Introduction
The Bible records messages proclaimed against many topics. This is especially true in the Old Testament: the prophets spoke about (and against) various kings, nations, and even the nations of Israel and Judah.
The text here is unusual because, first, it’s spoken against an altar! So far as I’ve found, no other message has ever been preached specifically against an altar. Secondly, it’s spoken by an unnamed prophet, a citizen of Judah, the southern kingdom, against the altar in Bethel, which was a place of worship in the northern kingdom or Israel. Third, it has a multi-part application, in that no fewer than four specific prophecies, uttered at that episode, were all literally fulfilled. Let’s take a closer look at the text:
[1 Kings 13:1-10, NASB] 1 Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 He cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'" 3 Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the LORD has spoken, 'Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.'" 4 Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6 The king said to the man of God, "Please entreat the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward." 8 But the man of God said to the king, "If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 "For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.'" 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.”
Background
It’s important to know a little of the background for this message. The united kingdom of Israel, all 12 tribes, had come to Shechem to crown Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, as king. He made one of the worst blunders in history, with the end result being that the 10 northern tribes seceded, and Rehoboam had to run for his life back to Jerusalem. All this and more is found in 1 Kings 12, which should be required reading for every new elected official!
We’re not told how much time elapsed between the events of verses 25 and 28 of 1 Kings 12. Jeroboam, the usurper and newly crowned king of the northern tribes, could have already made plans for building an idol to cement his grip over the people. At any rate, he made the plans, made the altar, made the idol, and made his declaration of independence, even from God, when he cried out, “Behold you gods, O Israel!” The last few verses of chapter 12 give the sad story of how, once again, God’s people left Him behind. They knew all about the promises, blessings, curses, and so forth of the Law—and yet, they walked away from it, all because of the new king.
So now, as He has done so often in the past, God, the God of ALL Israel, sent them a prophet.
The message about the altar
The Bible doesn’t give us any specific information about Jeroboam’s altar, in Bethel, except what is recorded in the last couple of verses of1 Kings 12. Jeroboam was not only crowned king, but had made himself the chief religious leader of the Ten Northern Tribes. He was probably preparing to make a sacrifice when God’s prophet came and declared the first, and probably only, message against an altar! Whether Jeroboam’s altar was made of stones, dirt, metal, or anything else—again, we’re not told much about it—God was very displeased with it.
The message about the altar had several parts. The first one was that the house of David would have a son named Josiah (verse 2). This is a prophecy that several times came within an inch of never being fulfilled. Had Rehoboam been captured (and, probably, executed!), he may not have had the time to have a son. And yet, God delivered.
Several kings of Judah were bad, because they did evil in God’s eyes. Abijah was one, Joash another: he started off good and then forsook God later in life, and Queen Athaliah killed all the royal children (except, incredibly, for Joash!).Given the wars and other problems, it’s only a miracle that any of the kings of Judah lived as long as they did. And, God kept His promise: Josiah was born about 300 years after this message from the prophet.
The second part of the message is also found in verse 2: “and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you”. This is irony: the priests, and Jeroboam himself, were even at the time beginning to offer sacrifices on the false altar. God said that Josiah was going to offer the very ones who had led Israel astray. It is sad but true in so many cases: when the government goes bad, and the official or state religion goes bad, the people generally will go bad as well. Certainly not all the northerners were corrupt, but many were, and the nation never repented of the calf worship, established by Jeroboam.
A third part of the message, also from verse 2. reads, “and human bones shall be burned on you.” This also was fulfilled to the letter when Josiah did that very thing, according to 2 Kings 23:16 (NASB), “Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.”
As if that wasn’t enough, the prophet also gave a final sign or prediction, as recorded in verse 3: “Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the LORD has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’” Many prophecies did not have specific dates or times, but this one did, and the test of any prophet was to see if his prophecies came true. The specific word from God in that regard is found in Deuteronomy 18:22, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him (NASB).”
If that altar remained standing, then the man of God from Judah would have been found to be a liar and a loudmouth, and even worse, a false prophet. His message would not have been worth listening to. What would happen next?
The results of the message
The reactions to these prophecies are among some of the most fascinating parts of the Bible. We don’t know how much time the altar remained standing, but one thing to always remember is that God is not always the God of the immediate. Not to read too much into the text, but was God possibly giving Jeroboam time to repent?
After all, the Israelites followed God and Moses until they got to Mount Sinai, then soon after Moses went up to the mountain, they demanded Aaron to make a god—an idol—to worship! Exodus 32 gave that story and this is about as close to a repeat of history as we’re likely to see. The difference then was that some people, namely the tribe of Levi, took prompt action and executed about 3000 people. Harsh? We might think so, but remember, these were people who knew better. How could they forget God so quickly when just a short time before they had all passed through the Red Sea on dry land?
But nothing happened, yet, at the altar in Bethel until Jeroboam ordered the man of God to be seized. We aren’t told what Jeroboam had in mind, but we can guess it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Certainly the prophet wasn’t going to get a state dinner or any other recognition of that kind! And yet, something was going to happen, as we’ll see.
The first thing, which to me is a surprise, was that the king’s arm dried up (verse 4) and he couldn’t bring his arm back to himself. God was perhaps saying, “You tried to stretch out your arm against Me and My prophet? You won’t be able to use that arm again.” Jeroboam would never be able to use either hand or either arm to offer incense or anything else, unless his arm was healed. That didn’t seem likely at the time.
The second event was the direct fulfillment of the last prophecy, namely, that the altar was split apart and the ashes were poured out. We don’t know how many sacrifices had been made on this false altar, but there had clearly been enough for some ashes to accumulate. There was no sound, apparently, except that of the altar’s materials splitting.
I can only imagine the shock of the priests and Jeroboam himself, as they watched the altar they had no doubt built so carefully, being torn in pieces! Another thought: perhaps this reminded Jeroboam of the original promise from Ahijah, the prophet, who had taken a new garment, torn it into 12 pieces and then gave Jeroboam 10 of them. The same God Who had given him pieces torn from a garment would remind Jeroboam by tearing down this false altar.
The reaction to the message
This certainly caught Jeroboam’s attention. This was enough to remind him that even though he had been crowned king, and even though he had appointed himself chief religious leader, he wasn’t the greatest. God still had something to say about that.
Jeroboam quickly asked the man of God to pray for him, so that Jeroboam would have his arm restored as before. This is one of the most unusual requests for prayer that I’ve seen in Scripture! Jeroboam could have asked for any number of things: peace, God’s favor, repentance, and God would have answered any of these, I’m sure, had Jeroboam been genuinely repentant. But he only asked for the use of his arm. Amazingly, God granted that request. What grace!
The king also offered the man of God a meal and a present or reward! We aren’t sure why that happened, or why Jeroboam suddenly became so generous, but the man of God would have nothing to do with any of that. He politely said that God told him not to eat bread or drink water and then to not even follow the same way to go back home.
One thing, though, that did take place afterward: the altar at Bethel was eventually rebuilt. We’re not told how or when, but it was restored. How else could Josiah tear it down unless it had been rebuilt before Josiah’s time?
Application for us
You and I may not be told to find altars to false gods, tear them down, or even speak against them. This was a singular event, and Josiah followed God’s instructions completely many years after this incident. But we do have the responsibility to be true to God ourselves, and to bring His messages to those who need to hear. Above all, may we be bold enough to stand up and deliver God’s messages, and be honest enough to refuse any kind of rewards from the ungodly.
May God Himself give us the boldness to live as He wants us to live, and say what He wants us to say. In all things, may we bring glory to God in all we do.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. http://www.lockman.org
