1 Kings 13:33 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 13:33
After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
a word · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Jeroboam
יָרָבְעָ֖םya.ra.ve.'Am
H3379
Jarobam · proper noun, a man's name
returned
שָׁ֥בshav
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
evil
הָרָעָ֑הha.ra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + adjective, feminine singular absolute
way
מִדַּרְכּ֣וֹmi.dar.Ko
H1870
a road (as trodden) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
made
וַיַּ֜עַשׂvai.Ya.'as
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
again
וַ֠יָּשָׁבvai.ya.sho
H7725
to turn back (hence · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
lowest
מִקְצ֤וֹתmik.Tzot
H7098
a termination · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct
people
הָעָם֙ha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
priests
כֹּהֲנֵ֣יko.ha.Nei
H3548
literally one officiating · noun, common masculine plural construct
places
בָמ֔וֹתva.Mot
H1116
an elevation · noun, common feminine plural absolute
would
הֶֽחָפֵץ֙he.cha.Fetz
H2655
pleased with · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
consecrated
יְמַלֵּ֣אye.ma.Le'
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
priests
כֹּהֲנֵ֥יko.ha.Nei
H3548
literally one officiating · noun, common masculine plural construct
places
בָמֽוֹתva.Mot
H1116
an elevation · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Chronicles 11:15 And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.
2 Chronicles 13:9 Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations…
Exodus 28:41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that t…
Numbers 1:51 And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it…
Numbers 3:10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to d…
Numbers 17:5 And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the ch…
Numbers 17:12-13 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
Judges 17:12 And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 13:23–end
Here is, I. The death of the deceived disobedient prophet. The old prophet that had deluded him, as if he would make him some amends for the wrong he had done him or help to prevent the mischief threatened him, furnished him with an ass to ride home on; but by the way a lion set upon him, and killed him, Kg1 13:23, Kg1 13:24. He did but return back to refresh himself when he was hungry, and behold he must die for it; see Sa1 14:43. But we must consider, 1. That his offence was great, and it would by no means justify him that he was drawn into it by a lie; he could not be so certain of the countermand sent by another as he was of the command given to himself, nor had he any ground to think th…
bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried--His motive in making this request was either that his remains might not be disturbed when the predicted events took place (see Kg2 23:18), or he had some superstitious hope of being benefited at the resurrection by being in the same cave with a man of God.
Next: 1 Kings Chapter 14
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 13:33
Jeroboam returned not from his evil way - There is something exceedingly obstinate and perverse, as well as blinding and infatuating, in idolatry. The prediction lately delivered at Beth-el, and the miracles wrought in confirmation of it, were surely sufficient to have affected and alarmed any heart, not wholly and incorrigibly hardened; and yet they had no effect on Jeroboam!
Made - the lowest of the people priests - So hardy was this bad man in his idolatry that he did not even attempt to form any thing according to the model of God's true worship: he would have nothing like God and truth. In his calves, or rather oxen, he copied the manner of Egypt; and in the formation of his priesthood,…
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 e…
The Church Fathers
For you know undoubtedly that those that are by us named bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, were made by prayer, and by the laying on of hands; and that by the difference of their names is showed the difference of their employments. For not every one that will is ordained, as the case was in that spurious and counterfeit priesthood of the calves under Jeroboam; [1 Kings 13:33] but he only who is called of God. For if there were no rule or distinction of orders, it would suffice to perform all the offices under one name. But being taught by the Lord the series of things, we distributed the functions of the high-priesthood to the bishops, those of the priesthood to the presbyters, and the ministration under them both to the deacons; that the divine worship might be performed in purity. For it is not lawful for a deacon to offer the sacrifice, or to baptize, or to give either the greater or the lesser blessing. Nor may a presbyter perform ordination; for it is not agreeable to holiness to have this order perverted. For "God is not the God of confusion," [1 Corinthians 14:33] that the subordinate persons should tyrannically assume to themselves the functions belonging to their superiors, forming a new scheme of laws to their own mischief, not knowing that "it is hard for them to kick against the pricks;" [Acts 26:14] for such as these do not fight against us, or against the bishops, but against the universal Bishop and the High Priest of the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord. High priests, priests, and Levites were ordained by Moses, the most beloved of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
High Places · Priests ordained for — Priests ordained for
Jeroboam · .Subverts the religion of Moses — .Subverts the religion of Moses
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
But this did not lead Jeroboam to conversion. He turned not from his evil way, but continued to make high priests from the mass of the people. ויּעשׂ ויּשׁב, "he returned and made," i.e., he made again or continued to make. For the fact itself compare Kg1 12:31. "Whoever had pleasure (החפץ, cf., Ges. 109), he filled his hand, that he might become a priest of the high places." מלּא את־ידו, to fill the hand, is the technical expression for investing with the priesthood, according to the rite prescribed for the consecration of the priests, namely, to place sacrificial gifts in the hands of the persons to be consecrated (see at Lev 7:37 and Lev 8:25.). The plural בּמות כּהני is used with indefin…
Apparently, Jeroboam knew what had happened to the man of God, but it did nothing to change his spiritual outlook. Jeroboam’s persistently apostate religion, despite God’s denunciation of it, doomed his dynasty to destruction (14:7-11, 15-16; 15:27-30). As succeeding Israelite kings perpetuated his sin, it brought about the complete demise of the northern kingdom (2 Kgs 17:20-23).
Rashi on 1 Kings 13:33
[Even] after all that transpired. That he saw this wonder and heard the words of the prophet, and he, nevertheless, did not repent. And our Rabbis expounded, “After the Holy One Blessed Is He, grasped him by his garment and said to him, ‘Repent, and I and you and the son of Yishay will stroll in the Garden of Eden.’”12See Maseches Sanhedrin 102a. The conversation continued, “Yerovom said, ‘Who will walk in front?’ [and the reply was,] ‘The son of Yishy.’ [Yerovom responded,] ‘If so, I want no part of it.’”
