And behold there came a man of God out of Juda, by the word of the Lord to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing upon the altar, and burning incense. And he cried out against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said: O Altar, Altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold a child shall be born to the house of David, Josias by name, and he shall immolate upon thee the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon thee, and he shall burn men’s bones upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying: This shall be the sign, that the Lord hath spoken: Behold the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
[What is happening here is that the King of Israel Jeroboam had turned to idolatry, forging golden calves to be worshipped. God raised an unnamed prophet from Juda to come and warn Jeroboam of his wickedness, disobedience and the dire consequences of his idolatry. Here he also prophesies the name of a future King of Israel, Josias. When you read the lineage of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1 you will find the name of Josias there, shortly before the captivity in Babylon].
And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying: Lay hold on him. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered: and he was not able to draw it back to him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given before in the word of the Lord. And the king said to the man of God: Entreat the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God besought the face of the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. And the king said to the man of God: come home with me to dine, and I will make thee presents. And the man of God answered the king: If thou wouldst give me half thy house I will not go with thee, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place; for so it was enjoined me by the word of the Lord commanding me: Thou shalt not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the same way that thou camest. So he departed by another way, and returned not by the way that he came into Bethel.
[Here is what happened. When the prophet gave his dire message from God to Jeroboam, Jeroboam reached out his hand to indicate that the guards should seize and harm the prophet. At this point God strikes the hand of Jeroboam, destroys the altar and pours the ashes to the floor. (The pouring of the ashes to the floor is a sign of rejection by God of that sacrifice. That is mentioned in the Book of Revelation too). Notice that the sign by God is triggered by the hostile reaction by Jeroboam. If Jeroboam had repented on the spot then the sign would not have happened in theory. But God knows all and knew what Jeroboam’s reaction would be to the prophet of God, hence the prophet of God accurately prophesied the rending of the altar and the ashes being poured out and it happened, due to Jeroboam’s reaction, on the spot. The downfall of the burning of men’s bones remains a prophesy for the future fall of Jeroboam and Israel. Jeroboam is horrified at his withered and seized hand and begs the prophet of God to intercede with God for him, and the prophet of God does pray to God on his behalf regarding the hand of Jeroboam. God grants the prayers of the prophet of God and restores the hand of Jeroboam.
Here Jeroboam now invites the prophet of God to dine with him and receive presents, but the prophet of God refuses, revealing more of what God had previously instructed him. God had told him not to tarry and not to take the same paths when he travels. This is not a magical charm, a superstition, or obsessive compulsive disorder. The reason God gives such instructions is that he does not want the prophet to “engage in dialogue.” The prophet is to deliver his message and LEAVE. He is not to honor anyone he encounters with his company or give them an “opportunity” to “argue” their position with the prophet of God. The prophet of God is not to sit at dinner with this idolater and apostate and “listen” to his “explanations” about why he made the golden calves and ordered their worship. So this is why the Lord told the prophet of God to not stay anywhere but his own home and also to never take the same paths (so he will not encounter the same people a second time, thus given them a “chance” to “argue” or “comment” on what they have been told to do on behalf of God by the prophet of God)].
Now a certain old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came to him and told him all the works that the man of god had done that day in Bethel; and they told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. And their father said to them: What way went he? His sons showed him the way by which the man of God went, who came out of Juda. And he said to his sons: Saddle me the ass. And when they had saddled him, he got up, and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a turpentine tree; and he said to him: Art thou the man of God that camest from Juda? He answered: I am. And he said to him: Come home with me, to eat bread. But he said: I cannot return, nor go with thee, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place, because the Lord spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there, nor return by the way thou wentest. He said to him: I also am a prophet like unto thee, and an angel spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread, and drink water. He deceived him, and brought him back with him; so he ate bread and drank water in his house.
[Here is what happened. It turns out that another legitimate prophet of God, also unnamed here in the scripture, lived in the town of Bethel. This Bethel prophet’s sons either witnessed or heard about the prophet of God’s encounter with Jeroboam and reported what they had heard to their father. This father gave in to temptation and decided to pursue the prophet of God in order to pump him for information and find out more. He probably meant no harm, especially if he had been forced to witness the abominations of Jeroboam; the Bethel prophet may even have wanted to hear words of support from the prophet of God. But when he hears that the prophet of God cannot return to Bethel to eat or drink, or even by the same path, the Bethel prophet sins and lies that an angel told him that it’s basically “all right now to eat bread, drink water, and return by the same path to Bethel.” The prophet of God foolishly believes the Bethel prophet. I say foolishly because just as he had prayed to restore the hand of Jeroboam, and God answered, the prophet of God could have paused and asked God in prayer for a sign if the Bethel prophet was telling the truth. But instead he believes the Bethel prophet and hence disobeys God].
And so they sat at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back; and he creid out to the man of god who came out of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast not been obedient to the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, and hast returned and eaten bread, and drunk water in the place wherein he commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat bread, nor drink water, thy dead body shall not be brought into the sepulcher of thy fathers.
[And so the tragedy of two legitimate prophets who each sin and disobey comes to terrible fruition. The Bethel prophet who lies to the prophet of God in order to pump him for more information now receives validation directly from God the very instructions that the prophet of God had explained to the Bethel prophet. So the Bethel prophet lied to the prophet of God to bring him back to Bethel only to now hear directly from God that the prophet of God will now be punished for disobeying God. Again, it’s not the disobedience per se; it is the second guessing God’s will. God did not want the prophet of God to return and rehash conversations with the sinners in Bethel after delivering his message. But instead of pausing and asking God for clarity, the prophet of God believes the lie of the Bethel prophet. Two legitimate prophets of God now have brought about their downfall and diluted the opportunity for the fullness of the message and works of God in this situation].
And when he had eaten and drunk, he saddled his ass for the prophet, whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion found him in the way, and killed him, and his body was cast in the way. And the ass stood by him, and the lion stood by the dead body. And behold, men passing by saw the dead body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city, wherein that old prophet dwelt. And when that prophet, who had brought him back out of the way, heard of it and said: It is the man of God, that was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and the Lord that delivered him to the lion, and he hath torn him, and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him. And he said to his sons: Saddle me an ass. And when they had saddled it, and he was gone, he found the dead body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten of the dead body, nor hurt the ass.
[So immediately upon leaving the meal he should not have had at having disobeyed God by returning to Bethel by the same path, the prophet of God is attacked and slain by a lion. The lion remains by the body of the prophet of God, and does not eat the body nor harm the ass, so that the people will know this is a sign from God and not an accidental death. The travelers realize this and go back to the town to spread word of what they saw, which reaches the ears of the Bethel prophet. He immediately realizes that the validation of the prophecy that he received has come true and that the body that has been cast in the road must be the punished prophet of God. So he goes, as he knows it is his duty, having caused the original temptation to the prophet of God, in order to retrieve the body from the lion’s watch].
And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and going back brought it into the city of the old prophet, to mourn for him. And he laid his dead body in his own sepulcher. And they mourned over him, saying: Alas! Alas! My brother! And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: When I am dead, bury me in the sepulcher wherein the man of God is buried, lay my bones beside his bones. For assuredly the word shall come to pass which he hath foretold in the word of the Lord against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the temples of the high places, that are in the cities of Samaria.
[By the way, reading the rest of this chapter you will learn that far from the prophet of God having an impact on Jeroboam, he actually sinned even more grievously, thus bringing about his own and his house’s demise, as per “he shall burn men’s bones upon thee.” The Bethel prophet honors the prophet of God, mourning him and burying him with his own family, realizing that he had through his temptation of the prophet of God cut short the life of this prophet who was now proven to have given great prophecy. The Bethel prophet now knows that all will come to ruin as the prophet of God had warned].
***
I do not know of a stronger episode in the Bible warning against interference in the prophecy of God than this story of the historical occurrence of the events of two legitimate prophets of God who mutually sin through temptation and disobedience. (This is not a parable, for those of you used to only reading the New Testament and paying the most attention to the parables of Jesus. The Old Testament is the record of actual events, just as the Gospel records actual events in the life of Jesus and the Apostles and disciples). Imagine even more so the grave consequences of false prophets who claim to “hear God” and to “know God’s will.” The prophet of God who gave mighty prophecy and restores through his prayer the hand of Jeroboam is fallen the same day because he disobeys God. What is a person thinking who has conducted mighty words and works on God’s behest, and then immediately believes the word of a stranger prophet to now disobey the very God who had channeled through him his prophecy only hours earlier? This is the broken and inflated ego of humans. You can give them everything and they will still sin and disobey. And the prophet of Bethel, all he wanted was to hear good news, but he wanted to hear more than was given to him to receive, and he took it in his own hands to obtain more prophecy and worse, to claim that an angel had appeared to him when one had not. And this is a legitimate prophet who had previously directly received God’s word! How foolish and greedy for their own power are humans. Let this be the strongest cautionary reminder that even those who are legitimately given gifts by God will be punished most severely if they tempt others, sin, or disobey, especially when thinking they can nudge along or manipulate deeds and plans that God is already putting into motion. The consequences for the individuals and for the people whom God is trying to reach and convert are dire, and far from helping they harm their own ability to work with God by serving him without self aggrandizing.
