1 Kings 13:6

_AND HE GAVE A SIGN THE SAME DAY, SAYING, THIS IS THE SIGN WHICH THE LORD HATH SPOKEN; BEHOLD, THE ALTAR SHALL BE RENT, AND THE ASHES THAT ARE UPON IT SHALL BE POURED OUT._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-10 In threatening the altar, the prophet threatens the founder and worshippers. Idolatrous worship will not continue, but the word of the Lord will endure for ever. The prediction plainly declared that the family of David would continue, and support true religion, when the ten tribes would not be able to resist them. If God, in justice, harden the hearts of sinners, so that the hand they have stretched out in sin they cannot pull in again by repentance, that is a spiritual judgment, represented by this, and much more dreadful. Jeroboam looked for help, not from his calves, but from God only, from his power, and his favour. The time may come when those that hate the preaching, would be glad of the prayers of faithful ministers. Jeroboam does not desire the prophet to pray that his sin might be pardoned, and his heart changed, but only that his hand might be restored. He seemed affected...

Verse 1 Kings 13:6. _ENTREAT - THE FACE OF THE LORD THY GOD_] The _face_ of God is his _favour_, as we see in many parts of the sacred writings. He says, _thy God_; for Jeroboam knew that he was not _his God_, for he was now in the very act of acknowledging other gods, and had no portion in the God of Jacob. _AND THE KING'S HAND WAS RESTORED_] Both miracles were wrought to show the truth of the Jewish religion, and to convince this bold innovator of his wickedness, and to reclaim him from the folly and ruinous tendency of his idolatry....

EXPOSITION THE TESTIMONY OF GOD AGAINST THE CALF WORSHIP.—We have in this chapter, which some commentators consider to be derived from a different source from the narratives which precede and follow it—the expression of 1 Kings 13:32, "the cities of Samaria," according to them, proving it to be of a later date, while the style and colouring of the story suggest that it embodies a tradition current in the time of the compiler—an account of certain circumstances of profound significance which marked the inauguration of Jeroboam's first great feast—for the close connexion with 1 Kings 12:1. shows that it is "the fifteenth day of the eighth month" that is he

AND THE KING ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THE MAN OF GOD,.... In another tone than when he bid the people lay hold on him; not in a haughty, but humble manner; not as threatening, but supplicating: ENTREAT NOW THE FACE OF THE LORD THY GOD; he does not say "my God", for he had apostatized from him, and served other gods, but "thy" God, whose prophet he was, and who had an interest in him, as clearly appeared by what he had said and done by him; AND PRAY FOR ME, THAT MY HAND MAY BE RESTORED ME AGAIN; not that the anger of God might be turned away from him, and he enjoy the divine favour, and have an application of pardoning grace made to him, only to have this outward mercy, this temporal favour restored to him, the use of his hand: AND THE MAN OF GOD BESOUGHT THE LORD; not rendering evil for evil; but being of a forgiving spirit, though the king had stretched out his hand against him, he lif...

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

THY GOD. He dare not say "my God"....

_Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God_ Here the R.V. has adopted the rendering of the phrase by A.V. in Psalms 119:58; Proverbs 19:6 "Intreat now the FAVOUR, &c." The idea of the original word is that of soothing, so as to relax the frowns and anger of any one, and hence to gain favour instead of displeasure. We are not to conclude because Jeroboam says -the Lord thy God" that he himself had ceased to acknowledge Jehovah. But in the present circumstances God was evidently more favourable to the prophet than to the king and this Jeroboam intends to express. _and pray for me_ These words are omitted in the LXX. (_Vat._). _besought the Lord_ The expression is exactly the same in the Hebrew as in the former part of the verse. So the R.V. has here - INTREATED th

AND HIS HAND—DRIED UP, &C.— The Almighty employs here three striking proofs to convince a deluded people that HE is the true God, and not those _calves_ which an idolatrous king had set up from a principle of false policy. We see the seducer punished in the first miracle, cursed in the second, and his altar rent in the third. The king was in a good state of health; the circulation of his blood was regular; the nervous fluids proper for sensation and motion visited every organ of his body; his fibres were in just tension. In this state, attempting to point out the prophet, he stretched forth the hand with which he offered incense. And instantly, _his hand which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back._ It does not seem as if this drying up should be understood of the arm's really becoming dry; as if all the vital fluids had ceased to flow thither, and it grew...