1 Kings 13:9

_AND THE MAN OF GOD SAID UNTO THE KING, IF THOU WILT GIVE ME HALF THINE HOUSE, I WILL NOT GO IN WITH THEE, NEITHER WILL I EAT BREAD NOR DRINK WATER IN THIS PLACE:_ 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 13:9. _FOR SO IT WAS CHARGED ME - EAT NO BREAD, C._] That is, Have no kind of communication with those idolaters. He was charged also not to return by the way that he came probably lest the account of what was done should have reached the ears of any of the people through whom he _had passed_, and he suffer inconveniences on the account, either by persecution from the idolaters, or from curious people delaying him, in order to cause him to give an account of the transactions which took place at Beth-el. This is a reason why he should not return by the same way; but what _the_ reason of this part of the charge was, if not the above, is not easy to see....

EAT NO BREAD, NOR DRINK WATER - The reason of the command is evident. The man of God was not to accept the hospitality of any dweller at Bethel, in order to show in a marked way, which men generally could appreciate, God’s abhorrence of the system which Jeroboam had “devised of his own heart.” NOR TURN AGAIN BY THE SAME WAY THAT THOU CAMEST - This command seems to have been given simply to test the obedience of the prophet by laying him under a positive as well as a moral obligation....

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

FOR SO IT WAS CHARGED ME BY THE WORD OF THE LORD,.... The command of the Lord, by which he came to Bethel, and cried against the altar there, 1 Kings 13:1 SAYING, EAT NO BREAD, NOR DRINK WATER, NOR TURN AGAIN BY THE SAME WAY THAT THOU CAMEST: signifying that no communion was to be had with idolaters, nor any example to be set and followed; but the way to them, and to their idolatry, was to be shunned and avoided....

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

_nor turn again by the_same _way_ There is nothing in the original for -same". Therefore the R.V. is more close to the text, in giving NEITHER RETURN BY THE WAY as in the following verse in A. V. The injunction to go back by another way was given lest after what happened in Bethel those who had seen him coming might try to detain him and he be thus tempted to lessen the effect of his mission. The refusal to eat and the hurried departure were to shew how the Lord was grieved at the national sin....

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...