1 Kings 13:7

_AND THE KING SAID UNTO THE MAN OF GOD, COME HOME WITH ME, AND REFRESH THYSELF, AND I WILL GIVE THEE A REWARD._ The king said ... Come home with me, and refresh thyself. Jeroboam was artful, invited the prophet to the royal table, not to do him honour, or show his gratitude for the restoration of his hand, but to win, by his courtesy and liberal hospitality, a person whom he could not crush by his power. But the prophet informed him of a divine injunction, expressly prohibiting him from all social contact with any in the place, as well as from returning the same way. The prohibition not to eat or drink in Beth-el was because all the people had become apostates from the true religion; and had he done so, he could not have prophesied against the place, after having eaten with the people, without violating all the existing laws of hospitality (see the notes at Joshua 9:14). The r

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 13:7. _COME HOME WITH ME - AND I WILL GIVE THEE A REWARD._] Come and be one of my priests, and I will give thee a proper salary....

I WILL GIVE THEE A REWARD - It was customary to honor a prophet with a gift, if he performed any service that was requested at his hands (see the marginal references)....

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 SAID UNTO THE MAN OF GOD, COME HOME WITH ME, AND REFRESH THYSELF,.... By eating a meal with him, after such a journey he had taken, and delivered his prophecies, and put up his prayers for the king: AND I WILL GIVE THEE A REWARD; for his prayers, by means of which his hand was restored to him; but takes no notice of the Lord, the author of this miraculous cure, nor expresses the least degree of thankfulness and gratitude to him....

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

_Come home with me_ The subsequent narrative shews that there was no alteration in Jeroboam's feelings or intentions in consequence of what had occurred. He still went on in his evil way. But he would fain have the man of God continue in his company a while, that his people might not be terrified by what had happened and decide to break off from the calf-worship and go up to Jerusalem to the Temple again....

THE KING SAID—COME HOME WITH ME, &C.— The reason is obvious, why this prophet was forbidden to eat and drink with the people of Beth-el; because he was to have no familiarity with idolaters. But why he should not _return by the same way that he came_ is not so evident. Probably God enjoined his prophet not to return by the same way, lest Jeroboam, or any other of the inhabitants of Beth-el, either to satisfy their curiosity upon an occasion so uncommon, or to do him some mischief for his severe denunciations against their altar and way of worship, might send men after him to bring him back. See Calmet and Le Clerc. REFLECTIONS.—Jeroboam, (who himself ministered as a priest,) in the height of his impious offering, seemed to glory in his shame; his courtiers around him joined his idolatrous service, and none dared remonstrate against the horrid crime: but God will not suffer these doings...