1 Kings 13.
THE faithful God would not leave the ten tribes, led away to idolatry, under Jeroboam without a message from Him, and a man of God came out of Judah, out of the two tribes, faithful to the son of David, with the word of the Lord. Bethel, to which he came, means House of God, but now it was anything but that House of Satan it had become. A golden calf had taken the place of Jehovah in the system of religion Jeroboam had established, and this wicked man was standing before the altar preparing to burn incense in honor of the idol when the unnamed prophet of God appeared.
It is when the light of testimony burns dimly, that prophecy, through God’s gracious forbearance and love for His people, reappears. What is the message the prophet from Judah brings to the ears of this bold leader in idolatry, the king of Israel? That a child should be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who should condemn and destroy what was being done by Jeroboam; upon that altar he would burn the bones of Jeroboam’s false priests.
This was not to take place for more than three hundred years, for Jeroboam became king of the ten tribes in B. C. 975, and Josiah of the two tribes in B. C. 641.
The house of David, then, was still to be the royal line, though Jeroboam had been used as an instrument of God to punish them for the idolatry and other evil practices of Solomon’s later history.
A sign was promised, —the altar was to be broken, and the ashes poured out. When the king heard the message which the prophet brought, he wanted to seize him, but was not allowed to; his arm which he stretched out was dried up, so that he could not draw it back. Then the promised break occurred in the altar and the ashes streamed out. Jeroboam, thoroughly frightened, begged the man of God to pray that his hand might be restored. He was a godless man, like many, quite content to live without the true knowledge of the true God, indeed, quite content to serve the devil, but like many another, quick to cry out for help when in serious trouble, and as quick to forget God again. God nevertheless answered the prophet’s prayer, and Jeroboam’s hand was restored.
Now, Satan quickly set a trap for the man of God. If he would go home with the king, he should be rewarded, but he had been forbidden to even drink water among the rebellious and idolatrous people. Recalling his instructions, the prophet refused the king’s benefits, and set out for the land of Judah again, by a different route.
But Satan was still determined to make the testimony of God, as expressed by this godly man, of no effect. It could be done, if he could be made in his actions to give the lie to his words; where the king failed, an unfaithful old prophet succeeded in this aim. What a lesson is there in the story that follows (verses 15-30), for every believer in the Lord Jesus to take to heart!
The man of God knew God’s judgment; he had been used to testify about it before the guilty Jeroboam; did he not enter in heart into the truth of the message he delivered? He should have deeply felt the position of the dupes of Satan under Jeroboam, and the Word of God should have been a sufficient guide for him. He knew the course he was instructed to take, but he accepted the word of another, contrary to what he had learned from God Himself, and died. Obedience to the Word of God was his proper engagement; it would have kept him out of what befell him. Happier far and safer is it to walk in the light of God’s Word, regardless of man’s opinions.
Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, and for a time he was allowed to go on in it. No doubt, at times he remembered the Word of God he had heard, but he preferred his own ways, and soon his life was to be over, and he in eternity.
What of my reader?
ML 07/10/1927