1 Kings 13 · WEB
The Man of God from Judah; the Old Prophet's Deception
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Behold, a man of God came out of Judah by God's word to Bethel; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
2He cried against the altar by God's word, and said, "Altar, altar! Thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, a child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. On you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men's bones on you.'"
3He gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which Yahweh has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out."
4When king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" His hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to him.
5The 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 God's word.
6The king answered and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me again." The man of God entreated Yahweh, and the king's hand was restored again, and became as it was before.
7The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
8The man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half your house, I would not go in with you, nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;
9for so it was commanded me by God's word, saying, 'You shall eat no bread nor drink water, nor return by the way that you came.'"
10So he went another way and didn't return by the way that he came to Bethel.
11Now there lived an old prophet 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.
12Their 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.
13He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it.
14He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am."
15Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."
16He said, "I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place;
17for a saying came to me by God's word: 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.'"
18He said to him, "I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by God's word, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" He lied to him.
19So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.
20As they sat at the table, God's word came to the prophet who brought him back;
21and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you,
22but came back and ate bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers.'"
23After he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood by it; the lion also stood by the body.
25Behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke to him."
27He spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.
28He went and found his body thrown in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey.
29The prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.
30He laid his body in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"
31After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
32For the saying which he cried by God's word against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will most certainly come to pass."
33After this thing Jeroboam didn't return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
34This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it from the surface of the earth.
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Summary
A man of God from Judah arrives at Bethel and prophesies against Jeroboam's altar with startling specificity — naming a future king, Josiah, who would one day defile it. Signs confirm his authority: the altar splits and the king's outstretched hand withers. But on his way home, the prophet is deceived by an old prophet of Bethel who claims a counterfeit divine message to bring him back, leading him to disobey his clear instructions. He is killed by a lion on the road — a strange and sobering judgment. Yet even the old prophet confesses the word against Bethel is true, and Jeroboam hardens in his sin rather than repenting.
Themes
- The word of God is certain even when its messengers fail
- Obedience to a clear divine command cannot be overridden by another person's claim to a newer revelation
- The danger of being deceived by plausible religious authority
- Judgment that confirms the truth of prophecy rather than discrediting it
Key verses
- 1 Kgs 13:18 — “He lied to him.”
- 1 Kgs 13:2 — “A child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name... he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you.”
- 1 Kgs 13:26 — “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion.”
Context & background
Bethel (modern Beitin, West Bank) was one of Jeroboam's two worship centers with a golden calf. The prophecy naming Josiah by name some 300 years before he was born (fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:15-18) is one of the most precisely named predictive prophecies in the Old Testament — and when Josiah fulfilled it, his men found the man of God's tomb and honored his bones. The region of Samaria referenced in verse 32 had not yet become the northern kingdom's capital (that happens in ch. 16), which is a note added by the final editor. The strange scene of the lion standing over the body without eating it or harming the donkey was read as a miraculous confirmation that the judgment was genuinely from God rather than random misfortune.
Cross-references
- 1 Kgs 22:22 — Another lying spirit in the mouth of prophets — a recurring theme in Kings
- 2 Kgs 23:15-18 — Josiah's fulfillment of this exact prophecy, 300 years later — he even honors the man of God's bones
- Deut 13:1-5 — A prophet whose sign comes true but leads to disobedience is not to be followed
- Gal 1:8 — Paul warns that even an angel from heaven preaching a different gospel should be rejected — the same principle the man of God failed to apply
- Jer 23:16 — Warning against prophets who speak visions of their own hearts