1 Kings 13:31

_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 SEPULCHRE WHEREIN THE MAN OF GOD IS BURIED; LAY MY BONES BESIDE HIS BONES:_ Bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried. His motive in making this request was either that his remains might not be disturbed when the predicted events took place (see the notes at 2 Kings 23:18), or he had some superstitious hope of being benefited at the resurrection by being in the same grave with a man of God....

23-34 God is displeased at the sins of his own people; and no man shall be protected in disobedience, by his office, his nearness to God, or any services he has done for him. God warns all whom he employs, strictly to observe their orders. We cannot judge of men by their sufferings, nor of sins by present punishments; with some, the flesh is destroyed, that the spirit may be saved; with others, the flesh is pampered, that the soul may ripen for hell. Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. He promised himself that the calves would secure the crown to his family, but they lost it, and sunk his family. Those betray themselves who think to support themselves by any sin whatever. Let us dread prospering in sinful ways; pray to be kept from every delusion and temptation, and to be enabled to walk with self-denying perseverance in the way of God's commands....

Verse 1 Kings 13:31. _LAY MY BONES BESIDE HIS BONES_] This argues a strong conviction in the mind of the old prophet, that the deceased was a good and holy man of God; and he is willing to have place with him in the general resurrection....

EXPOSITION 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 recalle

AND IT CAME TO PASS, AFTER HE HAD BURIED HIM, THAT HE SPOKE TO HIS SONS, SAYING,.... He gave them the following charge: WHEN I AM DEAD, THEN BURY ME IN THE SEPULCHRE WHEREIN THE MAN OF GOD IS BURIED; as it was his own, it might be reasonably thought they would bury him in it without such a charge; but, lest they should not, he gives it: LAY MY BONES BESIDE HIS BONES; his view in this was, that when Josiah came to burn the bones of the priests, he would spare the bones of this man of God; and so his, lying by them, and mingled with them, would be spared also, and so it proved, 2 Kings 23:18....

2. JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM AND THEIR REIGN CHAPTER 13 The Man of God from Judah _ 1. The man of God and Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:1)_ 2. The temptation and lying message (1 Kings 13:11) 3. Judgment announced (1 Kings 13:20) 4. The fate of the man of Judah (1 Kings 13:23) 5. Jeroboam's impenitence (1 Kings 13:33) A dramatic scene opens this chapter. The idolatrous King is engaged in his religious ceremony when an unnamed man of God interrupted him. He did not rebuke Jeroboam, but addressed

1 Kings 12:25 to 1 Kings 13:34. THE SIN OF JEROBOAM. THE PROPHET AT BETHEL. The sources cannot be exactly determined. Some (see Cent.B) may belong to the annals of the northern kingdom, but the tone is decidedly Deuteronomic. The prophet's message to Jeroboam is certainly late. Jeroboam's first act as recorded was to build or fortify Shechem (1 Kings 12:25). Then for some reason he transferred his seat of government to the E. of Jordan to Penuel. Possibly he was hard pressed by his former patron Shishak, who invaded Israel in his reign (1 Kings 14:25). There is no proof of this; but Abner after Saul's death set up Ishbosh

LAY MY BONES: i.e. lay them not with the bones of those referred to in 1 Kings 13:2. Compare 2 Kings 23:18....

_lay my bones beside his bones_ Here the LXX. adds -in order that my bones may be preserved along with his bones." And Josephus expands this idea thus: "for he would not be outraged after his death if he were buried along with him, for the bones would not be recognized." After which he adds to the story: "And having buried the prophet and given this charge to his sons, being wicked and impious he goes to Jeroboam and says: -Why wast thou troubled by the words of that foolish man?" And when the king related what had happened to the altar and to his own hand, calling the man a truly divine and excellent prophet, he began to efface this opinion of him by calumnious words and by using misleading language about the things which had occurred, to weaken their real import. For he tried to persuade him that his hand had become numb through fatigue in lifting the victims, and that when relieved it...

D. THE LAMENTATION FOR THE MAN OF GOD 13:27-32 TRANSLATION (27) Then he spoke unto his sons, saying, saddle for me the donkey, and they saddled it. (28) And he went and found his carcass cast in the way with the donkey and the lion standing beside the carcass; the lion had not eaten the carcass nor torn the donkey. (29) And the prophet lifted up the carcass of the man of God and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back and came unto the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury it. (30) And he laid the carcass in his own grave, and he lamented over him, Alas my brother! (31) And it came to pass after he buried him, that he said unto his sons, saying, When I die bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; cause my bones to rest beside his bones. (32) For the word which he cried in the word of the LORD against the altar which was in Bethel, and against all the houses of the...