Read 1 Kings 13 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
13:1-10 {p} The man of God from Judah prophesied against Jeroboam’s altar in Bethel
13:11-20a {p} The old prophet lied to the man of God, and caused him to return with him
13:20b-32 {p} The man of God was killed by a lion/ The old prophet buried him in his own tomb
13:33-34 {p} After this Jeroboam did not repent, but continued to do evil in YHVH’s sight
1 Kin 12:25-13:34 Chiastic Structure:
Why did YHVH send a prophet from Judah to speak against the altar at Bethel, accompanied by signs of power? I believe YHVH was giving Jeroboam an opportunity to repent of the evil he had started to do. The signs which accompany a prophetic word confirm that it is, “Thus saith the LORD.” Moses was the first to have signs accompany a prophetic word, and then Joshua (which, I believe, were given to confirm Joshua in God-ordained leadership after Moses, in the eyes of the people). However since Joshua’s time, there had been no signs to comfirm a prophetic word. It’s not that YHVH was inactive from Joshua’s time to Jeroboam’s, but that He did not confirm a prophetic word by signs following.
But here, God was sending Jeroboam an unmistakable message: “You are meddling with things far too great for you, Jeroboam; turn back while you still have time!”
I believe Jeroboam was considering repentance after the withered hand and the healing. The Scripture states,
After this matter Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people …; 1 Kin 13:33a
It implies a pause beforehand. When the man of God was killed by the lion, Jeroboam could have reasoned that he could ignore the prophetic message after all.
The Teaching Tool of Learning from the Narrative is speaking loud and clear today. If the word of YHVH has commanded something, do not let the word of man talk you out of it!
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