Jeroboam I Kings 13

I 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 is king over the 10 tribes of Israel. He spent time in Egypt while hiding from Solomon who sought to kill him. He has come back then is made king. He fears that if the people go down to Jerusalem to worship in the temple that he will loose his kingdom so he sets up some calves c12 v28 for them to worship. If you remember, while Moses was in the mountain getting the commandments, Aaron set up a calf for the people to worship. It was wrong in both cases.

A man of God is sent to Jeroboam with notice that the altar would be torn down.

v3 "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."

Jeroboam thinking to apprehend the man of God pointed and told his people to take hold of the man of God. The hand he pointed with became stiff so that he could not bring it again to his body. Then he as the prophet to pray that it be restored and it was. v6

Then we come to the specific instructions of the man of God and his failure to follow them.

v9 "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."

The man of God managed to refuse the kings offer to take him home with him and so went on his way. But another temptation came to him. It was from an unlikely source: another man of God.

V11 "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."

Now we can go to Galations 1:8,9

Galations 1:8,9 "But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

God told the man of God not to eat or drink and to go home by a different route than he went to Bethel but now that the prophet sent for him, he left off doing what God said in favor of doing what the prophet said. Even an old prophet cannot change the command of God.

v24 "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."

The man of God was buried in that area instead of in his home town. There is another story that is similar in Numbers 22.

v33 "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."

Jeroboam not only lost himself but his legacy.

Psalm 112:10 "The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away; the dsire of the wicked shall perish."

Keywords: Old Old Story. Bible Study, Old Testament, Jeroboam, Israel. Jeroboam is warned by the man of God.