(32) He stationed at Bethel the priests of the shrines that he had appointed to sacrifice to the calves that he had made. And Jeroboam established a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month; in imitation of the festival in Judah, he established one at Bethel, and he ascended the altar [there]. (33) On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the month in which he had contrived of his own mind to establish a festival for the Israelites—Jeroboam ascended the altar that he had made in Bethel.
(1) Then Solomon convoked the elders of Israel—all the heads of the tribes and the ancestral chieftains of the Israelites—before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, that is, Zion. (2) All the men of Israel gathered before King Solomon at the Feast, in the month of Ethanim—that is, the seventh month.
(1) And behold, a man of God arrived at Bethel from Judah at the command of the LORD. While Jeroboam was standing on the altar to present the offering, the man of God, at the command of the LORD, cried out against the altar: (2) “O altar, altar! Thus said the LORD: A son shall be born to the House of David, Josiah by name; and he shall slaughter upon you the priests of the shrines who bring offerings upon you. And human bones shall be burned upon you.” (3) He gave a portent on that day, saying, “Here is the portent that the LORD has decreed: This altar shall break apart, and the ashes on it shall be spilled.”
(4) When the king heard what the man of God had proclaimed against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his arm above the altar and cried, “Seize him!” But the arm that he stretched out against him became rigid, and he could not draw it back. (5) The altar broke apart and its ashes were spilled—the very portent that the man of God had announced at the LORD’s command. (6) Then the king spoke up and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the LORD your God and pray for me that I may be able to draw back my arm.” The man of God entreated the LORD and the king was able to draw his arm back; it became as it was before. (7) The king said to the man of God, “Come with me to my house and have some refreshment; and I shall give you a gift.” (8) But the man of God replied to the king, “Even if you give me half your wealth, I will not go in with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place; (9) for so I was commanded by the word of the LORD: You shall eat no bread and drink no water, nor shall you go back by the road by which you came.” (10) So he left by another road and did not go back by the road on which he had come to Bethel.
כי כן צוה אותי. ...לפי שאסור להכנס לעיר עובדי עבודת גילולים אם לא להתרות בהם ולמנעם או לדבר להם בשם ה' לפי שיראו העם כי לא נכנס שם אלא לספר נבואתו בלבד מנעהו מלאכול ולשתות שם ולפי שלא יזכר דרך העיר ההוא ולא ישוב שם מנעהו מלשוב בדרך אשר בא בה:
For one is forbidden to enter a city of idolatry other than to warn or prevent the inhabitants (from idolatry) or to speak God's word. The prophet was restricted from eating or drinking there so the people would see that he had gone there only to deliver his prophecy.
(11) There was an old prophet living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel [and] the words that he had spoken to the king. When they told it to their father, (12) their father said to them, “Which road did he leave by?” His sons had seen the road taken by the man of God who had come from Judah. (13) “Saddle the ass for me,” he said to his sons. They saddled the ass for him, and he mounted it (14) and rode after the man of God. He came upon him sitting under a terebinth and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. (15) “Come home with me,” he said, “and have something to eat.”
(16) He replied, “I may not go back with you and enter your home; and I may not eat bread or drink water in this place; (17) the order I received by the word of the LORD was: You shall not eat bread or drink water there; nor shall you return by the road on which you came.” (18) “I am a prophet, too,” said the other, “and an angel said to me by command of the LORD: Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.” He was lying to him. (19) So he went back with him, and he ate bread and drank water in his house.
(20) While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back. (21) He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah: “Thus said the LORD: Because you have flouted the word of the LORD and have not observed what the LORD your God commanded you, (22) but have gone back and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water [there],’ your corpse shall not come to the grave of your fathers.”
(23) After he had eaten bread and had drunk, he saddled the ass for him—for the prophet whom he had brought back. (24) He set out, and a lion came upon him on the road and killed him. His corpse lay on the road, with the ass standing beside it, and the lion also standing beside the corpse. (25) Some men who passed by saw the corpse lying on the road and the lion standing beside the corpse; they went and told it in the town where the old prophet lived. (26) And when the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard it, he said, “That is the man of God who flouted the LORD’s command; the LORD gave him over to the lion, which mauled him and killed him in accordance with the word that the LORD had spoken to him.” (27) He said to his sons, “Saddle the ass for me,” and they did so. (28) He set out and found the corpse lying on the road, with the ass and the lion standing beside the corpse; the lion had not eaten the corpse nor had it mauled the ass. (29) The prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the ass, and brought it back; it was brought to the town of the old prophet for lamentation and burial. (30) He laid the corpse in his own burial place; and they lamented over it, “Alas, my brother!” (31) After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God lies buried; lay my bones beside his. (32) For what he announced by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the cult places in the towns of Samaria, shall surely come true.”
(33) Even after this incident, Jeroboam did not turn back from his evil way, but kept on appointing priests for the shrines from the ranks of the people. He ordained as priests of the shrines any who so desired. (34) Thereby the House of Jeroboam incurred guilt—to their utter annihilation from the face of the earth.
The verse states: “And after this matter, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way” (I Kings 13:33). To what event is the verse alluding, when it states: “After this matter”? Rabbi Abba says: It is after the Holy One, Blessed be He, grabbed Jeroboam by his garment, i.e., he sent prophets and implored him, and said to him: Repent, and you and I and the son of Yishai will stroll together in the Garden of Eden. Jeroboam said to Him: Who will walk in the lead? God said to Jeroboam: The son of Yishai will walk in the lead. Jeroboam said: If so, I do not wish to repent.