1. Generally, the subject of temptation.

2. Specially, temptation.

(1)By means of our fellow-men.

(2)To disobedience of God's express command. It is thus illustrative of, and illustrated by, other passages of Scripture.

I. TEMPTATION PROMPTLY REPELLED.

1. Plain command had been given to this "man of God" (ver. 9). But no reason assigned. This is in keeping with many positive obligations of God's law..

2. King Jeroboam desires him to act in opposition to God's command.

(1)It is an open temptation, recognised as such.

(2)It is a temptation of the world.

(3)It appeals to self-interest: something is to be gained (ver. 7). Like the temptation of Eve (Genesis 3:5), of Balaam (Numbers 22:16, 17), of Christ (Matthew 4:8, 9).

3. He understands it, resolves, acts. He turns away from it (ver. 10). Like Joseph (Genesis 39:9-12). Learn — our real safety is to flee from temptation.

II. TEMPTATION FEEBLY RESISTED.

1. Again the same temptation comes: but not now from standpoint of the world, of open enmity with God. A seeming prophet is tempter (vers. 11-15).

2. The man of God feels some inward desire to comply with the temptation. There is hesitation In his resistance; he says, "I may not," and therefore "will not." Learn —(1) The beginning of our fall is when our will begins to be out of accord with God's law; when we would sin, but dare not.(2) There is danger in parleying with temptation.

III. TEMPTATION YIELDED TO.

1. For third time same temptation assails him, and with additional inducement. Satan becomes as an "angel of light," his emissary assumes the position of a minister of God (ver. 18). This case resembles Satan's quotation of Scripture (Matthew 4:3, 6).

2. The man of God is deceived by the insidiousness of the lie.

(1)Temptation at first repelled, then entertained, is at last successful.

(2)He yields, and disobeys God's Word.

(3)His sin meets with direct judgment (ver. 24).Learn —

(1)The transgression of God's law in any particular is sin.

(2)The wages of sin is death.Conclusion — Two passages in the New Testament sum up and enforce the whole subject: —

1. 1 Corinthians 10:13.(1) Temptation is a law of all human life. The man of God is not exempt.(2) Temptation is in God's mercy regulated according to our ability to resist.(3) A way of escape is ever open to us. Generally by our promptly turning away from the person or thing tempting us.

2. Galatians 1:8.(1) Temptation often comes by the example or persuasion of our fellow-creatures.(2) It will come as though with the authority of God. This specially in temptations to scepticism and disbelief as to the truth of Romans 6:23.(3) God's Word cannot contradict itself. Should it seem to do so, or any human interpretation make it appear to do so, we may doubt our own views or the interpretation of others, and should adhere to the plain truth of Holy Scripture.

(T. H. Barnet.)

1. The time of the prophet's arrival at Bethel. It happened when Jeroboam stood at the altar to burn incense. To face a guilty monarch and unveil the Divine denunciations threatened on account of his rebellious conduct, is by no means an easy task.

2. The mode of address. He addresses himself not to the guilty monarch, but as if he wished Jeroboam to feel he had forfeited the honour of being addressed like a rational agent, the prophet accosts the inanimate altar, that altar by which the king now usurpingly stood to burn incense. "O altar, altar!" he cries, not in his own name, but in the name of that God who sent him, "Thus saith the Lord."

3. The matter of the prophet's address. Now it is well worthy of remark, that though this predicted king is so particularly mentioned by name, none of the kings of Israel thought fit to assume the name, until the real and good Josiah himself. appeared as the executor of all the vengeance of a righteous God against sin. This name was given by the wicked Manasseh to his son quite undesignedly, a name which was to be the terrible watchword of the downfall of idolatry practised by Manasseh and Jeroboam: it was a name given by Manasseh to his son, in spite, as it were, of Manasseh himself, in diametrical opposition to Manasseh's policy

II. REGARD HIS TEST OF OBEDIENCE. The man of God having executed in a bold and faithful manner the grave commission on trusted to him, is preparing to take his departure, when Jeroboam, anxious it would appear to render the man of God some recompense for his kindness in having petitioned the Majesty of Heaven to restore his hand, approaches him with the friendly invitation. The prophet having manfully, by the grace of God, resisted the temptation of the king's invitation, is already on the way back to Judah, the way pointed out by the Lord for him to take. But although he has resisted one temptation and got apparently clear of Bethel, he is not yet safe. We are never secure while we are pilgrims and travellers in this world, which is not our rest, against the varied and constant assaults of Satan's temptations; as soon as one temptation is overcome, another is ready to overtake us on life's road; which teaches us ever to be watchful and prayerful.

III. THE PROPHET'S DISOBEDIENCE, AND ITS RESULT. How does the faith of the man of God now stand against this tremendous trial? He, who had a little previous so triumphantly combated the temptation to eat bread and drink water at a royal table, now, alas! totters in his obedience, and listens to the unlikely lie of an aged prophet, sanctioned, as he diabolically pretended, by an angel's revelation, and consents to return with him. The most dangerous form temptation can assume, is that of a lie, disguised in the mantle of truth, uttered by the ravening wolf clad in the sheep's clothing. By the snares of this temptation, the prophet now fell into the labyrinth of disobedience. It is Satan's master temptation. By this truth-gilded lie our first parents fell, and sin and death entered into the world. The devil put on a goodly outside, entered into the then attractive serpent, approached our unsuspecting mother in that so sleek form, and led her to fail in the first great test of human obedience, which was to be the proof of man's love, the eating of the forbidden fruit. The man of God, disobedient to the Divine command, accompanies the old prophet back to Bethel. There, dead to the fearful consequences of what he is doing, he refreshes the exhausted body at the board of hospitality. Swift indeed, and signal is the punishment inflicted on the man of God, and some may think the punishment severe; but the disobedience of the prophet in eating bread and drinking water was aggravated by the circumstances under which it was committed. Learn a lesson from this sorrowful circumstance, which Jeroboam failed to learn, even the lesson of obedience to the Word of God. Keep only in the track pointed out by that Word, though an angel from heaven might tell thee to do contrary to its Divine message to thy soul. Obey its every precept, small or great.

(R. Jones, M. A.)

1. And, first, it may teach us that, whenever God hath plainly declared His will, no grounds of supposed expediency, and no less fully authenticated declarations, however they may profess to proceed from Him, should ever induce us to depart from it. This we may learn both from the conduct of Jeroboam, as well as from that of the man of God. And, assuredly, we have abundant examples of its danger. We know that the Jews, who lived at the time when our Saviour was upon earth, are accused by Him of making void the law of God by their traditions; and even to the present day, by listening to the same fallacious guide, though they nominally admit the Divine authority of the Old Testament scriptures, they fritter away all their most important requirements. But how, it may be asked, does it arise that men can satisfy themselves to pay any attention to such a pretender? And the answer is, because, like the old prophet, it comes forward with a bold assertion of its Divine authority, though with as little regard to truth as he displayed. Tradition, among the Jews, professes to be an interpretation of the law given by God to Moses, and transmitted through elders, prophets, and wise men.

2. Another lesson to be learned from what is here recorded is that we cannot judge of a man's eternal state from the way m which he may be taken out of this world. A man of God sins; and within a few hours a lion slays him: the lying prophet that seduced him lives on, and goes to his grave in peace; yea, wicked Jeroboam continues his idolatrous worship, and treads upon the grave of his reprover. What shall we make of this? Doubtless such events teach us that there must be a judgment to come, when all these seeming inequalities will be corrected, and when rewards and punishments will be dispensed with impartial justice and unerring wisdom. At present God's people are chastened; but it is that they may not be condemned with the world; whereas the ungodly and the profane are in many instances unpunished.

3. A third lesson which may be learned from this narrative is, not to be induced heedlessly to follow any guide, whatever may be his pretensions, or whatever his apparent sanctity. The Apostle John gives the following caution: "Beloved, believe hot every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). And, if such advice was needful in apostolic times, much more is it required now.

4. The last lesson which I would point out to you as derivable from this passage of Scripture is, that no command of God is to be lightly regarded, and that the nearer people are to God the more certainly will their transgressions be punished. Implicit, unquestioning obedience has been in all ages the characteristic of God's most eminent servants.

(T. Grantham.)

(J. O. Coghlan, D. D.)

1. What God has commanded and sanctified, can be no trifle. If it be but a particle, a tittle of His will, it is enough. The least compromise on our part may tend to evil that we know not of; and our only safe and right course is in simple, implicit obedience.

2. Again, we must be always on our guard against the effect of any apparent sanctity in profession. "I am also a prophet as thou art," was the rock on which the prophet of Judah foundered. Let us not be so deceived. We know where to look for God's revealed will; we know where to look for its authorised interpretation and enforcement.

3. Finally, looking at the example in a more general point of view, let it teach us the peril of all dalliance, vacillation, and delay. Let us not be found sitting under the wayside oak; loitering on the world s highroad. We cannot toy and idle as we pass, in a region of contamination and guilt. Wherever there is one thoughtless, vacant, indifferent to his everlasting salvation, that man is first marked for a prey by his eternal foe.

(J. Puckle, M. A.)

1. This would appear, first of all, from the Divine mission with which he was entrusted.

2. And the high character and capacity of the nameless prophet of Judah appears, secondly, from the manner in which he discharged his mission.

II. AND NOW CAME HIS TRIAL. Now, it is natural to ask, what was the old prophet's motive in taking so much trouble to induce the younger man to do what was wrong? Was the old prophet a false prophet of the type which a few years later abounded in Israel during the ascendency of the Baal-worship? Were his sympathies really on the side of Jeroboam and the new religion of the Egyptian calf, and did he think anything fair if he could only ruin the courageous young man who, on an occasion of such capital importance, had covered both the upstart religion and the upstart king with such great and public discredit? This is what has been thought by some eminent authorities, but it cannot easily be reconciled with the Sequel of the history: for how should a false prophet be entrusted with the message announcing to the prophet of Judah the punishment of his transgression? How would a prophet who was opposed to the whole mission and work of the prophet of Judah have insisted on giving him honourable burial in his own grave? Once more, if the old prophet were at heart on the side of Jeroboam and the calf worship, how are we to explain his confirming the prediction of the prophet of Judah, about the coming destruction of the altar at Bethel? It is impossible to suppose that the old prophet was other than a true prophet of God, who had settled at Bethel. And here we must observe that this old prophet, although a true prophet, was evidently a person with no keenness of conscience, with no high sense of duty. There he was, settled at Bethel, witnessing the triumphant establishment of the new idolatry and of the false, uncommissioned, intrusive priesthood. It does not appear that he had the heart to say a word against the profane proceedings of Jeroboam, while yet he had no hesitation about claiming heavenly authority for a message which he knew was solely dictated by his own wishes. He was evidently an easy-going old prophet, not embarrassed by scruples when he had an object in view, and the appearance on the scene of a younger man, conspicuous for the courage and energy in which he himself was personally deficient, would naturally have affected him in a double manner.

III. SEE HERE A TRAGICAL INSTANCE OF THE MISUSE OF AUTHORITY. The prophet of Bethel had the sort of authority which accompanies age and standing. It is an authority which comes in a measure to all who live long enough; it is an authority which belongs especially to fathers of families, and to high officers in Church or State, to great writers, to conspicuous philanthropists, to public eminence in whatever capacity. It is a shadow of a greater and unseen authority which thus rests upon His earthly representatives, and invests this or that creature of a day with something of the dignity of the eternal. What can be more piteous than when, with deliberation or thoughtlessly, it is employed against Him whose authority alone makes it to be what it is? What more lamentable than when the old make truth and goodness more difficult of attainment to those who look up to them, or when, like this prophet of Bethel, they deliberately allure youth into the paths of sin, by appealing to its simple confidence in the wisdom of riper years, or to its reverence for a claim to teach, which would speedily disappear if the world at large were to join them in undermining loyalty to God's commands? Ah! there are prophets of Bethel in all ages. This disposition to discourage high and generous ideals of duty which have not presented themselves to an older generation, or still worse, have been neglected by it, is not unknown in the history of the Christian Church. A great movement may have taken place, in which God the Holy Ghost has placed before a generation of younger men a higher conception of what God's truth and God's service really mean than had occurred to their predecessors. It is always possible, or more than possible, that in a movement like this men will make mistakes, and that such a movement is all the better for the restraining, steadying, guiding influence of authority. But when authority, instead of guiding, discourages, instead of making the best use of the sacred fire — of which, after all, there is not too much in the world — sets to work deliberately to extinguish it, the consequences are disastrous.

IV. THE PROPHET OF JUDAH, WHO HAD BRAVED DEATH AND HAD REJECTED ROYAL COURTESIES AT THE ALTAR OF BETHEL, FELL WHEN TEMPTED BY THE OLD PROPHET. It may be thought that the younger prophet sincerely believed his own instructions to be cancelled by the alleged message of the angel to his older brother at Bethel. A moment's thought would, should, have told him that this could not be. He knew that God had spoken to himself; he knew that God does not contradict Himself. He might have been embarrassed for the moment by the confident story of the old prophet about the angel, if he did not suspect, as he might well have suspected, that all was not right, and that there was dishonesty somewhere. When any of us know certainly one piece of the Divine will, we simply have to act upon it, let others say what they may. No earthly authority can cancel, or suspend, or dispense with a duty which is perfectly clear to our own conscience. It has been maintained that the punishment awarded to the prophet of Judah was a disproportionately severe punishment. He forfeited his life, men say, not for committing murder, not for committing adultery, but only for eating bread in a particular place. After all, the command to abstain from eating and drinking at Bethel was not a moral precept, it was only a positive precept. But there are times when positive precepts assume high moral importance, and there are persons upon whom the observance of positive precepts exerts, or may exert, the very highest obligation — persons in whose ease a precept positive assumes a distinctly moral character.

(H. P. Liddon, D. D.)

1. Their special employment.

2. Their special qualifications. As God engaged them in His work, so He furnished them for it.

3. Their eminent devotedness.

(1)Observe his fidelity and zeal

(2)Observe his meekness and placability.

(3)Observe, too, his fortitude and disinterestedness (vers. 7-9).

II. His TEMPTATION (vers. 11-18). This temptation was —

1. In suitable time and circumstances.

2. By a suitable agent; — an old prophet. Venerable through age, — a prophet in garb and appearance, — and professing a direct and special revelation (ver. 18.)

III. His FALL. Here we must blame —

1. His unwatchfulness.

2. His easy credulity and compliance.

3. His positive transgression.

IV. His PUNISHMENT.

(Sketches of Sermons.)

II. THIS MAN OF GOD VERY NOBLY RESISTED ONE TEMPTATION AND THEN WAS OVERCOME BY A SECOND AND MORE SUBTLE TEMPTATION.

III. THIS PROPHET IS AN EXAMPLE OF THOSE WHO COME ALMOST TO THE CLOSE OF LIFE WITH HONOUR AND THEN END IT IN SHAME. How often do we find that towards the evening of life men yield to temptation which covers them with shame and which mars the whole of the glory of their life! Dr. Dale once said that special sermons were often preached for the benefit of the young, but it was equally needful to give special counsel to men of mature age, for the temptations which assail men when the fires of youthful enthusiasm have died away, are often more perilous and more deadly in their effect than those which attack the young.

(G. Hunsworth, M. A.)

1. His sudden disappearance. History is silent regarding his birth, education, and family; his very name is concealed — simply, "The man of God, who came from Judah." Travellers tell us that the river Jordan, after springing out of the mountains of Anti-Lebanon, runs underground for miles, and then rushes forth suddenly, a strong, transparent current, and meanders towards the Dead Sea. Even so the early history of this prophet runs through the dark tunnel of silence, unseen by mortal eye; but at Bethel he rushes forth into public life with suddenness and force, and it is easier to imagine than describe the effect of his unexpected appearance both upon the king and populace. It was a moral ambuscade.

2. His stern honesty. When he arrived on the scene of action he did not shrink from his duties, but proclaimed his message as a man who felt the awfulness of his position.

3. His forgiving temper. Instead of taking advantage of the misfortune which befel the apostate king, the man of God prayed that his hand should be restored.

II. THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE PROPHET. Under our changing western sky, we have often seen the sun shining brilliantly in the morning, and at noon its smiling face was veiled by dark clouds. So the morning of this man's life was successful and promising, but soon and suddenly the meridian splendour of his character became tarnished by the clouds of misfortune. The best of men have their faults.

1. His indecision of character. Indecision is great blemish in a man's character — a crack through which the steam of resolution escapes — and an impediment in his way to accomplish any heroic deed.

2. That temptation is strongest when it comes in the guise of friendship. This renegade prophet enticed him into the net by false pretensions. Are we not troubled by these false prophets in modern times? Yea, they are found in the pulpit and under it, and yet they will not leave religion alone, but persist in offering strange fire upon the altar of God, like the sons of Aaron, and will, like them, receive their reward.

III. THE JUDICIAL DEATH OF THE PROPHET. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. His death shows —

1. That disobedience is a great sin.

2. Once a man steps off the path of duty he is out of the path of safety. We hear people often complain of Providence, whereas their misfortunes arise from their own folly. All the trouble which comes from God to meet us, He gives strength according to the days to bear and to conquer them; but the troubles that arise from perverse temper and wilful caprice in us, we cannot make God responsible for them, and so we must carry or drag them ourselves. Duty is like the "magic circle " of the old magicians — all that was inside it was perfectly safe, but all that was outside the ring was liable to be destroyed. Duty likewise is a magic circle — whilst we are inside destruction is impossible.

3. God showed mercy in judgment. Though the lion was permitted to slay him, he was not allowed to feast upon the dead body. Natural historians say that the king of the forest will not attack anything except when hungry. In this case we are not positive whether he was hungry or not, but we are told this much, that "the lion had not eaten the carcase nor torn the ass." Cruel animal! "hitherto shalt thou come, and no further." The man of God had a burial; the prophet of Bethel performed the ceremony, and pretended to mourn, saying, "Alas, my brother!" Nations and families often profess to weep after those whom they had ill-treated in their lifetime.

(W. A. Griffiths.)

(N. D. Hillis, D. D.)

(F. F. Emerson.)

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1 Kings 13:7-22

     4418   bread

Interpretation of Prophecy.
1. The scriptural idea of prophecy is widely removed from that of human foresight and presentiment. It is that of a revelation made by the Holy Spirit respecting the future, always in the interest of God's kingdom. It is no part of the plan of prophecy to gratify vain curiosity respecting "the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." Acts 1:7. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God"--this is its key-note. In its form it is carefully adapted to this great end. …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

And Yet, by Reason of that Affection of the Human Heart...
9. And yet, by reason of that affection of the human heart, whereby "no man ever hateth his own flesh," [2731] if men have reason to know that after their death their bodies will lack any thing which in each man's nation or country the wonted order of sepulture demandeth, it makes them sorrowful as men; and that which after death reacheth not unto them, they do before death fear for their bodies: so that we find in the Books of Kings, God by one prophet threatening another prophet who had transgressed …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Paul's Departure and Crown;
OR, AN EXPOSITION UPON 2 TIM. IV. 6-8 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR How great and glorious is the Christian's ultimate destiny--a kingdom and a crown! Surely it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what ear never heard, nor mortal eye ever saw? the mansions of the blest--the realms of glory--'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' For whom can so precious an inheritance be intended? How are those treated in this world who are entitled to so glorious, so exalted, so eternal, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament