1 Kings 13:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD. ²And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, "O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.'"³That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, "This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: 'Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.'" ⁴Now when King Jeroboam, who was at the altar in Bethel, heard the word that the man of God had cried out against it, he stretched out his hand and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward him withered, so that he could not pull it back. ⁵And the altar was split apart, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. ⁶Then the king responded to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him as it was before. ⁷Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward." ⁸But the man of God replied, "If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. ⁹For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'" ¹⁰So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

O altar: Deuteronomy 32:1, Isaiah 1:2, Isaiah 58:1, Jeremiah 22:29, Ezekiel 36:1, Ezekiel 36:4, Ezekiel 38:4, Luke 19:40

Josiah by name: 2 Kings 22:1, 2 Kings 22:2, 2 Kings 23:15-18, 2 Chronicles 34:1, 2 Chronicles 34:4-7, Isaiah 42:9, Isaiah 44:26-28, Isaiah 46:10, Isaiah 48:5-7

offer: 2 Kings 23:15-17

Reciprocal: Leviticus 10:1 - put incense Leviticus 26:30 - I will destroy 1 Kings 13:32 - the saying 1 Kings 20:35 - in the word 2 Kings 2:2 - Bethel 2 Kings 17:23 - as he had said 2 Kings 17:27 - one of the priests 2 Kings 23:16 - burned 2 Kings 23:20 - he slew 2 Chronicles 34:5 - he Ecclesiastes 3:2 - time to be born Isaiah 7:2 - the house Jeremiah 8:1 - General Ezekiel 6:4 - and I Ezekiel 37:4 - Prophesy Hosea 10:8 - their altars Amos 3:14 - I will Matthew 1:10 - Josias

Cross-References

Genesis 13:1
So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev-he and his wife and all his possessions-and Lot was with him.

Genesis 13:3
From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:10
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Genesis 13:12
Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 24:35
"The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys.

Deuteronomy 8:18
But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

1 Samuel 2:7
The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

Job 1:3
and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord,.... By his order and command:

and said, O altar, altar; addressing himself not to Jeroboam, but the altar, thereby reproving his stupidity, the altar being as ready to hear as he; and because that was what moved the indignation of the Lord; and the word is repeated, to show the vehemency of the prophet's spirit, and his zeal against it; though the Jews commonly say it respects both altars, that at Dan, as well as this at Bethel:

thus saith the Lord, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; who was not born until three hundred years after this, according to the Jewish writers a: but it is generally reckoned to be more, even three hundred and fifty or three hundred and sixty years; this is a clear proof of the prescience, predetermination, and providence of God with respect to future events, contingent ones, such as depend upon the will of men; for what more so than giving a name to a child?

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; all which was fulfilled by Josiah, 2 Kings 23:15, it may be read, "the bones of a man", which the Jews understand of Jeroboam; but may only signify that, instead of the bones of beasts, which were burnt on it, the bones of men should be burnt, and even of the priests themselves; a glaring proof this of the truth of prophecy, and of divine revelation.

a Pirke Eliezer, c. 17.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A child shall be born ... Josiah by name - Divine predictions so seldom descend to such particularity as this, that doubts are entertained, even by orthodox theologians, with respect to the actual mention of Josiah’s name by a prophet living in the time of Jeroboam. Only one other instance that can be considered parallel occurs in the whole of Scripture - the mention of Cyrus by Isaiah. Of course no one who believes in the divine foreknowledge can doubt that God could, if He chose, cause events to be foretold minutely by his prophets; but certainly the general law of his Providence is, that He does not do so. If this law is to be at any time broken through, it will not be capriciously. Here it certainly does not appear what great effect was to be produced by the mention of Josiah’s name so long before his birth; and hence, a doubt arises whether we have in our present copies the true original text. The sense is complete without the words “Josiah by name;” and these words, if originally a marginal note, may easily have crept into the text by the mistake of a copyist. It is remarkable that, where this narrative is again referred to in Kings (marginal reference), there is no allusion to the fact that the man of God had prophesied of Josiah “by name.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 13:2. He cried against the altar — He denounced the destruction of this idolatrous system.

A child shall be born - Josiah by name — This is one of the most remarkable and most singular prophecies in the Old Testament. It here most circumstantially foretells a fact which took place three hundred and forty years after the prediction; a fact which was attested by the two nations. The Jews, in whose behalf this prophecy was delivered, would guard it most sacredly; and it was the interest of the Israelites, against whom it was levelled, to impugn its authenticity and expose its falsehood, had this been possible. This prediction not only showed the knowledge of God, but his power. He gave, as it were, this warning to idolatry, that it might be on its guard, and defend itself against this Josiah whenever a person of that name should be found sitting on the throne of David; and no doubt it was on the alert, and took all prudent measures for its own defence; but all in vain, for Josiah, in the eighteenth year of his reign, literally accomplished this prophecy, as we may read, 2 Kings 23:15-20. And from this latter place we find that the prophecy had three permanent testimonials of its truth.

1. The house of Israel;

2. The house of Judah; and,

3. The tomb of the prophet who delivered this prophecy, who, being slain by a lion, was brought back and buried at Beth-el, the superscription on whose tomb remained till the day on which Josiah destroyed that altar, and burnt dead men's bones upon it.

See above, verses 16-18. 2 Kings 23:16-18