And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’”
Jeroboam has set up a rival worship centre at Bethel. As he stands at his own altar burning incense, an unnamed man from Judah speaks a sentence over it, naming the king who will destroy it three hundred years before that king is born. Two questions follow: why the words strike the altar and not the king, and how God can name a man who does not yet exist.
The Word Aimed at the Altar
The words are aimed at the altar, not at the king and not at the idol. One writer explains why:
H. L. RossierThe man of God cries against the altar (v. 2), not against the idol. For man to imagine that he can replace God's altar is more hateful in God's eyes than anything else he can do. God's altar is unique; this He has proclaimed before all. Believers have but one altar, Christ, the Lamb of God (Hebrews 13:10). God will judge wicked men who want to set up another altar alongside His own. A worship set up by man cannot last forever. Divine judgment will fall upon it. But when God destroys it, He will at the same time put the priests of this profane religion to death upon their own altar.
Mercy Behind the Sentence
The words sound like pure doom. But one writer sees mercy in them: God sent a prophet at all, to a people who had wandered from Him.
J. N. DarbyGod's testimony and God's judgment did not delay. They came in keeping with His mercy towards His people. Prophecy at once reappears, for God's faithful love to His people never grows weary. His mercy endures forever. The testimony of His word does not fail. Prophecy is God stepping in with a testimony when the people go astray and the ordinary links between God and His people break down... With Jeroboam, the LORD defends the rights of His glory against the king himself and against his altar.
A King Named Before His Birth
The prophecy names the man who would act, not only the act. One writer sets it beside another named-in-advance king:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe man of God announced the unborn king by name and also what he would do, just as Isaiah announced the unborn King Cyrus and his work. Higher criticism has laboured in vain to destroy this great evidence of prophecy.
Another writer asks a blunt question. Where is the difficulty in this?
W. W. FeredayThis prophecy is very precise. It names the man who would destroy Jeroboam's altar. In the same way the LORD named Cyrus hundreds of years before his birth (Isaiah 45:1). And why not, we ask? Where is the difficulty? Away with the foolish unbelief that would rob us of a priceless gift: the wide range of prophetic truth stored up in Holy Scripture!
Why "the House of David"
Jeroboam had broken away from David's line. Yet judgment on his altar would come from that same line:
W. W. FeredayThe prediction that judgment would reach Bethel by a prince of David's line must not pass unnoticed. The LORD was very displeased with that royal house. Yet He had not abandoned His purposes for it. Josiah, in his work of destruction, is a picture of Christ. All Scripture points to Him. At His appearing He will judge and clear away all evil from Israel, and from the earth as a whole.
The Word Carried Out
Josiah did what the sentence said. At Bethel he made one exception. He spared the tomb of the man who had spoken it:
H. L. RossierHe goes to Bethel and condemns all this evil at its source. So he fulfils the prophecy once spoken before Jeroboam against the altar where that king had offered sacrifices... However, he spares the tomb of the man of God who had pronounced these things. Whatever this man's unfaithfulness had been, he recognises what had been done for God by him... In the same way, every Christian heart acknowledges what men of God in past times have done to serve Him. It respects their work, even though failures have marred it.
Chosen Before Birth
This naming reaches further than one king:
An Outline of Sound WordsGod can name His servants long years before their birth. He did so with Josiah. He did so with Cyrus, whom God used to help His people after the captivity (Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1). And this is the God who has chosen us in Christ "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4).
Summary
- Altar — The cry is against the altar, not the idol or the king. A worship people invent for themselves cannot stand. God has only one altar.
- Mercy — Sending a prophet at all shows love that does not tire; God still speaks when His people have broken with Him.
- Name — God names Josiah before his birth, as He later named Cyrus. Unbelief has never explained that precision away.
- David — Judgment comes through David's line, a house God had not abandoned. Josiah clearing away evil pictures Christ at His appearing.
- You — The God who named Josiah centuries early is the God who chose believers in Christ before the foundation of the world.