He put forth his hand. 1 Kings 13:4-6 The prophecy against Jeroboam and its attendant circumstances Outline from Sermons by a London Minister. I. ALL HUMAN POWER AND SKILL ENGAGED AGAINST GOD WILL WITHER. The hand of man is the bodily mark of his superiority to the animal creation; it represents his power and skill. It is the bread winner of the body. By its skilful use he imitates the works of God in nature, and by its means he sends down his thoughts to posterity. Jeroboam's outstretched hand was the type of all human opposition to God's rule, especially the opposition of the rulers of the world. Its withering was the exposition of "No weapon formed against thee shall prosper" ( Isaiah 54:17 ); "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh" ( Psalm 2:4 , etc.) II. PHYSICAL BLESSING IS OF MORE IMPORTANCE TO THE UNGODLY MAN THAN MORALITY OF CHARACTER. Christ's teaching is, "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off " ( Matthew 18:8 ), count no earthly loss worthy of a thought compared with an injury to the spiritual life. ( Outline from Sermons by a London Minister. ) Hospitality refused A. Whyte, D. D. As the man of God from Judah so nobly refuses Jeroboam's royal hospitality, I am reminded of Lord Napier. On one occasion his lordship was sent down to Scotland by the Queen on a royal errand of review and arbitration between a great duke and his poor crofters. The duke, the administration of whose estate was to be inquired into, was good enough to offer his lordship his ducal hospitality for as long as the royal session of review lasted. But Her Majesty's Deputy felt that neither his Royal Mistress nor himself could afford to be for one moment compromised, or even suspected, by her poorest subject; and therefore it was that his lordship excused himself from the duke's table, and took up his quarters in the little wayside inn. "At any rate, you will come to the manse," said the minister, who was on the crofter's side. "Thank you," said Napier. "But in your college days you must have read Plutarch about Caesar's wife. No, thank you." And his lordship lodged all his time in the little hotel, and went back to his Royal Mistress when his work was done, not only with clean hands, but without even a suspicion attaching to her or to him. "Come home with me and refresh thyself." But the man of God said to 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 with thee." So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. ( A. Whyte, D. D. ) Now there dwelt an old man in Bethel 1 Kings 13:11-32 The nameless prophet A. Rowland, B. A. This passage forms part of a very remarkable narrative. The miraculous element is so prominent that certain critics would have the chapter expunged from Holy Scripture. The natural and the supernatural are closely interwoven, as are the woof and web of a fabric, and the destruction of either would be the practical dissolution of the whole; indeed, nowhere is this more manifestly true than in the life and death, in the resurrection and ascension, in the works and claims of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Who was this bold prophet? Josephus identified him with Iddo, the seer; but the statement is merely conjectural. The man must remain nameless, as he is left in this chapter. I. THE MESSAGE DELIVERED BY THIS NAMELESS PROPHET. 1. Its divine origin is expressly asserted in the second verse: "he cried... in the word of the Lord." This is a remarkable phrase. It is not said that he cried the word of God, but that he cried "in" it — as if his message were the sphere in which he lived, the atmosphere he breathed. Nothing could more forcibly suggest the source from which all religious teachers draw their power. It is the consciousness of having a Divine message, the sureness of a Divine call, the confidence that what they have to say is "the Word of the Lord," which is the sign of the true prophet. 2. The definite nature of this message deserves attention. The very name of the avenger, Josiah, is mentioned, though it was 300 years before he was born; and it was distinctly foretold that idolatrous priests would be slain on the altar erected in defiance of God, and that the site now being set apart for heathen worship would be defiled and dis-honoured by the bones of the dead. Centuries elapsed before the fulfillment of this threat, but it came at last, and came at the appointed time, proclaiming to all future ages this solemn truth, which it is madness to ignore: "the wages of sin is death." God's punishments are never arbitrary. They are the legitimate issues of the crime or vice they belong to. The sinner is destroyed by his own sin. And this is in harmony with all that we know of God's works. Science is showing the links between cause and effect with ever-growing clearness and certainty; and the doctrine of evolution reveals that limbs may perish by disuse or may be developed by necessities of life in new surroundings. This is true everywhere, not least in the punishments and privations threatened in Scripture, here and hereafter. II. THE COURAGE HE DISPLAYED. His boldness it is not easy to overrate. It was the consciousness the prophet had that he was God's messenger that gave him this heroism. It was this which prepared Moses to dare the wrath of Pharaoh, this which nerved Elijah to stand alone face to face with the prophets of Baal; this which enabled Peter and John undauntedly to face the Sanhedrim; and this which made Ambrose, and Knox, and Luther, and Zwingli types of a truer heroism than any field of battle has revealed. III. THE SAFETY OF THE PROPHET was assured, and credentials of his commission were given, when the altar was suddenly cleft in twain, and all the ashes poured out. We see nothing incredible here, or in many other miraculous signs mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. Supernatural signs are surely the legitimate evidences of a supernatural revelation. They are simply the assertion of the supremacy of the spiritual and unseen over the material and visible; and if we really believe that the things seen were not made of things which do appear, we need not be incredulous when evidences of the existence of these are given. Among the phenomena of Nature, we all know that a mountain may be still and silent for ages, villages cluster around its base, men toil and children play on its sides, and they have no suspicion that it is volcanic; but at last the subterranean fires may burst out, and just as that force, long hidden, asserts itself within the limits of half-known law: so it may be, so it has been, within the limits of unknown law. Our Lord Jesus Christ boldly said of His own miracles: "If ye believe not Me, believe the works," the works which modern admirers of His moral teaching would rule out of court! — and the apostles put the resurrection of Christ, which some would explain away, into the very forefront of Christian evidences. IV. THE TEMPTATION HE RESISTED, to which our text alludes. Jeroboam failed in the use of violence; but, nothing daunted, he sought to overcome the messenger of Jehovah by craft. Doubtless there are many who have had such conflicts and conquests. Tempted to sin, you have replied: "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Sitting among the sinners, when you could not avoid them, you did not approve their mockery even by the faintest smile. Able to win wealth and position, you resolutely refused to stoop to do what you knew was base and false. In such hours of triumph I would entreat you most vividly to remember, and most humbly to acknowledge, that the victory came only through Him that loved you, or you may ultimately experience the fall which came to the prophet after his first victory was won. V. THE SECOND TEMPTATION, which we must not overlook, was successful and fatal. It came from an "old prophet," who lived near by, who approached his fellow-servant when he was tired, and who, professing to have received message from God, induced him to enter his house in Bethel, and thus to disobey the command of the Lord. If it be asked why this temptation succeeded, while that of Jeroboam failed, we should attribute it to the self-complacence and self-confidence engendered by successful resistance to the king, and to the sense of false security which generally succeeds in a crisis of peril. Evidence of this is seen in the fact that he rested under a terebinth, instead of pressing homeward, as he had been told to do. 1. Learn from this that the conquest of one evil often leads to an assault from another. 2. Learn also that it is a perilous thing to linger in a scene of temptation, though for a time we may have to go into it in order to do God's work. If this prophet had not rested, instead of hurrying forward, he would not have been overtaken before he crossed the border line of safety between the two kingdoms. VI. THE TRIFLING DISOBEDIENCE which brought about so terrible a retribution. It seemed a very small offence to go home with a brother prophet for pleasant, and perhaps profitable, intercourse. But there was no doubt about the will of God in this matter. An act may seem as trifling as that; and yet it may involve a momentous principle. It was a small thing for Eve to take the fruit of the tree; but it was an act of direct disobedience, and therefore brought death into the world, and all our woe. It is in what we call trifles that God tests our obedience and love. ( A. Rowland, B. A. ) The penalty of disobedience R. W. Evans, B. D. It may seem, at first sight, that the prophet was hardly visited for breaking such a commandment as this; and yet we may remember that Adam brought death on himself and us all by an act of disobedience much akin to this; for he was commanded not to eat, but he did eat: why should any of his children fare better, especially when sinning like this prophet, to whom the word of God came not as to other men, immediately into his heart from the Holy Spirit of God? He grieved the Holy Spirit. But though he did not sin wilfully, but was most artfully tempted into his sin, God's justice could not spare him; an example must reeds be made of the punishment of faithlessness in so high a commission- Such is the example: now how does it concern the Christian? 1. The Christian is a prophet, for he has the gift of the Word of God and of His Holy Spirit, and the revelation of the world to come. And his profession is to protest and struggle against the corruption of the world, against which he must denounce the wrath of God which cometh on the children of disobedience. 2. As the prophet had the commandment given him, "to eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that he came," that is, to have no fellow. ship with the sinners whose idolatry God had sent him to denounce, so the Christian has a special injunction on this head; it has been given him both in the word of his Saviour, and in the example of his Saviour. We must not as Christians eat and drink by the way; we must not waste our precious time and heavenly substance in the carnal enjoyments of this life; but we must go on the way which God hath pointed out to us, without turning to the right or to the left for refreshment, for if we do, then we are out of His way, then we are in the forbidden habitations of sin; still less must we return by the same way that we came. 3. The prophet was tempted by a false brother; and even so are Christians tempted by false brethren, and persuaded by them to sit down to the meat and drink of sinful indulgence, and to return by the same way that they came, going backward, though at a much quicker rate, through the same steps that they have come forward in the Christian race. 4. And whom did God choose to pronounce sentence of death upon him? His very deceiver. And is not this continually the case? Is not the tempter into sin often the very first to reproach the tempted with his sin, and to mock at him when it is beyond remedy? Is he not often the first to open his eyes to his real state, and laugh at him? This is the way of Satan, the grand tempter of all, and therefore the way of his children also. Thus sin is felt by the tempted as the sting of death indeed! 5. And now see the end: a lion met the prophet in his way and slew him. And is there no lion ready for the faithless Christian too? Yes; the lion is at the door ready for all the unwary, gaping upon them with his mouth, staring upon them with his eyes, on the crouch, and ready to spring at the first favourable moment, and rend and tear the soul in pieces. 6. If God could visit with such strict justice the disobedience of a man who was tempted to believe that he was obeying God, how will He visit those who yield to temptation with the clear knowledge that they are disobeying God, and hearken to men who they know cannot be prophets of God, as was the man to whom this prophet listened, but are evidently prophet of Satan. ( R. W. Evans, B. D. ) The prophet's temptation and fall T. H. Barnet. Holy Scripture gives some terrible warnings as to the power and danger of temptation. Notably, the fall of men of God through temptation. This narrative is such a warning. Brings before us — 1. Generally, the subject of temptation. 2. Specially, temptation. (1) By means of our fellow-men. (2) To disobedience of God's express command. It is thus illustrative of, and illustrated by, other passages of Scripture. I. TEMPTATION PROMPTLY REPELLED. 1. Plain command had been given to this "man of God" (ver. 9). But no reason assigned. This is in keeping with many positive obligations of God's law.. 2. King Jeroboam desires him to act in opposition to God's command. (1) It is an open temptation, recognised as such. (2) It is a temptation of the world. (3) It appeals to self-interest: something is to be gained (ver. 7). Like the temptation of Eve ( Genesis 3:5 ), of Balaam ( Numbers 22:16, 17 ), of Christ ( Matthew 4:8, 9 ). 3. He understands it, resolves, acts. He turns away from it (ver. 10). Like Joseph ( Genesis 39:9-12 ). Learn — our real safety is to flee from temptation. II. TEMPTATION FEEBLY RESISTED. 1. Again the same temptation comes: but not now from standpoint of the world, of open enmity with God. A seeming prophet is tempter (vers. 11-15). 2. The man of God feels some inward desire to comply with the temptation. There is hesitation In his resistance; he says, "I may not," and therefore "will not." Learn —(1) The beginning of our fall is when our will begins to be out of accord with God's law; when we would sin, but dare not.(2) There is danger in parleying with temptation. III. TEMPTATION YIELDED TO. 1. For third time same temptation assails him, and with additional inducement. Satan becomes as an "angel of light," his emissary assumes the position of a minister of God (ver. 18). This case resembles Satan's quotation of Scripture ( Matthew 4:3, 6 ). 2. The man of God is deceived by the insidiousness of the lie. (1) Temptation at first repelled, then entertained, is at last successful. (2) He yields, and disobeys God's Word. (3) His sin meets with direct judgment (ver. 24).Learn — (1) The transgression of God's law in any particular is sin. (2) The wages of sin is death.Conclusion — Two passages in the New Testament sum up and enforce the whole subject: — 1. 1 Corinthians 10:13 .(1) Temptation is a law of all human life. The man of God is not exempt.(2) Temptation is in God's mercy regulated according to our ability to resist.(3) A way of escape is ever open to us. Generally by our promptly turning away from the person or thing tempting us. 2. Galatians 1:8 .(1) Temptation often comes by the example or persuasion of our fellow-creatures.(2) It will come as though with the authority of God. This specially in temptations to scepticism and disbelief as to the truth of Romans 6:23 .(3) God's Word cannot contradict itself. Should it seem to do so, or any human interpretation make it appear to do so, we may doubt our own views or the interpretation of others, and should adhere to the plain truth of Holy Scripture. ( T. H. Barnet. ) The disobedient prophet R. Jones, M. A. I. THE MISSION OF THIS MAN OF GOD TO BETHEL IS A MOST IMPORTANT ONE. He is entrusted by his heavenly Master with unfolding the Divine judgments to King Jeroboam, on account of his great sin in making the lowest of the people priests of the high places, and in consequence also of his open and zealous patronage of the most abominable idolatry. 1. The time of the prophet's arrival at Bethel. It happened when Jeroboam stood at the altar to burn incense. To face a guilty monarch and unveil the Divine denunciations threatened on account of his rebellious conduct, is by no means an easy task. 2. The mode of address. He addresses himself not to the guilty monarch, but as if he wished Jeroboam to feel he had forfeited the honour of being addressed like a rational agent, the prophet accosts the inanimate altar, that altar by which the king now usurpingly stood to burn incense. "O altar, altar!" he cries, not in his own name, but in the name of that God who sent him, "Thus saith the Lord." 3. The matter of the prophet's address. Now it is well worthy of remark, that though this predicted king is so particularly mentioned by name, none of the kings of Israel thought fit to assume the name, until the real and good Josiah himself. appeared as the executor of all the vengeance of a righteous God against sin. This name was given by the wicked Manasseh to his son quite undesignedly, a name which was to be the terrible watchword of the downfall of idolatry practised by Manasseh and Jeroboam: it was a name given by Manasseh to his son, in spite, as it were, of Manasseh himself, in diametrical opposition to Manasseh's policy II. REGARD HIS TEST OF OBEDIENCE. The man of God having executed in a bold and faithful manner the grave commission on trusted to him, is preparing to take his departure, when Jeroboam, anxious it would appear to render the man of God some recompense for his kindness in having petitioned the Majesty of Heaven to restore his hand, approaches him with the friendly invitation. The prophet having manfully, by the grace of God, resisted the temptation of the king's invitation, is already on the way back to Judah, the way pointed out by the Lord for him to take. But although he has resisted one temptation and got apparently clear of Bethel, he is not yet safe. We are never secure while we are pilgrims and travellers in this world, which is not our rest, against the varied and constant assaults of Satan's temptations; as soon as one temptation is overcome, another is ready to overtake us on life's road; which teaches us ever to be watchful and prayerful. III. THE PROPHET'S DISOBEDIENCE, AND ITS RESULT. How does the faith of the man of God now stand against this tremendous trial? He, who had a little previous so triumphantly combated the temptation to eat bread and drink water at a royal table, now, alas! totters in his obedience, and listens to the unlikely lie of an aged prophet, sanctioned, as he diabolically pretended, by an angel's revelation, and consents to return with him. The most dangerous form temptation can assume, is that of a lie, disguised in the mantle of truth, uttered by the ravening wolf clad in the sheep's clothing. By the snares of this temptation, the prophet now fell into the labyrinth of disobedience. It is Satan's master temptation. By this truth-gilded lie our first parents fell, and sin and death entered into the world. The devil put on a goodly outside, entered into the then attractive serpent, approached our unsuspecting mother in that so sleek form, and led her to fail in the first great test of human obedience, which was to be the proof of man's love, the eating of the forbidden fruit. The man of God, disobedient to the Divine command, accompanies the old prophet back to Bethel. There, dead to the fearful consequences of what he is doing, he refreshes the exhausted body at the board of hospitality. Swift indeed, and signal is the punishment inflicted on the man of God, and some may think the punishment severe; but the disobedience of the prophet in eating bread and drinking water was aggravated by the circumstances under which it was committed. Learn a lesson from this sorrowful circumstance, which Jeroboam failed to learn, even the lesson of obedience to the Word of God. Keep only in the track pointed out by that Word, though an angel from heaven might tell thee to do contrary to its Divine message to thy soul. Obey its every precept, small or great. ( R. Jones, M. A. ) The disobedient prophet T. Grantham. We have in this account a very striking illustration of the truth enunciated by the Apostle James, the Lord's brother, at the first council at Jerusalem, namely, that "known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world" ( Acts 15:18 ). The prediction uttered by the man of God against the altar at Bethel was not fulfilled for the space of 360 years; and yet, when the time fixed in the counsels of Omnipotence arrived, not one thing. failed of accomplishment of all that he had declared should come to pass. Now, this truth may afford comfort to all who love and fear God. Many of God's people, when they hear of the overflowings of ungodliness and unbelief, may be almost inclined to think that God hath forgotten His gracious promises, and that He will in truth shut up His loving-kindness in displeasure. But they may chide away their unbelieving fears as David did: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God" ( Psalm 42 .). But I must point out a few lessons of instruction which this portion of holy writ may furnish us with. 1. And, first, it may teach us that, whenever God hath plainly declared His will, no grounds of supposed expediency, and no less fully authenticated declarations, however they may profess to proceed from Him, should ever induce us to depart from it. This we may learn both from the conduct of Jeroboam, as well as from that of the man of God. And, assuredly, we have abundant examples of its danger. We know that the Jews, who lived at the time when our Saviour was upon earth, are accused by Him of making void the law of God by their traditions; and even to the present day, by listening to the same fallacious guide, though they nominally admit the Divine authority of the Old Testament scriptures, they fritter away all their most important requirements. But how, it may be asked, does it arise that men can satisfy themselves to pay any attention to such a pretender? And the answer is, because, like the old prophet, it comes forward with a bold assertion of its Divine authority, though with as little regard to truth as he displayed. Tradition, among the Jews, professes to be an interpretation of the law given by God to Moses, and transmitted through elders, prophets, and wise men. 2. Another lesson to be learned from what is here recorded is that we cannot judge of a man's eternal state from the way m which he may be taken out of this world. A man of God sins; and within a few hours a lion slays him: the lying prophet that seduced him lives on, and goes to his grave in peace; yea, wicked Jeroboam continues his idolatrous worship, and treads upon the grave of his reprover. What shall we make of this? Doubtless such events teach us that there must be a judgment to come, when all these seeming inequalities will be corrected, and when rewards and punishments will be dispensed with impartial justice and unerring wisdom. At present God's people are chastened; but it is that they may not be condemned with the world; whereas the ungodly and the profane are in many instances unpunished. 3. A third lesson which may be learned from this narrative is, not to be induced heedlessly to follow any guide, whatever may be his pretensions, or whatever his apparent sanctity. The Apostle John gives the following caution: "Beloved, believe hot every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world" ( 1 John 4:1 ). And, if such advice was needful in apostolic times, much more is it required now. 4. The last lesson which I would point out to you as derivable from this passage of Scripture is, that no command of God is to be lightly regarded, and that the nearer people are to God the more certainly will their transgressions be punished. Implicit, unquestioning obedience has been in all ages the characteristic of God's most eminent servants. ( T. Grantham. ) The disobedient prophet of Judah J. O. Coghlan, D. D. The fate of the prophet of Judah has always been deemed a hard one. That it should be so is by no means surprising. We should certainly expect so striking a punishment to have been inflicted upon a very different kind of person. And it is that very circumstance which makes it the more important that we should look into the case. To sum what may be said for him, it comes to this:(1) he fulfilled faithfully the essential part of his mission;(2) his trifling transgression was excusable considering the plot laid to deceive him; and(3) in any case his punishment was extreme in severity. In thinking of the severity of the punishment, I have no doubt that we unconsciously infuse into our thoughts the assumption that the prophet of Judah suffered eternal death, because it was deemed necessary to execute him. As to his future state we know nothing whatever. No doubt at the great day his destiny will be settled, not by one act, but by his life. "But he fulfilled the essential part of his mission." Even supposing that we could so far enter into the Divine mind as to say what is essential in any command; still it is plain that there may be a wide difference between that part of the Divine command which was the more important in, so to speak, its missionary and public aspect, as regarded Jeroboam, and that part of it which regarded the prophet personally, and would be the more likely to try him. But surely, setting aside all thought of religion, we know that "trifles" lead into serious evils, and are often the turning-points of life as well as the tests of principle. And, as men of the world and men of honour, we shall admit that the importance of a principle does not depend upon the importance of the thing to which it is applied in some particular instance. You decide upon a man's dis. honesty, not by the magnitude of his fraud, but the fact. When once we receive, no matter how, what we believe to be a Divine command, it is plain that we have no right to decide how much of it God meant to be attended to, and how much we may set aside as immaterial. Here is the case of no vulgar sinner, no thoughtless transgressor of the Divine law, but one whom we are justified in regarding as a man of pre-eminent virtue, honoured by the King of kings by being chosen to discharge a difficult and dangerous duty, and supplied with minute instructions. The difficult and dangerous part of his mission he performed; he even so far discharged the seemingly less important part as to refuse the royal invitation. The crisis, as we should naturally think, had been passed. But it was not in the great matter, but in the small matter that he was tried, and that he failed; as he who has escaped perils of waters over thousands of miles of angry ocean, sometimes is drowned in the narrow unrippled river, within sight of home. It is not in the hour of persecution only, or of open and obvious peril that we need to be on our guard. We often brace ourselves for that. It is in the smaller occurrences of life that we need to be careful and watchful unto prayer, if principle be involved. And in how few things is it not involved, after all? The thought, doubtless suggests danger in these "small things"; but does it not also invest them with dignity? Does it not raise them out of the dust? What can be small in action or in suffering by which the character can be tested and the soul tried? ( J. O. Coghlan, D. D. ) On the character of the man of God that came from Judah J. Puckle, M. A. Now, in order to come to a right understanding of the conduct of "the man of God which came from Judah," and to appreciate the error of which he was guilty, and for which he suffered; it will be necessary to remember how critical were the circumstances under which he was called to act; how extensive and sacred were the interests which were, more or less, to be involved in the discharge of his mission to Bethel. He came on an express mission, to denounce the apostasy of the times. He came to confront the very author of all this mischief as he stood by the altar of his own pride; to tell him, and his benighted worshippers, of their blasphemy and iniquity; to prophesy the day, when God s signal vengeance should be poured on the altar at which they so blindly knelt; when one of His anointed servants, of the kingly race of David, should fearfully purge that land of its crimes; should destroy the houses, and all the priests of the reigning idolatry, and bum the very reliques of their bodies on the altars of their profane worship. Nothing, therefore, could have been more important, nothing more full of trust, than the mission of him who was thus sent from Judah to Bethel. His instructions must have been of the most solemn kind; and we have reason to know that they were in all things express and minute. Now, in reviewing the conduct of the prophet, we are fur. Dished with a key to a right apprehension of its error, and the cause of its signal punishment. In the outset of his conduct, when the temptation was manifest, and the snare but clumsily laid, he acted in every respect with fidelity and decision. Here, then, it becomes a natural question, — in what had the great guilt of the man of God consisted? True, he had disobeyed the Divine command; but was not the force of that command in a manner cancelled by what the old prophet professed? Could the prophet of Judah have judged that his aged brother was lying to him? if not, wherefore this great and summary punishment? The answer to this is that the "man of God" ought so to have judged. He should have remembered, that on the one part he would be obeying his Maker, whose will he fully knew; on the other, he would be listening to a mere mortal, whose truth and authority he did not know, but which he even had good reason to suspect. Against the dictates of conscience, and calm judgment, he yielded to the latter; and therefore brought himself under the displeasure and condemnation of his God. In such times of apostasy and disbelief as those, slight actions assumed the importance of great ones; especially if depending on the known will of God. The prophet of Judah was placed in a conspicuous and important pest; and it was essential that his conduct in it should be signally marked. As to the punishment itself, we only know that it affected the body; not a word do we know of the destiny of the soul. Lessons — 1. What God has commanded and sanctified, can be no trifle. If it be but a particle, a tittle of His will, it is enough. The least compromise on our part may tend to evil that we know not of; and our only safe and right course is in simple, implicit obedience. 2. Again, we must be always on our guard against the effect of any apparent sanctity in profession. "I am also a prophet as thou art," was the rock on which the prophet of Judah foundered. Let us not be so deceived. We know where to look for God's revealed will; we know where to look for its authorised interpretation and enforcement. 3. Finally, looking at the example in a more general point of view, let it teach us the peril of all dalliance, vacillation, and delay. Let us not be found sitting under the wayside oak; loitering on the world s highroad. We cannot toy and idle as we pass, in a region of contamination and guilt. Wherever there is one thoughtless, vacant, indifferent to his everlasting salvation, that man is first marked for a prey by his eternal foe. ( J. Puckle, M. A. ) The disobedient prophet H. P. Liddon, D. D. I. THE GREAT PROFESSIONAL AND SPIRITUAL EMINENCE OF THIS YOUNG PROPHET WHO CAME OUT OF JUDAH. He belongs to that great company of men and women of all ages and countries who have contributed much to the service of God, much to the well-being of their fellow-creatures, while on earth. It is only remembered what they did and not who they were. But as to his high standing among his fellows there can be no question. 1. This would appear, first of all, from the Divine mission with which he was entrusted. 2. And the high character and capacity of the nameless prophet of Judah appe

Benson Commentary 1 Kings 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 1 Kings 13:1 . 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 remarkable which we have in sacred writ. It foretels an action that exactly came to pass above three hundred and forty years afterward. It describes the circumstances of the action; and specifies the very name of the person who was to do it; and therefore every considerate Jew, who lived in the time of its accomplishment, must have been convinced of the divine authority of a religion founded on such prophecies as this; since none but God could foresee, and consequently none but God could fore-tel events at such a distance.” — Le Clerc, Calmet, and Dodd. Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense — Upon the feast day which he had instituted. 1 Kings 13:2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. 1 Kings 13:2 . 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 what family the child should spring, and what should be his name; and in the accomplishment of it we see the absolute certainty of God’s providence and foreknowledge, even in the most contingent things. For the particulars here mentioned, namely, the having a child, and the giving it this name, were in themselves things as uncertain, dependent on man’s will, and contingent as any events can be: and yet God exactly foretold them, and they came to pass accordingly. God therefore can foresee how the will of man, and of numbers of men, whose wills are dependant on each other, will be influenced in all possible circumstances, and that for ages to come; or, he can certainly and effectually, and yet without infringing or violating man’s liberty, overrule his will which way he pleaseth; otherwise it was possible this prediction might have been false, which it would be blasphemy to assert. Upon it shall he offer the priests — The meaning is not that he should offer or burn the priests alive, but that he should slay the priests of the high places, and then burn their bones, as he did the bones of those that had been buried, and thereby should defile this altar. How bold was the man that durst thus attack the king in his pride, and interrupt the solemnity in which he gloried! Those who are sent on God’s errand, must not fear the faces of men. Although it was so many ages ere this prophecy was to be fulfilled, the time is spoken of as sure and nigh at hand. For a thousand years are with God as one day. 1 Kings 13:3 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. 1 Kings 13:3 . 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 that he had sent this prophet to speak these words which were presently fulfilled. 1 Kings 13:4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. 1 Kings 13:4-5 . 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 relaxed. This God did, not only to give another token, besides those which the man of God had mentioned, that his words would be fulfilled; but also to chastise Jeroboam for offering violence to the Lord’s prophet; to secure the prophet against further violence, and that in this example God might show how highly he resents the injuries done to his ministers for the faithful discharge of their office. The altar also was rent, &c. — This train of miracles, instantly wrought, and confirming so evidently the prophet’s mission, so amazed all the people, that we do not find any of them attempted to lay hold on him. And Jeroboam himself, for the present, was astonished and confounded at the sight of the effects produced by God’s miraculous power. 1 Kings 13:5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 1 Kings 13:6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. 1 Kings 13:6 . 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 he did to assure Jeroboam that what he had said was not from ill-will to him, and that he heartily desired his reformation, not his ruin. And the king’s hand was restored — God showed him this mercy, 1st, Because he repented of the violence intended against the prophet, for which his hand had been dried up: 2d, To assure him that the stroke was from God: and, 3d, That this goodness of God to him might lead him to repentance, or if he continued impenitent, might leave him without excuse. 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. 1 Kings 13:7-9 . 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 whom he had pronounced God’s indignation. For so it was charged me — My refusal of thy favour is not from any contempt or hatred of thy person, but in compliance with the just command of my God, who hath forbidden me all further converse or communication with thee. Saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water — Namely, in that place, or with that people. Hereby God showed his detestation of their idolatry, not because it was as bad as that of the heathen, but because they were vile apostates from the true God, and embraced this idol-worship against the light of their own consciences, merely to comply with the king’s humour and command; and because their vicinity and relation to Judah, exposed that tribe to the danger of being infected by their idolatry. God also intended hereby to teach his people in all ages to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, lest they should either give encouragement to, or receive infection from, them. Nor turn again by the same way thou earnest — That by avoiding the way that led him to Beth-el as execrable, although he went by God’s special command, he might teach all others how much they ought to abhor that way, and all thoughts of going to that place, or to such idolatrous people, upon any unnecessary occasion. 1 Kings 13:8 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: 1 Kings 13:9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. 1 Kings 13:10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. 1 Kings 13:11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. 1 Kings 13:11 . 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 13:20-21 ; 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, because we here find him guilty of a downright lie, 1 Kings 13:18 . And, although a holy prophet, who had lived there before, might possibly have continued in the kingdom of Israel after its separation from Judah, and defection from the true worship of God; yet such a one would not have chosen to reside at Beth-el, the chief seat of idolatry, unless with a design to preach against it: this, it is evident, he did not; for his sons, it appears, were present when Jeroboam stood at the altar, and therefore joined in that idolatrous worship, and yet their father was too timorous to reprove them. He was probably somewhat like the famous Balaam, who was commissioned to utter divers true prophecies, but nevertheless loved the wages of unrighteousness, and was a wicked man. 1 Kings 13:12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. 1 Kings 13:13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, 1 Kings 13:14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am . 1 Kings 13:14 . 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 age and carriage, and, it may be, by his prophetic mantle, and by the character which his sons had given of him. 1 Kings 13:15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 1 Kings 13:16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: 1 Kings 13:17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. 1 Kings 13:18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art ; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. 1 Kings 13:18 . 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, he thought he should please God. In this, however, he greatly erred, and involved both himself and the prophet from Judah in guilt and wrath. 1 Kings 13:19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. 1 Kings 13:19 . 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 commission. 1 Kings 13:20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back: 1 Kings 13:20-22 . 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 voice, the effect of his passion, both for his own guilt and shame, and for the prophet’s approaching misery. Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord — That is, the word of command coming out of his mouth; thy carcass shall not come into the sepulchre of thy fathers — Thou shalt not die a natural, but a violent death, and that in this journey, before thou returnest to thy own habitation. 1 Kings 13:21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, 1 Kings 13:22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 1 Kings 13:23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit , for the prophet whom he had brought back. 1 Kings 13:23-24 . 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 2:24 ; and, it is not unlikely, that out of the same wood came the lion that slew this prophet. His carcass was cast in the way — His dead body fell to the ground, and lay in the place where the soul left it. The lion also stood by the carcass — Which plainly showed that he was sent by God to execute only what God had threatened, and not to move one step beyond that commission, otherwise, agreeable to his nature and fierceness, he would certainly have devoured the carcass and torn the ass. “Some have thought,” says Dr. Dodd, “that this prophet’s was a small offence to have met with so severe a punishment: but the true state of the case is this: the prophet from Judah had sufficient evidence of the truth of his own revelation; had sufficient cause to suspect some corrupt ends in the prophet who came to recall him; and had sufficient reason to expect, an interposition of the same power that gave him the injunction to repeal it; and, therefore, his crime was an easy credulity, a complying with an offer merely to gratify a petulant appetite, which he knew was repugnant to a divine command. It argued a great levity, if not infidelity, of his own revelation, to listen to the pretended one of another man.” It must be acknowledged, however, to be strange, that the lying prophet should escape, while he, who, notwithstanding this error, was truly a man of God, is so severely punished. But judgment must begin at the house of God: God must correct his own children first. And there is a judgment to come, when these things shall be called over again, and when those who sinned most and suffered least in this world, will receive according to their works. This punishment of the prophet was a very striking admonition to Jeroboam of what he might expect, since God spared not a less guilty offender. And we may all learn from God’s severity, in this instance, 1st, Not to suffer our faith to be perverted by any suggestions made against a revelation of uncontested divine authority; and, 2d, Always to pay a strict regard and obedience to all the known commands of God. 1 Kings 13:24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. 1 Kings 13:25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. 1 Kings 13:25-26 . 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 prophets might not, upon any pretence or excuse, neglect punctually to attend to, and observe all the divine injunctions; for, had they not been deterred from neglecting and disregarding them, the authority of prophecy would have been soon lessened, and consequently the people have sooner or more readily fallen into idolatry. Which hath torn and slain him, according to the word of the Lord — God had not expressly said that a lion should tear him; but, that he should suffer a violent death in some way, was implied in the threatening that his carcass should not come into the sepulchre of his fathers. 1 Kings 13:26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof , he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him. 1 Kings 13:27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him . 1 Kings 13:28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass. 1 Kings 13:28 . 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 hurt the old prophet, when he came to the spot, nor his ass; nor yet go away, when he had done his work, but stood still, as if, 1st, To preserve the carcass of the prophet, whom he had slain, from other wild beasts or fowls: 2d, As an evidence that the prophet’s death was not casual, nor the effect of a lion’s ravenous disposition, but of God’s singular and just judgment, who had directed the lion, by a supernatural power, how far to go, and where to stop; and, consequently, that the prophet’s prediction was divine, and would be infallibly accomplished in its proper time: and 3d, As a token of God’s favour to the deceased prophet, of whose very carcass he took such special care; thereby signifying, that, although for wise and just reasons he thought fit to take away his life, yet his remains were precious to him. 1 Kings 13:29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 1 Kings 13:29-30 . 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 the injury done him in deceiving him, and persuading him to disobey the command of God to his ruin. Hereby, however, the divine threatening, (in 1 Kings 13:22 ,) was fulfilled; and withal, the memory of his prophecy was revived from time to time, by the sight of his grave, and preserved among them; and even his carcass, resting there, might be a witness of their madness and desperate wickedness, in continuing to practise their abominable, idolatrous worship, after such an assurance of the dreadful effects of it. They mourned over him — Namely, the old prophet and his sons, and others, whom common humanity taught to lament the untimely death of so worthy a person. Saying, Alas! my brother — Which was a usual form of expression in funeral lamentations. “The case, indeed, was very piteous,” says Henry, “that so good a man, so faithful a prophet, and one so bold in God’s cause, should, for one offence, die as a criminal, while an old, lying prophet lived at ease, and an idolatrous prince in pomp and power. Thy way, O God, is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters! We cannot judge of men by their sufferings, nor of sins by their present punishments. With some the flesh is destroyed, that the spirit may be saved; while, with others, the flesh is pampered, that the soul may ripen for hell.” The reader will be pleased to see a similar reflection by Dr. Dodd. “Upon a review of this narrative, who can fail to admire the unsearchable secrets of the divine justice? Jeroboam revolts from his lawful sovereign, forsakes the worship of the true God, engages the people in gross idolatry, and is himself hardened by the menaces and miracles of the prophet, who wits sent to him; a false prophet deceives an innocent man with a lie, and draws him into an act of disobedience, contrary to his inclination; yet this wicked Jeroboam, and this seducing prophet, escape immediate punishment, while the other, who might mean no ill, perhaps, in turning back, is slain by a lion, and his body deprived of the sepulchre of his fathers! We must acknowledge, indeed, that the depths of the judgments of God are an abyss which our understandings cannot fathom; but nothing certainly can be a more sensible proof of the certainty of another life, and of the eternal recompenses or punishments which attend it, than to see the righteous so rigorously treated here, for slight offences, while, sentence not being speedily executed against evil men, we have an assurance from thence that God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil, Ecclesiastes 12:14 .” 1 Kings 13:30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying , Alas, my brother! 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: 1 Kings 13:31-32 . 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 the miracles wrought by the prophet of Judah, and from the wonderful particulars of his death. And against all the high places which are in the cities of Samaria — That is, of the kingdom of Samaria, as it was called, though not when this fact was done, yet before these books were written. Samaria was properly the name of one city; but, as it became the capital of the kingdom of Israel, that whole kingdom was so called from it. The prophet of Judah had not indeed threatened as much as the prophet of Beth-el here mentions, (unless he said more than is related 1 Kings 13:2 ,) but it might easily be inferred from what he had predicted. Thus, by the mouth of two witnesses, was it established, if possible, to convince Jeroboam. 1 Kings 13:32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. 1 Kings 13:33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 1 Kings 13:33 . 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 the people, &c. — He abated not so much as a circumstance in his idolatrous worship. Whosoever would he consecrated him , &c. — Without any respect to tribe, or family, or integrity of body, or mind, or life; all which things were to be regarded in the priesthood. 1 Kings 13:34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. 1 Kings 13:34 . 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 upon his family, and these not of an ordinary kind; but such as effected its utter extirpation. We may reflect here with Ostervald, on the astonishing blindness and ingratitude of Jeroboam. “Instead of relying on the promises which God had made him, to preserve the kingdom in his family, if he continued faithful, fearing lest his subjects should forsake him, if they went to worship at Jerusalem; out of a false policy he set up an idolatrous worship in his kingdom, which occasioned the ruin of his family, and at last the ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Thus men, instead of trusting to God, in the faithful discharge of their duty, for security, have recourse to ill methods, whereby they draw upon themselves, at length, those very misfortunes they mean to avoid.” Indeed, all those betray themselves effectually, who endeavour to support themselves or families by any sin. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 1 Kings 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. JEROBOAM AND THE MAN OF GOD 1 Kings 13:1-34 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." - 1 John 4:1 WE are told that Jeroboam, whose position probably made him restless and insecure, first built or fortified Shechem, and then went across the Jordan and established another palace and stronghold at Penuel. After this he shifted his residence once more to the beautiful town of Tirzah, where he built for himself the palace which Zimri afterwards burnt over his own head. Although the prophet Shemaiah forbade Rehoboam’s attempt to crush him in a great war, Jeroboam remained at war with him and Abijah all his life, till his reign of two-and-twenty troubled years ended apparently by a sudden death-for the chronicler says that "the Lord struck him, and he died." Nearly all that we know of Jeroboam apart from these incidental notices is made up of two stories, both of which are believed by critics to date from a long subsequent age, but which the compiler of the Book of Kings introduced into his narrative from their intrinsic force and religious instructiveness. The first of these stories tells us of the only spontaneous prophetic protest against his proceedings of which we read. So ancient is this curious narrative that tradition had entirely forgotten the names of the two prophets concerned in it. It probably assumed shape from the dim local reminiscences evoked in the days of Josiah’s reformation, when the grave of a forgotten prophet of Judah was discovered among the tombs at Bethel, three hundred and twenty years after the events described. A nameless man of God-Josephus calls him Jadon, and some have identified him with Iddo-came out of Judah to atone for the silence of Israel, and to protest in God’s name against the new worship. His protest, however, is against "the altar." He does not say a word about the golden calves. Jeroboam, perhaps, at his dedication festival of the king’s shrine at Bethel, was standing on the altar-slope, as Solomon had done in the Temple, to burn incense. Suddenly the man of God appeared, and threatened to the altar the destruction and desecration which subsequently fell upon it. We cannot be sure that some of the details are not later additions supplied from subsequent events. Josephus rationalizes the story very absurdly in the style of Paulus. The sign of the destruction or rending of the altar, and the outpouring of the ashes, may have been first fulfilled in that memorable earthquake which became a date in Israel. The desecration which it received at the hands of Josiah reminded men of the threat of the unknown messenger. Then we are told that Jeroboam raised his hand in anger, with the order to secure the bold offender, but that his arm at once "dried up," and was only restored by the man of at the king’s entreaty. The king invites the prophet to go home and refresh himself and receive a reward; but he replies that not half Jeroboam’s house could tempt him to break the command which he had received to eat no bread neither drink water at Bethel. An old Israelite prophet was living at Bethel, and his son told him what had occurred. Struck with admiration by the faithfulness of the southern man of God, he rode after him to bring him to his house. He found him seated under "the terebinth"-evidently some aged and famous tree. When he refused the renewed invitation, the old man lyingly said to him that he too was a man of God, and had been bidden by an angel to bring him back. Deceived, perhaps too easily deceived, the man of God from Judah went back. It would have been well for him if he had believed that even "an angel of God," or what may seem to wear such a semblance, may preach a false message, and may deserve nothing but an anathema. {Gal 1:8} With terrible swiftness the delusion was dispelled. While he was eating in Bethel, the old prophet, overcome by an impulse of inspiration, told him that for his disobedience he should perish and lie in a strange grave. Accordingly he had not gone far from Bethel when a lion met and killed him, not, however, mangling or devouring him, but standing still with the ass beside the carcass. On hearing this the old prophet of Bethel went and brought back the corpse. He mourned over his victim with the cry, "Alas, my brother," {Comp. Jer 22:18} and bade his sons that when he died they should bury him in the same sepulcher with the man of God, for all that he had prophesied should come to pass. Josephus adds many idle touches to this story. If in a tale which assumed its present form so long after the events imaginative details were introduced, the incident of the lion subserves the moral aim of the narrative. {2Ki 17:25; Jer 25:30; Jer 49:19 #/RAPC Wis 11:15-17, etc .} The significance of the story for us is happily neither historic nor evidential, but it is profoundly moral. It is the lesson not to linger in the neighborhood of temptation, nor to be dilatory in the completion of duty. It is the lesson to be ever on our guard against the tendency to assume inspired sanction for the conduct and opinions which coincide with our own secret wishes. Satan finds it easy to secure our credence when he answers us according to our idols, and can quote Scripture for our purpose as well as his own; and God sometimes punishes men by granting them their own desires, and sending leanness withal into their bones. The man of God from Judah had received a distinct injunction from which the invitation of a king had been insufficient to shake him. If the old prophet willfully lied, his victim was willingly seduced. We may think his sin venial, his punishment excessive. It will not seem so unless we unduly extenuate his sin and unduly exaggerate the nature of his penalty. His sin consisted in his ready acceptance of a sham inspiration which came to him from a tainted source, and which he ought to have suspected because it conceded what he desired. God’s indisputable intimations to our individual souls are not to be set aside except by intimations no less indisputable. There had been an obvious reason for the command which God had given. The reason still existed; the prohibition had not been withdrawn. The sham revelation furnished him with an excuse; it did not give him a justification. Doubtless Jadon’s first thought was that "He lied in every word, That hoary prophet, with malicious eye Askance to watch the working of his lie." Why did he yield so readily? It was for the same reason which causes so many to sin. "The tempting opportunity" did but meet, as sooner or later it always will meet, "the susceptible disposition." Yet his punishment does not justify us in branding him as a weak or a vicious man. We must judge him and all men, at his best, not at his worst; in his hours of faithfulness and splendid courage, not in his moment of unworthy acquiescence. And his speedy punishment was his best blessing. Who knows what might not have happened to him if the speck of conventionality and corruption had been allowed to spread? Who can tell whether in due time he might not have sunk into something no better than his miserable tempter? Rather than that we should be in any respect false to our loftiest ideals, or less noble than our better selves, let the lion meet us, let the tower of Siloam fall on us, let our blood be mingled with our sacrifices. Better physical death than spiritual degeneracy. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.