13:1 Just then a prophet from Judah, sent by the Lord, arrived in Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice. 

 

A prophet from Judah was sent to Israel by Jehovah. The prophet arrived at Bethel, which means “house of God.” 

 

Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to sacrifice. Since Bethel was one of the two places of meetings, then people from all over Israel would travel to Bethel for this offering. There were many Israelites in Bethel at this time. They came to watch the king make this official offering at this special feast for the nation of Israel.

 

This sacrifice was against the Mosaic Law for several reasons. First, the only place that Jehovah accepted sacrifices was at the Jerusalem temple. Second, the sacrifice must be offered by a Levite priest. Jeroboam was an Ephraimiite. Third, the sacrifice could only be offered to Jehovah. This sacrifice was offered to the supposed calf god who brought Israel out of Egpyt. 

 

13:2 With the authority of the Lord he cried out against the altar, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says, ‘Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’ ”

 

Priests could only come from the line of Levi, but Jeroboam allowed priests to come from any tribe in Israel. This illegitimate priesthood that Jeroboam established would last for at least 300 more years.

 

Israel was the only nation where prophets could condemn kings without being executed. This prophet was sent from Judah. He made a prophecy against the altar in Bethel. The prophet predicted that a future king named Josiah would be born into the Davidic dynasty. Josiah would be born 300 years later. Josiah would execute all of the illegitimate priests of Israel that were originally established by Jeroboam. The bones of these illegitimate priests would be burned and placed upon the altar in which Jeroboam was offering a sacrifice.

 

13:3 That day he also announced a sign, “This is the sign the Lord has predetermined: The altar will be split open and the ashes on it will fall to the ground.”

 

Whenever a prophet made a long-distance prophecy such as this one, then the prophet also made a short-term prophecy to authenticate that the long-term prophecy would come true. The prophet predicted that the altar would supernaturally split open and the ashes would fall to the ground. Contact with the ground would render the ashes unclean and nullify the ritual.

 

13:4 When the king heard what the prophet cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam, standing at the altar, extended his hand and ordered, “Seize him!” The hand he had extended shriveled up and he could not pull it back. 

 

King Jeroboam ordered the guards to seize this prophet in order to slay him. However, Jeroboam’s hand shriveled up and he could not pull it back. Jehovah was protecting His prophet.

 

13:5 The altar split open and the ashes fell from the altar to the ground, in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had announced with the Lord’s authority.

 

All of the king’s men heard the prophecy, observed the miracle of the king’s arm being paralyzed, and they watched the altar split open. Everyone there knew that this man was a prophet and that the Israelite priests were illegal. This prophecy would become public knowledge all through Israel.

 

13:6 The king pled with the prophet, “Seek the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored.” So the prophet sought the Lord’s favor and the king’s hand was restored to its former condition.

 

The king pleaded for his hand to be restored and his request was granted. The king and this large crowd knew that this man was a true prophet from God.

 

13:7 The king then said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat. I’d like to give a present.” 

 

The king invited the prophet to dinner. In Israel, hospitality was a sacred custom. if the prophet would have eaten the meal and accepted the gift, then he would be making a treaty of protection with an apostate king. The prophet had been instructed by God not to accept any meal, because it would have placed the prophet in Jeroboam’s debt.

 

13:8 But the prophet said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I could not go with you and eat and drink in this place. 

 

The prophet refused the request.

 

13:9 For the Lord gave me strict orders, ‘Do not eat or drink there and do not go home the way you came.’ ” 

 

Jehovah had forbidden the prophet to eat or drink in Israel. He was also commanded to take a different route back home to Judah. The prophet’s own conduct was to symbolize that Israel had become an apostate nation and Jehovah would have no fellowship with them. This was simply a business trip. It was not a pleasure trip.

 

13:10 So he started back on another road; he did not travel back on the same road he had taken to Bethel. 

 

The prophet from Judah continued home on a different route.

 

13:11 Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. When his sons came home, they told their father everything the prophet had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king.

 

This old prophet once served Jehovah. However, he compromised himself by living in apostate Israel. Now, he was living in an idolatrous nation and supporting it with his taxes.

 

13:12 Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him the road the prophet from Judah had taken. 

 

The old prophet asked his son to reveal the road in which the prophet from Judah took to return home.

 

13:13 He then told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” When they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 

 

The old prophet set out on his donkey to find the prophet from Judah.

 

13:14 and took off after the prophet, whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the prophet from Judah?” He answered, “Yes, I am.” 

 

The old prophet found the prophet from Judah sitting under an oak tree.

 

13:15 He then said to him, “Come home with me and eat something.” 

 

The old prophet invited the prophet from Judah to dinner. 

 

13:16 But he replied, “I can’t go back with you or eat and drink with you in this place. 

 

The prophet from Judah refused the offer.

 

13:17 For the Lord gave me strict orders, ‘Do not eat or drink there; do not go back the way you came.’ ” 

 

Jehovah commanded the prophet from Judah not to eat or drink with apostates from Israel.

 

13:18 The old prophet then said, “I too am a prophet like you. An angel told me with the Lord’s authority, ‘Bring him back with you to your house so he can eat and drink.’ ” But he was lying to him.

 

The old prophet lied to the prophet from Judah.

 

13:19 So the prophet went back with him and ate and drank in his house. 

 

If an angel or prophet gave out communication that was the opposite of the communication from Jehovah, then this was a false prophecy. The prophet from Judah should have refused this request.

 

Charismatics like to use this verse to claim that there are still prophets today, just like the one from Judah. However, this is just simply a recording of history. Bible doctrine for the local church is not found in the history of the Old or New Testament. Instead, modern doctrine for the church is found in Paul’s epistles.

 

13:20 While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke through the old prophet 

 

Jehovah once again spoke through the old prophet.

 

13:21 and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have rebelled against the Lord and have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. 

 

Jehovah informed the prophet from Judah that his eating dinner with this old prophet was disobedience to Jehovah’s command.

 

13:22 You went back and ate and drank in this place, even though he said to you, “Do not eat or drink there.” Therefore your corpse will not be buried in your ancestral tomb.’ ” 

 

Since the prophet from Judah disobeyed Jehovah, his corpse would not be buried in his family tomb. Israelites buried their dead with the bones of their ancestors in a common grave. The lack of such a burial was considered a severe punishment and disgrace. The prophet of God possessed more light, so he was judged more severely.

 

13:23 When the prophet from Judah finished his meal, the old prophet saddled his visitor’s donkey for him.

 

The old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet from Judah.

 

13:24 As the prophet from Judah was traveling, a lion attacked him on the road and killed him. His corpse was lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion just stood there beside it.

 

A lion killed the prophet from Judah, but it did not kill the donkey. The lion stood beside the man and the donkey. This was unusual. Usually, a lion would kill the man and the donkey and eat both of them. The donkey would run away. The lion and the donkey would not stand next to teach other.

 

13:25 Some men came by and saw the corpse lying in the road with the lion standing beside it. They went and reported what they had seen in the city where the old prophet lived. 

 

Some men reported this strange incident to the city where the old prophet lived. This information became public knowledge to all of Israel.

 

13:26 When the old prophet who had invited him to his house heard the news, he said, “It is the prophet who rebelled against the Lord. The Lord delivered him over to the lion and it ripped him up and killed him, just as the Lord warned him.”

 

The old prophet recognized Jehovah’s hand in this supernatural event.

 

13:27 He told his sons, “Saddle my donkey,” and they did so.

 

The old prophet went to find the corpse of the prophet from Judah.

 

13:28 He went and found the corpse lying in the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside it; the lion had neither eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. 

 

For hours, the lion and the donkey stood next to the corpse.

 

13:29 The old prophet picked up the corpse of the prophet, put it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet then entered the city to mourn him and to bury him. 

 

The old prophet buried the prophet from Judah in his own city. The prophet of Judah was buried in apostate Israel.

 

13:30 He put the corpse into his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, “Ah, my brother!” 

 

The old prophet placed the prophet from Judah in his own family tomb. He may have felt responsible for tricking him into dinner by using a false prophecy.

 

13:31 After he buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the prophet is buried; put my bones right beside his bones, 

 

The old prophet asked his sons to one day bury him next to the prophet from Judah.

 

13:32 for the prophecy he announced with the Lord’s authority against the altar in Bethel and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north will certainly be fulfilled.” 

 

The old prophet knew that the prophet of Judah’s prediction would be fulfilled. King Josiah fulfilled this prophecy 300 year later by killing all of Israel’s illegitimate priests and burning them on the altar in Bethel where Jeroboam was sacrificing. The old prophet was finally willing to identify himself with the message that the man of God from Judah had given against the illegal worship at Bethel.

 

13:33 After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; he continued to appoint common people as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest.

 

The Old Prophet learned from this supernatural event, but Jeroboam did not. He continued to appoint illegitimate priests in Israel.

 

13:34 This sin caused Jeroboam’s dynasty to come to an end and to be destroyed from the face of the earth. 

 

If Jeroboam was obedient to God and walked in the ways of David, then Jehovah offered Jeroboam an everlasting dynasty. Instead, Jeroboam established idolatry and an illegitimate priesthood in Israel. God would judge Jeroboam by removing his dynasty from the earth.