Exegesis 1: 1 Kings 13
1 Kings 13
We are about to start learning how to exegete.
I need to understand my teaching method.
I am typically NOT going to simply TELL you what is happening in these texts.
I will be using the Socratic method.
What is that?
Asking you questions...getting you to THINK about the text beyond what you "see."
Along the way I will interject key principles that we are using without me telling you...
OR things that I think many of you,
or at least some of you, are missing.
So, let's get going.
The first thing you need to know when you are trying to understand a passage is:
What is the meta-message...
What is the overarching message of 1-2 Kings?
- historical background
- divided kingdom
- judgment coming (prophetic warnings)
The last thing you need to keep in your mind:
Whether you think this story really happened or not...
You need to keep in mind that the writer probably believed it...and I think the readers (or the hearers...because most people would probably hear this story either read or told to them)...the people would certainly believe this story.
Section 1
13 By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.
2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: "A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you."
3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."
4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and cried, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.
5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.
Questions?
Why is this confrontation happening?
Where is the young prophet from?
Why is that significant?
Section 2
6 Then the king said to the man of God,
"Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored."
So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.
7 The king said to the man of God,
"Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift."
8 But the man of God answered the king,
"Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here.
9 For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.
10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
Questions?
Why did the King ask the young prophet to come home with him?
- could he have wanted this prophet to become "his" prophet?
- it says at the end of the chapter that Jeroboam was making any willing person a priest...there were no Levites, so they did not have the tribe of priests.
Can anyone think of another reason?
What do you think of the answer the young prophet gives the King in v8?
Look at v9:
Why would God give the young man this command?
- it is possible that Jeroboam would want to kill the young man...
- he wanted him arrested
- he rejected the King's offer
Section 3
What happens next in this story?
Read: v11-17
Questions?
- why is the young man sitting under a tree resting?
- what do you think the old prophet thinks about this?
Read: v18-22
Questions?
- is this old man a true prophet?
- why would the young man trust him to be a prophet?
- why would the old man lie to the young prophet?
Read: v23!!
Questions?
- what kind of reaction is this to the old man's word that he disobeyed?....
He just kept eating...
More possibilities:
00QUESTIONS?