1 Kings 13 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Kings 13:1-8,33,34

1 By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: ‘Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: “A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.”’ 3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: ‘This is the sign the Lord has declared: the altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.’

4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, ‘Seize him!’ But the hand he stretched out towards the man shrivelled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.

6 Then the king said to the man of God, ‘Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.’ So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.

7 The king said to the man of God, ‘Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.’ 8 But the man of God answered the king, ‘Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here.

33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. 34 This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.

A. Find Out:

1. What was Jeroboam doing when the man of God came? v.1
2. What word did the man bring? v.2
3. What sign did he give to confirm his word? v.3,5
4. What was Jeroboam’s response and what happened? v.4
5. What did he do and what followed? v.6
6. How did all this affect Jeroboam? v.33,34

B. Think:

1. What two signs should have convinced Jeroboam?
2. What do the final verses tell us about Jeroboam?
3. How would you account for his stupidity?

C. Comment:

       Sin and the enemy blind people to the truth (2 Cor 4:4). That is the only way you can explain this Jeroboam. Earlier in his life the prophetic word was given to him telling him why God was taking and splitting the kingdom, and warning Jeroboam of the life he was to live. That clearly involved avoiding idolatry and yet that is exactly what he has now led the ten tribes into. He’s set up a duplicate religion but the Lord is not in it.

When the Lord sends him another messenger to confront his sin, he haughtily goes to arrest the man. But this is God’s man and as he stretches out his hand it shrivelled up. More than that, the altar before him cracks in two of its own accord, just as the man of God had said. If this isn’t enough to convince Jeroboam, what is? Jeroboam’s response is illustrative of the unbeliever – help me please, get YOUR God to do something.

     Jeroboam reveals himself as a purely self-centred unbeliever with little or no knowledge of the Lord. When the man prays for him, the Lord restores the king’s arm. A further sign! By now you would think the message is getting through to Jeroboam, but the record is quite clear: he just carried on as before with his duplicate, counterfeit religion. Verse 34 is a terrible condemnation and explains why it was that years later the Lord completely destroyed these ten tribes. The origin is right back here with Jeroboam. How terrible!

D. Application:

1. God tolerates no substitutes. Be warned.
2. We can lead people towards or away from the Lord. Be warned.