1 Kings 13:1-34

Memory Verse: 32

Questions

Introduction

Outline

I. A Man of God From Judah Delivers the Word of God (13:1-10)

>1. Who did the Lord send to Jeroboam? (1)

* 1 Kings 13:1 "By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering."

* 2 Chronicles chapters 10 thru 12 record Jeroboam, king of Israel only when dealing with recording the reign of Rehoboam, king of Judah and son of Solomon. The events in this study are nowhere else in the Bible.

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>What sin was Jeroboam committing?

* "standing by the altar to make an offering"

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>Why did he cry out against the altar and not Jeroboam? (2)

* 1 Kings 13:2 "He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'"

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>What did he say?

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>Why would the sign be needed? (3)

* 1 Kings 13:3 "That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."

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>2. How did Jeroboam react to the word of God? (4a)

* 1 Kings 13:4a "When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!""

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>How was the word of God confirmed? (4b-5)

* 1 Kings 13:4b-5 But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD."

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>Why was this form and place of worship so important to the Lord? (Deut. 12:11-14; Heb. 13:11-13)

* Deuteronomy 12:11-14 "Then to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name--there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD. And there rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you."

* Hebrews 13:11-13 "The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore."

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>Now that Jesus, the Lamb of God has been slain how should we worship the Lord? (John 4:21-24)

* John 4:21-24 "Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

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>3. How did Jeroboam refer to the Lord when he was seemingly repenting? (6-7)

* 1 Kings 13:6-7 "Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before. The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."

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>How did the man of God respond to Jeroboam's generous request? (8-10)

* 1 Kings 13:8-10 "But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'" So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel."

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>II. A Prophet Lies to a Man of God (13:11-19)

>4. Who witnessed the exchange between Jeroboam and the man of God? (11-12)

* 1 Kings 13:11-12 "Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken."

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>What was their father and what did they tell him?

* "old prophet"

* "all that the man of God had done there that day"

* "what he had said to the king"

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>What did he do? (13-14)

* 1 Kings 13:13-14 "So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" "I am," he replied."

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>5. Why might the old prophet want the man of God to come with him and eat at his house? (15-17)

* 1 Kings 13:15-17 "So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat." The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. I have been told by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.'"

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>How did the man of God respond to the old prophet?

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>Why did the Lord give this command?

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>6. How did the old prophet convince the younger man of God to disobey the word of God? (18)

* 1 Kings 13:18 "The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (But he was lying to him.)"

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>Was he successful? (19)

* 1 Kings 13:19 "So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house."

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>What can be learned about the old prophets motives?

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III. The Prophet Buries the Man of God (13:20-34)

>7. Who did the word of the Lord come to? (20)

* 1 Kings 13:20 "While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back."

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>What did it say? (21-22)

* 1 Kings 13:21-22 "He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.'"

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>8. What did the man of God do? (23)

* 1 Kings 13:23 "When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him."

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* See a wood engraving by Gustave Dore (1832-1883) to the right depicting the disobedient prophet slain by a lion. Dore's drawings were in Bibles that are now in public domain. This one was scanned in by creationism.org.

>What happened?

* 1 Kings 13:24-25 "As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived."

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>When the old prophet heard the news what did he say? (26)

* 1 Kings 13:26 "When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the LORD. The LORD has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the LORD had warned him."

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>9. When the prophet arrived at the body's location what strange scene did he find? (27-28)

* 1 Kings 13:27-28 "The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they did so. Then he went out and found the body thrown down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey."

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>How did he respond? (29-30)

* 1 Kings 13:29-30 "So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, "Oh, my brother!"

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>What can be learned from the old prophets words after burying the man of God?

* 1 Kings 13:31-32 "After burying 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. For the message he declared by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."

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>10. With so many miracles could there be any doubt that the man of God was truly from the Lord?

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>Did Jeroboam repent? (33)

* 1 Kings 13:33 "Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places."

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>What would this sin eventually lead to for Jeroboam and the northern ten tribes?

* 1 Kings 13:34 "This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth."

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