had
questioned the man more and he certainly should have asked God in prayer if
this was true or not but he did not and goes and eats with this lying prophet.
Now watch what happens next.
1 Kings 13:20 Now it
happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the
prophet who had brought him back; 21
and 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, 22 'but you came back, ate bread,
and drank water in the place 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.' "
Probably for the first
time in a while this old prophet received a message from God and he spoke this
message to this foolish man of God who had broken the commands of God because
he believed a lie was stuffing his face with food and water. Now this man of
God would lose his life for what he had done. We will not see this come to pass
as we continue on in
23
So 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. 24 When he was gone, a 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. 25 And 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. 26 Now 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."
27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey
for me." So they saddled it.
28 Then 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. 29
And 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. 30 Then he laid the
corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas,
my brother!" 31 So 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; lay my
bones beside his bones. 32
"For 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 Samaria, will surely come to pass."
When I read this I can
see the guilt that the Old prophet was experiencing as he knew that his lie
caused this man to sin against God and lose his life and there was no doubt
that God made this happen to this man of God just as he spoke through the Old
prophet because the lion that struck him dead did not eat him nor did he kill
the donkey he just stood there which proves that was not some coincidence
because nature will show you that a lion would not do this normally because
normally he would have eaten the man and also killed the donkey to kill him as
well. So this event convinced the Old prophet that the words the man of God
spoke would come to pass and as part of his guilt that he was facing he did
what he could to bring honor to this man of God by putting him in his own tomb
and mourning for him.
There is certainly great
lesson for you and I to learn from this event and that is we should never takes
a man or woman’s word at face value when it comes to the Word of God. Now I
will tell you I do my best to always present the truth from the word of God but
I certainly am not perfect and I can make mistakes just as much as the next
person and so that is why you should compare what I say or what anyone else
says with what the Bible says. The Bible is our authority and it has the last
word. If more people in religious world would understand this concept then we
would less people who are blindly following the teaching of their preacher or
denomination. When you get to the point where take the word of a human over
that of the word of God then you are setting yourself up of being a follower of
a man instead a follower of God.
1 Kings 13:33 After
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 And this thing was the sin of
the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face
of the earth.
All I can say is Jeroboam
has got some nerve. He saw first hand that God was alive and well and that he
was going to take down his kingdom and I have no doubt that if Jeroboam would
have changed his ways and repented to God he would have had mercy on him but
Jeroboam didn’t do this instead he turned right back to what he was doing which
would led to his destruction and to his northern kingdom. Not lets continue on
to chapter 14.
1 Kings 14:1 At that
time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick.
2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, "Please arise, and
disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and
go to
So
we can see that Jeroboam’s son gets sick and he knows that Ahijah is prophet of
God so he makes his wife dress up to try an fool the prophet in telling her the
fate of their sick son. Now if Jeroboam had gave it much though surely he
should of have known that Ahijah would know who the women was and who the child
was and as we read God reveals this information to Ahijah. So, Ahijah welcomes
Jeroboam’s wife in and tells her that he has bad news for her.
1 Kings 14:7
"Go, tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Because I
exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people
Israel, 8 "and tore the
kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you
have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me
with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes; 9 "but you have done more
evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself
other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind
your back -- 10
"therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and
will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take
away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is
all gone. 11 "The dogs
shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of
the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the LORD has spoken!"
' 12 "Arise therefore,
go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 "And all Israel shall
mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come
to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the LORD God
of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
This certainly was bad
news as it shows the complete downfall of Jeroboam’s household. I just wonder
if Jeroboam’s wife thought for a minute about not going back to her city
because as soon as her feet entered the city the child would die. Notice what
else Ahijah has to say as we continue in,
1 Kings 14:14
"Moreover the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over
When we get into chapter
15: 27-30 next week we will see this king that will cut off the house of
Jeroboam name is Baasha and the second part of this prophecy deals with the
northern kingdom being scattered and we see this happening almost 200 years
later in 2 Kings 17:6. God wants him to know that all these are going to
transpire because of sins and how he rebelled against God and lead his people
to do the same.
1 Kings 14:17 Then
Jeroboam's wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. When she came to the
threshold of the house, the child died. 18
And they buried him; and all
Just as Ahijah said the
child died as she entered the city and great mourning took place and we learn
that Jeroboam reigned for 22 years when his son Nadab took his place. Now when
see various books named in the OT saying the record this event or that event
these are books that have been lost through time or have not yet been
discovered. In the remainder of the chapter we learn about what happens to
Rehoboam but we are given even more details of what happens during this time in
2 Chronicles 11:5- 12:16. To give us more a complete story I want use 2
Chronicles account. In verse 5 -12 we learn that after Rehoboam is not allowed
to attack the northern kingdom he focus in on fortifying his cities so that he
could protect himself from outside forces. Now lets take a look at,
2 Chronicles 11:13 And
from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were in all
Since Jeroboam had made
his own religion there was no purpose for the Levites or priest to remain there
so they came back to
2 Chronicles 12:1 Now it
came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened
himself, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all
As we just read by the 5th
year of his reign he already turned from God and had turned to idols. More is
said about this in,
1 Kings 14:22 Now
For 3 years he did good
but it didn’t take long for him and his people to be guilty of the same thing
that Jeroboam was doing. Let us now finish up the chapter which brings to the
end of Rehoboam’s life.
2 Chronicles 12:10 Then
King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to
the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king's
house. 11 And whenever the
king entered the house of the LORD, the guard would go and bring them out; then
they would take them back into the guardroom.
12 When he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from
him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in
This brings us to the end
of the Rehoboam’s reign as we read he began it at age 41 and he died at age of
58 or 59. He and Jeroboam fought against each other through out their reigns
but interesting to note that Rehoboham and Jeroboam both had son named Abijah
of course Jeroboams son died but Rehoboam’s son became the next king of