Episode 137: A tale of two prophets

1 Kings 13

13 ¹ A man of God from Judah came to Bethel, while Jeroboam burned incense by the altar.

² The man of God stood by the altar and said by the word of God:

Oh altar, altar, this is what God says:

A boy named Josiah will be born from the house of David, who will sacrifice the priests who are burning incense on you.

Men's bones will be burned on you.

³ And he gave a sign, saying:

This is God's sign: The altar will be ripped apart and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.

⁴ When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God said, he said, "Arrest him!"

But Jeroboam's hand dried up so that he couldn't use it anymore.

⁵ Then the altar split, and all of its ashes poured out.

⁶ King Jeroboam said to the man of God, "Ask God to restore my hand."

And the man of God asked God, and God restored his hand.

⁷ Then King Jeroboam said to the man of God,

Come to my house and refresh yourself. I'll give you a reward.

⁸ The man of God said,

Even if you gave me half of your kingdom, I wouldn't eat or drink in your house.

⁹ Because the word of God came to me, saying,

Don't eat food or drink water.

And don't return the same way that you came.

¹⁰ So the man of God didn't return the same way that he came to Bethel.

¹¹ There was an old prophet who lived in Bethel. His sons told him what the man of God from Judah said and did that day while he was in Bethel. ¹² The old prophet said to them,

Which way did he go?

¹³ Saddle a donkey for me.

So they saddled a donkey for him, and he rode off.

¹⁴ The old prophet found the man of God sitting under an oak tree, and said to him,

Come to my house and eat some bread.

¹⁶ The man of God said,

I can't return with you, go to your house, eat bread, or drink water with you.

¹⁷ Because the word of God told me, "Don't eat bread, drink water, or return the way that you came."

¹⁸ The old prophet said,

I am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me the word of God saying, "Bring that man back to your house so he can eat bread and drink water."

(But the old prophet was lying to him.)

¹⁹ So the man of God went back to the old prophet's house and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ As they sat at the table, the word of God came to the old prophet. ^21-22 And the old prophet said to the man of God,

This is what God says:

Since you disobeyed the mouth of God and came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place that God told you not to, your carcass won't be buried in the sepulcher of your fathers.

²³ After the man of God ate bread and drank water, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the man of God.

²⁴ The man of God rode off on the donkey, but a lion met him on the way and killed him. The man of God's carcass was on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing by it.

²⁵ People passed by and saw the carcass with the lion standing by, and they came and told people in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the old prophet heard what the people had said, he said,

The man of God disobeyed the word of God, so God sent a lion to rip him apart according to the word of God.

²⁸ The old prophet found the man of God's carcass. The lion hadn't eaten the carcass or ripped up the donkey.

²⁹ The old prophet laid the man of God's carcass on his donkey and brought it back to the city.

³⁰ Then the old prophet mourned the man of God, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

³¹ The old prophet said to his sons,

When I die, bury my body next to the body of the man of God.

Because the man of God's prophecy about the altar in Bethel will come to pass.

³³ After this, Jeroboam returned to his evil ways.