The Divided Kingdom

Nevertheless Yarov'am said to himself, "Now the rulership will return to the house of David.

For if these people continue going up to offer sacrifices in the house of ADONAI in Yerushalayim, their hearts will turn back to their lord, Rechav'am king of Y'hudah. Then they will kill me and return to Rechav'am king of Y'hudah."

After seeking advice, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people, "You have been going up to Yerushalayim long enough! Here are your gods, Isra'el, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!"

He placed one in Beit-El and the other in Dan,

and the affair became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [in Beit-El and] all the way to Dan [to worship the other].

He also set up temples on the high places and made cohanim from among all the people, even though they were not descended from Levi.

Yarov'am instituted a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, similar to the festival held in Y'hudah; he went up to the altar in Beit-El to sacrifice to the calves he had made; and he placed in Beit-El the cohanim he had appointed for the high places.

He went up to the altar which he had set up in Beit-El on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had chosen on his own, and instituted a festival for the people of Isra'el; he went up to the altar to burn incense.

Just then, as Yarov'am was standing by the altar to burn incense, a man of God came out of Y'hudah, directed to Beit-El by a word from ADONAI.

And by the word from ADONAI he cried out against the altar: "Altar, altar, here is what ADONAI says: 'A son will be born to the house of David; his name will be Yoshiyahu; and on you he will sacrifice the cohanim of the high places who burn incense on you! They will burn human bones on you!'"

That same day he also gave a sign: "Here is the sign which ADONAI has decreed: "'The altar will be split apart; the ashes on it will be scattered about.'"

When the king heard what the man of God said, how he denounced the altar in Beit-El, Yarov'am took his hand away from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But his hand, the one he had stretched out against him, shriveled up; so that he could not draw it back to himself.

Also the altar was split apart, and the ashes scattered from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of ADONAI.

The king then responded to the man of God. "Ask now the favor of ADONAI your God," he said, "and pray for me, that my hand will be restored to me." The man of God prayed to ADONAI, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it had been before.

The king then said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.

But the man of God replied to the king, "Even if you give me half your household, I will not accept your hospitality; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place.

For this is the order I received through the word of ADONAI: 'Don't eat food or drink water, and don't return by the road you took when you came.'"

So he went another way and did not return by the road by which he had come to Beit-El.

Now there lived an old prophet in Beit-El; and one of his sons came and told him all the things the man of God had done that day in Beit-El; also they told their father what he had said to the king.

Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen what road the man of God from Y'hudah had taken.

He then said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and, riding on it,

he went after the man of God. He found him sitting under a pistachio tree and said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Y'hudah?" He answered, "I am."

Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat some food."

He replied, "I cannot return with you or partake of your hospitality, nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place;

because it was said to me by the word of ADONAI, 'You are not to eat food or drink water there, and you are not to go back by the way you came.'"