Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 13:2

These words are a prophecy against the form of worship set up in the kingdom of Israel. Consider what this kingdom and this worship were, and how this woe came to be uttered by a prophet of God.

I. When Solomon fell into idolatry, he broke what may be called his coronation oath, and at once forfeited God's favour. In consequence a message came from Almighty God revealing what the punishment of his sin would be. He might be considered as having forfeited his kingdom for himself and his posterity. In the reign of his son Rehoboam ten tribes out of twelve revolted from their king. In this they were quite inexcusable. Because the king did not do his duty to them, this was no reason why they should not do their duty to him. Say that he was cruel and rapacious, still they might have safely trusted the miraculous providence of God to have restrained the king by His prophets and to have brought them safely through.

II. That Jeroboam was an instrument in God's hand to chastise Solomon's sin is plain; and there is no difficulty in conceiving how a wicked man, without its being any excuse for him, still may bring about the Divine purposes. God had indeed promised him the kingdom, but He did not require map's crime to fulfil His promise. Jeroboam ought to have waited patiently God's time; this would have been the part of true faith. But he had not patience to wait; he was tried and found wanting.

III. It is not surprising, after such a beginning, that he sinned further and more grievously. His sins in regard to religious worship depended on this principle, that there is no need to attend to the positive laws and the outward forms and ceremonies of religion so long as we attend to the substance. He was but putting another emblem of God in the place of the cherubim. Yet after all his wise counsels and bold plans he has left but his name and title to posterity, "Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin."

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. III., p. 60.

References: 1 Kings 13:6.—R. Heber, Parish Sermons, vol. ii., p. 92. 1 Kings 13:7, 1 Kings 13:8.—A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 165. 1 Kings 13:7-15.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 23. 1 Kings 13:8, 1 Kings 13:16, 1 Kings 13:19.—Ibid., vol. ix., p. 23. 1 Kings 13:18.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 72.

1 Kings 13:20-22

I. Consider what was the mission or work of this prophet of Judah. Jeroboam, like many a statesman since his time, looked upon religion, not as the happiness and strength of his own life, but simply as an instrument of successful government. He saw that if, after the separation of the ten tribes, Jerusalem should still continue to be the religious centre of the whole nation, sooner or later it would become the political centre too. The prophet was to Jeroboam what Samuel was to Saul after the victory over Amalek. He announced God's displeasure at the most critical moment of his life, when an uninterrupted success was crowned with high-handed rebellion against the gracious Being who had done everything for the rebel. The prophet placed the king under the ban of God. It was a service of the utmost danger; it was a service of corresponding honour.

II. Consider the temptations to which the Jewish prophet was exposed in the discharge of his mission. It was not difficult for him to decline Jeroboam's invitation to eat and drink with him. The invitation of the old prophet was a much more serious temptation, and had a different result. This old prophet was a religious adventurer who had a Divine commission and even supernatural gifts, yet who placed them at the service of Jeroboam. He wanted to bring the other prophet down to his own level. Looking at the sacred garb, the white hairs, of the old prophet of Bethel, the prophet of Judah listened to the false appeal to his own Lord and Master, and he fell.

III. Notice the prophet's punishment. By a solemn, a terrible, irony the seducer was forced to pass a solemn sentence on his victim. If the sterner penalty was paid by the prophet who disobeyed, and not by the prophet who tempted, this is only what we see every day. The victims of false teaching too often suffer, while the tempter seems to escape. The lesson from the story is that our first duty is fidelity to God's voice in conscience.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 667.

References: 1 Kings 13:20-22.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 95. 1 Kings 13:21, 1 Kings 13:22.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 20. 1 Kings 13:23, 1 Kings 13:24.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 214.

1 Kings 13:26

Of all men living, Jeroboam was the last to whom such a message as the prophet's could be delivered with impunity. Doubtless as the prophet trod the solitary upland road from Judah to Bethel he forecast within himself all the coming struggle. And he bears his witness. As before the great altar on the feast-day of the king's own devising the king's own arm is raised to offer incense, from the dark, unbidden form which had thrust itself into the inmost circle of worshippers there wakes up the awful voice of denunciation. Jehovah's power is seen in the withering of the king's arm; the prophet sternly rejects the proffered gifts, and takes his triumphant departure. But his triumph is soon turned into shame, for he yields to the soft suggestions of the old prophet of Bethel, and meets the doom of disobedience. From his story we may gather these lessons:—

I. There is in this history a witness of the presence with us all our life through of the God of truth and righteousness.

II. Notice how terribly distinct are the evil features of the old prophet who dwelt at Bethel. What a history is his of illuminations of grace darkened, of visitings of the Spirit resisted and banished, of the transition from a teacher to a seducer, from being a prophet of the Lord to being a prophet of lies!

III. Is there not written, as in a legend of fire, on this nameless tomb the glory or the shame which must be the portion of every prophet of the Lord? How great are his ventures, how grand his triumphs, how irresistible his strength, how strict his account. Let us watch especially after successes. Let us beware of resting under wayside trees. Let us press on and cry mightily for God's grace.

Bishop Mackarness, Oxford Lent Sermons, 1869, p. 1.

References: 1 Kings 13:26.—H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 136, Penny Pulpit, No. 1167, and Contemporary Pulpit extra, Jan. 1887; T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 76; W. Scott, Sermons for Sundays, Festivals, and Fasts, 2nd series, vol. iii.,p. 57. 1 Kings 13:30.—Sermons for the Christian Seasons, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 729; H. Whitehead, The Sunday Magazine, 1871, p. 91. 1 Kings 13:33.—J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 309; J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. ii., p. 102. 1 Kings 13:34.—H. Thompson, Concionalia: Outlines of Sermons for Parochial Use, vol. i., p. 356. 1Ki 13—Parker, vol. vii., p. 358; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 71. 1 Kings 14:6.—A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 33; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 584.