1 KINGS 13 (Part 2)
Read 1 Kings 13:11-34
We continue with the story of the man of God. Last time we saw that he brought a message of judgement from God upon Jeroboam and his false worship, but that he also showed God’s grace and mercy in healing Jeroboam’s withered hand. And our thoughts are, “what a great guy this is, obediently serving the Lord with courage and grace”. But now the story now takes an unexpected turn.
Having refused the hospitality of the grateful Jeroboam because God told him not to accept food or drink on this mission, he set out for home in the southern kingdom of Judah (remember that Jeroboam is the king of the now independent breakaway northern kingdom called Israel). On the way the man of God was intercepted by an old prophet who invited home for food and drink. True to God’s word to him earlier our man refused (v16). But the old prophet persisted and said the he too was a prophet and had received a word from God to say that it was OK, so the man of God relented and accepted the old prophet’s hospitality.
The outcome was that when he continued his journey our hero from the encounter with Jeroboam was mauled by a lion (v24) and we learn (ironically, from the old prophet who had deceived him) that it was because he had disobeyed the word of the Lord and had accepted food and drink when the Lord had told him not to.
What a curious story and a disappointing end to the servant of God who had been such a star earlier. But there are lessons for us here. We don’t know why this old prophet deceived the man of God, but presumably he was loyal to Jeroboam and his breakaway religion. But he came across as a credible character so that the man of God believed what he said and that led him to ignore God’s word to him. We may well encounter people who have the appearance of being godly figures, perhaps high up in the church, who sound convincing, but who are preaching something that goes against the word of God. We must always be guided by God’s word and reject anything that goes against however credible the person speaking may be. There are people in leadership roles in the churches that have their own agendas, who reject the word of God and who think they know better. Just because they hold a senior position within the church, we should not be swayed when they go against the word of God as written in the Bible.
The final word of this chapter tells us that Jeroboam did not change his evil ways (v33). Despite the first hand evidence of God’s judgement against him, he carried on in his sin. There will always be people like this, who reject God despite seeing overwhelming evidence of him, and would rather persist in their sin than acknowledge him as their Lord and God.