The story of Judah’s man of God
1 A man of God came out of Judah following a command of Yahweh, and he arrived at Bethel while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
2 The man shouted, cursing the altar, “O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: There shall be born to the family of David a son by the name of Josiah. He shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you; and human bones shall be burned on you.”
3 And at once the man gave a sign. He said, “This is the proof that Yahweh has spoken. The altar shall be torn down and the ashes on it shall be scattered.”
4 When the king heard the man of God shouting and cursing the altar of Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Arrest him!”
5 Immediately the hand which he pointed out against the man dried up and he could not draw it back. The altar itself crumbled and the ashes on it were scattered, according to the sign that had been given.
6 And so the king said to the man of God, “Entreat the favor of Yahweh your God and pray for me so that my hand may be restored.” The man of God entreated Yahweh and the king’s hand was restored as it had been before.
7 The king then said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself. I will give you a re ward.”
8 But the man of God an swered the king, “Even if you give me half your house, I will not go in with you; nor will I eat or drink in this place, for this was commanded me by Yahweh.
9 He precisely said to me: You shall neither eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the way you came.”
10 And the man did not return by the way he had come to Bethel, but he went another way.
11 Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came to tell him what the man of God had done on that day in Bethel, and everything he had said to the king.
12 Their father then asked them, “Which way did he go?” and they told him which way the man of God from Judah had taken.
13 He then said to his sons, “Saddle the ass for me”, and they did so. 14 He mounted the ass and went after the man of God whom he found sitting under the Oak.
14 He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?
15 Come home with me and eat bread.”
16 The prophet from Judah answered, “I may neither return nor go in with you; nor will I eat or drink with you,
17 for this was the command of Yahweh: You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor shall you return by the way you came.”
18 But the old prophet from Bethel said to him: “I am also a prophet as you are; and an angel told me on behalf of Yah weh: Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.”
19 The old prophet in fact, was lying. And so the man of God went back with him and ate and drank in his house.
20 As they sat at table, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back.
21 And he said in a loud voice to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says Yahweh: You have disobeyed me and have not observed the command I gave you.
22 In stead, you have come back and eaten and drunk although I told you not to eat bread or drink water. Because of this, your body shall not be laid in the tomb of your ancestors.”
23 After he had eaten and drunk, the old prophet who had brought him back saddled the ass for him and the prophet from Judah went away.
24 But a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown on the road with the lion beside it.
25 People who passed by saw the body thrown on the road with the lion standing by; and they reported this in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet heard of this, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of Yahweh. Yah weh has delivered him to the lion which has torn and slain him just as Yahweh had told him.”
27 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the ass for me.”
28 They saddled it and he went and found the body thrown on the road with the ass and the lion standing beside it.
29 The lion had neither eaten the body nor torn the ass. And so the prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it on the ass and brought it back to the city to mourn and to bury him.
30 He laid the body in his own grave and they mourned over him with the lament, “Alas, my brother!”
31 After that the old prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried and lay my bones beside his bones.
32 For everything he said at Yahweh’s command, cursing the altar in Bethel and all the sanctuaries of the high places in the cities of Samaria, will be fulfilled.”
33 After this, however, Jeroboam did not abstain from doing evil. Instead he made priests for the high places from among the people; he consecrated any one who wanted to be a priest for the high places.
34 And this became the sin of the family of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.
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Comments 1 Kings, Chapter 13
• 13.1 Obedience is worth more than sacrifice (1 S 15:22). Such was Yahweh’s word when he renounced Saul in similar circumstances.
The present text highlights various aspects of true obedience which pleases God. The prophet himself should have remained firm, knowing that God does not change his orders.