Three men, their interaction and their end 1 Kings 13
Three men were hard at work on a construction job and a man walking by stopped to ask them what they were doing. The first guy mumbled, "I'm laying brick," the second guy said, "I'm making $12 an hour," and the third man said, "I'm building a cathedral!" Well, an hour later the third man was fired. Apparently they were supposed to be building a restaurant.
1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, this is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. 8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: 9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. 10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
11 Now there dwelt 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: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. 12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. 13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, 14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: 17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. 20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back:
21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, 22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers.
23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass. 25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.
27 And he spake to his sons, saying, saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. 28 And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass.
29 And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid his carcass in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, alas, my brother!
31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulcher wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones: 32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.
33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
We just read about three men who are very different from one another and yet; they all have one thing in common. They’re all very insecure and insecure people always do strange things to either hide or to overcome their insecurities.
Jeroboam demonstrated his insecurity when he became king. He was so afraid of losing his kingdom that he did everything he could to hang onto something God had given him in the first place. And then he tried to destroy everything that would remind anybody about God; but when he drew his last breath, he stood where we’ll all stand; in the very presence of God Himself.
Then there was the old prophet, as he’s called, and he was also driven by a sense of insecurity and I say this because he did everything he could to share any success ‘the man of God’ not only
in his life but even in his death. You see, he didn’t want to be ‘a man of a God’ he just wanted the recognition that went with the position. It was his way of being a somebody; when he knew in his heart that he was a nobody.
He reminds me of the man who sits on the left hand side of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons; because every time the Prime Minister says anything, no matter how boring it might sound to everyone else; this man jumps to his feet and applauds like he just heard the cure for some terrible disease. Now, I’m sure he’s important in his own right, because he’s a member of parliament but all I’ve ever seen him do is clap for somebody else.
And then, there’s ‘the man of God’ and he also seems to be insecure because even though he preaches a powerful message to the king who can murder him in a heartbeat; and then performs a couple of miracles of prophecy and healing; he neglects to do the one thing he was told to do; and that was to simply get out of town.
And I can help but think that he must have had some kind of problem with pride. I mean, he wouldn’t compromise when he was offered a huge reward from the king and yet we see him sitting down and having a simple lunch with an old prophet.
Listen, he was told to leave, so, it really didn’t matter whether the meal was elaborate or simple. He had no business being there.
But, then again, maybe, he thought his reward in heaven was too far off and what he really wanted was a little bit of recognition for the things he had done in the here and now.
Someone said, “The biggest challenge of being successful is being quiet about it.”
So, let’s deal with each of these characters and then conclude with the death scene by the roadside.
I And we’ll begin with Jeroboam.
Jeroboam was the son of Nabat which means nothing to any of us because no one knows who Nabat is. But, you have to understand that Jeroboam lived in a day when no one had a last name and everyone was known by either who their parents or who their grandparents were, the name of the town they were from or even by a physical condition, like Simon the leper or even by a trade like Jimmy the janitor or a profession, like a doctor or lawyer. So, the son of Nabat could simply mean that Nabat was either his father, grandfather or even his great grandfather.
I grew up in Cape Breton where there were so many people who were called by the same name that everyone had some kind of nick name so everyone else could know who you were and what family you came from.
For instance, almost half of Cape Bretoners are MacDonald’s and most of their kids are named after either their fathers or their grandfathers which makes John or Peter MacDonald extremely common names. So, in our neighborhood, (now, listen carefully) we had Peter MacDonald, who was the son of John MacDonald but he was much taller than the other John MacDonald who lived down the road. So, Peter became known as Peter Big John. And do you know what the strange part is; that made total sense to everyone in Cape Breton.
My uncle Charlie always complained that the only thing he ever had to eat was cod fish and so everyone called him, Charlie Cod. There was a man named Guy who lived down the road and one day Guy went duck hunting and he had a few drinks, while he was waiting for the ducks he got tired and laid down for a nap. About an hour later, he woke up and the first thing he saw were three ducks in the pond and bang, bang, bang, he started shooting and before he realized what he had done, he blew the heads off his three decoys. So, everyone called him, wooden duck. The guy who ran the pool room in Glace Bay was born with one arm, his right one and so, what do you think they called him? Lefty. And the strange thing is that nick names are handed down so that the kids and grandkids are called by the same nick name and that way everyone knows which family you came from.
And back in Biblical times people were known by who their parents were and that’s why Jeroboam was called the son of Nabat. You see, no one would ever confuse him with any of the other Jeroboams.
Just to give you a little background on him; when Jeroboam was just a young man, he had been promoted by King who was Solomon to be the chief superintendent of a group of forced laborers and some writers suggest that he might have been only about nineteen. So, he was definitely someone who was on his way up the corporate ladder.
But; one day, the scripture says, he met the prophet Ahijah and Ahijah gave him a message that he would be the king of Israel after Solomon. The scripture doesn’t say how but somehow Solomon heard the same message and Jeroboam left everything behind and ran off to Egypt, where it says he stayed with pharaoh until the death of Solomon.
After the death of Solomon Jeroboam returned and became the spokesperson for the people and he appeared before Solomon’s son King Rehaboam. He suggested that Rehaboam loosen up his authority but Rehaboam said no way and Jeroboam took the ten northern tribes and became their king.
Now, all this happened to Jeroboam and yet the scripture doesn’t tell us anything about his manner, his personality or his character; and it makes you wonder, what kind of a person gets promoted by the king, becomes a friend of the pharaoh of Egypt and ultimately is chosen by the people to become their king.
You see, Jeroboam was one of those unique personalities that appears once in a blue moon. I remember dropping into a political rally in Toronto back in the 70’s and Pierre Trudeau was sitting there with his wife Margaret. Now, I’ll be honest, I never cared for Trudeau and never voted for him but when I saw him; he seemed to glow with charisma or whatever it was. And they say the same is true of rock stars, movie stars and even leaders like Adolf Hitler. I mean, it’s hard to believe it today but people would actually lay down their lives for Hitler and yet we see him on TV and wonder; what were they so excited about.
My sister told me she went to see the Beatles when they played in Maple Leaf Gardens and she said there was nothing but screaming from one end of the concert to the other. No one was listening and at one point she said a couple of the Beatles just banged on their guitars and laughed. Even they didn’t understand what was going on.
I was reading an article in Psychology Today about charisma and the article claims; there are six basic elements of personal charisma.
First, there’s emotional expressiveness and they say that charismatic people can express their feelings spontaneously and genuinely. And by this, they can affect the moods and emotions of everyone around them. I’m sure we’ve all seen people who can "light up the room" when they enter. So, these people can have either a positive effect on people or they can stir them up and get them either angry or irritated.
Second, there’s emotional sensitivity and this is the ability to read the emotions of others and this allows the charismatic person to make a connection by relating to the feelings of others. They have the ability to make everyone feel like they’re special.
And then third, there’s emotional control and the charismatic person can use their emotions to turn the charm on whenever they want to.
Fourth, they’re skilled and entertaining conversationalists and they can have an emotional impact on whoever is listening.
Fifth, they are socially sensitive and that means they have the ability to read and interpret social situations.
I remember years ago, Sally and I got together with a couple of friends at their house for pizza and we all sat down and watched Jim and Tammy Baker for a laugh. This night they had the famous actor Mickey Rooney on; and he just died a few weeks ago.
And I remember at the beginning of the show; Mickey tried to crack a few jokes but Jim and Tammy kind of ignored him and then he realized the kind of people he was dealing with. And so, he started telling a story where he said he was in a fancy restaurant having dinner with a few friends and a waiter passing by stopped at his table. And the waiter looked Mickey straight in the eye and he said, ‘God sent you here to be an encourager.’’ And all of a sudden Jim and Tammy and everyone else were absolutely amazed at this miracle and Mickey had them in the palm of his hand for the rest of the show. That’s social sensitivity. Find out where the people are and zero in on them.
And then sixth, there’s social control and this is the ability to fit in with anybody and everybody to make emotional and social connections.
And I think to a certain degree we can see that Jeroboam was a very charismatic person and also a natural born leader.
So, here’s Jeroboam and he’s king of the eleven tribes and it begins by saying, ‘And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.’
And the first thing we have to wonder is, why is Jeroboam burning incense; because only the priests were allowed to burn incense; but then again, why was he burning incense at all? I mean, from everything else we read of him, Jeroboam had no respect for the things of God; so, why was he doing this?
I think, there’s something in the heart of man that tells him there’s a God and Jeroboam just wanted to make sure that he had all the bases covered.
I’ve had a non-believer on his death bed tell me the first thing he was going to do when he died was to give God a piece of his mind for all the things he’s had to put up with in life. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in God, he just didn’t like Him.
And then I’ve seen other non-believers putting things in the casket just before the funeral, you know, just in case. Some put Bibles; which always made me wonder; ‘If they wouldn’t read it when they were alive, what good was it going to do them now? I mean, it’s not like you can cram for the finals.
People put pictures, notes with messages of love and some even put confessions of things they’ve either said or done wrong. I heard of one man who put a rifle in his friend’s casket, you know, just in case he needed it, wherever he was going. Other people put shirts with the insignia of a sports team they either played or rooted for. Some put jewelry and a few even put ordinary books in the coffin. Maybe, it’s in case they find the afterlife boring. And some people even put food in the casket; although I can’t imagine why. But, maybe like Jeroboam they just want to cover all the bases.
So, here’s Jeroboam doing his religious thing and the scripture introduces a new character to the story in verse 2 and we don’t even know his name but he’s simply known as, ‘the man of God.’
Second, man of God
And this man of God just shows up out of nowhere and starts preaching. And the strange thing is, he doesn’t preach to the king but he preaches about the king, as though he wasn’t even there. Verse 2 says, ‘Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”
And the amazing thing is; this guy is preaching in front of a king who he knows can kill him for any reason; let alone the fact that he was preaching against the altar the king was worshipping on and he was also prophesying about a new king who was going to come who would kill all the priests who were serving there.
And to prove this was going to happen he said, the altar is going to split open and all the ashes are going to be poured out.
Now, anyone who heard a message like this would be shaking in their boots because God was telling them that they’re days were numbered.
But in verse 4 it says the king stretched out his hand and told his men to “Arrest him!” And his hand withered and the altar split apart and the ashes were poured out.’
And five things happened really quick. He heard the message, he stretched out his hand and said ‘arrest him’ his hand withered, the altar split apart and the ashes poured out.
And all these signs should have been enough to convince him that he was in trouble but if you look all the way down to verse 33, it says, “Jeroboam returned not from his evil way.”
But here, in the fear of the moment Jeroboam said, ‘Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”
And I want you to notice that Jeroboam didn’t ask for God’s help or even acknowledge that he needed forgiveness but all he did was ask the man of God to pray for him. And then it says, the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. And then in verse 7 it says, ‘Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
So, obviously God healed him, but Jeroboam didn’t even acknowledged it; but gave credit to the man of God and then tried to pay him off with a big meal and a huge reward. And if the man of God had accepted it; then the king would have told everyone that the ‘man of God’ had healed his arm.
But notice in verse 8 where it says, ‘But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. 9 For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.’
Now listen, if this story were to end right here, we could all sit back and say, ‘Now, that’s the way it’s done.’ The king had been rebuked and the man of God did the right thing. And he would have been a spiritual hero and probably could have had a great ministry ahead of him. But, as they say, ‘It is not the beginning that determines your success, it’s the end.’ Did you get that? ‘It’s not the beginning that determines your success, it’s the end.’ A lot of people start out fantastic but they never see the finish line.
During the Second World War many of the fighter pilots made their worst mistakes when they were flying in to land when the battle was over; because they relaxed and thought they were out of danger but they often ended up crashing and burning on their own home runways. We’re told the majority of car accidents happen within a mile of home; why? Because people stop looking for the other guy.
So, verse ten says, he went another way and did not return by the way he came; which is what he was told to do; but he doesn’t keep going because the next thing we see is, he’s sitting under a tree. And we wonder, whether he just taking a break or was he sitting there enjoying the feeling of success and wondering what great thing he was going to do next?
I think he shows us how dangerous success can be. He had been heading in the right direction but for whatever reason he just sat down and he was about to be the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
And this introduces us to the third person in our story, and he’s simply known as the old prophet.
And notice that he not called a man of God; but 'an old prophet.' We know from 2 Kings chapter 2 there used to be a prophetic school at Bethel which is where this is taking place but now Bethel is the center of idolatry. And he didn’t preach against Jeroboam's sins or Israel's idolatry but was a classic backslider who simply lies to get what he wants; which was to have the man of God come home and have lunch with him.
It’s amazing how easily he lies and you know; there are people who will lie just as easily to you. Some people will lie because they just don’t like you. Some will lie to impress you and to make you think they’re something they’re not. Some will lie because they’re liars and they enjoy lying. And others might lie because they think their lie is better than any truth you might ever believe. People have different reasons but the fact is; liar’s lie.
So, the old prophet invites him home for lunch and says that an angel told him it was okay and the man of God simply believed him.
Listen, the temptation of half the kingdom was useless but an invitation for lunch with the old prophet somehow sealed the deal.
It’s funny how people can say they’re opposed to the really big sins but then give in to little ones they think no one will ever notice. Some feel they’ve fled youthful lusts but are brought down by the love of a new car or a fancy home. Some resist the greed of middle age but then give in to the discouragement of old age. And others might fiercely resist any hint of false doctrine but then lose out to the sins of pride and self-righteousness.
Listen, we have to remember that Satan really knows this business of temptation. He knows that most of us would never be tempted to give in to the obvious sins; so he tempts us with the little ones that we think no one else notices or even cares about. And when we do, he reminds us, what failures we are for giving in.
After all, all the man of God was only offered a simple meal and he was the one who said to the king, ‘Even if you were to give me half your house I wouldn’t go back.’ But he ignored the fact God told him to do something and nothing and no one ever contradicts the word of God. So, the old guy lied and he believed it.
I worked with a man in a carpet store one time; and it was one of the many jobs that I had that lasted about six weeks. And when anyone would look at any carpet in the store; this guy would say, ‘That’s the same carpet I have in my living room. You obviously have impeccable taste.’ First, I thought he must have a really hideous looking living room because he had said this about fifteen different kinds of carpet but then I realized he was just a liar who would say anything to make a sale.
So, they went back to the old prophet’s home and we see in verse 20 that the old prophet prophesied and seemed to be shocked that he did. And basically, he prophesied the impending death of the man of God.
Well, you can imagine the rest of the meal probably got a little quiet and then verse 23 says, ‘So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back.’
And then we notice there’s no time gap but verse 24 says, ‘When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse.”
And that was the end of the man of God and the sad part is, his sin seemed to wipe out any effect ministry his ministry had. We know this because as soon as the king heard he died he assumed there was no need to worry about anything he had said or even the God he represented and we know this because Jeroboam became worse than he ever was before.
He even started a brand new religion. First, he changed the place of worship by taking the sacrifices from Jerusalem to Dan. And second, he changed the priesthood by turning it into a franchise system where anybody who was willing to pay could become a priest. And then third, he even changed the times of the feasts to stop people from worshipping the way they had been taught. He was drawing the people away from God.
So, we have three people here and each of them like all of us have opportunities and responsibilities to serve the Lord and all three serve as a warning to all of us.
And this is a depressing story because nobody has a happy ending. The king was wicked, the old prophet was a conniving wannabe and the man of God wasn’t much of a man of God.
And there also seems to be some real injustice. The king remained the king even though he did everything he could to undermine the faith of the Jews. The old prophet seemed to spend his life pleasing himself and lived his life to a natural end. And yet, the man of God made one mistake and he was eaten by a lion.
As a matter of fact; from our perspective; it almost seems like the lion ate the wrong guy. But; keep in mind, the end of this world is simply the beginning of the next.
I think the king and the old prophet stood before God and answered for their sin but the man of God had been chastised by his death; but one day he’s going to be rewarded for his works.
So, what does this tell us? If you’re sins are forgiven here, they’ll never be remembered there.
