Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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. Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 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.
So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."
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. 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.' "
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.) So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.
While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. He 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. 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.' "
When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 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. 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.
When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him."
The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they did so. Then he went out and found the body thrown down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, "Oh, my brother!"
After burying him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."
1 Kings 13:11-32
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the early part of 1st Kings, Chapter 13, we witnessed the many ways that the power in the word of God was revealed as the man of God from Judah followed the Lord’s call to Bethel and a meeting with the evil Jeroboam, king of the Northern part of the Divided Kingdom.
We saw where the man of God stood firm on God’s word and would not waver, even after Jeroboam tried to persuade him to dine with him while offering a reward. You’ll recall he told 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. 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.' "
And with that, the man made good on his word and took another road, not returning by the way he had come to Bethel.
This is where we pick up with the second part of 1st Kings which on the surface seems similar but ends up much different…all because a man of God let his guard down.
For as the man of God was on his way, we read about a “certain old prophet living in Bethel” who received a testimony from his sons who “told him all that the man of God had done there that day” as well as what the man “had said to the king”. After hearing this, the old prophet asked, “Which way did he go?"
And so “his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken” and the old prophet had his sons saddle his donkey which he used to ride “after the man of God”. Scripture tells us he “found him sitting under an oak tree” and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" to which the man of God replies, "I am."
Having found the man he sought, the old prophet asked him, “Come home with me and eat" only to meet the same resistance that Jeroboam received as 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. 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.' "
Up to this point, the man of God was doing just what God expected…following the word of the Lord to the letter. But see what the old prophet does next. For he concocts a lie and says to the man of God, “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.' " And we read where the man of God fell into the deceit and returned with the old prophet where he “ate and drank in his house”…a mistake that we will see cost him his life.
For as the man of God was sitting and dining at the house of the old prophet, we read where “the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who proclaimed to the man of God:
“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. 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.' "
So when “the man of God had finished eating and drinking”, the old prophet “who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him”. And “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”. This was simply amazing but just another indicator of a divine act. For why didn’t the donkey flee the scene, afraid that the lion would kill him next? And why didn’t the lion strike down the donkey with the same ease that he killed the man who rode him? It was only the will of God over the entire matter…a God who had everything in order just the way He wanted it.
We read that as the man lay dead along the road, “some people…passed by” and “saw the body…with the lion standing beside the body”. Amazed, they “went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived” and when the old prophet received the news, he said:
“It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him."
And with that, the prophet again had his sons to saddle his donkey, only this time he was going to the man of God to retrieve his dead body, not lie to him to gain his confidence and cause him to fail and fall. As the old prophet “found the body thrown down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it”, he “picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him”. Scripture tells us the old prophet “laid the body in his own tomb” as the people “mourned over him and then gave his sons the following instructions:
"When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."
The word of God had come to be as the man of God was far from his homeland Judah when he died…fallen and broken...all for a moment of disobedience caused by a greater trust in man than the One who made him.
Indeed, there’s a stern warning for us as well in this scripture passage. Because we can’t ever take man’s word at face value, especially where it directly contradicts the word of God. Note that the man of God never once turned to God to validate whether the words of the old prophet were true. If he had, God would have exposed the lie and the man of God would have preserved his good standing. But the moment the man of God let his guard down, Satan was right there to step in and bring him into evil and sin. It only took a momentary lapse but that’s all Satan needs to get the people of God away from the Father’s will.
And so we need to remember this as we walk through each and every day the Lord blesses us with. We need to know the word of God so we can’t be deceived by another and then we need to validate anything that someone tells us that is contradictory to God’s word by turning to God directly and seeking truth from the One who is Truth…the One who created Truth.
For He will never lead us astray…not now…not ever. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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