_A.M. 3029. B.C. 975._
A prophet threatens Jeroboam's altar, and gives a sign, which
immediately comes to pass, 1 Kings 13:1. He restores Jeroboam's
withered hand, and leaves Beth-el, 1 Kings 13:6. The old prophet
deceives and entertains him, 1 Kings 13:11. He is threatened with
death, 1 Kings 13:2... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, there came a man of God_ A holy prophet; for none are called
_men of God_ in the Old Testament, but prophets. _By the word of the
Lord_ By divine inspiration and command. “There is no foundation for
so much as conjecture who this prophet was. His prophecy, however, is
one of the most remark... [ Continue Reading ]
_He cried against the altar_ And consequently against all the worship
performed at it. _O altar, altar_ He directs his speech against the
altar, because the following signs were to be wrought upon it.
_Behold, a child shall be born_, &c. This prophecy is the more
wonderful, because it foretels of wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_He gave a sign the same day_ That is, he then wrought a miracle to
assure them of the truth of his prophecy. _Saying, this is the sign,_
&c. A proof that I speak from God, and not from myself. _The altar
shall be rent_, &c. This could not be effected but by the power of
God, who hereby demonstrated... [ Continue Reading ]
_He put forth his hand_ To point out the man on whom he would have the
people to lay hands. _From the altar_ Where he stood, and where his
hand was employed in offering something upon it. _And his hand dried
up_ Or withered, the muscles and sinews, the instruments of motion,
shrinking up or becoming... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king said, Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God_ Of him who
hath manifested himself to be thy God and friend in a singular manner;
and therefore will hear thy prayers for me, though he will not regard
mine, because I have forsaken him and his worship. _The man of God
besought the Lord_ This... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will give thee a reward_ He desires to requite the instrument, but
takes no notice of God, the chief cause and author of this wonderful
mercy. _The man of God said, I will not go in with thee_, &c. In
obedience to God, he refuses to eat, or drink, or have any familiar
society with him, against wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_There dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el_ One to whom and by whom God
did sometimes reveal his will, as is manifest from 1 Kings 13:20; and
one who had a respect to God's holy prophets, and gave credit to their
predictions. But that he was not a truly and uniformly good and pious
man is certain, becau... [ Continue Reading ]
_And found him sitting under an oak_ Being faint and weary with his
journey, and possibly with the heat also, (which made him choose to
rest in this shady place,) and especially with hunger and thirst, 1
Kings 13:9. And the old prophet might easily guess that this was the
prophet from Judah, by his... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he lied unto him_ And yet, probably, not with any evil design,
but out of curiosity, to know from his own mouth the truth and all the
particulars of the message which he had just delivered to Jeroboam;
and to express his kindness to him, and relieve his hunger and
weariness, whereby, possibly,... [ Continue Reading ]
_So he went back with him_ Too readily hearkening to his words, and
not considering that what God himself had expressly commanded, nothing
but the express command of the same God could set aside: otherwise the
commands of God might be made of none effect by any one who should
feign to have a divine... [ Continue Reading ]
_The word of the Lord came_, &c. God obliged the prophet, who had
caused him to sin, to denounce a punishment against him for it, that
it might the more affect him; nothing being more piercing than to be
reflected on by those who have caused us to err. _And he cried unto
the man of God_ With a loud... [ Continue Reading ]
_He saddled for him the ass_ But it is observable, he does not
accompany him: his guilty conscience making him fear to be involved in
the same judgment with him. _A lion met him by the way, and slew him _
There was a wood not far from Bethel, out of which the two she-bears
came, mentioned 2 Kings 2:... [ Continue Reading ]
_They came and told it in the city_ As a wonderful thing that the lion
should neither fall upon his prey, nor hurt them who passed by, but
suffer them to go on quietly, _Who was disobedient unto the word of
the Lord_ Which was the true reason why he was so severely punished,
in order that other prop... [ Continue Reading ]
_He found_, &c. Here was a concurrence of miracles: that the ass did
not run away from the lion, according to his nature, but boldly stood
still, as waiting to carry the prophet to his burial; that the lion
did not devour his prey, nor tear the ass, nor meddle with the
travellers that passed by, nor... [ Continue Reading ]
_The prophet_, (namely, the _old prophet,_) _took up the carcass of
the man of God_ “If there were any truth,” says Henry, “in the
vulgar opinion, sure the corpse bled afresh when he touched it; for he
was, in effect, the murderer.” _He laid his carcass in his own
grave_ A poor reparation this of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I am dead_, &c. Though he was a lying prophet, yet he desired to
die the death of a true prophet. Gather not my soul with the sinners
of Beth-el, but with this man of God: because, _what he cried against
the altar of Beth-el shall surely come to pass_ Which he might easily
conclude, both from... [ Continue Reading ]
_After this_ That is, after all these things; the singular number
being put for the plural; after so many evident and successive
miracles; _Jeroboam returned not from his evil ways_ He was not at all
changed in his principles or practice, but continued in his idolatry.
_Made again of the lowest of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam_ An occasion of sin,
and a mean of hardening all his posterity in their idolatry; or,
rather, _it became a punishment_, as the word sin often signifies.
This his obstinate continuance in his idolatry, after such warnings,
brought dreadful punishments u... [ Continue Reading ]