1 Kings 13-14

1 Kings 13-14

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 13: Jeroboam is Healed by a Prophet from Judah

                A man of God came out of Judah to see Jeroboam and to prophesy of the evil that the altar of the false gods would bring, by saying; "...O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold a child shall be bor 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." (1 Kings 13:2).This is an important prophesy that would be fulfilled some 400 years later in 2 Kings 23:15 that the kingdom of Israel would be broken up, mainly because of the sin that they were lead into, by Jeroboam. Jeroboam was outraged and raised his hand pointing at the annonymous man of God and called for his arrest, but when he tried to pull his hand back to himself and out of the outstreched motion, his hand turned to dust. The altar that was there with them, also split in half. This should have shown Jeroboam or anyone else for that matter of the dangers that idolatry can bring.

                Jeroboam calls out to the man of God and asks him to ask God for the restoration of his hand, which God through the man of God was able to restored completely. Jeroboam invites the man of God back to his house and offers to give him a reward, but the man refuses. An old prophet of Bethel finds out about this man of God and rides up after him, hoping to catch him. They meet him sitting under a tree and ask him to come back home and eat with them, but the man refuses. So the old prophet tells him that an angel had instructed him to catch up with him and invite him back to his house (this was a lie), but the man of God comes back with the old prophet.

                While sitting at the table, the prophet who had lied receives a revelation from God, that basically tells the man of God that he will be cursed for haiving disobeyed the commandment he had been given, by going back to eat with the old prophet.

                The man of God leaves and on his journeys, he is met by a lion on the road and is killed. The Lion then stands over the corpse, while a donkey and some other men on the roadway also stop to look over the corpse. Obviously this was something from God, because the Lion did not attack the Donkey or any of the other passerby's.

                The old prophet comes down to the city to mourn and to bury the man of God. He laid the mans body in his own grave, he then commands that when he dies, his body is to be buried right next to the man of God.

                Despite all that has happened, Jeroboam still continues in his ways.

Chapter 14: Prophecy of Ahijah and Jeroboam

                Abijah, the son of Jeroboam becomes sick and Jeroboam sends his wife on a mission to go to Shiloh and speak with Ahijah the prophet to get help in healing his son. So, Jeroboam's wife goes to see Ahijah, and Ahijah hears of the concerns and matters troubling Jeroboam and his house. Ahijah delivers a message from God, by declaring that God is upset; Jeroboam has done more evil than all of the leader before him! God declares a disaster upon his house and his people, destroying them all.

                Jeroboam dies and Rehoboam who is ruling over Judah also dies. Shishak, the king of Egypt comes up against Jerusalem and takes away the treasures of the house of the Lord, taking everything including gold shields that Solomon had made. Nadab reigns in the place of Jeroboam and Abijam reigns in the place of Rehoboam.

                It is interesting that this chapter (along with many other chapters) includes refrences to books that do not exist in the Bible or anywhere else for that matter. Verses; 19 and 29.

                These books are rumored to be the official records that are no longer in existance that were the source books used by the authors of the Bible, to bring all of the stories together.