Bible Studies
The Lion, the Donkey, and Doubt
by Steven P. Wickstrom
all Scriptures quoted from the NASB
What is the lesson here that can be learned from the disobedient man of God? If you take the story at face value it would seem to be: always obey God, or don't doubt His word to you. While these may be true, the story gives us another important and much deeper lesson. This lesson concerns God's dealings with His people, particularly when He speaks to you. I think that this story not only reveals the man of God's disobedience, but it also reveals the reason for his disobedience. The fundamental reason that the man of God disobeyed God was that he questioned the word of the Lord. Let's take a look the story in 1 Kings chapter 13.
The Man of God
1 Kings 13
(1) Now 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.
(2) And he 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.'"
(3) Then 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.'"
Rehoboam, Solomon's son, was king over Israel when the kingdom divided. You can read about it in 1 Kings 12. The northern ten tribes called themselves Israel, and the two southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin) called themselves Judah. The dividing line was just north of Jerusalem. Rehoboam ruled Judah and a man named Jeroboam (one of Solomon's administrators, but not related to King David) ruled Israel.
1 Kings chapter 12 tells us that Jeroboam was fearful that the people in his kingdom would desire to worship God in Jerusalem as was their custom. He reasoned that if the people returned to Jerusalem to worship, that they would also turn their allegiance back over to Rehoboam, He consulted his advisors and they crafted a plan. Two golden calves were produced to give the people something to worship other than the Lord. One was set up in the southern town Bethel, and the other one in the northern town of Dan.
1 Kings 13 starts out with a man of God traveling north from Judah to the town of Bethel in Israel. Bethel was approximately thirteen miles north of Jerusalem. If you remember from Genesis chapter 28, Jacob named the place Bethel (house of God) after he had the dream about the ladder in which he had an encounter with God. The man of God comes to Bethel and finds King Jeroboam preparing to burn incense on the altar. The man of God then prophesied what would happen to priests who offered sacrifices to other gods on that alter.
Let me point out a couple of things that I found interesting here. First, the man of God is not referred to as a prophet anywhere in this chapter. Even though he utters a prophecy given to him by God, the Bible seems to go out of its way NOT to call him a prophet. He is always referred to as a "man of God." Is this piece of trivia important? I believe it is. In our church today, you do not need to be a prophet for God to give you a word to speak out. Second, the prophecy, although it was spoken to the altar, was not against the alter itself (an inanimate object), but rather against Jeroboam, who was using the altar unwisely and deliberately leading his people away from the Lord God. What God was essentially saying to the altar was; I will avenge you.
(4) Now it came about when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that 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.
(5) The 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.
King Jeroboam heard what the man of God said and became furious. Jeroboam had several options that he could have taken. He could have repented and asked God to forgive him; but he didn't. He could have decided the man was insane and not worth his time; but he didn't. Instead he believed what the man of God had to say; and he did not like what he heard. This begs the question; what did Jeroboam hear that made him so upset? Here is the line that I think made Jeroboam so upset: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David. It would be the house of David, not the house of Jeroboam that would cleanse Israel. God was essentially telling Jeroboam that the days of his rule were numbered. As an act of defiance against God, Jeroboam orders the man of God to be seized. As Jeroboam raised his arm to point at the man of God, his arm dried up and was stuck in place. Jeroboam's arm might have suddenly looked like it was ninety years old and was stuck pointing out toward the man of God. His wrath became terror as the loud crack of the altar splitting in two resounded in the air and he realized just how powerful God really is.
(6) The king answered and 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.
(7) Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
(8) But 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.
(9) "For 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.'"
(10) So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.
It is unfortunate that Jeroboam's fear of God did not lead to repentance. Did you notice how Jeroboam asked the man of God to pray? He said "Please entreat the Lord your (notice the word your) God." I find it interesting that he did not say "Please entreat the Lord OUR God." It shows just how far Jeroboam had already strayed away from God.
After God healed his arm, Jeroboam did not give thanks to God or give him praise or acknowledge God in any way. Instead, he gave the man of God credit for the healing. To show his thanks to the man of God, Jeroboam tried to bribe him with food, drink, and a royal reward. My hunch is that Jeroboam's ultimate goal was to convince this man to become one his priests. The next step would have been to declare that it was golden calf that healed his arm.
The man of God remembered the word of the Lord and that prevented him being bribed. The Lord had told him to eat no food and drink no water. The man of God obeyed the word of the Lord and departed from Jeroboam's presence. The people who were with Jeroboam watched the man of God walk away.
The Prophet Who Lied
(11) Now 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.
(12) Their 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.
I find these two verses to be very fascinating. I'll show you why. Verse eleven refers to the prophet as being "old." We are not told anything else about this man. I don't think that God had given him a prophecy in a long time, and I think his relationship with God was lukewarm at best. Why do I think that? Look at his sons.
The old prophet's sons were part of the crowd that was with Jeroboam to offer incense to the golden calf. The only way they could have seen the deeds of the man of God, was to have been at the altar with Jeroboam. They also saw which way he departed. I wonder if they said to themselves: "Hey look at that, a prophet! Our dad used to be a prophet, I'll bet he sure would like to here about this."
When the sons tell their dad about the incident, he doesn't ask them what they doing there. He didn't rebuke them or tell them that they didn't belong at the altar of an idol. It doesn't seem to even trouble him that his sons were worshiping a golden calf. Instead, he only wants to meet the man of God. His motives are not good as the next verses will show us.
(13) Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it.
(14) So 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."
(15) Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."
(16) He said, "I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
(17) "For 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.'"
(18) He 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.
(19) So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.
I personally think that the old prophet was jealous of the man of God. The old prophet's sons had already told him everything that they had seen and heard. It is very possible that the old prophet knew about God's command that the man of God was not to eat or drink until he returned home. He would have known about Jeroboam's offer and the man of God's refusal. So why endeavor to temp him with same offer (minus the reward)? If the old prophet was jealous, his offer would cause the man of God to stumble. A jealous prophet might have thought if God wasn't talking to him, he would ensure that God would not talk to this man either.
The man of God refuses the old prophet's offer and restates the word of the Lord that he is not to eat or drink until he gets home. The crafty old prophet quickly improvises and tries another approach. He realizes that the approach that Jeroboam used will not work. He is determined to trip up the man of man of God so his tactic changes to one of familiarity. He said to him, "I also am a prophet like you (verse 18). Do you see how the old prophet is saying to the man of God, "I am not Jeroboam, I am a prophet just like you. You and I are brothers, you can trust me. Furthermore, the word from my angel trumps your word from God. You should listen to me." What the old prophet neglected to add was that even though Jeroboam was trying to lead all of Israel astray, he was only trying to lead the man of God astray.
The cunning old prophet then adds "proof" that he is indeed a prophet: 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 (verse 18). Without shame or remorse, the old prophet blatantly lied to the man of God. But his tactic worked. For the first time the man of God questioned the word of the Lord. He must have reasoned that the old man was a prophet, and he had seen an angel who had an additional word from the Lord. The man of God knew what God had commanded, but when doubt was introduced, it caused him to question the original word of God. The man of God did not say no to the old prophet's offer. He did not say, "I heard the word of the Lord. I know what I heard and I am staying with that word." Unfortunately, the counsel of the old prophet seemed good to the man of God, so he went back to Bethel and his doom. The deception and lies of the old prophet had their desired effects. The man of God succumbed to the temptation and doubted the original word of the Lord.
Now before we jump up and down and condemn the old prophet for deliberately trying (and succeeding) to cause the man of God to fail, we need to take a good close look in the mirror. As much as it pains me to say it, this happens in the church today on a regular basis. Petty jealousy and envy slip in unnoticed and we find ourselves despising someone whom the Lord is using. We must ask God to search our hearts and our motives and reveal anything that would displease God and discredit fellow Christians. We must never bring a false report against anyone or give a false word from God. We need to be on our knees praying that we do not become just like that old prophet. We must be diligent so that we do not travel down that path.
(20) Now 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;
(21) and 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,
(22) but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water
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