_A.M. 3029. B.C. 975._ A prophet threatens Jeroboam's altar, and gives a sign, which immediately comes to pass, 1 Kings 13:1. He restores Jeroboam's withered hand, and leaves Beth-el, 1 Kings 13:6. The old prophet deceives and entertains him, 1 Kings 13:11. He is threatened with death, 1 Kings 13:2... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, there came a man of God_ A holy prophet; for none are called _men of God_ in the Old Testament, but prophets. _By the word of the Lord_ By divine inspiration and command. “There is no foundation for so much as conjecture who this prophet was. His prophecy, however, is one of the most remark... [ Continue Reading ]
_He cried against the altar_ And consequently against all the worship performed at it. _O altar, altar_ He directs his speech against the altar, because the following signs were to be wrought upon it. _Behold, a child shall be born_, &c. This prophecy is the more wonderful, because it foretels of wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_He gave a sign the same day_ That is, he then wrought a miracle to assure them of the truth of his prophecy. _Saying, this is the sign,_ &c. A proof that I speak from God, and not from myself. _The altar shall be rent_, &c. This could not be effected but by the power of God, who hereby demonstrated... [ Continue Reading ]
_He put forth his hand_ To point out the man on whom he would have the people to lay hands. _From the altar_ Where he stood, and where his hand was employed in offering something upon it. _And his hand dried up_ Or withered, the muscles and sinews, the instruments of motion, shrinking up or becoming... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king said, Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God_ Of him who hath manifested himself to be thy God and friend in a singular manner; and therefore will hear thy prayers for me, though he will not regard mine, because I have forsaken him and his worship. _The man of God besought the Lord_ This... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will give thee a reward_ He desires to requite the instrument, but takes no notice of God, the chief cause and author of this wonderful mercy. _The man of God said, I will not go in with thee_, &c. In obedience to God, he refuses to eat, or drink, or have any familiar society with him, against wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_There dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el_ One to whom and by whom God did sometimes reveal his will, as is manifest from 1 Kings 13:20; 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, becau... [ Continue Reading ]
_And found him sitting under an oak_ Being faint and weary with his journey, and possibly with the heat also, (which made him choose to rest in this shady place,) and especially with hunger and thirst, 1 Kings 13:9. And the old prophet might easily guess that this was the prophet from Judah, by his... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he lied unto him_ And yet, probably, not with any evil design, but out of curiosity, to know from his own mouth the truth and all the particulars of the message which he had just delivered to Jeroboam; and to express his kindness to him, and relieve his hunger and weariness, whereby, possibly,... [ Continue Reading ]
_So he went back with him_ Too readily hearkening to his words, and not considering that what God himself had expressly commanded, nothing but the express command of the same God could set aside: otherwise the commands of God might be made of none effect by any one who should feign to have a divine... [ Continue Reading ]
_The word of the Lord came_, &c. God obliged the prophet, who had caused him to sin, to denounce a punishment against him for it, that it might the more affect him; nothing being more piercing than to be reflected on by those who have caused us to err. _And he cried unto the man of God_ With a loud... [ Continue Reading ]
_He saddled for him the ass_ But it is observable, he does not accompany him: his guilty conscience making him fear to be involved in the same judgment with him. _A lion met him by the way, and slew him _ There was a wood not far from Bethel, out of which the two she-bears came, mentioned 2 Kings 2:... [ Continue Reading ]
_They came and told it in the city_ As a wonderful thing that the lion should neither fall upon his prey, nor hurt them who passed by, but suffer them to go on quietly, _Who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord_ Which was the true reason why he was so severely punished, in order that other prop... [ Continue Reading ]
_He found_, &c. Here was a concurrence of miracles: that the ass did not run away from the lion, according to his nature, but boldly stood still, as waiting to carry the prophet to his burial; that the lion did not devour his prey, nor tear the ass, nor meddle with the travellers that passed by, nor... [ Continue Reading ]
_The prophet_, (namely, the _old prophet,_) _took up the carcass of the man of God_ “If there were any truth,” says Henry, “in the vulgar opinion, sure the corpse bled afresh when he touched it; for he was, in effect, the murderer.” _He laid his carcass in his own grave_ A poor reparation this of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I am dead_, &c. Though he was a lying prophet, yet he desired to die the death of a true prophet. Gather not my soul with the sinners of Beth-el, but with this man of God: because, _what he cried against the altar of Beth-el shall surely come to pass_ Which he might easily conclude, both from... [ Continue Reading ]
_After this_ That is, after all these things; the singular number being put for the plural; after so many evident and successive miracles; _Jeroboam returned not from his evil ways_ He was not at all changed in his principles or practice, but continued in his idolatry. _Made again of the lowest of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam_ An occasion of sin, and a mean of hardening all his posterity in their idolatry; or, rather, _it became a punishment_, as the word sin often signifies. This his obstinate continuance in his idolatry, after such warnings, brought dreadful punishments u... [ Continue Reading ]