And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.
The old prophet of Bethel has chased down a man who has just refused a king's invitation. He now makes the same offer with better credentials — a fellow prophet, an angel, and a word from the LORD — and the verse ends by calling it a lie.
A Lie With Every Credential
One writer lists what the old man could offer before he ever mentioned an angel.
Hamilton SmithThis "brother" and "prophet" is the one who tests the obedience of the man of God. It is a severe test. The old man could claim that he was a brother and a prophet, and he could claim the experience of age as well. On top of that, he offers generous hospitality to a tired and hungry brother. "Come home," he says, "with me, and eat bread." Above all he claims that an angel had given him "the word of the LORD," telling him to bring the man of God back to his house.
Refusing him would have looked bad from every angle.
Hamilton SmithTo refuse such an appeal would look like an insult to a fellow prophet. It would also look like disrespect for old age, and like indifference to a brother's kindness that was so ready to offer hospitality. Above all, it would look like ignoring a direct word from the LORD given by an angel.
The Answer He Should Have Given
One writer imagines the reply that never came.
C. H. MackintoshIf the Word of his Lord had been living in him, he would have said at once: "If ten thousand prophets and ten thousand angels were to say, 'Bring him back,' I would count them all liars and messengers of the devil, sent to lure me away from the holy, happy path of obedience." That would have been a wonderful reply. It would have the same heavenly ring as these glowing words of the apostle: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."
Those closing words are the apostle's, from Galatians 1:8.
A God Who Does Not Say and Unsay
The lie rests on a wrong idea about God — that He changes His orders after He has given them.
William KellySo he pretends that he has a fresh message from God. What was the man of God thinking? Does God say a thing and then unsay it? If He did, we would have no standard at all and no certainty, and what would become of the poor children if such a thing were possible? I know that unbelief says it all the time, and tries to make the Bible contradict itself. But those who do so are guilty, and so the old prophet was guilty of lying — "he lied to him."
One writer passes on this counsel:
W. W. FeredayWhenever God has made His will known to us, we are not to let any later influence call it into question — even if that influence takes the form of the word of God. If we were morally nearer to the Lord, we would feel that the only true and right position is to follow what He told us at first.
Why the Old Prophet Lied
Commentators differ on how deliberate the lie was. Some call it flatly a deliberate lie; another allows that the old man may have been deceived himself — "He did not see an angel that came from heaven. It may have been an angel from the pit." What most agree on is the setting.
W. W. FeredayDo we wonder that the prophet lied? Where he lived is explanation enough. No one could live in Bethel without his whole spiritual tone sinking.
There was also a motive: pulling another man down levels the ground. The old prophet "was determined to try the man of God and see whether he could not make him as unfaithful as himself, for that is what would have been a miserable salve to a bad conscience."
"I Am a Prophet Also" Today
One writer hears the same line from Christians today.
H. L. RossierAnd yet this is what unfaithful Christians tell us, to justify their bad way of living in their own eyes. Everyone, they say, understands the Word differently. "I am a prophet also!" But no — thank God, His will can be understood in only one way. And who can understand it except the one who has separated from evil in obedience to the Word?
Summary
- Test: The severe test came from a fellow prophet, not from a king. Religious credentials made the invitation hard to refuse.
- Credentials: He offered brotherhood, age, kindness and an angel. Every credential was real except the message.
- Standard: God does not say and unsay. A later word that cancels His plain word is a lie, whoever carries it and however heavenly the messenger.
- Answer: Count ten thousand prophets and ten thousand angels liars before you doubt one clear command. The apostle passed the same verdict on any angel who preaches another gospel.
- Warning: Living where the evil is lowers a man's whole spiritual tone. The excuse "I am a prophet also" still serves people who want their way of living justified.