st Kings _Chapter 13

At that time, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the command of the Lord. Jeroboam was standing by the altar, wanting to burn incense.

The man of God called out to the altar at the command of the Lord, saying, O altar, O altar. This is what the Lord says: David will have a son named Josiah in his house, and he will kill the priests of the high altar who burn incense on you, and their bones will be burned on you.

On that day, the man of God set a sign, saying, This altar will burst, and the ashes on it will be poured out. This is a sign spoken by the Lord.

When King Jeroboam heard the man of God calling out to the altar of Bethel, he reached out his hand from the altar and said, Take him. The hand that the king extended to the man of God withered and could not be bent back.

The altar also burst, and the ashes on it were scattered, just as the omen that the man of God had set by the word of the Lord.

The king said to the man of God, “Pray for me and pray for the grace of the Lord your God to restore my hands.”. So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored as usual.

The king said to the man of God, “Come back with me to eat and strengthen your heart, and I will give you a reward.”.

The divine man said to the king, “Even if you give me half of your palace, I won’t let you in, nor will I eat or drink water in this place.”.

For the word of the Lord has charged me, saying, You shall not eat or drink water in Bethel, nor shall you return by the way you went.

So the man of God returned by another way, not by the same way as Bertley.

There was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came and told their father all the things that the man of God had done in Bethel that day and what he had said to the king.

Father asked them, “Where did the divine man go from?”? Tell him the sons. They saw the path of the man of God from Judah.

The old prophet commanded his sons, ‘Prepare donkeys for me.’. They prepared the donkey, and he rode on it,

Go after the man of God, and find him sitting under an oak tree. Ask him, are you a man of God from Judah. He said, yes.

The old prophet said to him, “Please come home with me to eat.”.

The man of God said, I will not go back with you into your house, nor will I eat or drink water with you here.

For the word of the Lord has charged me, saying, You shall not eat or drink water there, nor shall you return by the way you went.

The old prophet said to him, I am also a prophet, just like you. An angel said to me by the word of the Lord, Go and bring him back to your house, and make him eat and drink water. This is all because the old prophet tricked him.

So the man of God returned with the old prophet and ate and drank water at his house.

As they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought the man of God back,

He said to the man of God who came from Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says:’ Since you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the commands of the Lord your God, ‘,

On the contrary, you ate and drank in the place where the Lord forbade you to eat and drink, so your body will not enter the graves of your ancestors.

After eating and drinking, the old prophet prepared donkeys for the prophet he brought back.

He went and on the way, a lion met him and bit him to death. His body fell on the road, and the donkey stood beside the body, while the lion also stood beside the body.

Someone passed by and saw the body lying on the road, with a lion standing beside it. They came to the city where the old prophet was staying and reported this matter.

The prophet who brought the man of God back heard this and said, “This is the man of God who has disobeyed the Lord’s command. Therefore, the Lord has handed him over to the lion.”. The lion scratched him and bit him to death, which fulfilled the word that the Lord had spoken to him.

The old prophet commanded his sons, ‘Prepare donkeys for me.’. They prepared donkeys.

He went and saw the body of the divine man lying on the road, with the donkey and lion standing beside the body, but the lion did not eat the body or scratch the donkey.

The old prophet carried the body of the man of God on a donkey and brought it back to his own city to mourn him and bury him.

And he buried his body in his own grave, and mourned him, saying, Alas. My brother.

After being buried, the old prophet said to his sons, ‘I am dead, bury me in the grave of the man of God, and bring my bones near his bones.’,

For the words he said by the Lord concerning the altar of Bethel and the high places in all the cities of Samaria will surely be fulfilled.

After this, Jeroboam did not leave his evil ways and appointed all the people as priests for the high places. He consecrated everything he wanted and appointed him as the priest of the high altar.

This has caused the house of Jeroboam to sin, so much so that his house is destroyed from the earth.