1 Kings 13:30-32

(30-32) They mourned. — The mourning of the old prophet, and the burial of the body in his own sepulchre, probably show some touch of remorse and personal compassion for the victim of his treacherous policy, mingled with the desire of preserving the tomb, which was to be his own last resting-place, from desecration, when the prediction of the prophet of Judah should be accomplished. But, even setting aside the rather prosaic tradition of his attempts to remove any impression made on the mind of Jeroboam, which Josephus has preserved (Ant. viii., 9), it is evident that his policy was only too successful. The messenger of wrath had been enticed to familiar intercourse with the prophet of the new idolatry, and had been publicly proclaimed as his “brother:” probably his death had been used to discredit his warning. The result is seen in the significant notice of 1 Kings 13:33 : “After this thing, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way.” Hence the seriousness of the disobedience, which played into the hands of wickedness, and the startling severity of the penalty.