King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 9 notes
1And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
2And 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.
3And 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.
4And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, 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.
5The 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.
6And 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.
Two things... After this, did he repent? 2. How come God chose him? Did he not know that Jeroboam will start a train of idolatry which will transcend several generations?
Just see the lives lost and damage done because God ordained the wrong person.
Or did he? It comes down to the will of man 👨. Which makes us independent of mind.
The Lord thy God???
So the Lord who had made him king 👑 was no longer the Lord his God?
He had another god found by his own heart and devices.
He was now very powerful and was not just a god to himself, but he created his own gods and that of his people.
7And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
8And 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:
9For 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.
10So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.
11Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
12And 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.
13And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
14And 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.
15Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
16And 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:
17For 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.
18He 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.
Why did he lie 🤥 to this man of God?
Maybe because the Lord had left use of him because of his moral failures — who knows.
And now maybe he sought to acquaint himself with the one whom God has chosen to use.
Come to think of it, why would God send a prophet all the way from Judah if there was one worthy already in Israel 🇮🇱?
It goes to show that we must keep ourselves sanctified always for the Lord's use.
This dubious character of the prophet may explain why the Lord would not use him.
Also, why did the Lord not forgive this MOG, since he was deceived?
Because the Lord had given him sufficient warning for him to have overcome this lie 🤥 of the old prophet.
In fact, this was the very warning ⚠ the Lord had given him, and he had fallen prey to it.
He let his own desire for food, shelter and respect for man cost him his life and that of his ministry.
Lord, have mercy upon me I pray; let not my respect for man and authority cost me my calling and destiny, for I must have respect for you and your words first, Lord.
Have mercy and help me, Lord 🙏
Was it that the lie coming from an old man made it all the more believable?
19So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
20And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:
21And 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,
22But 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 carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23And 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.
So much to say in this passage about the young man 👨.
H... Okay, let's start from — when the Spirit of the Lord came upon the prophet, did it like possess him such that he could not refrain but prophesy?
I believe the unction on the prophet is so strong it's virtually impossible to refrain, as we see in Jeremiah, who described it as burning 🔥 fire 🔥 shut up in his bones.
2ndly, why did God not use the old prophet? Thirdly... I want to see the face 😔 and demeanor of the old prophet now that he had messed things up and he himself was used of God to expose his own lies 🤥.
Now he had caused the death of the young prophet.
To compensate, he buried him in his own tomb.
24And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
Why did he go back after the word of the Lord had come as to what would happen to him?
Maybe they pleaded with the Lord for forgiveness and handed it all to the Lord to show mercy?
After all, he couldn't stay with the old prophet forever.
25And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26And 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.
27And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
28And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.
Was this an instruction from the Lord to the old prophet? If not, how did he know that the lion would not devour him also, or he get trampled down by the donkey?
Or could it be that by prophetic insight he knew this was the divine at work, and knew what he could and could not do?
This particular chapter begs many questions:
1. The young prophet was penalised for disobeying God directly
2. But the old prophet was spared any punishment
3. He got the young man killed to fuel his own interests and curiosity, or maybe he knew he was no longer relevant to God and so wanted to connect by association with the Lord and whom the Lord was currently using
4. This should be wisdom for us young ministers — the old are not necessarily wise or kind or in legacy mode — some are crafty and subtle and are in a take-at-all-cost mode
29And the prophet took up the carcase 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.
30And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
31And 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 sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
32For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.
33After 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.
How come he was unrepentant after such display of God's power?
Sad, but such is the nature of man.
34And 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.
God is no respecter of persons.
Jeroboam had such prospects and he messed it up, and his house 🏡 was to be exterminated, i.e. his generations cut off.