Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of 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.
Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah. He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it. He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.”
Then he said to him, “Come home with me, and eat bread.”
He said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. For it was said to me by Yahweh’s word, ‘You shall eat no bread or drink water there, and don’t turn again to go by the way that you came.’ ”
He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by Yahweh’s word, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” He lied to him.
So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. As they sat at the table, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet who brought him back; and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have been disobedient to Yahweh’s mouth, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, but came back, and have eaten bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water;” your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ”
After he had eaten bread, and after he drank, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body. Behold, men passed by, and saw the body thrown on the path, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to Yahweh’s mouth. Therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke to him.” He said to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. He went and found his body thrown on the path, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled the donkey. The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn, and to bury him. He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. For the saying which he cried by Yahweh’s word against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 24, 28, 30 Hebrew, looked.
Hebrew, looked.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–32 1Ki 13:11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in…
1Ki 13:11 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.
Ver. 11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel.] A prophet of God, likely, but corrupt, resty, vicious. Prophecy doth not always presuppose sanctification. The Chaldee here calleth him Michal, the false prophet; Josephus, Rupertus, Cajetan, and others hold the same. See reasons to the contrary in Junius upon the text.
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And his sons came and told him.] Had this old prophet been so good as he should, why dwelt he at Bethel? Why came he from Samaria to dwell there? {2Ki 23:18} and what make his sons at Jeroboam’s idolatrous worship?
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32 An old prophet; a prophet of the Lord; one…
An old prophet; a prophet of the Lord; one to whom and by whom God did sometimes impart his mind, as is manifest from 1Ki 13:20,21, and one first had a respect to the Lord’s holy prophets, and gave credit to their predictions; all which the following relation shows: but whether he was a holy and good man may justly be doubted, seeing all those qualifications might meet in a vicious man, to and by whom he may reveal some part of his mind, as he did to Balaam, Num 23, &c., and in such his other qualities are sometimes found; and we find him in a downright and premeditated lie, and that without any great temptation to it, 1Ki 13:18. And albeit a holy prophet might possibly have continued in the kingdom of Israel, he would never have gone from his own habitation to dwell at Beth-el, the chief seat of idolatry, unless with design to preach against it; which it is evident he did not; his sons seem to have been present at, and to have joined with others in that idolatrous worship, 1Ki 13:11, and that not without their father’s connivance. In Beth-el; for thither he came to dwell, probably expecting some great advantages from Jeroboam; but he came out of Samaria, 2Ki 23:18, where he either was born, and had lived before; or his usual dwelling was at Beth-el, but had lately been at Samaria, and was now returned to Beth-el.
His sons came; who probably were eye and ear witnesses of what had passed.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv11, 23 The man of God had honestly and resolutely refused…
The man of God had honestly and resolutely refused the king's invitation, though he promised him a reward; yet he was over-persuaded by an old prophet to come back with him, and dine in Beth-el, contrary to the command given him. Here we find how dearly his dinner cost him. Observe with wonder,
I. The old prophet's wickedness. I cannot but call him a false prophet and a bad man, it being much easier to believe that from one of such a bad character should be extorted a confirmation of what the man of God said (as we find, Kg1 13:32) than that a true prophet, and a good man, should tell such a deliberate lie as he did, and father it upon God. A good tree could never bring forth such corrupt fruit. Perhaps he was trained up among the sons of the prophets, in one of Samuel's colleges not far off, whence he retained the name of a prophet, but, growing worldly and profane, the spirit of prophecy had departed from him. If he had been a good prophet he would have reproved Jeroboam's idolatry, and not have suffered his sons to attend his altars, as, it should seem, they did. Now, 1. Whether he had any good design in fetching back the man of God is not certain. One may hope that he did it in compassion to him, concluding he wanted refreshment, and out of a desire to be better acquainted with him and more fully to understand his errand than he could from the report of his sons; yet his sons having told him all that passed, and particularly that the prophet was forbidden to eat or drink there, which he had openly told Jeroboam, I suppose it was done with a bad design, to draw him into a snare, and so to expose him; for false prophets have ever been the worst enemies to the true prophets, usually aiming to destroy them, but sometimes, as here, to debauch them and draw them from their duty. Thus they gave the Nazarites wine to drink (Amo 2:12), that they might glory in their fall. But, 2. It is certain that he took a very bad method to bring him back. When the man of God had told him, "I may not, and therefore I will not, return to eat bread with thee" (his resolutions concurring with the divine command, Kg1 13:16, Kg1 13:17), he wickedly pretended that he had an order from heaven to fetch him back. He imposed upon him by asserting his quondam character as a prophet: I am a prophet also as thou art; he pretended he had a vision of an angel that sent him on this errand. But it was all a lie; it was a banter upon prophecy, and profane in the highest degree. When this old prophet is spoken of (Kg2 23:18) he is called the prophet that came out of Samaria, whereas there was no such place as Samaria till long after, Kg1 16:24. Therefore I take it he is so called there, though he was of Beth-el, because he was like those who were afterwards the prophets of Samaria, who caused God's people Israel to err, Jer 23:13.
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II. The good prophet's weakness, in suffering himself to be thus imposed upon: He went back with him, Kg1 13:19. He that had resolution enough to refuse the invitation of the king, who promised him a reward, could not resist the insinuations of one that pretended to be a prophet. God's people are more in danger of being drawn from their duty by the plausible pretences of divinity and sanctity than by external inducements; we have therefore need to beware of false prophets, and not believe every spirit.
III. The proceedings of divine justice hereupon; and here we may well wonder that the wicked prophet, who told the lie and did the mischief, went unpunished, while the holy man of God, that was drawn by him into sin, was suddenly and severely punished for it. What shall we make of this! The judgments of God are unfathomable. The deceived and the deceiver are his, and he giveth not account of any of his matters. Certainly there must be a judgment to come, when these things will be called over again, and when those that sinned most and suffered least, in this world, will receive according to their works. 1. The message delivered to the man of God was strange. His crime is recited, Kg1 13:21, Kg1 13:22. It was, in one word, disobedience to an express command. Judgment is given upon it: Thy carcase shall not come to the sepulchre of thy fathers, that is, "Thou shalt never reach thy own house, but shalt be a carcase quickly, nor shall thy dead body be brought to the place of thy fathers' sepulchres, to be interred." 2. Yet it was more strange that the old prophet himself should be the messenger. Of this we can give no account but that God would have it so, as he spoke to Balaam by his ass and read Saul his doom by the devil in Samuel's likeness. We may think God designed hereby, (1.) To startle the lying prophet, and make him sensible of his sin. The message could not but affect him the more when he himself had the delivering of it, and had so strong an impression made upon his spirit by it that he cried out, as one in an agony, Kg1 13:21. He had reason to think, if he must die for his disobedience in a small matter who sinned by surprise, of how much sorer punishment he should be thought worthy who had belied an angel of God and cheated a man of God by a deliberate forgery. If this were done to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry? Perhaps it had a good effect upon him. Those who preach God's wrath to others have hard hearts indeed if they fear it not themselves. (2.) To put the greater mortification upon the prophet that was deceived, and to show what those must expect who hearken to the great deceiver. Those that yield to him as a tempter will be terrified by him as a tormentor; whom he now fawns upon he will afterwards fly upon, and whom he now draws into sin he will do what he can to drive to despair.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–31 And their father said unto them, what way went…
And their father said unto them, what way went he?.... Having a strong inclination to see him, and converse with him:
for his sons had seen what way the man of God went which came from Judah; they took notice of it; and, as the Targum, they showed it to their father.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv11, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 30, 31, 32 A prophet - One to whom, and by whom…
A prophet - One to whom, and by whom God did sometimes impart his mind; as it is manifest from ver. 20, 21, and one that had a respect to the Lord's holy prophets, and gave credit to their predictions: but whether he was a good man, may be doubted, seeing we find him in a downright lie, ver. 18. And altho' an holy prophet may possibly have continued in the kingdom of Israel, he would never have gone from his own habitation, to dwell at Beth- el, the chief seat of idolatry, unless with design to preach against it: which it is evident he did not; his sons seem to have been present at, and, and to have joined with others in that idolatrous worship.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 28, 30, 31, 32 Verse 11. An old prophet] Probably once a prophet…
Verse 11. An old prophet] Probably once a prophet of the Lord, who had fallen from his steadfastness, and yet not so deeply as to lose the knowledge of the true God, and join with Jeroboam in his idolatries. We find he was not at the king's sacrifice, though his sons were there; and perhaps even they were there, not as idolaters, but as spectators of what was done.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 28, 29, 31 1Ki 13:11. There dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el…
1Ki 13:11. There dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el — One to whom and by whom God did sometimes reveal his will, as is manifest from 1Ki 13:20-21; 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, because we here find him guilty of a downright lie, 1Ki 13:18. And, although a holy prophet, who had lived there before, might possibly have continued in the kingdom of Israel after its separation from Judah, and defection from the true worship of God; yet such a one would not have chosen to reside at Beth-el, the chief seat of idolatry, unless with a design to preach against it: this, it is evident, he did not; for his sons, it appears, were present when Jeroboam stood at the altar, and therefore joined in that idolatrous worship, and yet their father was too timorous to reprove them. He was probably somewhat like the famous Balaam, who was commissioned to utter divers true prophecies, but nevertheless loved the wages of unrighteousness, and was a wicked man.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 18, 21, 22, 28, 30, 32 The truly pious Israelites quitted their homes when Jeroboam…
The truly pious Israelites quitted their homes when Jeroboam made his religious changes, and, proceeding to Jerusalem, strengthened the kingdom of Rehoboam 2Ch 10:16-17. This “old prophet” therefore, who, without being infirm in any way, had remained under Jeroboam, and was even content to dwell at Bethel - the chief seat of the new worship - was devoid of any deep and earnest religious feeling.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 30, 31, 32 Bethel, originally (Haydock) from Samaria, 4 Kings xxiii. 18.…
Bethel, originally (Haydock) from Samaria, 4 Kings xxiii. 18. (Menochius) --- Josias would have burnt his bones, like those of the false prophets, if they had not be blended with those of the man of God. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11, 18, 21, 24, 31 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el--If this…
Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el--If this were a true prophet, he was a bad man.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 18, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32 11. An old prophet — An old man who…
11. An old prophet — An old man who in his youth had probably been trained up in the schools of the prophets, and thence derived the title of prophet. It is usually supposed, and with reason, that he had fallen from his integrity, and had become corrupt and worldly.
His sons came and told him — He did not himself go forth to witness the abominations of the king’s calf-worship, but he allowed his sons to go.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32 11–22. The prophet of Judah is deceived and brought…
11–22. The prophet of Judah is deceived and brought back to Bethel (Not in Chronicles)
11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el] Josephus describes him as ‘a wicked old man, a false prophet, whom Jeroboam had in honour, being deceived by him because he spake things to his liking’. He says too that ‘he was bedridden’ ‘because of the weakness of old age, (though this is difficult to reconcile with his riding forth after the man of God,) and that when he heard of all that had taken place he was fearful that the stranger would surpass him in the estimation of Jeroboam, and gain more honour than he’. The man can hardly have been a true prophet of Jehovah, or he would not have countenanced, even by the presence of his sons, the calf-worship which God had forbidden. His favour with the king, and his desire to retain it, are Josephus’ exposition of the story.
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and his son came] R.V. and one of his sons came. The noun and the two verbs ‘came’ and ‘told’ are singular, but before the close of the verse there comes in a plural verb and pronoun ‘they told also to their father’. The language is very natural. One son was the principal reporter, but when the story was dwelt upon the rest filled out the narrative till the father had a complete knowledge of the whole occurrence. Instead of the final words of this verse ‘them they told also to their father’ the LXX. has καὶ ἐπέστρεψαν τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν. The same phrase is employed in Jdg_18:23 of persons turning round on hearing a cry, and the text of the LXX. probably implies that the father’s attention was arrested by the story.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11, 14, 18, 20, 24, 26, 30 (11) An old prophet in Bethel.—The narrative clearly implies—and,…
(11) An old prophet in Bethel.—The narrative clearly implies—and, indeed, part of its most striking instructiveness depends on this—that this old prophet was not a mere pretender to prophetic inspiration, nor an apostate from the worship of Jehovah. Like Balaam, he united true prophetic gifts with a low worldliness of temper, capable on occasion of base subterfuge and deceit. Such union of elements, which should be utterly discordant, is only too characteristic of man’s self-contradictory nature. He had thrown in his lot with Jeroboam’s policy, which did not want plausible grounds of defence: in spite of this adhesion, he desired to continue still a prophet of the Lord, and to support the king’s action by prophetic influence. It has been noticed that, after the maintenance of the idolatry of Beth-el, even the true prophets did not break off their ministry to the kingdom of Israel, and that, indeed, they never appeared in open hostility to that kingdom, till the introduction of Baal worship. But their case is altogether different from that of the old prophet. He deliberately supports the idolatry, and that by the worst of falsehoods—a falsehood in the name of God. They rebuke the sin (see 1Ki_14:9), but do not forsake their ministry to the sinner.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–32 THE DISOBEDIENCE AND DEATH OF THE MAN OF GOD.…
CHAPTER 13:11-34.
THE DISOBEDIENCE AND DEATH OF THE MAN OF GOD. The seduction of the man of God, who has borne such fearless witness against Jeroboam"s ecclesiastical policy, and his tragical end, are now narrated, partly because of the deep impression the story made at the time, but principally because these events were in themselves an eloquent testimony against the worship of the calves and the whole ecclesiastical policy of Jeroboam, and a solemn warning for all time against any, the slightest, departure from the commandments of God. The very unfaithfulness of this accredited messenger of the Most High, and the instant punishment it provoked, became part of the Divine protest against the new regime, against the unfaithfulness of Israel; whilst the remarkable manner in which these occurrences were recalled to the nation"s memory in the reign of Josiah (2Ki_23:17, 2Ki_23:18) made it impossible for the historian of the theocracy to pass them over without notice.
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Now there dwelt an old prophet Heb. a certain (lit. one) old prophet. For this use of dja (=tiv) of (1Ki_20:13 1Ki_19:4) at Bethel It is at first somewhat surprising to find one of the prophetic order residing here, at the very seat and stronghold of the apostasy, especially after what we read in 2Ch_11:13-16, that the priests and Levites, and it would seem all devout worshippers of the Lord God of Israel, had left the country, and had gone over to Rehoboam. For we cannot suppose that a sense of duty had kept this prophet at his post (see note on ver. 1). The fact that he remained, not only in the kingdom, but at its ecclesiastical capital; that he stood by without protest when the schism was being effected, and that, though not present himself at the sacrifice, he permitted his sons to be there, is a sufficient index to his character. It is quite possible that strong political sympathies had warped his judgment, and that he had persuaded himself that the policy of Jeroboam was necessitated by the division of the kingdom, which he knew to be from the Lord, and which one of his own order had foretold. Or it may be that, despite his better judgment, he had gone with his tribe and the majority of the nation, and now felt it difficult to withdraw from a false position. Or, finally, he may have taken the side of Jeroboam because of the greater honours and rewards that prince had to bestow (see on ver. 18). There is a striking similarity between his position and action and that of Balaam; and his sons The Heb. has son; The LXX, Syr., and Vulg., sons. It is quite true that a "very slight change in the Hebrew text would bring it into accordance with the Septuagint here" (Rawlinson, similarly Ewald), but it would be against sound principles of textual criticism to make it. It is much more likely that the LXX and other versions have been altered already, and that the plural has been introduced here because it is uniformly found in the later narrative. His son" (wnBi), as the lectio ardua, is therefore to he retained. The use of the singular indicates that one of them was at first the principal speaker. Perhaps one hastened home with the news before the rest. The sons of the prophet are not to be confounded with "the sons (i.e., disciples) of the prophets"; (2Ki_2:3, 2Ki_2:4, passim) not merely because "the latter would scarcely have witnessed the golden calf worship" (Bahr), but also because they would have been differently designated came and told him all the works Heb. work that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they observe the plural told also to their father. It is quite clear that the virtual excommunication which the man of God had pronounced had made as great an impression as the signs which he had showed. The interdict was a matter which came home to the Bethelites, as an affront to the whole community.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD.
Vers. 11-19.
The Old Serpent again.
As the ways of the serpent are tortuous so are those of Satan. If he cannot effect his purposes by moving in one direction he will move in another, and thus by crooked ways he advances (Isa_27:1; Psa_125:5) He had already tempted the man of God by means of the schismatic king, and failed; his next work is to see what influence an old prophet may have upon him. So versatile are his devices that it is our wisdom to be ever on the alert. Observe the adroitness with which he lays his plans. His astuteness is seen
I IN CHOOSING HIS INSTRUMENTS. These were
1. The sons of the old prophet.
(1) They were near the altar. Whether by the contrivance of Satan, or that, finding them there, he made them his tools, is not revealed. Or whether they were there out of curiosity, or sympathy with the apostasy, is not revealed. But they were there on the devil"s ground. We must keep from that if we would escape mischief.
(2) They were witnesses of the words and works of God. So, might have been rebuked for sympathy with evil and admonished to separate themselves from it. They also saw the way the man of God took in returning to Judah.
(3) They lost no time in reporting to their father, urged, unconsciously to themselves, by Satan. We cannot always tell when we are prompted by the devil, or when he uses for his purposes our natural promptings. We should pray God to spare us the humiliation of serving Satan"s purposes.
2. The old prophet himself.
(1) He was an "old" prophet, or had been a prophet in the old time before the apostasy of Jeroboam. Probably he had backslidden from God; for, though he did not appear at Bethel, he allowed his sons to be there. Had he not lost his old fire would he not have lifted his voice against the national sin? Backsliders from God become the devil"s dupes.
(2) The energy of Satan is seen in the promptness of this old prophet"s action. He quickly got information. He lost no time in the pursuit. The sluggishness of age was shaken off under the excitement of the devil"s spur.
(3) But what was the old man"s motive? Probably the desire to display that hospitality which the Easterns cultivated so carefully, mingled with a curiosity to know more about the wonders the man of God was commissioned to discover. But Satan"s motive was very different. Beware that your motives become not subservient to those of the devil. Let your motives be pure and godly.
II IN USING THEM.
1. See the stratagem in Eden, repeated.
(1) Had Satan tempted Eve in his proper character he would have failed. (1Ti_1:14) So the man of God was proof against the solicitations of the king whom he discerned to be the "man of sin" of his time.
(2) Satan therefore concealed himself under the sleek, lustrous form of a serpent, and deceived our mother. Then transferring himself to the fallen Eve, under her lovely disguise, overcame Adam. So, enshrining himself in the old prophet, he vanquished the "man of God." Beware of Satan"s disguises. Especially beware of the religious devil.
(3) The offence, again, was eating. In Eden it was eating the forbidden thing. Note: The place may be right, the thing wrong. At Bethel it was eating in the forbidden place. Note: The thing may be right, the place wrong.
2. See the spirit of the devil.
(1) The spirit of cruelty. The old prophet knew that the man of God was forbidden to eat in Bethel, yet he importuned him to eat bread with him. Cruelty is no less real because sheathed in professions of kindness. Overindulgent parents are their children"s cruelest enemies.
(2) The spirit of treachery. The man of God had refused a king: will he withstand a prophet? (Jer_23:18; Amo_2:11)
(3) The spirit of lies (ver. 18). Now is Satan transformed into an angel of light. Could the old prophet have been himself thus deceived? He deceived the man of God. Beware of the devil of hospitality. Perhaps the man of God the more readily yielded being weak with fatigue and fasting (compare Mat_4:2-4) No example, save that of Jesus, may be followed implicitly. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 11, 12.
The Tempter.
I THE PROPHET"S SIN AND DOOM. Evil is never wanting in emissaries. It finds them among the so-called followers of God as well as in the world. This was
1. a prophet. The possession of privileges does not ensure salvation. Balaam took the wages of unrighteousness. "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" etc. Is our own life on a level with the place God has given us? If not, we may be among those whose influence and suggestions place stumbling blocks in the path of God"s children.
2. He dwelt at Bethel, without testifying against its sin, and unmoved by fear of God"s judgment. How many who know God"s will and have declared it to others remain in Bethel still!
3. His instant resolve. The very story of the prophet"s obedience led him to tempt the man of God. His own religion was not like this, and this must therefore be either hypocrisy or delusion. Had the king"s request not been made publicly it might have been acceded to. There must be a weak point somewhere, and he will try to find it. Lower life is ever suspicious of a higher, and is anxious to prove that it is not higher. The prophets in Bethel are ever on the watch to break the credit of the men of God from Judah. Is thine the spirit of the learner or of the scorner? Does the higher life judge thee and fill thee with desire to press upward, or only with angry suspicion and desire to show it is no better than thine own? They who are of the wicked prophet"s spirit still do his work.
II THE FALL OF THE MAN OF GOD.
1. How the tempter found him. He sat, weary and faint, resting under the shadow of the tree. The invitation to eat bread had more power there than before in Bethel. The tempter knows his opportunity. In times of weakness and need we should hide ourselves in the joy and strength of God.
2. The weapons he uses. When an appeal to appetite fails, he professes his oneness with him and uses falsehood. "I am a prophet also as thou art, and an angel spake unto me," etc. To eat bread in Bethel with a prophet did not seem quite the same thing as eating with the idolatrous king; nor does fellowship with those who profess to know God, but yet remain in communion with the world, seem the same thing as fellowship with the world itself. It is thus that the testimony of the Church against idolatry and iniquity has so largely ceased. And then there is Scripture forevery concession. "An angel spake unto me but he lied unto him." A worldly Church ensnares where the world itself cannot.
3. The fatal neglect. God was as near to him as He could be to his tempter, and he might have inquired of Him. But in the weakness of the flesh he desired to have it so. There is only one preservative from spiritual shipwreck a sincere desire to know what the Lord saith, and a determination to follow that only.
III HIS DOOM. (Vers. 20-22.)
1. It was uttered as he sat at meat. Conviction found him in his Sin, and the food he had desired became as wormwood and gall to him.
2. It came from the lips of his seducer. We do not rise in the world"s estimation through compliance with its desires. As God used the lying prophet so will He use the men of the world for the humbling of those who yield before their temptations.
3. The penalty. Death in the land where he had sinned. His carcase, buried in Bethel, declared the truth his obedience should have impressed. God will judge His unfaithful servants. If not glorified in their service, He will be glorified in their punishment. J.U.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11, 18, 20, 24, 26 Now there dwelt an old man in Bethel
1Ki_13:11-32
Now there dwelt an old man in Bethel
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The nameless prophet
This passage forms part of a very remarkable narrative.
The miraculous element is so prominent that certain critics would have the chapter expunged from Holy Scripture. The natural and the supernatural are closely interwoven, as are the woof and web of a fabric, and the destruction of either would be the practical dissolution of the whole; indeed, nowhere is this more manifestly true than in the life and death, in the resurrection and ascension, in the works and claims of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Who was this bold prophet? Josephus identified him with Iddo, the seer; but the statement is merely conjectural. The man must remain nameless, as he is left in this chapter.
I. The message delivered by this nameless prophet.
1. Its divine origin is expressly asserted in the second verse: he cried . . . in the word of the Lord. This is a remarkable phrase. It is not said that he cried the word of God, but that he cried in it--as if his message were the sphere in which he lived, the atmosphere he breathed. Nothing could more forcibly suggest the source from which all religious teachers draw their power. It is the consciousness of having a Divine message, the sureness of a Divine call, the confidence that what they have to say is the Word of the Lord, which is the sign of the true prophet.
2. The definite nature of this message deserves attention. The very name of the avenger, Josiah, is mentioned, though it was 300 years before he was born; and it was distinctly foretold that idolatrous priests would be slain on the altar erected in defiance of God, and that the site now being set apart for heathen worship would be defiled and dis-honoured by the bones of the dead. Centuries elapsed before the fulfillment of this threat, but it came at last, and came at the appointed time, proclaiming to all future ages this solemn truth, which it is madness to ignore: the wages of sin is death. Gods punishments are never arbitrary. They are the legitimate issues of the crime or vice they belong to. The sinner is destroyed by his own sin. And this is in harmony with all that we know of Gods works. Science is showing the links between cause and effect with ever-growing clearness and certainty; and the doctrine of evolution reveals that limbs may perish by disuse or may be developed by necessities of life in new surroundings. This is true everywhere, not least in the punishments and privations threatened in Scripture, here and hereafter.
II. The courage he displayed. His boldness it is not easy to overrate. It was the consciousness the prophet had that he was Gods messenger that gave him this heroism. It was this which prepared Moses to dare the wrath of Pharaoh, this which nerved Elijah to stand alone face to face with the prophets of Baal; this which enabled Peter and John undauntedly to face the Sanhedrim; and this which made Ambrose, and Knox, and Luther, and Zwingli types of a truer heroism than any field of battle has revealed.
III. The safety of the prophet was assured, and credentials of his commission were given, when the altar was suddenly cleft in twain, and all the ashes poured out. We see nothing incredible here, or in many other miraculous signs mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. Supernatural signs are surely the legitimate evidences of a supernatural revelation. They are simply the assertion of the supremacy of the spiritual and unseen over the material and visible; and if we really believe that the things seen were not made of things which do appear, we need not be incredulous when evidences of the existence of these are given. Among the phenomena of Nature, we all know that a mountain may be still and silent for ages, villages cluster around its base, men toil and children play on its sides, and they have no suspicion that it is volcanic; but at last the subterranean fires may burst out, and just as that force, long hidden, asserts itself within the limits of half-known law: so it may be, so it has been, within the limits of unknown law. Our Lord Jesus Christ boldly said of His own miracles: If ye believe not Me, believe the works, the works which modern admirers of His moral teaching would rule out of court!--and the apostles put the resurrection of Christ, which some would explain away, into the very forefront of Christian evidences.
IV. The temptation he resisted, to which our text alludes. Jeroboam failed in the use of violence; but, nothing daunted, he sought to overcome the messenger of Jehovah by craft. Doubtless there are many who have had such conflicts and conquests. Tempted to sin, you have replied: How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? Sitting among the sinners, when you could not avoid them, you did not approve their mockery even by the faintest smile. Able to win wealth and position, you resolutely refused to stoop to do what you knew was base and false. In such hours of triumph I would entreat you most vividly to remember, and most humbly to acknowledge, that the victory came only through Him that loved you, or you may ultimately experience the fall which came to the prophet after his first victory was won.
V. The second temptation, which we must not overlook, was successful and fatal. It came from an old prophet, who lived near by, who approached his fellow-servant when he was tired, and who, professing to have received message from God, induced him to enter his house in Bethel, and thus to disobey the command of the Lord. If it be asked why this temptation succeeded, while that of Jeroboam failed, we should attribute it to the self-complacence and self-confidence engendered by successful resistance to the king, and to the sense of false security which generally succeeds in a crisis of peril. Evidence of this is seen in the fact that he rested under a terebinth, instead of pressing homeward, as he had been told to do.
1. Learn from this that the conquest of one evil often leads to an assault from another.
2. Learn also that it is a perilous thing to linger in a scene of temptation, though for a time we may have to go into it in order to do Gods work. If this prophet had not rested, instead of hurrying forward, he would not have been overtaken before he crossed the border line of safety between the two kingdoms.
VI. The trifling disobedience which brought about so terrible a retribution. It seemed a very small offence to go home with a brother prophet for pleasant, and perhaps profitable, intercourse. But there was no doubt about the will of God in this matter. An act may seem as trifling as that; and yet it may involve a momentous principle. It was a small thing for Eve to take the fruit of the tree; but it was an act of direct disobedience, and therefore brought death into the world, and all our woe. It is in what we call trifles that God tests our obedience and love. (A. Rowland, B. A.)
The penalty of disobedience
It may seem, at first sight, that the prophet was hardly visited for breaking such a commandment as this; and yet we may remember that Adam brought death on himself and us all by an act of disobedience much akin to this; for he was commanded not to eat, but he did eat: why should any of his children fare better, especially when sinning like this prophet, to whom the word of God came not as to other men, immediately into his heart from the Holy Spirit of God? He grieved the Holy Spirit. But though he did not sin wilfully, but was most artfully tempted into his sin, Gods justice could not spare him; an example must reeds be made of the punishment of faithlessness in so high a commission- Such is the example: now how does it concern the Christian?
1. The Christian is a prophet, for he has the gift of the Word of God and of His Holy Spirit, and the revelation of the world to come. And his profession is to protest and struggle against the corruption of the world, against which he must denounce the wrath of God which cometh on the children of disobedience.
2. As the prophet had the commandment given him, to eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that he came, that is, to have no fellowship with the sinners whose idolatry God had sent him to denounce, so the Christian has a special injunction on this head; it has been given him both in the word of his Saviour, and in the example of his Saviour. We must not as Christians eat and drink by the way; we must not waste our precious time and heavenly substance in the carnal enjoyments of this life; but we must go on the way which God hath pointed out to us, without turning to the right or to the left for refreshment, for if we do, then we are out of His way, then we are in the forbidden habitations of sin; still less must we return by the same way that we came.
3. The prophet was tempted by a false brother; and even so are Christians tempted by false brethren, and persuaded by them to sit down to the meat and drink of sinful indulgence, and to return by the same way that they came, going backward, though at a much quicker rate, through the same steps that they have come forward in the Christian race.
4. And whom did God choose to pronounce sentence of death upon him? His very deceiver. And is not this continually the case? Is not the tempter into sin often the very first to reproach the tempted with his sin, and to mock at him when it is beyond remedy? Is he not often the first to open his eyes to his real state, and laugh at him? This is the way of Satan, the grand tempter of all, and therefore the way of his children also. Thus sin is felt by the tempted as the sting of death indeed!
5. And now see the end: a lion met the prophet in his way and slew him. And is there no lion ready for the faithless Christian too? Yes; the lion is at the door ready for all the unwary, gaping upon them with his mouth, staring upon them with his eyes, on the crouch, and ready to spring at the first favourable moment, and rend and tear the soul in pieces.
6. If God could visit with such strict justice the disobedience of a man who was tempted to believe that he was obeying God, how will He visit those who yield to temptation with the clear knowledge that they are disobeying God, and hearken to men who they know cannot be prophets of God, as was the man to whom this prophet listened, but are evidently prophet of Satan. (R. W. Evans, B. D.)
The prophets temptation and fall
Holy Scripture gives some terrible warnings as to the power and danger of temptation. Notably, the fall of men of God through temptation. This narrative is such a warning. Brings before us--
1. Generally, the subject of temptation.
2. Specially, temptation.
(1) By means of our fellow-men.
(2) To disobedience of Gods express command. It is thus illustrative of, and illustrated by, other passages of Scripture.
I. Temptation promptly repelled.
1. Plain command had been given to this man of God (verse 9). But no reason assigned. This is in keeping with many positive obligations of Gods law..
2. King Jeroboam desires him to act in opposition to Gods command.
(1) It is an open temptation, recognised as such.
(2) It is a temptation of the world.
(3) It appeals to self-interest: something is to be gained (verse 7). Like the temptation of Eve (Gen_3:5), of Balaam (Num_22:16-17), of Christ (Mat_4:8-9).
3. He understands it, resolves, acts. He turns away from it (verse 10). Like Joseph (Gen_39:9-12). Learn--our real safety is to flee from temptation.
II. Temptation feebly resisted.
1. Again the same temptation comes: but not now from standpoint of the world, of open enmity with God. A seeming prophet is tempter (verses 11-15).
2. The man of God feels some inward desire to comply with the temptation. There is hesitation In his resistance; he says, I may not, and therefore will not. Learn--
(1) The beginning of our fall is when our will begins to be out of accord with Gods law; when we would sin, but dare not.
(2) There is danger in parleying with temptation.
III. Temptation yielded to.
1. For third time same temptation assails him, and with additional inducement. Satan becomes as an angel of light, his emissary assumes the position of a minister of God (verse 18). This case resembles Satans quotation of Scripture (Mat_4:3; Mat_4:6).
2. The man of God is deceived by the insidiousness of the lie.
(1) Temptation at first repelled, then entertained, is at last successful.
(2) He yields, and disobeys Gods Word.
(3) His sin meets with direct judgment (verse 24).
Learn--
(1) The transgression of Gods law in any particular is sin.
(2) The wages of sin is death.
Conclusion--Two passages in the New Testament sum up and enforce the whole subject:--
1. 1Co_10:13.
(1) Temptation is a law of all human life. The man of God is not exempt.
(2) Temptation is in Gods mercy regulated according to our ability to resist.
(3) A way of escape is ever open to us. Generally by our promptly turning away from the person or thing tempting us.
2. Gal_1:8.
(1) Temptation often comes by the example or persuasion of our fellow-creatures.
(2) It will come as though with the authority of God. This specially in temptations to scepticism and disbelief as to the truth of Rom_6:23.
(3) Gods Word cannot contradict itself. Should it seem to do so, or any human interpretation make it appear to do so, we may doubt our own views or the interpretation of others, and should adhere to the plain truth of Holy Scripture. (T. H. Barnet.)
The disobedient prophet, and the liar, masked in the angel-face of truth-The first and last phase of the evil one
I. The mission of this man of God to Bethel is a most important one. He is entrusted by his heavenly Master with unfolding the Divine judgments to King Jeroboam, on account of his great sin in making the lowest of the people priests of the high places, and in consequence also of his open and zealous patronage of the most abominable idolatry.
1. The time of the prophets arrival at Bethel. It happened when Jeroboam stood at the altar to burn incense. To face a guilty monarch and unveil the Divine denunciations threatened on account of his rebellious conduct, is by no means an easy task.
2. The mode of address. He addresses himself not to the guilty monarch, but as if he wished Jeroboam to feel he had forfeited the honour of being addressed like a rational agent, the prophet accosts the inanimate altar, that altar by which the king now usurpingly stood to burn incense. O altar, altar! he cries, not in his own name, but in the name of that God who sent him, Thus saith the Lord.
3. The matter of the prophets address. Now it is well worthy of remark, that though this predicted king is so particularly mentioned by name, none of the kings of Israel thought fit to assume the name, until the real and good Josiah himself appeared as the executor of all the vengeance of a righteous God against sin. This name was given by the wicked Manasseh to his son quite undesignedly, a name which was to be the terrible watchword of the downfall of idolatry practised by Manasseh and Jeroboam: it was a name given by Manasseh to his son, in spite, as it were, of Manasseh himself, in diametrical opposition to Manassehs policy
II. Regard his test of obedience. The man of God having executed in a bold and faithful manner the grave commission on trusted to him, is preparing to take his departure, when Jeroboam, anxious it would appear to render the man of God some recompense for his kindness in having petitioned the Majesty of Heaven to restore his hand, approaches him with the friendly invitation. The prophet having manfully, by the grace of God, resisted the temptation of the kings invitation, is already on the way back to Judah, the way pointed out by the Lord for him to take. But although he has resisted one temptation and got apparently clear of Bethel, he is not yet safe. We are never secure while we are pilgrims and travellers in this world, which is not our rest, against the varied and constant assaults of Satans temptations; as soon as one temptation is overcome, another is ready to overtake us on lifes road; which teaches us ever to be watchful and prayerful.
III. The prophets disobedience, and its result. How does the faith of the man of God now stand against this tremendous trial? He, who had a little previous so triumphantly combated the temptation to eat bread and drink water at a royal table, now, alas! totters in his obedience, and listens to the unlikely lie of an aged prophet, sanctioned, as he diabolically pretended, by an angels revelation, and consents to return with him. The most dangerous form temptation can assume, is that of a lie, disguised in the mantle of truth, uttered by the ravening wolf clad in the sheeps clothing. By the snares of this temptation, the prophet now fell into the labyrinth of disobedience. It is Satans master temptation. By this truth-gilded lie our first parents fell, and sin and death entered into the world. The devil put on a goodly outside, entered into the then attractive serpent, approached our unsuspecting mother in that so sleek form, and led her to fail in the first great test of human obedience, which was to be the proof of mans love, the eating of the forbidden fruit. The man of God, disobedient to the Divine command, accompanies the old prophet back to Bethel. There, dead to the fearful consequences of what he is doing, he refreshes the exhausted body at the board of hospitality. Swift indeed, and signal is the punishment inflicted on the man of God, and some may think the punishment severe; but the disobedience of the prophet in eating bread and drinking water was aggravated by the circumstances under which it was committed. Learn a lesson from this sorrowful circumstance, which Jeroboam failed to learn, even the lesson of obedience to the Word of God. Keep only in the track pointed out by that Word, though an angel from heaven might tell thee to do contrary to its Divine message to thy soul. Obey its every precept, small or great. (R. Jones, M. A.)
The disobedient prophet
We have in this account a very striking illustration of the truth enunciated by the Apostle James, the Lords brother, at the first council at Jerusalem, namely, that known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world (Act_15:18). The prediction uttered by the man of God against the altar at Bethel was not fulfilled for the space of 360 years; and yet, when the time fixed in the counsels of Omnipotence arrived, not one thing failed of accomplishment of all that he had declared should come to pass. Now, this truth may afford comfort to all who love and fear God. Many of Gods people, when they hear of the overflowings of ungodliness and unbelief, may be almost inclined to think that God hath forgotten His gracious promises, and that He will in truth shut up His loving-kindness in displeasure. But they may chide away their unbelieving fears as David did: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God (Psa_42:1-11.). But I must point out a few lessons of instruction which this portion of holy writ may furnish us with.
1. And, first, it may teach us that, whenever God hath plainly declared His will, no grounds of supposed expediency, and no less fully authenticated declarations, however they may profess to proceed from Him, should ever induce us to depart from it. This we may learn both from the conduct of Jeroboam, as well as from that of the man of God. And, assuredly, we have abundant examples of its danger. We know that the Jews, who lived at the time when our Saviour was upon earth, are accused by Him of making void the law of God by their traditions; and even to the present day, by listening to the same fallacious guide, though they nominally admit the Divine authority of the Old Testament scriptures, they fritter away all their most important requirements. But how, it may be asked, does it arise that men can satisfy themselves to pay any attention to such a pretender? And the answer is, because, like the old prophet, it comes forward with a bold assertion of its Divine authority, though with as little regard to truth as he displayed. Tradition, among the Jews, professes to be an interpretation of the law given by God to Moses, and transmitted through elders, prophets, and wise men.
2. Another lesson to be learned from what is here recorded is that we cannot judge of a mans eternal state from the way m which he may be taken out of this world. A man of God sins; and within a few hours a lion slays him: the lying prophet that seduced him lives on, and goes to his grave in peace; yea, wicked Jeroboam continues his idolatrous worship, and treads upon the grave of his reprover. What shall we make of this? Doubtless such events teach us that there must be a judgment to come, when all these seeming inequalities will be corrected, and when rewards and punishments will be dispensed with impartial justice and unerring wisdom. At present Gods people are chastened; but it is that they may not be condemned with the world; whereas the ungodly and the profane are in many instances unpunished.
3. A third lesson which may be learned from this narrative is, not to be induced heedlessly to follow any guide, whatever may be his pretensions, or whatever his apparent sanctity. The Apostle John gives the following caution: Beloved, believe hot every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world (1Jn_4:1). And, if such advice was needful in apostolic times, much more is it required now.
4. The last lesson which I would point out to you as derivable from this passage of Scripture is, that no command of God is to be lightly regarded, and that the nearer people are to God the more certainly will their transgressions be punished. Implicit, unquestioning obedience has been in all ages the characteristic of Gods most eminent servants. (T. Grantham.)
The disobedient prophet of Judah
The fate of the prophet of Judah has always been deemed a hard one. That it should be so is by no means surprising. We should certainly expect so striking a punishment to have been inflicted upon a very different kind of person. And it is that very circumstance which makes it the more important that we should look into the case. To sum what may be said for him, it comes to this:
(1) he fulfilled faithfully the essential part of his mission;
(2) his trifling transgression was excusable considering the plot laid to deceive him; and
(3) in any case his punishment was extreme in severity. In thinking of the severity of the punishment, I have no doubt that we unconsciously infuse into our thoughts the assumption that the prophet of Judah suffered eternal death, because it was deemed necessary to execute him. As to his future state we know nothing whatever. No doubt at the great day his destiny will be settled, not by one act, but by his life. But he fulfilled the essential part of his mission. Even supposing that we could so far enter into the Divine mind as to say what is essential in any command; still it is plain that there may be a wide difference between that part of the Divine command which was the more important in, so to speak, its missionary and public aspect, as regarded Jeroboam, and that part of it which regarded the prophet personally, and would be the more likely to try him. But surely, setting aside all thought of religion, we know that trifles lead into serious evils, and are often the turning-points of life as well as the tests of principle. And, as men of the world and men of honour, we shall admit that the importance of a principle does not depend upon the importance of the thing to which it is applied in some particular instance. You decide upon a mans dishonesty, not by the magnitude of his fraud, but the fact. When once we receive, no matter how, what we believe to be a Divine command, it is plain that we have no right to decide how much of it God meant to be attended to, and how much we may set aside as immaterial. Here is the case of no vulgar sinner, no thoughtless transgressor of the Divine law, but one whom we are justified in regarding as a man of pre-eminent virtue, honoured by the King of kings by being chosen to discharge a difficult and dangerous duty, and supplied with minute instructions. The difficult and dangerous part of his mission he performed; he even so far discharged the seemingly less important part as to refuse the royal invitation. The crisis, as we should naturally think, had been passed. But it was not in the great matter, but in the small matter that he was tried, and that he failed; as he who has escaped perils of waters over thousands of miles of angry ocean, sometimes is drowned in the narrow unrippled river, within sight of home. It is not in the hour of persecution only, or of open and obvious peril that we need to be on our guard. We often brace ourselves for that. It is in the smaller occurrences of life that we need to be careful and watchful unto prayer, if principle be involved. And in how few things is it not involved, after all? The thought, doubtless suggests danger in these small things; but does it not also invest them with dignity? Does it not raise them out of the dust? What can be small in action or in suffering by which the character can be tested and the soul tried? (J. O. Coghlan, D. D.)
On the character of the man of God that came from Judah
Now, in order to come to a right understanding of the conduct of the man of God which came from Judah, and to appreciate the error of which he was guilty, and for which he suffered; it will be necessary to remember how critical were the circumstances under which he was called to act; how extensive and sacred were the interests which were, more or less, to be involved in the discharge of his mission to Bethel. He came on an express mission, to denounce the apostasy of the times. He came to confront the very author of all this mischief as he stood by the altar of his own pride; to tell him, and his benighted worshippers, of their blasphemy and iniquity; to prophesy the day, when God s signal vengeance should be poured on the altar at which they so blindly knelt; when one of His anointed servants, of the kingly race of David, should fearfully purge that land of its crimes; should destroy the houses, and all the priests of the reigning idolatry, and bum the very reliques of their bodies on the altars of their profane worship. Nothing, therefore, could have been more important, nothing more full of trust, than the mission of him who was thus sent from Judah to Bethel. His instructions must have been of the most solemn kind; and we have reason to know that they were in all things express and minute. Now, in reviewing the conduct of the prophet, we are fur. Dished with a key to a right apprehension of its error, and the cause of its signal punishment. In the outset of his conduct, when the temptation was manifest, and the snare but clumsily laid, he acted in every respect with fidelity and decision. Here, then, it becomes a natural question,--in what had the great guilt of the man of God consisted? True, he had disobeyed the Divine command; but was not the force of that command in a manner cancelled by what the old prophet professed? Could the prophet of Judah have judged that his aged brother was lying to him? if not, wherefore this great and summary punishment? The answer to this is that the man of God ought so to have judged. He should have remembered, that on the one part he would be obeying his Maker, whose will he fully knew; on the other, he would be listening to a mere mortal, whose truth and authority he did not know, but which he even had good reason to suspect. Against the dictates of conscience, and calm judgment, he yielded to the latter; and therefore brought himself under the displeasure and condemnation of his God. In such times of apostasy and disbelief as those, slight actions assumed the importance of great ones; especially if depending on the known will of God. The prophet of Judah was placed in a conspicuous and important pest; and it was essential that his conduct in it should be signally marked. As to the punishment itself, we only know that it affected the body; not a word do we know of the destiny of the soul. Lessons--
1. What God has commanded and sanctified, can be no trifle. If it be but a particle, a tittle of His will, it is enough. The least compromise on our part may tend to evil that we know not of; and our only safe and right course is in simple, implicit obedience.
2. Again, we must be always on our guard against the effect of any apparent sanctity in profession. I am also a prophet as thou art, was the rock on which the prophet of Judah foundered. Let us not be so deceived. We know where to look for Gods revealed will; we know where to look for its authorised interpretation and enforcement.
3. Finally, looking at the example in a more general point of view, let it teach us the peril of all dalliance, vacillation, and delay. Let us not be found sitting under the wayside oak; loitering on the world s highroad. We cannot toy and idle as we pass, in a region of contamination and guilt. Wherever there is one thoughtless, vacant, indifferent to his everlasting salvation, that man is first marked for a prey by his eternal foe. (J. Puckle, M. A.)
The disobedient prophet
I. The great professional and spiritual eminence of this young prophet who came out of Judah. He belongs to that great company of men and women of all ages and countries who have contributed much to the service of God, much to the well-being of their fellow-creatures, while on earth. It is only remembered what they did and not who they were. But as to his high standing among his fellows there can be no question.
1. This would appear, first of all, from the Divine mission with which he was entrusted.
2. And the high character and capacity of the nameless prophet of Judah appears, secondly, from the manner in which he discharged his mission.
II. And now came his trial. Now, it is natural to ask, what was the old prophets motive in taking so much trouble to induce the younger man to do what was wrong? Was the old prophet a false prophet of the type which a few years later abounded in Israel during the ascendency of the Baal-worship? Were his sympathies really on the side of Jeroboam and the new religion of the Egyptian calf, and did he think anything fair if he could only ruin the courageous young man who, on an occasion of such capital importance, had covered both the upstart religion and the upstart king with such great and public discredit? This is what has been thought by some eminent authorities, but it cannot easily be reconciled with the Sequel of the history: for how should a false prophet be entrusted with the message announcing to the prophet of Judah the punishment of his transgression? How would a prophet who was opposed to the whole mission and work of the prophet of Judah have insisted on giving him honourable burial in his own grave? Once more, if the old prophet were at heart on the side of Jeroboam and the calf worship, how are we to explain his confirming the prediction of the prophet of Judah, about the coming destruction of the altar at Bethel? It is impossible to suppose that the old prophet was other than a true prophet of God, who had settled at Bethel. And here we must observe that this old prophet, although a true prophet, was evidently a person with no keenness of conscience, with no high sense of duty. There he was, settled at Bethel, witnessing the triumphant establishment of the new idolatry and of the false, uncommissioned, intrusive priesthood. It does not appear that he had the heart to say a word against the profane proceedings of Jeroboam, while yet he had no hesitation about claiming heavenly authority for a message which he knew was solely dictated by his own wishes. He was evidently an easy-going old prophet, not embarrassed by scruples when he had an object in view, and the appearance on the scene of a younger man, conspicuous for the courage and energy in which he himself was personally deficient, would naturally have affected him in a double manner.
III. See here a tragical instance of the misuse of authority. The prophet of Bethel had the sort of authority which accompanies age and standing. It is an authority which comes in a measure to all who live long enough; it is an authority which belongs especially to fathers of families, and to high officers in Church or State, to great writers, to conspicuous philanthropists, to public eminence in whatever capacity. It is a shadow of a greater and unseen authority which thus rests upon His earthly representatives, and invests this or that creature of a day with something of the dignity of the eternal. What can be more piteous than when, with deliberation or thoughtlessly, it is employed against Him whose authority alone makes it to be what it is? What more lamentable than when the old make truth and goodness more difficult of attainment to those who look up to them, or when, like this prophet of Bethel, they deliberately allure youth into the paths of sin, by appealing to its simple confidence in the wisdom of riper years, or to its reverence for a claim to teach, which would speedily disappear if the world at large were to join them in undermining loyalty to Gods commands? Ah! there are prophets of Bethel in all ages. This disposition to discourage high and generous ideals of duty which have not presented themselves to an older generation, or still worse, have been neglected by it, is not unknown in the history of the Christian Church. A great movement may have taken place, in which God the Holy Ghost has placed before a generation of younger men a higher conception of what Gods truth and Gods service really mean than had occurred to their predecessors. It is always possible, or more than possible, that in a movement like this men will make mistakes, and that such a movement is all the better for the restraining, steadying, guiding influence of authority. But when authority, instead of guiding, discourages, instead of making the best use of the sacred fire--of which, after all, there is not too much in the world--sets to work deliberately to extinguish it, the consequences are disastrous.
IV. The prophet of Judah, who had braved death and had rejected royal courtesies at the altar of Bethel, fell when tempted by the old prophet. It may be thought that the younger prophet sincerely believed his own instructions to be cancelled by the alleged message of the angel to his older brother at Bethel. A moments thought would, should, have told him that this could not be. He knew that God had spoken to himself; he knew that God does not contradict Himself. He might have been embarrassed for the moment by the confident story of the old prophet about the angel, if he did not suspect, as he might well have suspected, that all was not right, and that there was dishonesty somewhere. When any of us know certainly one piece of the Divine will, we simply have to act upon it, let others say what they may. No earthly authority can cancel, or suspend, or dispense with a duty which is perfectly clear to our own conscience. It has been maintained that the punishment awarded to the prophet of Judah was a disproportionately severe punishment. He forfeited his life, men say, not for committing murder, not for committing adultery, but only for eating bread in a particular place. After all, the command to abstain from eating and drinking at Bethel was not a moral precept, it was only a positive precept. But there are times when positive precepts assume high moral importance, and there are persons upon whom the observance of positive precepts exerts, or may exert, the very highest obligation--persons in whose ease a precept positive assumes a distinctly moral character. (H. P. Liddon, D. D.)
Disobedience visited
I. His general character--The man of God. The designation itself may serve to denote, in those to whom it refers:
1. Their special employment.
2. Their special qualifications. As God engaged them in His work, so He furnished them for it.
3. Their eminent devotedness.
(1) Observe his fidelity and zeal
(2) Observe his meekness and placability.
(3) Observe, too, his fortitude and disinterestedness (verses 7-9).
II. His Temptation (verses 11-18). This temptation was--
1. In suitable time and circumstances.
2. By a suitable agent;--an old prophet. Venerable through age,--a prophet in garb and appearance,--and professing a direct and special revelation (verse 18.)
III. His Fall. Here we must blame--
1. His unwatchfulness.
2. His easy credulity and compliance.
3. His positive transgression.
IV. His Punishment. (Sketches of Sermons.)
The disobedient prophet
I. He discharged a truly heroic duty and then failed to do a most ordinary one. Jeroboam was not in the mood to listen to a prophet from the land of Judah. There was a breach at that time between Israel and Judah, and he did not desire that breach to be healed. He was full of the pride of his newly-acquired power as king over Israel, and full of envy and of hatred of the rival kingdom of Judah. He had established religious services at Dan and at Bethel, so that his people might not need to go up to Jerusalem. We may do the truly heroic deed in some great crisis of our life and show that we are ready to die rather than be disobedient unto God, and yet in the manifold trials and duties of our daily life we may fail to cherish the spirit and reveal the mind of Christ. It is the little duties, the trivial cares, the small disappointments and vexations of our daily life which most severely try our faith, and it is in these that we are most in danger of doing dishonour to our Lord.
II. This man of God very nobly resisted one temptation and then was overcome by a second and more subtle temptation.
III. This prophet is an example of those who come almost to the close of life with honour and then end it in shame. How often do we find that towards the evening of life men yield to temptation which covers them with shame and which mars the whole of the glory of their life! Dr. Dale once said that special sermons were often preached for the benefit of the young, but it was equally needful to give special counsel to men of mature age, for the temptations which assail men when the fires of youthful enthusiasm have died away, are often more perilous and more deadly in their effect than those which attack the young. (G. Hunsworth, M. A.)
The fatal result of disobedience
I. The success of the prophet.
1. His sudden disappearance. History is silent regarding his birth, education, and family; his very name is concealed--simply, The man of God, who came from Judah. Travellers tell us that the river Jordan, after springing out of the mountains of Anti-Lebanon, runs underground for miles, and then rushes forth suddenly, a strong, transparent current, and meanders towards the Dead Sea. Even so the early history of this prophet runs through the dark tunnel of silence, unseen by mortal eye; but at Bethel he rushes forth into public life with suddenness and force, and it is easier to imagine than describe the effect of his unexpected appearance both upon the king and populace. It was a moral ambuscade.
2. His stern honesty. When he arrived on the scene of action he did not shrink from his duties, but proclaimed his message as a man who felt the awfulness of his position.
3. His forgiving temper. Instead of taking advantage of the misfortune which befel the apostate king, the man of God prayed that his hand should be restored.
II. The transgression of the prophet. Under our changing western sky, we have often seen the sun shining brilliantly in the morning, and at noon its smiling face was veiled by dark clouds. So the morning of this mans life was successful and promising, but soon and suddenly the meridian splendour of his character became tarnished by the clouds of misfortune. The best of men have their faults.
1. His indecision of character. Indecision is great blemish in a mans character--a crack through which the steam of resolution escapes--and an impediment in his way to accomplish any heroic deed.
2. That temptation is strongest when it comes in the guise of friendship. This renegade prophet enticed him into the net by false pretensions. Are we not troubled by these false prophets in modern times? Yea, they are found in the pulpit and under it, and yet they will not leave religion alone, but persist in offering strange fire upon the altar of God, like the sons of Aaron, and will, like them, receive their reward.
III. The judicial death of the prophet. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. His death shows--
1. That disobedience is a great sin.
2. Once a man steps off the path of duty he is out of the path of safety. We hear people often complain of Providence, whereas their misfortunes arise from their own folly. All the trouble which comes from God to meet us, He gives strength according to the days to bear and to conquer them; but the troubles that arise from perverse temper and wilful caprice in us, we cannot make God responsible for them, and so we must carry or drag them ourselves. Duty is like the magic circle of the old magicians--all that was inside it was perfectly safe, but all that was outside the ring was liable to be destroyed. Duty likewise is a magic circle--whilst we are inside destruction is impossible.
3. God showed mercy in judgment. Though the lion was permitted to slay him, he was not allowed to feast upon the dead body. Natural historians say that the king of the forest will not attack anything except when hungry. In this case we are not positive whether he was hungry or not, but we are told this much, that the lion had not eaten the carcase nor torn the ass. Cruel animal! hitherto shalt thou come, and no further. The man of God had a burial; the prophet of Bethel performed the ceremony, and pretended to mourn, saying, Alas, my brother! Nations and families often profess to weep after those whom they had ill-treated in their lifetime. (W. A. Griffiths.)
The law of obedience
Because the dead leaf obeys nothing, it flutters down from its bough, giving but tardy recognition to the law of gravity; while our great earth, covered with cities and civilisation, is instantly responsive to gravitys law. Indeed, he who disobeys any law of Nature flings himself athwart her wheels, to be crushed to powder. And if disobedience is destruction, obedience is liberty. Obeying the law of steam, man has an engine. Obeying the law of speech, he has eloquence. Obeying the law of fire, he has warmth. Obeying the law of sound--thinking, he has leadership. Obeying the law of Christ, he has character. The stone obeys one law, gravity, and is without motion. The worm obeys two laws, and adds movement. The bird obeys three laws, and can fly as well as stand or walk. And as man increases the number of laws that he obeys, he increases in richness of nature, in wealth and strength and influence. Nature loves paradoxes, and this is her chiefest paradox--he who stoops to wear the yoke of law becomes the child of liberty, while he who will be free from God s law wears a ball and chain through all his years. Philosophy reached its highest fruition in Christs principle. Love is the fulfilment of the law. (N. D. Hillis, D. D.)
Disobedience in one point
Does it make any difference where the murderers knife touched me? Whether in the face, or on the arm, or over the heart? He may say that he only touched one part. Yes, but it was I whom he attacked; he only touched one part, but he was guilty of injuring the whole body, for it was the whole body that received the shock and felt the pain. Does it make any difference where Prussia strikes in her war on France? Whether at Strasburg, or Metz, or Fontainebleau, or Epernay? She might say, Oh, I have only taken one or two cities. Yes, but France is a unit, and her government is one body; so that wherever Germany strikes, whether a petty village, or a railroad, or a fort, or a city, she means to strike death to the heart of France. So is the law of God one body, containing the outspoken will and nature of the Lord. If you treat it with violence at any point you strike a blow at the whole government, the very throne itself of God. The law of God is a perfect sphere, and if you mar or disfigure it at all, you mar and disfigure it as a whole, and strike a blow at its whole symmetry and beauty. We all understand this unity of government. If a master makes rules for his pupils, and a pupil offends purposely against the least of them, he opposes his teacher. If my father has certain rules for my guidance, I need not break them all in order to array myself in opposition to him, for on the very least of them I may confront and oppose his authority; and in disobeying one rule of the house, I dispute my fathers just right to enforce the remainder. So with the law of God. Disobedience even in one point is the man in his entire nature against God in His entire nature. (F. F. Emerson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v11 1Ki_13:11. An old prophet in Bethel: who had been…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1Ki_13:11. An old prophet in Bethel: who had been faithless amid surrounding faithlessness. His alertness to win the prophet of Judah to his house arose from
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(1) his interest (professional) in a fellow-prophet’s mission—this feeling awoke immediately he heard of one of his own class being near.
(2) A sense of shame may have stirred in him that a prophet from a distance should have come to do what he himself, being near, should have long ago done.
(3) He may have desired to reinstate himself in the king’s confidence, and in public estimation, by uniting himself in this way with a distinguished and true prophet. There may have been no desire on his part to induce the prophet of Judah into sinning, but he himself prevaricated in order to succeed in his wish to gratify his curiosity or calm his self-rebuke by this act of courtesy.
1Ki_13:18. An angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord—Not “the Lord spake,” but an “angel,” or messenger, one of his sons; hiding the real facts, and conveying a false impression.
1Ki_13:20. The word of the Lord came, &c.—Making deceitful lips speak truth.
1Ki_13:21. And he cried—Rather, “it cried.” The man was but the passive agent; the Word of God used the man’s organs of utterance.
1Ki_13:31. Bury me in the sepulchre wherein, &c.—Deeply impressed now that he was a true prophet, and that it was an evil and a bitter thing to sin against the Lord. Possibly he had a superstitious hope that by burial with this true prophet he himself might be advantaged when the dead should be raised, or that his own bones would be allowed to rest undisturbed in company with a man of God.—W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_13:11-32
TEMPTATIONS TO DISOBEDIENCE
I. Assail us at the moment we are most clearly conscious of duty done. The mysterious prophet of Judah had, with great effort and at great peril, accomplished his important mission, and, in obedience to the positive directions he had received, was returning homeward by a different route, when a temptation came upon him from a most unexpected quarter. It is ever so. There is little space afforded for self-gratulation on the achievement of one difficult task ere we are confronted with another; and woe to him who is off his guard at that moment. It is not always in the midst of the storm that the mariner finds his greatest danger, but in the deceitful and uncertain calm when some sudden and unexpected gust may strike his vessel unprepared. It was only lately that the Eurydice, a noble British man-of-war, after successfully navigating the world, was approaching the shores of England with every stitch of canvas spread, when her sails were smitten with a terrific blast, and in a few moments she heeled over and sank to the bottom of the sea, with hundreds of brave seamen whose hearts were beating with joy in the near prospect of home! (1Co_10:12).
II. Are most dangerous when they come to us with a pretended religious sanction (1Ki_13:18). The prophet of Bethel was old (1Ki_13:11), and commanded the reverence that belongs to age. He was recognized as a prophet, and had so much regard for his sacred office as to be absent from the king’s idolatrous sacrifices, though he allowed his sons to be there (1Ki_13:11-12). His object might be to curry favour with the king by making the man of God contradict himself, and thus impair the moral weight and authority of the message that had been so faithfully delivered, and weaken its impression on the minds of the people. He gained his end by telling a lie—a lie that was aggravated by its boldness and profanity (1Ki_13:18). The prophet of Judah was too guileless to suspect the trap that was laid for him, though, being himself in direct communication with Jehovah, he ought not to have acted upon a contradiction of the command imparted to himself, or any other authority than that from which he had received it. He was beguiled; he turned back, and his doom was sealed. The most dangerous allurements of evil are presented when it robes itself in the external garb of goodness. When rack, and sword, and faggot fail to intimidate, a false show of piety will fatally deceive! Ah! how much need have we to cry—
Awake, my soul, when sin is nigh,
And keep it still awake.
III. Cannot be yielded to with impunity.
1. The disobedient are made conscious of their sin (1Ki_13:20-22). The two prophets were startled at their humble meal by hearing the voice of the Lord uttering unmistakable condemnation; and this time the false prophet was made the vehicle of a true message from heaven, which he understood, we may well suppose, with real concern, and delivered with reluctance. A conviction of wrong-doing always precedes punishment: the sinner will be made to understand what it is for which he suffers.
2. The disobedient are certainly punished (1Ki_13:23-24). The punishment may be strange, singular, and in a form utterly unexpected; but it will be certain. Here a lion was made the instrument of vengeance. It is said that lions like not to attack man unless driven to extremity for prey, and that an ass is choice food for a lion, while it is well known that a lion kills to eat. But in this case we see the natural instinct of the brute controlled by a superior power: the man is assailed and slain; his body and that of the ass remain unmolested. God is not restricted to any one method of punishing transgression: all the powers of the universe wait on His bidding.
3. The punishment of the disobedient is evident (1Ki_13:25). The scene was patent to every passer-by, and soon became the common talk of the city. Where the offence was committed, there its punishment was witnessed. Jehovah will vindicate His righteous government of the universe by the most public and terrible punishment of sin (2Co_5:10).
4. The punishment of the disobedient is not unlamented (1Ki_13:26-30). The awful transactions in which the prophet of Bethel was thus called to take a part could not but make a profound impression on his mind, and might be beneficial in promoting his spiritual reformation. He sorrowed over the unfortunate fate of his brother-prophet, and interred his body in his own tomb (1Ki_13:29-30). Do not think, O sinner! that your transgressions are unnoticed, or that you are the only one affected by them: they cannot be regarded with indifference by a Just and Beneficent God. And if you will persist in your disobedience, breaking through all restrictions, and spurning all help—if you will court ruin, and voluntarily surrender youself to the inevitable consequences of your sins—He who has done all He consistently can to recall you to obedience resolves you shall not perish unwept and unlamented; and as you drop into the abysmal depths of unutterable woe the voice of Infinite Pity shall exclaim in tones which, though not intended to do so, can only sharpen the stings of remorse: O! that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, &c. (Isa_48:18).
IV. Will not prevent the ultimate fulfilment of the Divine Word (1Ki_13:31-32). “The saying which he cried by the Word of the Lord shall surely come to pass.” Thus did the faithless prophet bear his testimony to the faithfulness of God. Jehovah is stronger than the Tempter, and will ere long expose his most plausible deceptions, baffle his wicked designs, and consign him to his own place.
LESSONS:—
1. False prophets are the most dangerous and fatal enemies of God’s people.
2. They who seek to seduce the soul from its allegiance to God’s Word, however specious their pretexts, are the emissaries of Satan.
3. We may be tempted to do evil by counterfeit appearances of piety, when we should not be driven to it by any fear of suffering.
This passage may also be homiletically treated as follows:—
AN UNFAITHFUL PROPHET
I. Is content to live in the midst of idolatry and moral corruption without lifting up a protesting voice (1Ki_13:11). The prophet of Bethel could not be ignorant of the innovations of the idolatrous king; and while it does not appear that he actually sanctioned them by his presence, he did not restrain his sons from worshipping at the unholy altar. He lacked the courage to protest against the wickedness of the king, though he might be often powerfully moved to do so. He resisted the impulse until it became feebler; and he sank down a voiceless witness to the insults that were daily offered to his God. “He seemed to be one of those mixed characters, true to history and human nature, which perpetually appear among the sacred persons of the Old Testament; moved by a partial wavering inspiration; aiming after good, yet failing to attain it; full of genuine tender admiration for the prophet of whose death he had been the unwilling cause, the mouthpiece of truths which he himself but faintly understood.” To disobey repeated calls to duty only confirms the soul in its unfaithfulness, and renders it content with evils against which it was wont to loudly and faithfully protest. There are times when silence becomes a sin.
II. Will descend to the most deceptive practices to tempt the faithful from their allegiance (1Ki_13:12-19). What the prophet of Judah did, showed the old prophet what he should have done. Filled with shame for his neglect, and wishful to restore himself in his own opinion and in the opinion of others who had perhaps accused him of unfaithfulness, he sought to have intercourse with so courageous a witness for God, and to gain prestige by having him under his own roof. The objects were thoroughly selfish, and to accomplish it he did not scruple to tell a lie (1Ki_13:18). The most abandoned crave for companion ship in their sins, and will resort to all kinds of methods to bring down others to their own level. It is impossible to say to what depths of iniquity one single act of unfaithfulness may lead (Luk_16:10).
III. Is compelled to own the solemn reality and authority of the Divine Word. A message came to the old prophet the source and meaning of which he could not mistake (1Ki_13:20-22). God may often speak through a wicked prophet. He did so through Balaam, uttering the sublimest oracles of blessing, though that sooth-sayer would fain have cursed Israel. The Bethel-prophet was also firmly convinced that the prophecy against the altar would certainly come true; and he therefore directed his sons to bury his corpse in the same grave as that of the Judah-prophet (1Ki_13:30-32). “The bones of the seducer and seduced being thus intermingled in the tomb, it so happened, as the former probably intended, that his bones escaped at the appointed time the defilement to which they would otherwise have been subjected. The tomb of the prophet that came out of Judah was then recognised, and for his sake the contents were spared from dishonour” (2Ki_23:17-18). The Word of God will vindicate itself, even in the lips of those who have sometimes ignored its authority.
IV. Involves his victims in fatal disaster (1Ki_13:23-26). We are ready to admit that the old prophet did not intend to bring upon his victim the result that really happened. He might have a vague impression that his disobedience would not escape some kind of punishment; but had he foreseen how awful and immediate that punishment would be, he would not have persisted in his plot. But that is ever the way with wrong-doing; it goes farther than it intended, and stands aghast at the ruin it has itself produced.
V. Need not be devoid of brotherly sympathy and respect, nor be beyond the reach of reformation (1Ki_13:28-30). The Bethel-prophet sincerely mourned over the sad fate of his brother prophet, and, with the most genuine respect, reverently interred his body in his own grave. The heart that was thus touched with fraternal pity was perhaps also smitten with grief on account of sin. He repented his unfaithfulness in the past; and he showed his desire to henceforth imitate the spirit and example of the dead prophet, by giving particular directions that his body should be laid in the same grave. As if he said:—“If I can have no more fellowship with my brother in life, I will at least be united to him in death; our common grave, to which I shall soon go down in sorrow, shall be a lasting testimony against the sin of Jeroboam.”
LESSONS:—
1. It is a great honour and a great responsibility to be a prophet of the Lord.
2. An unfaithful prophet has a great power for evil.
3. The unfaithfulness of the messenger does not invalidate the Divine authority of the message.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_13:11-32. The history of these two prophets offers an important view of the relation of this class to the new order of things: in the prophet out of Judah we see a man of God full of life and strength, but who yet proved unstable in these disturbed times; in the old Israelite we look upon one in whom the fire is almost quenched, it only glimmers faintly—a type of the expiring high and manly strength of Israel; he is still upheld by faith in God’s Word rather than by self-reliance. They both yet speak and testify in death. The fall and death of the man of Judah set forth two great truths.
1. He who thinketh he standeth, let him take heed (1Co_10:12). He had conducted himself grandly and nobly, and victoriously withstood a severe temptation, yet he yielded to a lesser one. The higher a man stands the deeper is his fall, and to whom much is given from him will much be required (1Co_16:13; 1Co_10:13). Only those who are true unto death can obtain the crown of life.
2. How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out (Rom_11:33). He who is holy in all His ways, knows how to establish firmly that which is threatened with destruction and annihilation by human treachery and deceit. The death and the grave of the man of God announce, in louder and more threatening accents than did his lips, the altar is rent.—Von Gerlach.
1Ki_13:11-19. I do not know any passage more useful than this for disabusing us of a prejudice which the mere word prophet is liable to create in our minds. “If the man was inspired,” we say to ourselves, “inspired by God, we must be sure he would do the right thing, and say the right thing. It would destroy all our security if we thought otherwise.” No, brethren; it would destroy no security at all which the Bible designs to give us. On the contrary, we shall lose a great security, we shall fall into a great danger, if we do not strictly adhere to the teaching of the Bible on this subject, but set up certain canons of our own. The first obvious lesson which this passage teaches us is, that a prophet, a true prophet, a prophet of God, might be grossly deceived. The second is, that he must be deceived if he yielded to any pretences of inspiration on the part of any man, though that man were called a prophet, and were a prophet, when what he said went against a sure witness and conviction as to his own duty. The third is, that a prophet, not habitually a deceiver, might on a certain occasion wilfully deceive—in the plain language of Holy Writ, might lie. All these statements we accept on the authority of Scripture. And if we accept them, we may derive the very greatest profit from them. We are often apt to suppose that a prophet or inspired man is one who is raised above laws and government, who can lay down laws for himself, whose internal power is itself the rule for others and for his own conduct. The Scripture teaches us quite a different lesson. The characteristic quality of the prophet, when he is true, is obedience. He is nothing in himself. He is merely a servant. In the acknowledgment of his service, of the power which is upon him, his strength consists. But it is no mere impulse to which he yields himself. He is liable to all the same chances and foolish impulses as other people. He is particularly liable to confound these impulses with God’s teaching and commands. He is, therefore, to be more suspicious of himself, more watchful against this confusion, than other men. If he once forgets the Invisible Ruler and Lawgiver, no one will commit such flagrant errors, such falsehood, such blasphemy.—Maurice.
1Ki_13:11-15. The old prophet, when he hears of the man of God, hastens upon his way, and spares neither care nor pains to see him and bring him to his house. How much time, pains, and money are expended by the children of this world to see and hear what will gratify their senses, whilst they stir neither hand nor foot to acquire that which pertains to their peace and salvation!
1Ki_13:11. Doubtless he was a prophet of God, but corrupt, resty, vicious. Prophecy doth not always presuppose sanctification: many a one hath had visions from God, who shall never enjoy the vision of God. A little holiness is worth much illumination.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_13:14. The danger of delay.
1. Gives an opportunity to be overtaken by the tempter.
2. The difficulties of our mission seem to multiply.
3. Often involves suffering and disaster.
1Ki_13:16-19. So in indifferent ordinary matters, which God has either ordered or forbidden, we must observe unerring obedience. Whatever obtains success and position by means of deceit cannot be followed by blessing, but rather by a curse. The Scripture is not silent concerning the sins of the man of God; and this, not that we may excuse our sins by his, but that we may guard ourselves from haughtiness and spiritual pride.
1Ki_13:18. There is no temptation so dangerous as that which comes shrouded under a vail of holiness, and pretends authority from God Himself. Jeroboam threatens, the prophet stands undaunted: Jeroboam fawns and promises, the prophet holds constant. Now comes a grey-headed seer, and pleads a counter message from God; the prophet yields and transgresses. Satan may affright us as a fiend, but he seduces us as an angel of light. Who would have looked for a liar under hoary hairs and a holy mantle?—Bp. Hall.
—Falsehood.
1. Is always inexcusable.
2. Aggravated when in the garb of sanctity.
3. Never fails to produce mischief.
4. An evidence of moral degradation.
—The door of his heart seems to have been standing ajar, almost half opened already, to the invitations of the old man. Otherwise, surely he would have said: “Thou a prophet! How is it, then, that thou dwellest at Bethel, the house of Jeroboam’s corrupt worship? If thou hadst been indeed a prophet of the Lord, thou wouldst have denounced that worship, and I should not have been sent from Judah to lift up my voice against it.”—Wordsworth.
1Ki_13:20-22. The same sentence which the old prophet pronounced upon the man of God he pronounced upon himself, while he had led and betrayed him to disobedience. How often does the judgment which we utter for others fall upon ourselves, when we have sinned equally, or in greater measure (Rom_2:1).—Lange.
—O woful prophet! when he looks on his host, he sees his executioner; while he is feeding his body, he hears of his carcase; at the table he hears of his denied sepulchre; and all this for eating and drinking where he was forbidden by God, though bidden as from God. The violation of the least charge of God is mortal; no pretences can warrant the transgression of a Divine command.—Bp. Hall.
—Punishment.
1. Results from disobedience.
2. Is not inflicted without due warning.
3. Is certain.
4. In the hands of God, is never unjust.
1Ki_13:21. It has been asked, how did the prophet from Judah sin? or, at any rate, how did he sin so grievously as to deserve the punishment of death? Was he not justified in believing that God might revoke His command? Would it not have been wrong in him to suspect the old prophet of telling a lie? To such enquiries it may be replied: With God is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He cannot revoke a command until the circumstances under which the command was given are materially changed. The circumstances here were not changed. Again, if God gives a command and revokes it, He will revoke it as plainly and with as much evidence as He gave it. Here there was neither the same plainness, nor as strong evidence. The evidence to the man of God was in the one case the mere word of a man, and of a man who, by his lingering at Bethel, yet not rebuking Jeroboam, was clearly not a very good man; while in the other case the evidence had been the direct word of God. It was not the duty of the man of God to disbelieve the old prophet; but it was his duty not to have suffered himself to be persuaded. He should have felt that his obedience was being tried, and should have required, ere he considered himself released, the same, or as strong evidence as that on which he had received the obligation. With respect to the question whether the sin was such a heinous one as to deserve death, we may answer—first, that the sin, disobedience to certain positive commands of God, was one which it was at this time very important to punish signally, since it was exactly the sin of Jeroboam and his adherents; and secondly, that temporal death is not among God’s heaviest punishments, that it comes on men both naturally and miraculously for light offences, and that in such cases we may regard it as sent in lieu of future punishment, and therefore as in some sort a mercy. We are not to suppose that the man of Judah perished eternally because he perished temporally.—Speaker’s Comm.
1Ki_13:23-31. A stern punishment, it will be said, for such a crime. An actual punishment, certainly—one which asserted the fact that a prophet will not be more, but less, excused for his transgressions than another man. What was the magnitude of the punishment, we are no judges. A man who has been witness of a great national sin, and has foretold a great national calamity, who has found out the falsehood of a friend and a prophet, and who is conscious of having done wrong himself, may not think the sentence a very hard one which calls him out of a confused world; or more hard because it comes in a form which assures him that there is an eternal order which will vindicate itself in spite of his errors and those of all other men. A man of God who had learnt to trust God, could trust Him when He was slaying him, and see that there was a deep and awful righteousness and wisdom in the way in which the creatures of God going forth to seek their meat from Him may, without the least departure from the ordinary law of their kind, be made the instruments of punishing man’s transgressions. The prophet who betrayed him, and then had the heavy punishment of being forced to proclaim the wrong which he himself instigated, is surely the greater object of compassion, especially if, as the narrative half leads us to suspect, his conscience was blunted, and he was able to understand Jeroboam’s sin without any keen sense of his own. A man with a clear apprehension of the evil doings of rulers, and admiration for those who protest against them with a prophetical power of uttering the truth, yet with no love of truth or resolute abhorrence of falsehood, is a very painful but a very instructive spectacle. Everyone must be conscious of something akin to such a state of mind—some possibility of it, at all events, in himself. He should think of that with trembling and with the prayer—“See if there be any wicked way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting.” There is something very pathetic in the homage to a truer and better man, which is expressed in the words—“Lay my bones beside his bones.” The lion slew him for returning with me to eat bread and drink water; yet I should have been glad to die his death; for I feel that he was right within, and, therefore, that there is a sacredness in his carcase which I would wish mine to share! Maurice.
1Ki_13:23-25. The judgments of God often fall suddenly and unexpectedly, thus proving that though long delayed, they are sure to come, even as this, after the lapse of three hundred years, was the punishment threatened for the golden calf-worship.
1Ki_13:23-24. The last dread journey.
1. Was entered on with the oppressive consciousness that it must lead to death.
2. Was occupied with tormenting apprehensions as to what might be the particular form of death.
3. Was suddenly terminated by the appointed agent of retribution.
4. How many sad, painful journeys there are in the course of human life!
5. Who can tell the issue of a single journey?
1Ki_13:23. This old Bethelite that had taken pains to come and fetch the man of God into sin, will not now go back with him to accompany his departure. Doubtless he was afraid to be enwrapped in the judgment which he saw hanged over that obnoxious head. Thus the mischievous guides of wickedness leave a man when they have led him to his bane, as familiar devils forsake their witches when they have brought them once into fetters.
1Ki_13:24. The very wild beasts are led by a providence; their wise and powerful Creator knows how to serve himself of them. The lions guard one prophet, kill another, according to the commission received from their Maker. What sinner can hope to escape unpunished when every creature of God is ready to be an avenger of evil? Where a holy man buys so dearly such a slight frailty, what shall become of our heinous and presumptuous sins? Violent events do not always argue the anger of God; even death itself is to His servants a fatherly castigation.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_13:25-29. The chastisement with which God visits our fellow-men for their sins is both a warning to reflect upon our sins and deserts, and a call to work active deeds of love with all our might, in life and in death.
—The fierce beast stands by the carcase, as to avow his own act and to tell who sent him, so to preserve that body which he had slain. O wonderful work of God! The executioner is turned guardian; and as the officer of the Highest, commands all other creatures to stand aloof from his charge, and command the fearful ass that brought this burden thither not to stir thence, but to stand ready pressed to carry it to the sepulchre; and now, when he hath sufficiently witnessed to all passengers that this act was not done upon his own hunger, but upon the quarrel of his Maker, he delivers up his charge to that old prophet who was no less guilty of this blood than himself.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_13:28. These strange circumstances at once showed the miraculous nature of the death, and were of a nature to call men’s attention to the matter, and cause the whole story to be bruited abroad. By these means an incident which Jeroboam would have wished to be hushed up, became, no doubt, the common talk of the whole people.
1Ki_13:30-31. We often for the first time, at the grave of a friend, recognise what we possessed in him, and how we have sinned against him. One look into the open grave of one dear to us in life is adapted beyond anything to remind us of our own end. It is a very natural thing to rest in death near those who were closely bound to us in life by ties of blood or strong affection; but yet stronger should be the wish to die in the Lord, and enter into eternal glory. Then, whatever in the providence of God we may find our grave, there shall we rest in peace, for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof (Psa_24:1).—Lange.
1Ki_13:30. Grief. I. One of the fruits of sin. II. Is never out of place at the grave. III. Is intensified when at the grave of one whose death we have accelerated. IV. May lead to a blessed reformation of life.
—It is hard to find a man absolutely wicked: some grace will betray itself in the most forsaken breasts. It is a cruel courtsey to kill a man, and then to help him to his grave; to betray a man with our breath, and then bedew him with our tears. The prophet had needed no such friend, if he had not met with such an enemy.
1Ki_13:32. The infallibility of the Divine Word. I. Is not affected by time or the opposition of men. II. Is sustained by the testimony of competent witnesses. III. Is a powerful reason for placing implicit faith in it. IV. Constitutes it an unerring standard of judgment.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v18 and an An impressive illustration of Gal 1:8; Gal…
and an An impressive illustration of Gal 1:8; Gal 1:9.
angel (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 The Prophet Punished for his Disobedience
The Prophet Punished for his Disobedience
v. 11. Now, there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel, a member of the great brotherhood of prophets found in Israel since the time of Samuel, who had, however, joined the forces of Jeroboam; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, one son after the other coming forward to give his account; the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
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v. 12. And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen, and taken note of, what way the man of God went which came from Judah.
v. 13. And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass, evidently the only one which he possessed. So they saddled him the ass; and he rode thereon,
v. 14. and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak, under the terebinth which was afterward connected with the happening here related. And he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. It mas a very unfortunate delay which permitted the prophet of Bethel to come up with him.
v. 15. Then he said unto him, Come home with me and eat bread, enjoy the hospitality and the fellowship of the old prophet.
v. 16. 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;
v. 17. 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. The manner in which he at first withstood the temptation was most praiseworthy.
v. 18. He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art, and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, by His express command, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him, just as many a false prophet in our days deceives men by his glib falsehoods, especially by referring to special divine Revelation s and visions which he claims to have had.
v. 19. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house and drank water. He gave way to the deceiver without investigating his claims thoroughly.
v. 20. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, while the meal was still in progress, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back, this time in a true Revelation
v. 21. 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,
v. 22. 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 carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers; it was considered a great misfortune at that time to be buried among strangers.
v. 23. 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, the loan of the beast being intended, as it seems, to atone for the falsehood by which he had effected the return of the Judean prophet.
v. 24. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him. And his carcass was cast in the way, thrown down from the beast which he had been riding, and the ass stood by it; the lion also stood by the carcass, an indication that this was an extraordinary occurrence.
v. 25. And, behold, men passed by and saw the carcass cast in the way and the lion standing by the carcass; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
v. 26. 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, literally, "crushed him," for this is done with one stroke of the powerful paws, and slain him according to the word of the Lord which He spake unto him.
v. 27. And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass, the one obtained in place of that taken by the man of God. And they saddled him.
v. 28. And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass. The lion had not eaten the carcass nor torn the ass, had not so much as fetched one blow at him, a most unusual thing and one which proved it to be a miracle.
v. 29. And the prophet took up the carcass 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.
v. 30. And he laid his carcass in his own grave, in the sepulcher reserved for his own family, treating the dead man like a near and dear relative, And they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! This was the usual form of lamentation in the case of a very close friend or relative.
v. 31. 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 sepulcher wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones;
v. 32. 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, the altars and buildings used for idol worship, shall surely come to pass. Because the dead man had been a true prophet, therefore the old man wanted to have the honor of resting next to him in death.
v. 33. After this thing, this happening, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, he was not repentant, but made again of the lowest of the people, from the mass, from all classes, priests of the high places, whosoever would, every one who had an inclination that way, he consecrated him, literally, "he filled his hand," inducted him into office by placing into his hands those pieces of the sacrifice which belonged to Jehovah; and he became one of the priests of the high places.
v. 34. And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, it was charged against him, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. His guilt brought upon him and upon his entire family the punishment of Jehovah, the final result being the extermination of his house. That is the way of the disobedient, of the unbelievers, who disregard the warnings and the punishments of Jehovah and persist in their evil ways
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 14, 18, 20, 23, 26, 29, 31 his sons had seen the way
his sons had seen the way
The implied information is that the sons also told their father which way the man of God went. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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Saddle
This means to place a seat on the back of an animal so a person can ride on it.
translationWords
prophet
word
king
ancestor
Judah
donkey
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 20, 23, 30, 32 13:11-19 Whatever the old prophet’s motives were for seeking…
13:11-19 Whatever the old prophet’s motives were for seeking out the man of God, he clearly lied about receiving God’s message through an angel. The man of God knew that what the old prophet asked was contrary to the Lord’s instructions (13:8-10, 16-17; cp. Gal 1:8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.