1 Kings 13:4

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

Lay hold: 2 Chronicles 16:10, 2 Chronicles 18:25-27, 2 Chronicles 25:15, 2 Chronicles 25:16, Psalms 105:15, Jeremiah 20:2-4, Jeremiah 26:8-11, Jeremiah 26:20-23, Jeremiah 38:4-6, Amos 7:10-17, Matthew 25:40, Matthew 26:57, Mark 14:44-46, John 13:20, Acts 6:12-14

his hand: Genesis 19:11, 2 Kings 6:18-20, Jeremiah 20:4-6, Luke 3:19, Luke 3:20, Luke 6:10, John 18:6, Acts 9:4, Acts 9:5, Acts 13:8-11, Revelation 11:5

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 12:13 - David 1 Kings 12:22 - the man Ezekiel 11:13 - when Hosea 7:5 - he stretched Zechariah 11:17 - his arm Matthew 12:10 - which Mark 3:1 - withered Luke 6:6 - there John 5:3 - withered

Cross-References

Genesis 4:26
And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh. At that time men began to invoke the name of the LORD.

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 13:2
And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.

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 13:7
And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.

Genesis 13:8
So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers.

Genesis 13:18
So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Psalms 26:8
O LORD, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.

Psalms 84:10
For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Psalms 107:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it came to pass, when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who had cried against the altar in Bethel,.... He was highly provoked: so that he put forth his hand from the altar; on which he was burning incense:

saying, lay hold on him; he put forth his hand, and either shook it at the prophet, threatening what he would do to him; or as beckoning to the people to seize him, and which he also expressed:

and his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him; he could not move it one way nor another, but it remained in the same position, the nerves and muscles being shrunk; which was a further confirmation of the prophet's mission from God, being one of those concerning whom he says, "do my prophets no harm", and a fresh token of the certain performance of what he had said.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 13:4. Lay hold on him. — No doubt, stretching out his own hand at the same time, through rage, pride, and haste, to execute his own orders.

And his hand dried up — The whole arm became suddenly rigid; the nerves no longer communicated their influence, and the muscles ceased to obey the dictates of the will.