Continued from yesterday. Those who came by and saw the body [of the young prophet] lying in the road and the lion standing quietly beside it, reported it in Bethel where the old prophet lived. When he heard what had happened he exclaimed, "It is the prophet who disobeyed the Lord's command; the Lord fulfilled His warning by causing the lion to kill him."

   Then he said to his sons, "Saddle my donkey!" And they did. He found the prophet's body lying in the road; and the donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. So the prophet laid the body upon the donkey and took it back to the city to mourn over it and bury it. He laid the body in his own grave, exclaiming, "Alas, my brother!"

   Afterwards he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the prophet is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. For the Lord told him to shout against the altar in Bethel, and his curse against the shrines in the cities of Samaria shall surely be fulfilled."

   Despite the prophet's warning, Jeroboam did not turn away from his evil ways; instead, he made more priests than ever from the common people, to offer sacrifices to idols in the shrines on the hills. Anyone who wanted to could be a priest. This was a great sin, and resulted in the destruction of Jeroboam's kingdom and the death of all of his family.

   [Almost 300 years later, Josiah became king. He began ridding the country of idols.] He also tore down the altar and shrine at Bethel which Jeroboam had made when he led Israel into sin. He crushed the stones to dust and burned the shameful idol of Asherah. As Josiah was looking around, he noticed several graves in the side of the mountain. He ordered his men to bring out the bones in them and to burn them there upon the altar at Bethel to defile it, just as the Lord's prophet had declared would happen to Jeroboam's altar. "What is that monument over there?" he asked.

And the men of the city told him, "It is the grave of the prophet who came from Judah and proclaimed that what you have just done would happen here at the altar at Bethel!" So King Josiah replied, "Leave it alone. Don't disturb his bones." So they didn't burn his bones or those of the prophet from Samaria.

Taken from I Kings 13, The Living Bible. For free Lifescope book,
write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221. Please send $1.00 for postage and handling.