Prophets, Kings, and the Words of God

In fact combined with other phrases that similarly highlight the importance of the Words of God this theme is emphasized about 100 x’s throughout the book.

Therefore one of the main theological themes of the book of Kings is this: “for good or ill, and however long in coming, all God’s words are totally trustworthy.”

The Man of God & the Word of the Lord (I Kings 13)

Context: By the time we reach I Kings 13 God has already kept some very large and important promises.

1 Kings 2:27 ESV

27 So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

1 Kings 8:20 ESV

20 Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

1 Kings 8:24 ESV

24 you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.

1 Kings 12:15 ESV

15 So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Kingdom divided-

Rehoboam in the South

Jeroboam in the North

What kind of king was Jeroboam? What did he lead his newly seceded northern kingdom into?

1 Kings 12:28–33 ESV

28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. 31 He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33 He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.

1 Kings 13:1 (ESV)

1 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings.

In response to the sins of Jeroboam God sends an unnamed ‘man of God’ sent ‘by the word of the LORD’ from Judah to Bethel.

This man of God arrive the exact instant that Jeroboam was offering incense at one of his newly created altars to a golden calf.

1 Kings 13:2 (ESV)

2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’ ”

This is already a pretty remarkable prophecy! A, as-of-yet unborn child would, according to the Word of the LORD, one day defile this sinful altar by burning the bones of its priests upon it. Notice, the time when this would happen was not signified, but the certainty that it would happen was made certain!

1 Kings 13:3 (ESV)

3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’ ”

In order that the people might know the reliability of God’s words a sign would be given them. What was the sign?

1 Kings 13:4 ESV

4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.

1 Kings 13:5 (ESV)

5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

How long did the sign take to transpire? In the time it took the king to stretch out his hand!

What happened to the altar? How?

Put yourself in that moment, how would you feel?

1 Kings 13:6–10 (ESV)

6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before.

7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place,

9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’ ”

10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

Now just when you think the story is over, things take a strange twist!

1 Kings 13:11–17 (ESV)

11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.

12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it.

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

15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place,

17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’ ”

Notice what this old prophet does next!

1 Kings 13:18 (ESV)

18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he lied to him.

What did this old man do? He lied to him! Why? Isn’t that what we all want to know? The problem is the text never answers that question. So any answers that we come up with as to why are irrelevant to the point of the passage! If you come away from this passage going, “I wonder why the old prophet lied, and that was a weird story” then you have missed the point of this narrative passage.

So what is the point of this story?

1 Kings 13:19 ESV

19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

1 Kings 13:20 (ESV)

20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back.

So now the Lord really does speak to this old prophet who lied to the man of God. And what happens? God let’s this old lying prophet have it, right?

1 Kings 13:21–22 (ESV)

21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you,

22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ”

1 Kings 13:23–25 ESV

23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

What is going on here? What a weird thing to happen! How does the man of God die? What is so strange about this? Why did God do it this way? It is unmistakably supernatural!

What happens when the old prophet hears the news?

1 Kings 13:26 (ESV)

26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.”

The old prophet didn’t need to go and identify the body. He already knew whose dead body was lying next to a lion and a donkey in the middle of the road. And what he does next is even more astonishing!

1 Kings 13:27–30 (ESV)

27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.

28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey.

29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city to mourn and to bury him.

30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”

What is going on here? First the old prophet lies, and now he buries the man of God in his own tomb and morns over him like a brother??? And the story takes another strange turn!

1 Kings 13:31 ESV

31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

Why did the old prophet make this request? We don’t have to wonder the text tells us!

1 Kings 13:32 (ESV)

32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

What are we to make of all this? What is the point of these strange events? What message does God want us to walk away with?

By the way did the saying against the altar Bethel come to pass? Eventually, every word of it came exactly as God said.

2 Kings 22:1 ESV

1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

It took 32 chapters and about 300 years, but everything happened exactly how God said it would.

2 Kings 23:15–16 (ESV)

15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah.

16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things.

So what does God want us to learn from this bizarre story in I Kings 13?

Is the primary purpose of the story about delivering boldly an anti-idolatry message? Is the primary purpose of the story about Jeroboam or Josiah? Is it about the either of the prophets? (They don’t even get names- clues us in on their background nature!) What is the primary purpose of I Kings 13?

Who or what is the central actor throughout the narrative? THE WORD OF THE LORD! If we get that right then the intended meaning of the text comes through!

I Kings 13 is about the cast-iron, copper-bottomed dependability of God’s words.

Never doubt them, even if someone of stature contradicts them.

Here is the punchline of the narrative!

1 Kings 13:32 (ESV)

32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

And we learn something very important from the old prophet! He got it. He understood the lesson!

1 Kings 13:31 ESV

31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

Why?

1 Kings 13:32 ESV

32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

What lesson did the old prophet learn about the words of the Lord? Why was the old prophet so convinced that the word of the Lord spoken against the altar of Samaria would come to pass?

What did the old prophet just witness?

He just traveled by donkey to pick up a corpse. Do you think he could feel the breath of the lion on his face as he stooped down to pick up the body of the man of God? Do you think he could see in the eyes of the donkey the fear of the lion and yet the donkey held its ground? What was all that a fulfillment of?

1 Kings 13:26 (ESV)

Why did this truth motivate him to believe another truth?

1 Kings 13:32 (ESV)

32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

“Every time God’s words are confirmed by an immediate and visible fulfillment, it conditions us to accept all the other words of the Lord as equally reliable, even when they seem incredible, unlikely, or delayed.”

“God’s short-term prophecies … should convince us to trust his long-term prophecies.”

This is exactly the conclusion the Lord wants us to draw. The old prophet connected the dots: if the man of God died according to the word of the Lord because he disobeyed the word of the Lord, then no one should doubt his earlier prophecy by the word of the Lord.

The fulfillments we can see guarantee the certainty of those we can’t.

Elijah & The Word of the Lord (I Kings 17-21)

1 Kings 17:1 (ESV)

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

The word of the prophet was the word of the Lord.

1 Kings 17:5 (ESV)

5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.

1 Kings 17:8–9 (ESV)

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

1 Kings 17:14 (ESV)

14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ ”

1 Kings 17:16 (ESV)

16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

1 Kings 18:1 (ESV)

1 After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”

1 Kings 18:31 (ESV)

31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,”

1 Kings 18:36 (ESV)

36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

1 Kings 21:17–18 ESV

17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession.

1 Kings 21:19 ESV

19 And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you killed and also taken possession?” ’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.” ’ ”

1 Kings 22:38 ESV

38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken.

2 Kings 9:36 ESV

36 When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel,

Elisha & the Word of the Lord (2 Kings 1-9)

2 Kings 7:1 ESV

1 But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”

2 Kings 7:2 ESV

2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

2 Kings 7:16 ESV

16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.

2 Kings 7:17–20 ESV

17 Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. 18 For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” 19 the captain had answered the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” 20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

Hezekiah & the Astonishing Exception (2 Kings 20)

2 Kings 20:1–6 ESV

1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ ” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.”

Notice the exception!

2 Kings 20:1 (ESV)

2 Kings 20:5 (ESV)

5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord,

Doesn’t this passage undermine the absolute reliability of God’s words? Why or why not?

What is the exception clause in this narrative teaching us?

“On of the factors that can mitigate a word of the Lord is the pleasure off God in answering the prayer of His people.”