The Man of God From Judah
1 By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD : "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.' " 3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD.
6 Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before.
7 The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."
8 But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. 9 For I was commanded by the word of the LORD : 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.' " 10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. 12 Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?"
"I am," he replied.
15 So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."
16 The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.17 I have been told by the word of the LORD : 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.' "
18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD : 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.
20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back. 21He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. 22 You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.' "
23 When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24 As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25 Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
1 Kings 13:1-25
This passage was pretty disturbing because the prophet didn't even do anything. He just trusted the word of a "fellow" prophet who lied to him which ultimately lead to his violent death by lion. I don't know if the prophet secretly knew that the lying prophet was lying and just went along with it anyways which would make a little sense but either way, I'm really sad that the prophet lied to him and caused him to get mauled by a deadly feline.
This has been a recurring theme in my life recently. The idea of whether our helping is actually hurting. This is what I made up in my mind in order to give me some peace about this passage. If you like it, take it.
My Guess At What Happened:
I think that the Prophet that was going home looked and probably felt extremely tired. The idea of rest was extremely attractive to him and he was in a mental state where temptations would flourish due to his completely depraved state of being. And in that state of being, a "fellow" prophet offered him help.
What the lying prophet saw was a pitiful and extremely tired man of God. He felt extremely sorry for him and he wanted to offer him help. From the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to deceive him, he just wanted to relieve him if only for a night. And seeing the traveling prophet's resolve not to rest even though he was so exhausted, the lying prophet decided to just trick him for his own good, not realizing that in doing so, he would have caused the traveling prophet to go directly against the word of their Boss.
At first, the traveling prophet resisted because he knew of the amazing power of God against His enemies. I mean, he JUST saw God shrivel up the hand of a king who tried to go against him. So while that was fresh on his mind, he tried to resist the temptations of the lying prophet. BUT, the lying prophet lied and told the traveling prophet that God himself told him to offer help to the traveling prophet. I think, in the deepest corner of his heart, the traveling prophet knew that the lying prophet was lying. But, he decided to take the offer because he guessed that, "if the lying prophet is lying, then the guilt would be on his head for tempting me and not on my head."
So the traveling prophet fell into temptation and God, being all-knowing, instantly knew the heart of the traveling prophet and punished him accordingly.
I think the lying prophet was one who had a foolish but good heart in the sight of the Lord because God didn't kill him. I guess he might have felt guilty. I don't fully know the cultural context but the lying prophet wanted to be buried next to the traveling prophet so...I don't know.
Anywho, this is what I got.
God is good. All the time. Even when prophets die because other prophets lie to them.
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