As 1 Kings 13:1–34 begins, it is necessary to remember that the books of the Bible did not originally have chapter and verse divisions. The narrative that we encounter here, therefore, is most likely a continuation of the events at the end of 1 Kings 12:1–33. Jeroboam established one of the religious cult centres at Bethel. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, there was a gathering of the people at Bethel, presumably to dedicate this new worship centre.
Many commentators contrast Jeroboam’s action with Solomon’s dedication of the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. The matter, of course, that stands out is that the temple in Jerusalem was built in accordance with the direction of Yahweh, while this centre of worship was built according to Jeroboam’s imagination. Moreover, as is evident in the previous chapter, the priesthood and servants who ministered in Bethel were not the priesthood and Levites that the Mosaic law required.
Into this dedicatory service a stranger enters. He is as much a stranger to us, as far as his personal identity is concerned, as he was to the assembly gathered before Jeroboam and his idol. The text speaks of him only as a man of God.
Therefore, one thing learned from this description is that he does not come to celebrate the dedication of an idolatrous centre of worship.
There is something to say, based upon the last statement, before we move to consider the succeeding verses. There is an antithesis between true worship in the Jerusalem temple and the false worship of idols, including the calves of Bethel and Dan. This is important because on the part of some scholars there is an attempt to take what is known about Near Eastern pagan worship as somehow parallel to the worship of the Lord by God’s people. The intention of God’s Word, instead, is to emphasize the contrast.
The worship of the Lord's temple in Jerusalem took place according to his direction. When, for example, at a later date, Judah’s King Ahaz built a replica of the pagan altar in Jerusalem and placed it in front of the temple, his action received severe rebuke from the Lord (2 Kings 16:10–16). We learn little about true worship from the study of false worship.
1 Voici, un homme de Dieu arriva de Juda à Béthel, par la parole de l'Eternel, pendant que Jéroboam se tenait à l'autel pour brûler des parfums.