1 Kings 13:1-14 - A man of God came from Judah

13:1-6

I find this to be a most disheartening event. We have just seen Jeroboam get things badly wrong, now we see a man of God get things wrong. \the man was sent by God from Judah  to confront Jeroboam.  The man of God foretells the coming of Josiah, and the judgement  upon Jeroboam. The essence of the warning is that the high places will come to  nothing. Jeroboam has acted in disobedience to\god and when we do that our plans will not succeed. Jeroboam tried to nullify the prophet by having the man arrested, but when he held out his hand it became leprous and the altar crumbled. Man cannot overcome god. Indeed, part of the word of the prophet was immediately fulfilled.Jeroboam now pleaded with the prophet to ask God to restore his hand. He at least realised that the man had a connection with the Lord. The prophet did this, and the king’s hand was restored.`

13:9-14

The king now realised that the man was indeed a man of God, and so invited him home, offering him a meal and a gift.However the man of God refused, because he had been told by god not to eat bread or drink water, and not to return home by the way that he came, and he acted in obedience to God’s command. So all looks well at this stage, but trouble is going to come, and through an “old prophet”. We need to be especially on our guard when we have just obeyed the Lord, or won a victory, for we are then most vulnerable. The “Old Prophet” knew what the man of god had done and said. Hechased after the man of God.