Text: [1Ki 13:1, KJV:] 1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 And 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. 3 And 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.
Thoughts: This event took place after Jeroboam became king of the Ten Northern Tribes and led away from Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and king over Judah. That was bad enough—rebellion against the legitimate king—but even worse, Jeroboam also set up a pair of idols for his subjects to worship (including himself). These idols were golden calves, and one was set up in Bethel, close to the southern border (with Judah) and the other in Dan, or the northernmost area of Israel. So not only had they rejected the true king, they had also rejected the True God in order to worship the idols Jeroboam was responsible for setting up for worship.
Jeroboam seems to have taken the role of priest upon himself, as well. The text indicates that he—not one of the priests, if any were in that capacity at the time—was offering incense (verse 2) on that altar. Jeroboam must have convinced himself that everything was fine: he had a loyal group of subjects (many of the northern people fled to Jerusalem but the majority stayed put); he seemed to have a large army (exact numbers varied over time); and he was able to worship whatever he wanted, however he wanted. Why people think something they’ve made is able to provide anything, or even hear a prayer directed to these objects, remains a mystery—but see Romans 1 for Paul’s discussion of the subject). Life, as they say, was good!
Then came a prophet, a man of God, from Judah, who dared (!) to bring a message from the God of Israel directly to the new king of Israel (the 10 Tribes). The text mentions three specific prophecies about the altar which Jeroboam built (Josiah would be born, and he would burn the bones of apostate or idolatrous priests on the altar along with the bones of other people), all of which happened in Josiah’s reign about 300 years later. Then the man of God gave a sign to prove God was the Supreme Ruler: the man of God declared the altar would be split (“rent”, KJV) and the ashes would be “poured out”. We do not know how many sacrifices Jeroboam had offered on that altar.
Conclusion: Other things happened at this one-time event at Bethel, beyond the scope of this writing. The significant thing is that even in evil times, there were still men of God who were willing to bring God’s message to a man whom God had blessed, but who rejected the very God Who had given him his position. We know next to nothing about this man of God, but we can rejoice that he did what God told him to do. May we have many more such men to do this!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).