>> Jen: Hey, guys. Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast on this lovely Monday morning. Today, we're going to be reading the entire chapter of First Kings 13. I'd like to thank you all for the lovely reviews I've been getting on the Bible Explained podcast recently. Specifically from Apple Podcasts is where I normally see the most reviews. And so I just want to thank all of you faithful listeners for taking the time to write a review. And they're all very kind, nice reviews, and I do
appreciate all of them. I recently got one that I'd like to read, actually, and this is from H. Champion 2. It says this podcast started my journey knowing Jesus. When I started this podcast from a little over a year ago, I didn't know Jesus at all. I wanted to know him more, and the best way I could think to do that was to read the Bible. I had never picked up the Bible and read it because it was intimidating. I found this podcast and has truly
changed my relationship with Jesus. I've since been baptized and saved. So, uh, wow. I'm just so thankful for that review and all the other reviews like it. You know, they really make my day when I see them. So thank you guys so much for the very kind reviews. We're going to be reading a very bizarre story today, and it's a very interesting story, and I think some people get some wrong impressions while reading it as well. So let's go ahead and read the entire chapter
of First Kings 13. It is a longer chapter. It will take me some time to read all the way through it, but it is one cohesive and very strange story. So I'm going to be reading this out of the web, but please, of course, feel free to grab the version of the Bible that you prefer this morning and turn to 1 Kings 13, and let's read it together. Behold, a man of God, uh came out of Judah by Yahweh's word, to Bethel. And Jeroboam was standing
by the altar to burn incense. He cried against the altar by Yahweh's word, and said, altar, altar. Yahweh says, behold, a son will be born to David's house, Josiah, by name on you. He will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn, uh, men's bones on you. He gave a sign the same day, saying, this is the sign which Yahweh has spoken. Behold, the altar will split apart, and the ashes that are on it
will be poured out. When the king heard the saying of the man of God, uh, which he cried against the altar in Bethel. Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, seize him. His hand, which he put out against him, dried up so that he could not draw it back again to himself. The altar was also split apart and the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God, uh had given. By Yahweh's
word. The king answered, the man of God, uh, now intercede for the favor of Yahweh, your God, uh, and pray for me that my hand may be restored to me again. The man of God, uh interceded with Yahweh, and the king's hand was restored to him again. And it became as it was before. The king said to the man of God, uh, come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you
a reward. The man of God, uh said to the king, even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go with you, neither would I eat your bread or drink water in this place. For so it was commanded me by Yahweh's word, saying, you shall eat no bread, drink no water, and don't return by the way that you came. So he went another way and didn't return by the way. He came to Bethel. Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God, uh
had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. Their father said to them, which way did he go? Now his sons had seen which way the man of God, uh went who came from Judah. He said to his sons, saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it. He went after the man of God, uh and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, are you the man of God, uh who came from Judah? He said, I am. Then he said to him,
come home with me and eat bread. He said, I may not return with you, nor go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. For it was said to me, by Yahweh's word, you shall eat no bread or drink water there, and don't turn again to go by the way that you. He said to him, I also am a prophet as you are. And an angel spoke to me by Yahweh's words, saying, bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. He lied to him.
So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. As they sat at the TABLE Yahweh's word came to the prophet who brought him back, and he cried out to the man of God, uh who came from Judah, saying, Yahweh says, because you have been disobedient to Yahweh's mouth and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God, uh commanded you, but came back and have eaten bread and drank water, in the place of which he said to you, eat no bread and drink no water.
Your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers. After he had eaten bread and after he drank, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body. Behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the path and the lion standing by the
body where the old prophet lived. When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, it is the man of God, uh who is disobedient to Yahweh's mouth. Therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion which has mauled him and slain him according to Yahweh's word which he spoke to him. He said to his sons, saying, saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it. He went and found his body thrown on the path and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the
body nor mauled the donkey. The prophet took up the body of the man of God, uh and laid it on the donkey and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, alas, my brother. After he had buried him, he spoke to his son, saying, when I am dead, bury me in the tomb in which the man of God, uh is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
For the saying which he cried by Yahweh's word against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen after this thing. Jeroboam didn't return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people whoever wanted to. He consecrated him that there might be
priests of the high places. This thing became a sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it from the surface of the earth. So you can see now why this is a Very bizarre story. Firstly, it's just kind of thrown into the middle of 1 Kings 13. Secondly, the story is kind of weird. And thirdly, we don't know the names of any of the main characters of this story. They're just called the man of God, uh and the old prophet. So what the heck is going
on in this story? And why did God, uh judge the man of God, uh in this way? To kill him with a lion. All right, so it says in verse one, behold, a man of God, uh came out of Judah by Yahweh's word, to Bethel. So you remember now, since the last chapter, Israel has been split into two countries, Israel and Judah. King Solomon's line still had control of Judah down south. And Judah is
where all of the Levitical priests went. It was where the moral people went because they didn't like what Jeroboam was doing up in northern Israel. So everybody that was moral went down to Judah to live there and to worship God, uh in Judah. So, uh, basically it seems like very few God, uh fearing people were left in Israel and pretty much everybody had gone down to Judah. So it's interesting to note here that a man of God, uh came out of Judah to go up to Bethel, which was
in Israel. That kind of shows that there were very few men of God, uh in Israel left. That God, uh had to actually pull somebody out of Judah to go up and to prophesy against Israel because there were no good prophets really left in Israel at this time. And you might be like, well, what about this old man prophet? Wasn't he a good prophet? Personally, I think no, but I'll talk about that in a second. So the man of God, uh came out of Judah
to go up to Bethel. And Bethel was one of the cities in Israel that had an altar and a temple to false idols that King Jeroboam made. And so the man of God, uh gets to Bethel and he actually gets to the altar where Jeroboam, King Jeroboam is actually standing there and burning his incense at this altar. And the man of God, uh cries out. While Jeroboam is doing this like ritual, the man of God, uh cries out and he says, altar, altar. Behold, a son will be born to David's house, Josiah by
name. And on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you and they will burn men's bones on you. So this man of God, uh prophesies against the altar while Jeroboam is basically using it. And he's like, look, this prophecy is going to take place. A man named Josiah is going to be born. Josiah is going to be part of David's line, and he is going to burn human bones on you, specifically the bones of the priests who
sacrifice on you. And this actually did happen about 300 years later. Um, a man named King Josiah towards the end of Israel and Judah's history, before Babylon came in and basically destroyed everything. King Josiah actually did that. He tore down all of these high places, he tore down all the altars. And on that particular altar, he actually did burn the bones of the priests. He actually had the priests dug out of the ground and took their bones and literally burned them on the altar. So
that did actually happen. But Jeroboam obviously doesn't know this. Jeroboam's listening to this prophecy, thinking that this could happen at any point, that a, uh, boy named Josiah could be born at any moment in time and come and destroy this altar and destroy the house of Jeroboam and all of these priests and everything. But the man of God, uh continues. He says, this is the sign which Yahweh has spoken. Behold, the altar will be split apart and the ashes that are on it will
be poured out. So in other words, the man of God, uh says, this is how you know for sure that this prophecy will happen, because the altar is going to split apart and all of the ashes that are on it are going to be thrown onto the ground. So the king gets really angry. You know, King Jeroboam, who's like, using this altar right now, he gets really mad, and so he points a finger at the man of God, uh and he says, seize him. His hand shrivels up and becomes
like, uh, lame. In fact, it's so bad, he can't even pull it back to his body. So his arm just becomes, like, completely crippled. Not only does this happen at the exact same time, the altar literally splits apart and the ashes pour out onto the ground. This obviously terrifies King Jeroboam, and he asks the man of God, uh, he's like, please, I'm sorry for trying to kill you just a second ago. Will you please pray to your God, uh, Yahweh, for me and, uh, heal my
hand. So the man of God, uh does it, and, uh, God, uh actually restores King Jeroboam's hand back to the way it was before. So now that King Jeroboam is healed, he totally shifts his tune and doesn't try to kill the man of God, uh anymore. Instead, he's like, okay, come on home with me. I'm going to give you a reward. I'm going to give you shelter and food. And I'm going to refresh you. You've had a very long journey, so come on home
with me. And this makes sense, that King Jeroboam would want to make friends with this man, uh, of God, uh, because the man of God, uh is a prophet. And this would be helpful and useful for Jeroboam. But notice that Jeroboam is not at all repentant over what he did. He doesn't really say he's sorry. He doesn't ask for forgiveness from God, uh. Instead, he's just trying to profit off of the man of God, uh.
That's the only thing he cares about. Now that he's healed again, he doesn't really care so much that God, uh is angry with him. But the man of God, uh says to King Jeroboam, even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you. Neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place, for it was commanded to me by Yahweh's word, saying, you shall not eat bread, drink any water, and
don't return by the way that you came. So in other words, Yahweh had commanded the man of God, uh to travel quickly to Bethel from Judah and then travel immediately back down and fast the entire time that he was making this journey. And this was a very long journey. It was probably like a day that, uh, it would take to travel from Bethel to Judah. It would probably take quite a bit of time. So God, uh was asking this man of God, uh to fast for that entire time period. And we don't know why.
God, uh has his reasons that we just won't understand. But God, uh commanded the man of God, uh to not eat anything during this particular travel. Not only that the man of God, uh was not allowed to go back the same way that he came. Once again, don't know why, but the man of God, uh does actually obey God, uh at this point in time. He refuses King Jeroboam's offer and he goes back home a different way. So now it turns out that there was
an old prophet living in Bethel. And a lot of people might be tempted to read this story, thinking that this old prophet is somebody who is a true prophet of God, uh, who is a good guy. But I would say no, because why didn't God, uh choose that old prophet to begin with? Why did God, uh have somebody from Judah make this journey to come up and go back
down? That's what I think personally. Now, of course, scripture doesn't specifically say that, but there is some more evidence to prove that this old prophet Living in Bethel was not the best prophet. He was. He was very possibly, uh, no longer in fellowship with God, uh. So it says. This old prophet in verse 11 lived in Bethel. One of his sons came up to him and told him all the works that the man of God, uh had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father
the words which he had spoken to the king. Now, of course, this actually piques the old man's interest because he had once been in fellowship with God, uh in the same way, even though it's very possible that he had lost that fellowship with God, uh and maybe even started, um, also worshiping at temples in Bethel. It's possible. But this old man, his interest is just piqued. So he tries to go out and find the man of God, uh. And he is successful because his sons had seen which way the man of
God, uh had come. So the old man saddles up his donkey and goes out to meet the man of God, uh. And he finds him sitting on the side of the road underneath an oak tree, probably resting, you know. And the man of God, uh, I'm sure, hasn't drank or ate any water for a full day. And so he's probably not feeling super energetic. So the old man says to him, are you the man of God, uh who came from Judah? And he said, I am. Then the old man said to him, come home with me and eat
bread now. Hm. Why would the old man, the old prophet, want this man of God, uh to come home with him? Probably because he was deeply interested in him. Don't forget that the old man had been a prophet at one point in time. He probably wanted to hear from the man of God's own mouth what God, uh had actually said. He was probably just interested in that. So he really wanted this man of God, uh to come home with him and eat some food. But the man of God, uh stands firm for a
second. He's like, no, no, no, I can't come home with you. I'm not allowed to return the same way that I came. And I'm also not allowed to eat any food or drink any water in this place. Not until I get home to Judah. So the old prophet, who is desperate to have this man of God, uh come home with him, blatantly lies. He says, well, I'm also a prophet as you are. And that's not the lie. This is the lie.
An angel spoke to me by Yahweh's words, saying, bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water. And then scripture specifically says he lied to him. This shows right Here that this old prophet was not a good guy because he was using his status of prophet to lie to somebody else in God's, uh, name, which scripture is very clear that you are never to listen to those types of prophets, even if their prophecies come
true. Those prophets have blasphemed God's name and so they should not be paid attention to. There's a verse in Deuteronomy, I believe. I can't find it right this
second. I actually didn't look it up. So I'm sorry. But it basically says that even if the prophecy of a prophet comes true, like they say, that something is going to happen in the future, and it actually happens, if that prophet turns around and starts telling people, oh, we need to start worshiping this God, uh, or we need to start doing this thing that is against God's laws, then you are never supposed to listen to that prophet because they are not in line
with scripture. There is an example of this in the Old Testament, a man named Balaam, if you remember me talking about him in the Book of Numbers, he was a prophet and he was not from Israel either. He could hear God, uh and he could communicate with God, uh, but he was a pretty bad guy. And he ended up causing a lot of trouble for Israel in the Book of Numbers because Balaam, even though he could hear the voice of God, uh, he was far more interested in gaining wealth for himself.
And so he basically betrayed Israel even though he knew it was against God, uh to do so. So that proves that there are prophets out there like this old prophet mentioned right here and Balaam mentioned earlier, who can hear God's words but yet are not good guys. So this old prophet lies to the man of God, uh and the man of God, uh doesn't ask God, uh about this. He just decides to believe this old man. Now why would he do that? Well, uh, because the old man claimed to be a prophet firstly.
Secondly, the old man was older and there is a natural respect for elders. Thirdly, this old man was being very hospitable, not offering a ton of stuff, just offering food and water. And lastly, the man of God, uh was probably very hungry and very thirsty, and that tempted him to go back with the old prophet. Now, we don't know exactly why God, uh was so against the man of God, uh eating food or drinking water or going to this old prophet's home. We don't know exactly why.
Maybe perhaps there was information that the man of God, uh had that was only for himself to know. And if he went to somebody's house and started eating and drinking with them and, and being all happy and friendly, he might reveal that information that God, uh didn't want anybody else to know. Now, that's not stated in Scripture, but that's just my own 2 cents. It could have been any reason why God, uh didn't want the man of God, uh to go and eat with anybody in Israel.
He wanted the man of God, uh to wait until he was home. But anyway, the man of God, uh doesn't listen to God, uh and is tempted and goes back with the old prophet. So they eat and they drink. As they sat at the table, Yahweh's word came to the prophet who brought him back. So the old prophet, who it seems like hasn't heard from God, uh in a very long time now, hears a prophecy from God, uh and the old prophet states it to the
young man of God, uh. He says, because you have been disobedient to Yahweh's mouth and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh, your God, uh commanded you, but came back and have eaten bread and drank water, in the place of which he said to you, eat no bread and drink no water. Your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers. In other words, the old prophet is telling the man of God, uh, you're going to die on the way home because you did not obey Yahweh's
voice. You might be like, well, why didn't God, uh punish the old man for lying to the man of God, uh? I don't know the answer to that. It's likely God, uh punished the old prophet in a different way that we just don't know about. But the punishment was specifically for the man of God, uh. And why? Well, because the man of God, uh was supposed to listen to Yahweh above anybody else, and the man of God, uh got tempted to
listen to somebody else. So this is a story for you and me as well, because if we know for certain that God, uh tells us to do something, but then, you know, we get persuaded by somebody else to not do that thing, or somebody else lies to us or claims to have some knowledge from God, uh, even though we ourselves know that God, uh told us to do something, we are never supposed to listen
to those people. It's kind of funny because I feel like I just recently talked about that on a different episode last week, about how if you know something is from God, uh, you should never be persuaded to do something contrary to what God, uh asked you to do. God's word always comes first. As Christians, we are to listen to God, uh above anybody else. So the old prophet actually gets a prophecy from God, uh and prophesies
against the man of God, uh. So the man of God, uh goes home, and this lion came and killed him on the way. And we know that lions were very common in this day of Israel's history. They were a big problem. So this lion kills the man of God, uh, and it says that his body was thrown down from his donkey, and the donkey stood by his body, and the lion also
stood by the body. And it says people are passing by on the road, looking at the man who was lying there, and the lion and the donkey just, like, chilling near the body. And the people were flabbergasted. They're like, this lion is literally just like, sitting there next to this body, not eating the donkey, not eating the body, just like, standing there. And it was. It was like a, uh, miracle. Because what a lions do, they don't just
kill somebody and not eat the body. They don't just let a donkey roam free. They typically will kill to eat. But the lion was not doing that. And so this was showing that it was truly from God, uh. So the old prophet hears about this, and he is very upset about it. He probably feels a tremendous amount of guilt at this point in time. So he actually goes and gets the body of the man of God, uh.
He sees the lion standing there, and he bravely goes up to the man of God, uh with the lion, like, standing guard over the body, picks up the body and puts it on the donkey who was also standing nearby. He takes the donkey home with the man of God's body, and he buries the man of God, uh in his very own tomb. And then he tells his sons, I want my bones to be buried right next to this man of God, uh. Which shows how distraught the
old prophet really felt. He probably felt terrible for lying to this man of God, uh. And maybe, uh, in a sense, that was the old prophet's punishment as well, knowing that his lie helped contribute to the death of this man of God, uh. So the old prophet mourns for the man of God, uh and says, alas, my brother. He says, everything that you said that is going to happen to Bethel will certainly happen. Then at the end of all of this, which is very sad.
Verses 33 and 34, after this thing, King Jeroboam didn't return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people whoever wanted to, he consecrated him that there might be priests of the high places. And we know that these weren't just, um, you know, like priests, they were also prostitutes. So it's likely that there is both men and women prostitute priests that would go to these temples and offer their services for a fee from the people.
So this was a very grave thing that Jeroboam did. It says this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and destroy it from the surface of the earth. I really enjoyed talking about this little bizarre story. You're going to notice as we move further into First Kings and especially Second Kings, that the prophecies are going to get weirder and weirder and the prophets are going to get weirder and
weirder. And that's because as Israel moves further and further away from God, uh, God, uh starts using the prophets in the most crazy and interesting ways to get the attention of the people. Once again, he says, look, if you're not going to listen to my words, then I am going to show you real weird things. Maybe you'll listen to that. So we'll see that as, uh, time moves on in 1st and 2nd kings. Anyway, faithful listeners, we're almost done with the book of First Kings. We only have, I think,
seven more chapters left. No, actually, it looks like eight more chapters left, but we're moving through very quickly First Kings. I hope you guys have been enjoying First Kings, and if you have, make sure to share it on your social media platforms. Tell people that the Bible Explained podcast exists. Anyway, faithful listeners, I will see you all tomorrow for an episode from First uh, Corinthians. Happy listening and God, uh bless.