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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Kings 13:11–22, “Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.”
The Lord gave His prophet specific instructions not to eat any food during this prophetic journey. It seems as though the old prophet, who lived in Bethel was either jealous that the Lord sent another prophet or he genuinely wanted to see this prophet who had come from Judah. Whatever his motivation, the old prophet found the prophet from Judah to talk with him. The prophet from Judah had been through an emotionally taxing time. He just stopped for a few minutes to rest and consider what he should do when the old prophet found him resting in the shade of an oak tree. The older prophet lied to the younger prophet and told him that the Lord sent a message. The prophet from Judah went and ate with the older man even though he was specifically told not to that. The first thing that we should notice about this is that the Lord won’t tell someone else what we should do without telling us. The Lord gave the prophet from Judah a message and didn’t change His instructions. The second thing is that, even though the old prophet lied to the prophet from Judah, the younger man was still responsible for his actions. When they came to the older prophets house the Lord gave the older prophet a message for the younger prophet. He told the younger prophet that he would die for his disobedience. We may ask, “Why did the Lord allow this to happen?” This series of events actually happened and the Lord has put them in the record for our information.
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