1 Kings 13:1-10--A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

1 Kings 13:1-10
English Standard Version

A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam
13 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. 2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” 4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before. 7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

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Jeroboam, the king over the Northern Kingdom of Israel has just set up golden calves and set up his own altar to offer sacrifices to them.  The LORD then sent a prophet described as "a man of God" to him to tell him that one day at this very altar where he now offered sacrifices, the LORD would send a man from the line of David named Josiah to sacrifice all the priests of these false gods on this altar and then to burn their bones with fire as a sign that there would be no peace in death for them, but that they were destined for eternal damnation and hellfire.  In addition to this, the prophet said that the altar was going to be torn down and the ashes of the altar poured out [in the present time] as a sign that this prophecy would take place exactly as the LORD had said.

Jeroboam was angry at the words the prophet had spoken against the altar at Bethel [that it would be torn down and its ashes poured out that day] and ordered that the prophet, the man of God, be seized.  However, as he reached out his hand to point to the man of God so that it would be clear who he wanted to have seized/arrested, the LORD caused his hand to dry up (probably causing all the muscles to wither so that he could not move it).  Only after Jeroboam sees the power of the LORD to judge the wicked and protect the righteous does he make any plea to the prophet.

Immediately the altar was down down and the ashes poured out to fulfill the sign given by the LORD through His prophet, the man of God.  Only after all this happened did Jeroboam ask that the prophet pray for him that his hand would be restored as it was before.  It is telling that Jeroboam asks the prophet to entreat "The LORD your God" and does not say "my God" or "our God" meaning that he realizes now if he hadn't realized before that he no longer worships the LORD, if he ever did.  The king then tries to get the prophet to return home with him so that he can shower him with gifts and possibly bribe him to cause him to heal the king's hand, but this shows that the king does not understand that prophet only speaks the words that the LORD puts in his mouth at the time that LORD puts them there.  The prophet cannot just speak words on his own and make a binding promise that the LORD must adhere to.  The king thinks of this prophet like his false prophets that are on his payroll and the LORD like the false gods of the Canaanites.  That system of worship was all about bribing the people to give enough to the priests and prophets of the false gods so that they would give blessings and not curses.

The prophet wisely answers that even if the king were to give the prophet half of his kingdom, he would not go with him to his palace, for the LORD had commanded him to have no fellowship with the king by saying, "You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came."  So the man of God left Bethel and went home by another way from the way that he came (which tells us that the LORD was concerned that the king and his people would try to kill this prophet on the way home if they could find out by which way he came).  We'll pick up here next time as we talk about what happens to this prophet on his way back to Judah.