10But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. 11Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. 12Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn against them,” declares the Lord God, “that they shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. 13And they shall not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. 14Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.

28Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29for our God is a consuming fire.

1) What defines “strange fire” in worship today?

2) How does holiness guard the priestly call?

3) Why is awe necessary for acceptable service?

Jeroboam Warned, Stricken

1Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2He 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 on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’ ” 3Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’ ” 4Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6The king said to the man of God, “Please entreat the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. 7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. 9For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.’ ” 10So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.

The Disobedient Prophet

11Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father. 12Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. 14So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16He said, “I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17For a command came to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’ ” 18He said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he lied to him. 19So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

20Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the command of the Lord, and have not observed the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, 22but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’ ” 23It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. 25And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

26Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.” 27Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28He went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. 29So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. 30He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”

33After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places. 34This event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.

Lament for the Princes of Israel

1“As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel 2and say,

‘What was your mother?

A lioness among lions!

She lay down among young lions,

She reared her cubs.

3When she brought up one of her cubs,

He became a lion,

And he learned to tear his prey;

He devoured men.

4Then nations heard about him;

He was captured in their pit,

And they brought him with hooks

To the land of Egypt.

5When she saw, as she waited,

That her hope was lost,

She took another of her cubs

And made him a young lion.

6And he walked about among the lions;

He became a young lion,

He learned to tear his prey;

He devoured men.

7He destroyed their fortified towers

And laid waste their cities;

And the land and its fullness were appalled

Because of the sound of his roaring.

8Then nations set against him

On every side from their provinces,

And they spread their net over him;

He was captured in their pit.

9They put him in a cage with hooks

And brought him to the king of Babylon;

They brought him in hunting nets

So that his voice would be heard no more

On the mountains of Israel.

10Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard,

Planted by the waters;

It was fruitful and full of branches

Because of abundant waters.

11And it had strong branches fit for scepters of rulers,

And its height was raised above the clouds

So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.

12But it was plucked up in fury;

It was cast down to the ground;

And the east wind dried up its fruit.

Its strong branch was torn off

So that it withered;

The fire consumed it.

13And now it is planted in the wilderness,

In a dry and thirsty land.

14And fire has gone out from its branch;

It has consumed its shoots and fruit,

So that there is not in it a strong branch,

A scepter to rule.’ ”

This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.