1 Kings 13:32

1Ki 13:32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

Ver. 32. Which are in the cities of Samaria.] So called here by anticipation. It seemeth of old to be called and belong to Shimronmeron. {Jos 11:1; Jos 11:3; Jos 12:20}

Shall surely come to pass.] Heb., Being, shall be. Jehovah, the great essentiator, shall give being to his word assuredly. "Every morning doth he bring his judgments to light, he faileth not." {Zep 3:5}

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.

13:32 the message . . . will certainly come true: The Lord’s swift judgment convinced the old prophet that the oracle of judgment pronounced by the man of God against Jeroboam’s altar would be fulfilled. The prophecy came true years later during Josiah’s reforms (2 Kgs 23:15-18). • Samaria was established as the capital city of Israel during the reign of Omri, first king of Israel’s third dynasty (1 Kgs 16:24, 29-33). The name Samaria sometimes refers to the capital city and sometimes to the northern kingdom in general (2 Kgs 17:24; Amos 6:1). Samaria’s mention here reflects the perspective of an author living at a later time. Similar uses of location names elsewhere reflect editorial updating (cp. Gen 23:2 with Josh 14:15; Judg 1:10).

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

Verse 32. In the cities of Samaria] It is most certain that Samaria, or as it is called in Hebrew Shomeron, was not built at this time. We are expressly told that Omri, king of Israel, founded this city on the hill which he bought for two talents of silver, from a person of the name of Shemer, after whom he called the city Samaria or Shomeron; (see 1Kg 16:24); and this was fifty years after the death of Jeroboam. How then could the old prophet speak of Samaria, not then in existence, unless he did it by the spirit of prophecy, calling things that are not as though they were; as the man of God called Josiah by name three hundred years before he was born? Some suppose that the historian adds these words because Samaria existed in his time, and he well knew that it did not exist in the time of the old prophet; for himself, in the sixteenth chapter, gives us the account of its foundation by Omri. After all, it is possible that God might have given this revelation to the old prophet; and thus by anticipation which is the language of prophecy, spoke of Samaria as then existing. This is the solution of Houbigant, and is thought sound by many good critics.

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

32. high places which are in the cities of Samaria] On the building of Samaria, see 1Ki_16:24. The occurrence of these words in the narrative seems clear evidence that the story in its present form is not contemporary with the events, and may therefore have been written down even later than Josiah’s time. See above on 1Ki_13:2.

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.

Against all the houses of the high places - i. e., more than the two high places at Dan and Bethel. There were many lesser high places in the land, several of which would be likely to be in Israel 1Ki 3:4.

In the cities of Samaria - The word Samaria cannot have been employed by the old prophet, in whose days Samaria did not exist 1Ki 16:24. The writer of Kings has substituted for the term used by him that whereby the country was known in his own day.

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

Samaria. The city was built by Amri, fifty years after the death of Jeroboam, chap. xvi. 24. But the sacred writer speaks of places by the names which they bore in his time. (Calmet) --- If this man was a prophet, he might easily mention Samaria, which would give its name to the kingdom of Israel. There was also probably a village of this name long before, on the mountain Samir, where one of the judges was buried, Judges x. 2. (Haydock)

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).

Of Samaria, i.e. of the kingdom of Samaria, as it was called, though not when this fact was done, yet before these books were written. Samaria was properly the name of one city, 1Ki 20:1; but from hence the whole kingdom of Israel was so called, Jer 31:5; Hos 7:1; Hos 8:5; Amo 3:9; and the king of Israel is called the king of Samaria, 2Ki 1:3; Hos 10:7; and (as here) we read of the cities of Samaria, Ezr 4:10.

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

32. And against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria — This passage is probably an interpolation, taken from 2Ki_23:19, for Samaria was not built till the time of Omri, (1Ki_16:24,) and from that capital city the surrounding country took its name. Omri named his capital after the owner of the hill on which he built the city, from which it appears that only the hill, and not the surrounding province, bore up to that time the name Samaria, or Shomeron. Hence it would have been a singular anachronism for a person of Jeroboam’s time to speak of the cities of Samaria. It is possible, indeed, that a prophet divinely illuminated might have been enabled thus to speak of things that were not as though they were, but the peculiar manner of his doing it here is unlike any other instance of revelation on record.

Shall surely come to pass — By this positive word of the old prophet, as well as by all the memorable circumstances of his brother-prophet’s disobedience and death, Jehovah’s oracles against the altar at Beth-el received additional weight and fearfulness.

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

For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel., and against all the houses of the high places At that time there would seem to have been but two "high places." Keil sees "a prophetic element in these words." He thinks the old prophet foresaw that such sanctuaries would be multiplied. Rawlinson gathers, "from the mention of the great high place in 1Ki_3:4, that there were many lesser high places in the land," which, no doubt, was the case at the date of Solomon"s accession. It is probable, however, that many of these, if not all, would be deserted when the temple was built. And it is most reasonable to suppose that in these, as in the following words, the historian has represented the prediction or affirmation of the old prophet in the language of his own time which are in the cities of Samaria. Obviously, these exact words cannot have been used by the prophet of Bethel, for Samaria dates its existence and name from the reign of Omri. (1Ki_16:24) The compiler of the Kings probably found the term in the documents which he used, or possibly, as already suggested, translated the prophet"s meaning into the language of a later day shall surely come to pass.

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

Samaria - That is, of the kingdom of Samaria; as it was called, though not when this fact was done, yet before these books were written. Samaria was properly this name of one city, chap. xxi, 1, but from hence the whole kingdom of Israel was so called.

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

For [the message] will certainly come to pass, etc. Perhaps his bones will rescue my bones.

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.