Study Desk

When King Jeroboam heard the words the man of God cried against the altar in Bethel, he put out his hand from the altar, saying, "Take hold of him!" But his hand which he put out against him dried up. So he could not pull it back to himself.

The altar was broken in two and the ashes were poured out. It was the special thing to see that happened just as the man of God said it would by the word of the Lord.

The king said to the man of God, "I beg you, ask for the favor of the Lord your God. Pray for me, that my hand may be made well again." So the man of God asked for the Lord's favor. And the king's hand was made well again. It became as it was before.

Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have something to eat to make yourself strong again. And I will pay you."

But the man of God said to the king, "I would not go with you if you were to give me half your house. I would not eat bread or drink water in this place.

Now an old man who spoke for God was living in Bethel. His sons came and told him all the things which the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they told their father the words which the man had spoken to the king.

Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am."

And he said to him, "I am a man who speaks for God like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him.

As they were sitting down at the table, the word of the Lord came to the man who spoke for God who had brought him back.

And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "This is what the Lord says, ‘You have not obeyed the word of the Lord. You have not done what the Lord your God told you to do.

And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he got the donkey ready for the man of God whom he had brought back.

Then men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body. So they came and told about it in the city where the old man who spoke for God lived.

When the man who spoke for God who had brought him back from the way heard about it, he said, "It is the man of God. He did not obey the word of the Lord. So the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him. It was done as had been spoken to him by the word of the Lord."

So the man who spoke for God picked up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey, and returned with it to the city. He had sorrow for him and buried him.

After he had buried him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

And Jeroboam said to his wife, "Get ready and dress yourself so no one will know that you are the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the man who speaks for God is there. He is the one who said that I would be king over these people.

Go and say to Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says. "I gave you honor from among the people. I made you the leader of My people Israel.

All Israel will have sorrow for him and bury him. For he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to the grave. Because in him there is found something good to the Lord God of Israel, in the family of Jeroboam.

And all Israel buried him and had sorrow for him, as the Word of God was spoken through His servant Ahijah the man who spoke for God.