portentum, see at Exo 4:21): “this is the sign that the Lord hath spoken (through me): behold the altar will be rent in pieces, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.” דּשׁן is the ashes of the fat of the sacrificial animals. The pouring out of the sacrificial ashes in consequence of the breaking upon of the altar was a penal sign, which indicated, along with the destruction of the altar, the desecration of the sacrificial service performed upon it.
Verse 4
The king, enraged at this announcement, stretched out his hand against the prophet with the words, “seize him” - and his hand dried up, so that he was not able to draw it back again. יבשׁ, to dry up, i.e., toe become rigid in consequence of a miraculous withdrawal of the vital energy. Thus Jeroboam experienced in the limbs of his own body the severity of the threatened judgment of God.
Verses 5-6
The penal miracle announced in the word of Jehovah, i.e., in the strength of the Lord, also took effect immediately upon the altar; and the defiant king was now obliged to entreat the man of God, saying, “Soften, I pray, the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may return to me,” i.e., that I may be able to draw it back again, to move it once more. And this also took place at once at the intercession of the prophet. יי את־פּני חלּה, lit., to stroke the face of God, i.e., to render it soft by intercession (see at Exo 32:11).
Verse 7
As Jeroboam could do nothing by force against the prophet, he endeavoured to gain him over to his side by friendliness, that at least he might render his threat harmless in the eyes of the people. For this purpose, and not to do him honour or to make him some acknowledgment for the restoration of his hand, he invited him to his house, to strengthen himself with food (סעד as in Gen 18:5; Jdg 9:5; for the form סעדה, see Ewald, §41, c.) and receive from him a present.
Verses 8-10
But this design was also frustrated, and the rejection of his worship on the part of God was still more strongly declared. “If thou gavest me,” the man of God replied, “the half of thy house, I shall not go in with thee, nor eat bread and drink water in this place; for thus hath Jehovah commanded me,” etc. The subject, Jehovah, is easily supplied to צוּה from the context (vid., Ewald, §294, b.). God had forbidden the prophet to eat and drink “to manifest His detestation of idolatry, and to show by that fact that the Bethelites were so detestable, and as it were excommunicated by God, that He wished none of the faithful to
