1 Kings 13:11. An old prophet—and his sons came and told him— It appears from this, that these sons of the old prophet were present when Jeroboam stood at the altar, and therefore joined in that idolatrous worship, though their father did not: who, nevertheless, was too timorous to reprove them. There are various opinions concerning this prophet of Beth-el. Some will needs have him to have been a false prophet, highly in esteem with king Jeroboam, because he prophesied to him soft things, and such as would humour him in his wickedness. Others, however, have believed, that he was a true prophet of God, though a wicked one; not unlike the famous Balaam, who sacrificed every thing to his interest; whilst others say that he was a weak one, who thought that he might innocently employ an officious lie to bring the prophet of Judah back, who was under a prohibition indeed, but such a one as, in his opinion, related only to the house of Jeroboam, and such others as were of an idolatrous religion. See Joseph. Antiq. l. viii. c. 3.

1 Kings 13:24. A lion met him by the way, and slew him— There was a wood not far from Beth-el, out of which the two she-bears came, mentioned 2 Kings 2:24; and it is not unlikely that out of the same wood came the lion which slew this prophet. We have in this narrative a cluster of miracles: the lion, contrary to his nature, neither eats the carcase, tears the ass, meddles with the travellers who pass by, nor hurts the old prophet and his ass. Nor is this all: the ass, on which the man of God rode, remains quietly, without seeming to regard the lion, which stands to watch the body till this strange account is carried into the city, and the old prophet arrives at the spot. All this was, doubtless, done to convince the people, that the man of God was not slain by accident, but that the lion had been directed by a supernatural power. See AElian's Var. Hist. l. vi. c. 5. Some have thought that this prophet's offence was a small one to have met with so severe a punishment; but the true state of the case is this: the prophet from Judah had sufficient evidence of the truth of his own revelation; had sufficient cause to suspect some corrupt ends in the prophet who came to recal him; and had sufficient reason to expect an interposition of the same power that gave him the injunction to repeal it; and therefore his crime was an easy credulity, a complying with an offer merely to gratify a petulant appetite, which he knew was repugnant to a divine command. It argued a great levity, if not infidelity of his own revelation, to listen to the pretended one of another man. The lesson we are to learn from God's severity in this instance is, not to suffer our faith to be perverted by any suggestions made against a revelation of uncontested divine authority. See Galatians 1:8-9. Scheuchzer, and Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae.
REFLECTIONS.—Nothing could be more noble than the prophet's behaviour before the king; and one cannot but grieve to see him afterwards thus deluded and slain.
1. The instrument of his fall is called an old prophet, originally of Samaria, but now of Beth-el; whose dubious character makes it difficult to determine, whether he were a good or bad man. He is called a prophet; was favoured with revelations; did not attend the idolatrous worship; believed and confirmed the word of God against the altar at Beth-el; buries the prophet in his tomb; and desires to lie by his side. On the other hand, his abode in Beth-el; his permitting his sons to attend the altar; and, especially, the base deceit here put upon so good a man, would rather induce one to think, that, like Balaam, though speaking some truth, he was false and faithless. Having heard by his sons what had passed, he follows the prophet, and invites him to take some refreshment. The prophet pleads his express prohibition, but this he pretends to over-rule by a later revelation made to him, who boasts himself a prophet also, enjoining him to bring his brother back. Deceived by this pretence, the good prophet complies, and suffers for it. Note; (1.) False prophets are the most fatal enemies of God's people. (2.) They who seek to draw us aside from God's revealed will, however plausible their pretexts, are the emissaries of hell. (3.) We may be seduced to do evil by appearances of piety, when we should not be driven into it by any fears of suffering.
2. The doom denounced on the disobedient prophet. The instrument of his delusion is made the messenger of his destruction. He upbraids him with his transgression, in returning contrary to his orders, and foretels his sudden and approaching death. If we enquire into so strange a transaction, we are lost. But we know that God is just in all his ways; the deceived and the deceiver are his; and we must wait till a judgment-day shall clear up every mysterious providence, and make his righteousness clear as the noon-day.

1 Kings 13:32. In the cities of Samaria— How can they be called the cities of Samaria, when Samaria itself was not now built; nor had the separate kingdom of Jeroboam yet obtained that name? It is plain from hence, that the author or compiler of these books of kings lived after the time of Jeroboam, and writes of things and places as they were in his own day. He knew full well that Samaria was built by Omri, fifty years after Jeroboam, since he has himself given the account of its foundation; but he was willing to speak in the phrase then current, and to make himself intelligible to those who read him. And for this reason it is, no doubt, that in 2Ki 23:18 the false prophet of Bethel is said to have come from Samaria, though at that time there was no city of that name. Though this solution, which is Calmet's, may be thought very satisfactory; yet, as the prophet evidently speaks with foreknowledge of future events, why may we not suppose, that by the same foreknowledge he anticipates the name of Samaria, as well as the events which were to happen there? Houbigant remarks, it ought not to seem any thing strange, that the prophet names Samaria before it is built; as the man of God has named Josiah, 1 Kings 13:2, who reigned a long time after it was built. Instead of high places which are in the cities of Samaria, he reads, which shall be, &c. Upon a review of this narrative, who can fail to admire the unsearchable secrets of the divine justice? Jeroboam revolts from his lawful sovereign, forsakes the worship of the true God, engages the people in gross idolatry, and is himself hardened by the menaces and miracles of the prophet who was sent to him: a false prophet deceives an innocent man with a lie, and draws him into an act of disobedience contrary to his inclination; yet this wicked Jeroboam, and this seducing prophet, escape immediate punishment, while the other, who might mean no ill perhaps in turning back, is slain by a lion, and his body deprived of the sepulture of his fathers. We must acknowledge indeed, that the depths of the judgments of God are an abyss which our understandings cannot fathom; but nothing certainly can be a more sensible proof of the truth of another life, and of the eternal recompences or punishments that attend it, than to see the righteous so rigorously treated here for slight offences; while, sentence not being speedily executed against evil men, we have an assurance from thence that God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Ecclesiastes 12:14.

1 Kings 13:34. And this thing became sin— Nothing can be more striking than the blindness and ingratitude of Jeroboam. Instead of relying on the promises which God had made him, to preserve the kingdom in his family, if he continued faithful; and fearing lest his subjects should forsake him if they went to sacrifice at Jerusalem; out of a false policy he set up an idolatrous worship in his kingdom, which occasioned the ruin of his family, and, at last, the ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Thus men, instead of trusting to God, in the faithful discharge of their duty, for security, have recourse to ill methods, whereby they draw upon themselves at length those very misfortunes which they mean to avoid. Ostervald.