Chapter Thirteen

 1Ki 13:1  And, behold, a man of God had come from Judah to Bethel, by the Word of Jehovah, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 

1Ki 13:2  And he cried against the altar, by the Word of Jehovah, and said, Altar! Altar! So says Jehovah, Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, his name Josiah, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who are burning incense on you, and they shall burn the bones of man on you. 

1Ki 13:3  And on that day he gave a sign, saying, This is the sign that Jehovah has spoken, Behold, the altar is torn, and the ashes that are on it poured out. 

1Ki 13:4  And it happened when the king heard the saying of the man of God which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, Seize him. And his hand which he put out against him withered, and he was not able to bring it back to him. 

1Ki 13:5  And the altar was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the Word of Jehovah. 

1Ki 13:6  And the king answered and said to the man of God, Please entreat the face of Jehovah your God, and pray for me, and my hand shall come back to me. And the man of God entreated the face of Jehovah, and the hand of the king came back to him, and it was as at the beginning. 

1Ki 13:7  And the king spoke to the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift. 

1Ki 13:8  And the man of God said to the king, If you would give me the half of your house, I would not go in with you, nor will I eat bread, nor will I drink water in this place. 

1Ki 13:9  For so He commanded me by the Word of Jehovah, saying, You shall not eat bread nor drink water, nor turn back in the way that you have come. 

1Ki 13:10  And he went on another way, and did not turn back in the way in which he came into Bethel. 

1Ki 13:11  And a certain aged prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, the words that he had spoken to the king; yea, they told them to their father. 

1Ki 13:12  And their father said to them, Where is this man, what way did he go? And his sons saw the way that the man of God from Judah had gone. 

1Ki 13:13  And he said to his sons, Saddle the ass for me. And they saddled the ass for him, and he rode on it, 

1Ki 13:14  and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree. And he said to him, are you the man of God who has come from Judah? And he said, I am. 

1Ki 13:15  Then he said to him, Come home with me and eat bread. 

1Ki 13:16  And he said, I am not able to go back with you, and to go in with you, nor may I eat bread or drink water with you in this place; 

1Ki 13:17  for a word came to me by the Word of Jehovah, You shall not eat bread nor drink water there; you shall not turn back to go in the way in which you came. 

1Ki 13:18  And he said to him, I also am a prophet like yourself, and an angel spoke to me by the Word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with you into your house, and he shall eat bread and water (he lied to him). 

1Ki 13:19  And he turned back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. 

1Ki 13:20  And it happened as they were sitting at the table, and a Word of Jehovah came to the prophet who brought him back; 

1Ki 13:21  and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, So says Jehovah, Because you have resisted the mouth of Jehovah, and have not kept the command that Jehovah your God charged you, 

1Ki 13:22  and turned back and ate bread and drank water in the place of which He said to you, You shall not eat bread nor drink water; your carcass shall not come to the burying place of your fathers. 

1Ki 13:23  And after he ate bread and after he drank, it happened that he saddled the ass for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 

1Ki 13:24  And he left, and a lion found him in the way and killed him; and his carcass was thrown down in the way, and the ass was standing near it, and the lion was standing near the carcass. 

1Ki 13:25  And behold, men were passing by and saw the carcass thrown in the way, and the lion standing near the carcass; and they came and spoke of it in the city in which the old prophet lived. 

1Ki 13:26  And the prophet who brought him back out of the way heard and said, It is the man of God who provoked the mouth of Jehovah, and Jehovah gave him to the lion, and it tore him apart and killed him, according to the Word of Jehovah that He spoke to him. 

1Ki 13:27  And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the ass for me. And they saddled. 

1Ki 13:28  And he went and found the carcass thrown down in the way, and the ass and the lion were standing near the carcass; the lion had not eaten the carcass nor had he torn apart the ass. 

1Ki 13:29  And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God and placed it on the ass, and brought it back; and the old prophet came into the city to mourn and to bury him. 

1Ki 13:30  And he placed his carcass in his own grave, and they mourned for him, O my brother! 

1Ki 13:31  And it happened, after he buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, At my death, you shall bury me in the burying place in which the man of God is buried; place my bones beside his bones; 

1Ki 13:32  for the word that he cried by the Word of Jehovah concerning the altar in Bethel, and concerning all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely occur. 

1Ki 13:33  After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but turned again and made from the lowest of the people priests of high places; he who desired, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 

1Ki 13:34  And in this thing is the sin of the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it from off the face of the earth. 

Verses 1-9 Summary: God passes judgement on Jeroboam's false religion. Jerobaom orders "seize him" and his hand "withers". He asks the prophet to entreat God to restore his hand. The prophet does and God does restore the hand. Jeroboam invites the prophet to stay but he refuses since God ordered him not to do that.

6. How many years would it be before the prophecy of the man of God would be fulfilled?
Jeroboams starts reign 1314, Josiah starts reign 1637 (see Scott Nichol's timeline). 
Approximately 320 years.

Verses 10-34 Summary: An old prophet hears of the prophet who cursed Jeroboam and his false religion. He summons the man but he refuses since God told him not to do those things (eat, drink, go back). The old prophet LIES to him and says an angel told HIM to tell the man that it was ok to do these things. So he does. During the meal, the old prophet prophesies against the man (curses him) for disobeying God. He basically says "you're gonna die." So they finish the meal and the young prophet leaves. He is killed by a lion on the way. The old prophet hears of it, retrieves the body and buries it in HIS tomb. He then tells his sons to bury him next to the young prophet when he dies, because, what the young prophet prophesied WILL come to pass.

Wow.

7. Do you notice anything peculiar about the young prophet's actions following the prophecy given him while he was eating?  Yup. No visceral crying out or anger for being lied to. No revenge or killing. He just finishes his meal.

8. What lessons should we learn from this story? Personally, I find this story frustrating! But that is the point. We hate being lied to! Then suffering because we believed a lie! The bigger picture is God will not change His word. If He says do X, then do X. The implications of this extends right into the heart of false teaching and false religion itself. If the scripture says X, it means X. 
Still there is a sense of injustice that the old guy got away with lying (no penalty).