1 Kings 13:4 (AMP) When the king heard the words which the man of God cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” And his hand which he had put out against him withered, so that he was unable to pull it back to himself.

In 1 Kings 11, we learn about God sending to him the prophet Ahijah, calling him to be king over the northern ten tribes of Israel. Solomon’s reign had fallen into apostasy.

Forgetting God

Psalm 137:4–5 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? 5  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!

Biblically, to forget God is to abandon him. In essence, to forget God is to break the covenant.

Deuteronomy 4:23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.

1 Kings 13, we find king Jeroboam “standing by the altar to make offerings.” (v1). That altar was at Bethel with one of the golden calves that he made (see the end of chapter 12). In making them, Jeroboam reminds us of Aaron’s golden calf. God shows his displeasure with Jeroboam’s action by causing his hand to dry up.  He made temples on high places and appointed non-levitical priests to serve in those temples.

A man of God went from Judah to Bethel

This anonymous man of God was used in an important way. He demonstrates that one does not need to be famous to be significantly used by God.

His hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself: God confirmed His word of judgment in two ways. First, He judged the disobedient king at the precise point of his most glaring sin (the outstretched hand against the man of God). Second, He fulfilled the immediate word against the altar (the altar also was split apart).

Jeroboam’s plea.

Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.

As the subsequent chapters will show, Jeroboam didn’t really repent here; or if he did, it was only for a moment. Wanting to receive something from God is not the same as repentance.

Jeroboam had great opportunity, but instead became a great curse to every generation of the northern kingdom after that. Even at the end of the Kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam’s sin was remembered.

Everything Egypt represents is enticing, and we need to be on our guard against following Jeroboam’s footsteps.

Psalm 95:7-9 Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.”

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