1 Kings 13:30

1Ki 13:30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, [saying], Alas, my brother!

Ver. 30. In his own grave.] Which was ready made, it seems. See the like, Mat 27:60. Charles V carried the materials of his tomb with him up and down in his warlike expeditions.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:30 The old prophet probably had a modest grave. Such tombs were hewn out of soft limestone in a wadi (a stream bed) near the person’s home.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which he had prepared for himself.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 30. Alas, my brothers] This lamentation is very simple, very short, and very pathetic. Perhaps the old prophet said it as much in reference to himself, who had been the cause of his untimely death, as in reference to the man of God, whose corpse he now committed to the tomb. But the words may be no more than the burden of each line of the lamentation which was used on this occasion. See instances of this among the Asiatics in Clarke's note on "Jer 22:18".

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(30-32) They mourned.—The mourning of the old prophet, and the burial of the body in his own sepulchre, probably show some touch of remorse and personal compassion for the victim of his treacherous policy, mingled with the desire of preserving the tomb, which was to be his own last resting-place, from desecration, when the prediction of the prophet of Judah should be accomplished. But, even setting aside the rather prosaic tradition of his attempts to remove any impression made on the mind of Jeroboam, which Josephus has preserved (Ant. viii., 9), it is evident that his policy was only too successful. The messenger of wrath had been enticed to familiar intercourse with the prophet of the new idolatry, and had been publicly proclaimed as his “brother:” probably his death had been used to discredit his warning. The result is seen in the significant notice of 1Ki_13:33 : “After this thing, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way.” Hence the seriousness of the disobedience, which played into the hands of wickedness, and the startling severity of the penalty.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. in his own grave] Treating him as though he had been one of his own family.

Alas, my brother] This seems to have been a form of lamentation used over the dead. Cf. Jer_22:18.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way,.... From the idolatrous practices he had started, and was establishing; though he had seen his altar rent, and the ashes poured out as the man of God predicted, his own hand withered, and that restored again upon the prayer of the prophet; and though he had heard of the death he died for his disobedience to the command of God, and the several marvellous things that attended it; these were so far from reforming him, that he seemed to be the more hardened thereby:

but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: and officiated there, and indeed those of the tribe of Levi would not serve there, and therefore were expelled their cities; see Ch2 11:14.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He laid his carcase in his own grave - As Joseph of Arimathaea did the body of our Lord Mat 27:60. The possession of rock-hewn tombs by families, or individuals, was common among the Jews from their first entrance into the holy land to their final expulsion. A sepulchre usually consisted of an underground apartment, into which opened a number of long, narrow “loculi,” or cells, placed side by side, each adapted to receive one body. The cells were 6 or 7 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 3 feet high. They were commonly closed by a stone placed at the end of each. Many such tombs still exist in Palestine.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Brother. Such titles were customary, Jeremias xxii. 18. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

So that threatening, 1Ki 13:22, was fulfilled; and withal, the memory of his prophecy was revived and preserved among them, and his very carcass resting there might be a witness of their madness and desperate wickedness, in continuing their abominable idolatry after such an assurance of the dreadful effects of it.

They mourned over him; the old prophet, and his sons, and others, whom common humanity taught to lament the untimely death of so worthy a person.

Alas, my brother! was a usual form of expression in funeral lamentations. See Jer 22:18.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. Alas, my brother — His mourning doubtless came from the depths of his heart. The mere facts of the intercourse of these two prophets are profoundly impressive. The old prophet of Beth-el could not but think that he had been instrumental in his brother’s fall.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he laid his carcase in his own grave Mat_27:60. This was a mark of profound respect (Rth_1:17; Gen_23:6) and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother. A customary formula in lamentation. (Jer_22:18) It hardly implies that "he was mourned and buried as a relative of the family" (Bahr). Seeing that the old prophet was responsible for his death, he could hardly have done less. "It is a cruel courtesy to kill a man and then help him to his grave" (Hall).

Vers. 30-34.

The Law of Extremity.

God has made us free to choose or refuse good or evil Will cannot be coerced and yet be free; coercion here, therefore, would be destruction. But while God does not compel us to choose the right, He induces by gracious promises, and admonishes by alternative penalties. Still we remain free to elect the good with its blessings, or the evil with its entailments of misery. But so loth is He to see His creatures wretched that He has opened a way of repentance and reformation for sinners. In this, mercy is carried to the extreme limit which consists with the welfare of the universe, which must ever depend upon the order and harmony of righteousness. At this point there comes in the law of extremity; and the sinner passing it has to encounter "judgment without mercy.

I THE OLD PROPHET SOUGHT MERCY.

1. His conduct expressed repentance.

(1) He went out for the corpse of the man of God, and brought it to his home, discerning the hand of God in the judgment. Looking now upon that ghastly form of death he saw his own sad work. He had caused a mischief he could not now repair. How inadequately men estimate beforehand the consequences of their wrong doing! (9.) He decently interred the body in his own grave. This was the only reparation now within his power for the injury he had caused, But how inadequate! What a bitter thought!

(3) He "mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!" This exclamation (yja ywh) was the refrain of a lamentation. (see Jer_22:18) Ward, in his "Manners and Customs of the Hindoos," gives two specimens of such lamentations. There are frequent allusions to these in the prophets (Jer_30:7; Eze_6:11; Joe_1:15; Amo_5:16, Amo_5:17; Rev_18:10-19) With the old prophet this was more than a conventional mourning, he mourned for himself before God.

2. His conduct also expressed faith.

(1) He commanded his sons, when he died, to lay his bones beside those of the man of God. He believed him to be a man of God in reality, notwithstanding this single act of disobedience for which he had suffered death. There are "sins unto death," viz., of the body, which do not involve the final death of the soul. He desired to be with him in the resurrection. The concern of the ancients respecting the disposition of their bodies after death arose out of their faith in a resurrection (see Gen_1:24 Gen_1:26; Exo_13:19; Heb_11:22; see also. 2Ki_13:20, 2Ki_13:21)

(2) He gave as the reason of his command the faith he had in the certainty of the prophecy of the man of God (ver. 32). And in further testimony of his faith put an inscription on the tomb. (see 2Ki_23:17) He desired to be associated in death with the denouncers of Jeroboam"s sin rather than with those involved in that sin. Nor would he be identified in the judgment with perverters of true worship.

(3) By this faith his bones were spared when those of the priests and votaries of Jeroboam were burnt upon the altar by Josiah. (see 2Ki_23:19) By a corresponding faith shall we be saved from the judgments of the more illustrious Son of David upon the man of sin of the mystical Babylon.

II BUT JEROBOAM ENCOUNTERED THE EXTREMITY OF WRATH.

1. He disregarded the goodness of God.

(1) The conditional promises by the hand of Ahijah were very gracious. (1Ki_11:37-39) What a magnificent opportunity he had! But he missed it.

(2) What opportunities have we wasted? Who can estimate their value? No opportunity of glorifying God should escape us.

2. He disregarded his remonstrances.

(1) The judgments upon Rehoboam were lessons to him. The same God who in them visited the sins of Solomon had also set him upon the throne of Israel, and would deal with him upon the same principles. But he sinned against this admonition.

(2) Then came the warning from the man of God at the altar. That God was in this warning was left without doubt by the signs (vers. 3-6). These staggered him for a moment; but there was no true repentance.

(3) Then came the final warning in the death of the man of God for being implicated, though by a deception, in his sin. This also was shown to be from God by miraculous signs (ver. 64). But this also he disregarded (ver. 33).

(4) Now, therefore, the law of extremity must take its course. He and his house are devoted to destruction (ver. 34). This last warning was written in letters of blood. God gave it to Him at the expense of His own servant. And He warns us at the expense of His own Son; and if we finally reject Christ the extremity of mercy is spurned, and we must encounter the extremity of wrath. J.A.M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His grave - So that threatening, ver. 22, was fulfilled; and withal, the memory of his prophecy was revived and preserved among them, and his very carcase resting there, might be a witness of their madness and desperate wickedness, in continuing in their abominable idolatry, after such an assurance of the dreadful effects of it. They - The old prophet and his sons, and others, whom common humanity taught to lament the untimely death of so worthy a person. Alas, &c. - Which was an usual form of expression in funeral-Lamentations.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

In his own grave. In the graveyard belonging to the false prophet in the city.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.