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.
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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.
2And 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.
4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
5The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
Oh altar, altar, this is what God says:
A boy named Josiah will be born from the house of David, who will sacrifice the priests who are burning incense on you.
Men's bones will be burned on you.[1]
And he gave a sign, saying:
This is God's sign: The altar will be ripped apart and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.
When king Jeroboam heard what the man of God said, he said, "Arrest him!"
But Jeroboam's hand "dried up" so that he couldn't use it anymore.
Then the altar split and all of its ashes poured out.
6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
The king said to the man of God, "Ask God to restore my hand."
And the man of God asked God, and God restored his hand.
7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
The king said to the man of God,
Come to my house and refresh yourself. I'll give you a reward.
8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
The man of God said,
Even if you gave me half of your possessions, I wouldn't eat or drink in your house.
Because the word of God came to me, saying, "Don't eat food or drink water. And don't return the same way that you came."
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
11Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
His sons told him what the man of God from Judah said and did that day while he was in Bethel.
12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
13And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
The old prophet said to them,
So they saddled a donkey, and he rode off.Which way did he go?
Saddle a donkey for me.
14And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
The old prophet found the man of God sitting under an oak tree.
He asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?"
The man of God said, "I am."
15Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
The old prophet said to the man of God, "Come to my house and eat some bread."
16And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:
17For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
The man of God said,
I can't return with you, go to your house, eat bread, or drink water with you.
Because the word of God told me, "Don't eat bread, drink water, or turn around to go the way that you came."
18He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
The old prophet said,
(But the old prophet was lying to him.)I am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me the word of God saying, "Bring that guy back to your house so he can eat bread and drink water."
19So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:
21And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,
22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
This is what God says:
Since you disobeyed the mouth of God and came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place that God told you not to, your carcass won't be buried in the sepulcher of your fathers.
23And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
The man of God rode off on the donkey, but a lion met him on the way and killed him.
The man of God's carcass was on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing by it.
25And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
People passed by and saw the carcass with the lion standing by, and they came and told people in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.
27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
When the old prophet heard what the people had said, he said,
The man of God disobeyed the word of God, so God sent a lion to rip him apart according to the word of God. [2]
28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.
The old prophet found the man of God's carcass. The lion hadn't eaten the carcass or ripped up the donkey.
29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
The old prophet laid the man of God's carcass on his donkey and brought it back to the city.
30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
Then the old prophet mourned the man of God, saying, "Alas, my brother!"
31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.
The old prophet said to his sons,
When I die, bury my body next to the body of the man of God.
Because the man of God's prophecy about the altar in Bethel will come to pass.
33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
King Josiah is prophesied to sacrifice the priests of the "high places" on their altars. And he does so in 2 Kings 23:20.
Note that Josiah "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord." (2 Kings 22:2).
Does God approve of human sacrifices?
Although this prophecy was apparently fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:20, no credit should be given for it, since it was supposedly given during the reign of Jeroboam (ca. 900 BCE), yet it was actually made more than 300 years later. Evidence for the late date is found in verse 32, which refers to the northern kingdom as Samaria, a term that wasn't used until after the Assyrians captured that kingdom in 721 BCE. And since the two books of Kings (which were originally one) were compiled after 566 BCE, while Josiah died in 609 BCE, the prophecy was made after the prophesied event, and was, therefore, not a prophecy at all. (Source: New Oxford Annotated Bible, OT:446; Oxford Companion to the Bible, 411)
So there were these two prophets. The first prophet lied to the second. To punish the second for believing the first prophet's lie, God sent a lion to kill him. Get it?