1Kings 11:31 And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you 32 '(but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33 'because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do [what is] right in My eyes and [keep] My statutes and My judgments, as [did] his father David. ...
Last lesson we talked about Solomon being an altar builder. In the end Solomon also built false altars and allowed his wives to pull him away from his relationship with God. Because of his backsliding God split Israel and gave 2 tribes to Solomon’s son to reign over and 10 tribes to Jeroboam.
1 Kings 11:37 'So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 'Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do [what is] right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.
God raised up Jeroboam as king over the 10 tribes of Israel and it came with great promise to build him and enduring house just as he did for king David.
1 Kings 12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: 27 "If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah." 28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!" 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
The desire for self-preservation lead to idolatry. Jeroboam built a false altar. He had served King Solomon and had seen the glory come down at the altar of God; it was not enough to bring him to faithfulness.
1Kings 13:1 And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.' " 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This [is] the sign which the LORD has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out."
A man of God was sent to cry out against the false altar! The man of God prophesied that a King from Judah, by the name of Josiah, would rise up burn the false altar and the bones of the men who worshipped there.
1 Kings 13:4 So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Arrest him!" Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. 5 The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6 Then the king answered and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of 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 became as before.
The king stretched out his hand against the man of God. That did not work out so well for him. The king relented and asked the man of God to heal him.
1 Kings 13:7 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 in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. 9 "For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.' " 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel. 11 Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.
The king invited the man of God to dinner; we can learn be careful who we hang out with. The man of God had a word of direction from the Lord and it protected him from fellowshipping with Jeroboam the king, who was walking in idolatry.
1 Kings 13:12 And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. 13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, 14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, "[Are] you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I [am]." 15 Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread." 16 And he said, "I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. 17 "For I have been told by the word of the LORD, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.' "
The man of God stayed on tasked and was not moved when the old prophet invited him to stop and eat after God said not stop until he left the polluted land.
1Kings 13:18 He said to him, "I too [am] a prophet as you [are], and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (He was lying to him.) 19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. 20 Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 22 'but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which [the LORD] said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.' " 23 So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back.
The old prophet used a “God said” to fool the young prophet into disobedience to the word of God.
1 Kings 13:24 When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. 25 And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told [it] in the city where the old prophet dwelt. 26 Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard [it], he said, "It [is] the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him."
The young prophet paid for his disobedience with his life.
1 Kings 13:27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled [it]. 28 Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him. 30 Then he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, [saying], "Alas, my brother!" 31 So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God [is] buried; lay my bones beside his bones.
The old prophet buried the young prophet and instructed his son to bury him next to the young prophet when he died.
1 Kings 13:32 "For the saying which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass." 33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became [one] of the priests of the high places. 34 And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy [it] from the face of the earth.
The young prophet had spoken the word from God but failed to obey the word of instruction that came with it. Yet the word of God would stand. The altar of idolatry word indeed be destroyed.
Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.
We have a word of instruction from the one who brought us grace and truth. Let our hearts be established by grace. Come and worship at the altar God has prepared for the new testament believers. Like the young prophet who was fooled into walking in disobedience; don’t allow spiritual idolatry trickery allow you to partake of the old testament altar, when Christ has provided much greater altar.
Jesus is the faithful God
God is good all the time!
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