SCRIPTURE: 1 KINGS 13
THE MAN OF GOD FROM JUDAH (vs. 1-34)
A prophet came from Judah to Bethel and stopped at the altar when Jeroboam was making an offering. Then he cried out saying: “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son name Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you”. That same day the man of God gave a sign” “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.” (vs. 2-3).
When king Jeroboam heard what the man of God said, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said: “Seize him”. But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up so that he could not pull back. Then the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the name of God by the word of the Lord.
The king asked the man to intercede and pray for him to restore his hand. So, the man of God interceded with the Lord and the king’s hand was restored. The king invited the man of God to go home with him to eat and he will give him a gift. But the man of God said he would not because the Lord told him not to eat bread or drink water or return by the way he came. So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel. The sons of a certain old prophet who was leaving in Bethel came to tell their father what the man of God had done there. He also told their father what he had said to the king. The old prophet saddled the donkey and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked him to come home with him to eat. The man of God refused and told him that the Lord told him not to eat bread or drink water there nor return by the way he came. But the old prophet lied to him saying: “I too am a prophet. And an angel of the Lord told me to bring you back so that you may eat bread an drink water.” The man of God was deceived. He returned with him and ate and drank in his home.
While they were sitting at the table, the old prophet told the man of God: “This is what the Lord says: “You have defied the word of God and have not kept His command because you came back and ate bread and drank water in the place when He told you not to eat or drink., Therefore, you body will not be buried in the tomb of your father”. (vs. 20-22)
After eating and drinking, the man of God rode a donkey home. While on the way, a lion met him on the road and killed him and his body was thrown down on the road with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. People who saw it went to report it tot he old prophet. The old prophet saddled a donkey and went out. He found the body thrown down on the road with the donkey and lion standing beside it. So the old prophet picked up the body of the man of God. He laid it on the donkey and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. After burying him, he told his sons that if he died, they should bury him in the grave where the man of God was buried with his bones beside the man of God. Jeroboam did not change his evil ways. He appointed priests for high places from all sorts of peoples. His sin led to its downfall and destruction.
THOUGHTS:
The man of God did not continually obey his original commission from God. Instead, he believed in the lie of that old prophet. The man of God ended up eating and drinking with an enemy who pretended to be a friend. Do not let other people determine the will of God for your life. Obey what God’s Word says to you regardless of the cost. Disregard what others claim as messenger from God if their words contradict the Bible.
God commanded that only the tribe of Levi can be a priest. Levites were assured of lifetime support from the tithes so they don’t have to worry about tribal intrique or financial future. Jeroboam assigned new priests financed by him so they fell quickly into politics. Jeroboam’s disobedience was the downfall of the religion in the Northern kingdom.