First Kings
Chapter 13 The
Man of God
by
Jim Bordwine, ThD
Introduction
The people of God are now divided into two
kingdoms, one centered in Judah and the other in Bethel. Jeroboam, the leader
of the northern kingdom has devised a way to keep his people from possibly
being persuaded to renounce him and follow king Rehoboam. His plan has been to
make it unnecessary for the people to travel to Jerusalem to perform their
religious duties. He has created new places of worship in his own territory. He
has created, in fact, a whole new religious system.
All this was done without God’s command and in
violation, therefore, of God’s expressed will. The time has come for the
response of God to Jeroboam to be made known. That is what we find as we come
this morning to 1 Kings 13.
01. The Proclamation of the Man of God (13:1-3)
13:1
Now behold,
there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while
Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 He cried against the
altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, ‘Behold,
a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall
sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human
bones shall be burned on you.’“ 3 Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This
is the sign which the LORD has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart
and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’”
As this chapter opens, a new character
comes on the scene. He is identified as a man of God, which is a term used
almost exclusively to refer to God’s prophets in the Old Testament. The writer
adds, of course, that this man of God arrived by the LORD’s direction. In other
words, he was sent by God on a particular mission.
Please note that the man of God comes
from Judah which means that he traveled from the southern kingdom to Bethel,
which is in the northern kingdom. The text says that the man of God found Jeroboam
standing by one of the altars he built burning incense. Here then is the new
leader of the breakaway tribes of Israel engaged in unlawful worship, the very
thing for which he is best known.
You will recall from previous study that
Jeroboam was responsible for introducing idolatry to the nation. He sought to
prevent his followers from returning to Judah, where they might be persuaded to
abandon him in favor of Rehoboam, by establishing various places of worship in
the northern territory. Practically speaking, this made a return to Judah for
religious purposes unnecessary.
I should note that the prophet coming
from Judah to the northern territory indicates that the tribes following
Jeroboam were in error. Rehoboam, in the south, is the rightful ruler over the
nation, although he acted unwisely when the people requested less harsh
conditions under which to work. Jeroboam, on the other hand, has assumed a
position not his to fill. As the man of God arrives, he finds Jeroboam doing
that for which he will be judged, which is, as I noted before, engaging in unlawful
worship.
The purpose for the visit of this
prophet is revealed in v. 2. He has to speak a word of condemnation. He directs
his proclamation to the altar itself, warning that at some time in the future
judgment from God is going to come. This judgment will center on one yet to be
born in the house of David. His name will be Josiah and, according to this
proclamation, he will lead a reform of the worship of the people. The priests
in his day who are engaged in false worship will themselves be sacrificed on this
very altar. Even their bones, the prophet declares, will be burned upon this
altar recently built by Jeroboam.
Let me pause here and mention that this
prophecy was fulfilled 340 years later. In 2 Kings 23, we read:
Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made
Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he
demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah. (v. 15)
This incident took place during a
massive reform movement under Josiah. Just as predicted, the altar at Bethel
was destroyed. Remarkably, after all the time that had passed, Jeroboam was
still remembered as the man “who made Israel sin.” Jeroboam’s impact on the
religious condition of God’s people cannot be underestimated. Once the tribes
that broke away were introduced to false worship, they never recovered; and
eventually that sin resulted in their destruction. And the one man who is
credited for having opened the door for this deadly conduct is Jeroboam.
Consider how Jeroboam’s legacy compares
to the initial impressions of Solomon and others. Jeroboam was brought into the
inner workings of the kingdom by Solomon because he appeared to be well-equipped
as an addition to that administration. Judgments regarding his character at
that time prove to be wrong. Rather than contribute to the stability of the
nation, Jeroboam was instrumental in the division that occurred and, as we have
just read, the spiritual death of the northern kingdom.
Returning to our text, the man of God
provided a sign verifying that his word was from the LORD: “This is the sign which the LORD
has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on
it shall be poured out.’” (v. 3) Verse 5, as we are about to see, records the
occurrence of this sign.
These opening
verses teach a valuable lesson. The fact that God’s judgment is delayed in some
cases does not mean he has withdrawn that judgment. We could speculate
regarding the reason God announced that this judgment through His prophet, but
then waited almost 400 years to bring it about. The text does not explain this
development. What is clear, however, is the fact that God’s judgments do fall
strictly according to His purposes.
It is only the
fool, therefore, who interprets the delay of judgment as a sign that God no
longer cares about the conduct of His creatures. This is, I believe, the common
perspective in the world today. If we understood the nature of God, we would
realize that His justice must be satisfied and the passage of time without that
satisfaction is not an indication that God has determined to ignore wickedness.
02. The Intercession of the Man of God
(13:4-10)
4 Now when the king heard the
saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam
stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” But his hand which
he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to
himself. 5 The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from
the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of
the LORD. 6 The king said to the man of God, “Please entreat the LORD your God,
and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God
entreated the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as
it was before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and
refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 But the man of God said to
the king, “If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor
would I eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 “For so it was commanded me
by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor
return by the way which you came.’“ 10 So he went another way and did not
return by the way which he came to Bethel.
The scene at the altar quickly becomes a
display of God’s displeasure. Reacting as we would expect, Jeroboam objects to
the pronouncement made by the man of God and orders that the prophet be seized.
We would not expect Jeroboam to take the declaration just made seriously, given
his nature and behavior; he responds as we would expect, therefore, and treats
the man of God with hostility. That was a mistake. As Jeroboam stretched out
his hand, presumably pointing at the prophet, his hand “dried up,” the text
says.
The word used here
(yabesh) means “to wither, to become dry, to be without moisture.” I
mention the definitions to show that there is no mystery here about the
condition of Jeroboam’s hand. God struck him and, for the moment, removed the
essential moisture from his hand. That must have been a frightening sight. I
would assume the hand looked mummified.
At that moment, the altar split apart
and the ashes poured out on the ground. Jeroboam’s attitude changed instantly! The
sight of the altar splitting in pieces so frightened Jeroboam that he
immediately dispensed with threats against the man of God and began begging the
prophet to intercede for him so that his weathered hand might be restored. That
demonstration of power confirmed two things in the mind of Jeroboam: first, it
convinced him that the man of God was indeed a man of God; second, it also
convinced him that he was up against a superior opponent.
Way back when I was in elementary
school, I was a fairly gentle person and I did not engage in confrontation on a
regular basis. I typically would take a lot from classmates before getting
angry. In the sixth grade, there was this little peep-squeak of a boy, whose
name was David, and he decided that he was going to become the class bully. One
day, as we came face to face in one of the aisles between the rows of desks, he
said to me: “Sit down, Bordwine, before I put you down.” Standing behind him
was one of his toadies; his purpose, I suppose, was to intimidate whoever was
being addressed.
I was much taller than this boy and much
bigger. But his words did not make me angry; I remember that I smiled at him
and moved out of his way. Things would have been fine if he had left me alone
after that. But he did not. David made a regular practice out of insulting me
and others in the class, and he also continued to threaten all of us with
bodily harm if we displeased him in some manner. This went on for several weeks
and then we were out of school for the summer break.
As I thought about how I had reacted to
David, I decided that I was disappointed in the way I let him treat me. But as
I said, I wasn’t given to physical altercations as a rule. You know what they
say, however: rules are made to be broken, so I decided to make an exception in
this case.
Later that summer, I happened to run
into this guy near our school. I walked up to him quickly and stood face to
face. Before he spoke, I said: “If you open your mouth, I am going to stomp you
into the sidewalk.” I still remember the look of shock on his face. For the
moment, he said nothing. I reminded him of how he treated me in school and told
him that if he ever insulted me or tried to push me around again, I would beat
him so hard his shadow would start crying.
Then he spoke: “Bordwine, you are one
funny guy. I sure am glad that we are friends. What have you been doing this
summer?” There was no sign of the character displayed in the classroom—no
threats, no name calling, and no posturing to show how tough he was. There was
a dramatic and obvious change in David’s interaction with me.
When evil men—and even bullies—think
they have the advantage, they treat others with disdain and do not hesitate to
make all kinds of threats. When those same people realize that they are facing
someone or something greater than themselves, their tone often changes quickly.
This characteristic demonstrates the double mindedness of wicked men. They have
two primary concerns, getting their own way and self preservation. Jeroboam is
a classic example. He adapted to the situation so that he might avoid further
trouble. “Please
entreat the LORD your God,” he cried, “and pray for me, that my hand may be
restored to me.” (v. 6)
In an act of mercy, the man of God did
ask the LORD to restore the hand of Jeroboam and the LORD did so. The grateful
king then invited the prophet to come to his home for refreshment; he also
promised the man of God a reward. The prophet, however, had strict orders from God.
He was commanded to eat no bread and drink no water. And the LORD told him to
return by another route and not follow the trail by which he came to Jeroboam. And
the prophet was determined to obey God’s command: “if you were to give me half
your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in
this place.” And, as he was told, the man of God did not return by the way he
came to Bethel.
There is little doubt that the prophet
avoided dangerous circumstances when he refused to accompany Jeroboam. At best,
he might have been exposed to various temptations associated with the king’s
house, lifestyle, and wealth. I would also imagine that Jeroboam was hoping to
make this man an ally. The most important point to notice, however, is the
simple obedience of the man of God. He did not know what he might have faced had
he gone with Jeroboam, but he did not have to make the decision because the
LORD had already told him what to do. By heeding the command of God, the prophet
encountered no difficulty.
3. The Death of the Man of God
(13:11-34)
In verse 11, we read of an old prophet
who was living in Bethel. His sons reported to him what the man of God had said
and done that day. The old prophet left to find the man of God and, after
catching up with him and confirming that he was in fact the man of God from
Judah, the old prophet invited the man of God to come to his home and eat
bread. Initially, the man of God repeated the command he had received from the
LORD and refused the invitation. But then the old prophet claimed that an angel
had spoken to him and commanded him to bring the man of God to his house so
that he might eat bread and drink water.
At this point, the man of God had to
make an important decision. Previously, he was absolutely sure that God had
given him a specific command not to tarry in this place and not to eat or
drink, but to return to Judah once he had delivered the message to Jeroboam. He
has just been told by an older man claiming to be a prophet, however, that the
LORD now wants the man of God to set aside the original order and go to this
man’s home for food and water. Keep in mind that the only evidence that this
older man is, in fact, speaking the truth is his claim that he is speaking the
truth. The man of God has not heard directly from God. The assumption made by
the man of God, namely, that this old prophet was, indeed, telling him the
truth, was a costly mistake. The older prophet was lying to the man of God, as
the text says at the end of v. 18.
I was once visited by the wife of an
elder in the church where I was serving. She wanted to tell me that she
believed I needed to leave the ministry and find a “regular job,” as she put
it. She said that God probably did not want me to continue in my present
vocation and that He had something planned for me that I would enjoy just as
much. By this time in my life, I had long ago settled the matter of my call to
the ministry. There really was nothing she could say that would cause me to
doubt my calling and consider leaving the church. She, however, was quite confident
that she had discerned the will of God for me, my family, and the congregation.
In my response, I respectfully disagreed
with her opinion and let her know that this was not the way I would expect God
to inform me of the revocation of my calling. There is, of course, some
background to this incident, as I am sure you suspect. As I noted, this woman’s
husband was one of the elders in this church. When we faced an entirely
manageable bit of difficulty, he bailed out. This man literally stopped coming
to church. He had no backbone whatsoever and really shamed himself by his
behavior and by the fact that his wife came to my door to convince me that I
needed to move on.
The woman’s visit, by the way, came
after I finally was able to speak to her husband on the phone and asked him why
he had failed to show up at the previous Sunday morning’s worship when he knew
we would be observing the sacrament and I would be expecting his help. That
conversation was not heated, nor was it characterized by an unfriendly tone. I
was puzzled by his behavior and told him so, but not with a raised voice or
accusations. I later found out that he described that phone conversation as me
“hammering” on him. It was then that his wife came to his rescue.
My point is that the command or call of God
may not be set aside, ignored, or modified except at the direction of the LORD himself.
As for me, I had no such communication in any manner from God so I was not
about to entertain the suggestion of this elder’s wife. As for the man of God
in our story, he had no assurance that he was being told the truth. When he did
make that assumption and act on it, he guaranteed a bleak future for himself.
After returning home, the text says that
the LORD actually did speak to the old prophet who then said to the man of God:
21 . . . “Thus says the LORD,
‘Because you have disobeyed the command of the LORD, and have not observed the
commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 22 but have returned and
eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread
and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’”
This meant, of
course, that the man of God would not make it back to Judah. The text
continues:
23 It came about after he had
eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the
prophet whom he had brought back. 24 Now when he had gone, a lion met him on
the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey
standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. 25 And behold,
men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside
the body; so they came and told it in
the city where the old prophet lived. 26 Now when the prophet who brought him
back from the way heard it, he
said, “It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the LORD; therefore
the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him,
according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him.” 27 Then he spoke to
his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 He went and found his body
thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the
lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. 29 So the prophet took up the
body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he
came to the city of the and to bury him. 30 He laid his body in his own grave,
and they mourned over him, saying,
“Alas, my brother!”
The old prophet makes a second trip to
find the man of God, only this time it is to retrieve his body. The man of God
was buried in the city of the old prophet, not among his fathers, just as the
LORD said. There the old prophet mourned for the brother he deceived. He then
gave directions to his sons that he should be buried in the same grave with the
man of God when he died.
These troubling words conclude this
story:
33
After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made
priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he
ordained, to be priests of the high places. 34 This event became sin to the
house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out
and destroy it from off the
face of the earth.
Jeroboam did not repent, in spite of
what he had seen. He continued establishing his unlawful system among the
people of God. Amazingly, Jeroboam went so far as to ordain any who volunteered
to be a priest. With this action, Jeroboam sealed the doom of his own house,
the writer states.
Application
I have a question I want to ask now that
we have gone through this story of the man of God. When we got to the end of
this passage, we read that the man of God was lied to by an older prophet. The
man of God had been told to leave Bethel without stopping to eat or drink. The
other prophet told him, however, that the LORD had said to him that he should
pursue the man of God and bring him to his own home so that the man of God
could be refreshed with food and drink. Then, as the man of God is sitting
there enjoying the hospitality of the older prophet, he learns that he has
disobeyed God by not keeping that original order to leave the area. And, as a
result, God killed him—God killed
him.
This man traveled from Judah to Bethel,
he went straight to the altar and bravely confronted Jeroboam, and resisted the
king’s attempts to persuade him to remain. Then, this man started home when he
was met by a man claiming to be a prophet of God. This man deceived the man of God.
There is no previous sign that the man of God was given to disobedience. But he
assumed the other man was telling the truth. God did not speak to the man of God,
however, indicating the original command to return immediately to Judah had
been revoked; but circumstances were such that he believed he was now permitted
to remain long enough to refresh himself in the home of the older prophet. Soon,
the man of God learned that he had, indeed, been misled. He is not given an
opportunity to repent.
Here is my question: Do you believe,
although you would never say so, that the punishment given by God was too
harsh? Did the man of God deserve to die?
My guess is that many Christians would
consider God’s reaction in this case to be excessive. Many would assume that,
due to the particular historical circumstances of Israel, God was tougher on
people back then. After all, He does not kill us today when we disobey. In
fact, we are accustomed to an abundance of patience from God. We sin against
Him every day and we often do it on purpose, but He doesn’t strike us down
there on the spot.
This may be the manner in which we
reason, but such reasoning is terribly misguided. At the heart of this episode
in which the man of God died after being deceived and doing what God told him
not to do, is the holiness of God. If we rightly grasped this attribute of God,
the notion that God overreacted would never even occur to us. In fact, if we
had the right perspective on the holiness of God, we would immediately agree
that the man of God deserved death. We would understand that the holy character
of God can never be violated without
death being the result for the offender. If we understood the holiness of God,
we would realize that not even a single example of disobeying God, lying to
God, misrepresenting God, or failing to do exactly what God tells us to do is
sufficient to bring forth the sentence of death.
The man of God disobeyed the command he
received. God did not revoke that command. There was no proof that God was
speaking through the older prophet. No matter what the older man said,
therefore, the man of God was bound to honor the righteous character and
integrity of God’s word. His decision to go to the house of the older prophet was
in violation of the order he received.
The issue that led to the death of the
man of God is the issue running throughout this portion of Scripture from
Solomon to Rehoboam to Jeroboam—and that issue is lack of proper regard for the
holiness of God. Repeatedly, these men thought so little of the holiness of God
that they disobeyed His law. They knew they were doing that which God
condemned, but they did it anyway because they did not grasp the holiness of
God.
Earlier I speculated about the thinking
of many modern Christians. Because God doesn’t strike us down when we disobey,
we assume that He no longer has such an intense concern for His holiness. I’m
not saying we think we can do whatever we please, I’m saying that we do not
consider our sin as worthy of the kind of response given to the man of God. But have you forgotten about Jesus? Have
you forgotten what happened to Him? It’s true that God does not strike us down
when we disobey, but it is not because He no longer defends His holiness. We
are not struck down because He has already struck down Another in our place.
Our Savior received what was due us. He
took the punishment for our transgressions against the holy character of God.
His life was given because that is the price required when the pure character
of God the Almighty is disrespected. Instead of wondering why God killed the
man of God or speculating in our hearts about the severity of that reaction, we
should be moved to thankfulness before the LORD when we read that story. We
should realize that we deserved exactly that kind of response from God due to
our sin.
But Jesus stepped in between the
offended God and us, and willingly took the wrath that had to come. That is how
great and gracious our Savior is; He is why we continue to breath even though
every hour of our existence manifests our disregard for the holiness of God.
This is a Savior to be sought and loved and
worshiped. This is a Savior to be honored. If you know Him, rejoice; if you do
not know Him, seek Him while you can.
Prayer
Hymn
for Communion
Conclusion
As we were reminded, we are able to
enjoy a peaceful relationship with God in spite of His holiness and our lack of
holiness. That’s because we have a Substitute to take the sentence of death for
us. This sacrament calls us to review that truth, give thanks to God for that
truth, and dedicate ourselves to living according to this truth every day of our
lives.
Matt.
26:26 While they
were eating, Jesus took some bread,
and after a blessing, He broke it and
gave it to the disciples, and
said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given
thanks, He gave it to them,
saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. 29 But I say to you, I
will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I
drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”