What can we learn from the man of God and the lying prophet?

Passing on to the latter part of this instructive story, we find that faithfulness to the word of the LORD is put to a further and yet severer test. This portion of the story is introduced with the significant words: — "Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel" (v. 11). In the very place of the evil that the man of God was sent to denounce, and with which the LORD said he was not to have any association by eating or drinking — in this place, a brother prophet had found his dwelling. He was truly a prophet, and was aware of the evil, but, dwelling in a wrong association he not only was unable to witness against it, but actually put his sanction upon it. It is through this "brother" and "prophet" that the obedience of the man of God is put to the test. It is a severe test, for not only could this old man plead that he was a brother and a prophet, but he could plead the experience of age. Moreover, he shows much gracious hospitality to a weary 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" to bring the man of God back to his house.

To refuse such an appeal would appear to be putting a slight upon a brother prophet. It would also have the appearance of disrespect for old age, it would look like indifference to brotherly kindness that was so ready to show hospitality. Above all it would have the appearance of ignoring the direct word of the LORD by an angel. Yet the story clearly shows that behind all these specious reasons that nature might plead, there was the effort of the enemy to undermine the word of the Lord by involving the man of God in a wrong association.

How does the man of God act in the presence of this strong and subtle temptation? Alas! apparently on the plea of respect for old age, response to brotherly kindness, fellowship with a fellow-servant, and professed obedience to the word of the LORD, though this communication of the old prophet plainly invalidated and contradicted his first instructions from God, he allowed himself to be drawn into a wrong association by disobedience to them. An old prophet may alas! become a deceiver and seduce one from loyalty and obedience.

He does not now come in the same power. When he came it was not merely so. It is a stronger expression. But, however, I will not dwell upon that now. "Thou shalt eat no bread," he repeats as before, "nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest." "He said to him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake to me by the word of Jehovah saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water." And there his testimony was broken — his sword utterly broken in his hand — for it was not merely a word that he was called to, but to deeds, and men will care little for your word if you do not show them by deed that you feel that word which you would fain press upon them. There is nothing that men will not bear you to say if you do not act it out; for this it is that always troubles, not only the world, but still more the old prophets — for they are the people that feel. The old prophet could not bear the fact, for if this was the case with the man of God where was the old prophet? And it is not said that he was a false prophet; and the issue of the story would rather seem to show the contrary. But 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. There is nothing that so troubles Christians that are not walking with God as when there are any that do; and there is nothing so important as not merely the testimony, but the living testimony, the walking in what you say.

Accordingly, this was the point that he assailed. "Can I not get him to eat bread and drink water?" So he pretends that he has a fresh message from God. What was the man of God about? Does God say and unsay? If it were so we should have no standard whatever, no certainty, and what would become of the poor children if there were such a thing. I know that unbelief constantly says it, and tries to make the Bible contradict itself, but then those who do so are guilty; and so the old prophet was guilty of lying — "he lied to him." Nevertheless, the man of God listened. He had sat under the oak and was found by the old prophet there. He listened to the old prophet, and parleyed with him. The mischief takes effect. The man of God returns, breaking the word of the Lord in his own person, but not without the hand of God stretched out against him. If the man of God was false to God, God would be true to the man of God and true in a most painful way; and mark, beloved friends, most righteously; but it is a righteousness according to God, for we in our folly would have thought, "Surely the old prophet is the man that is going to die for this." Not so, but the man of God. For it is those who ought to know best, if they fail, that God chastises most. Do not wonder if the same things are done elsewhere and pass, apparently, without a chastening from God, or without any very direct exposure. These things cannot be done where the word of the Lord is the rule.

The man of God, accordingly, hears now the word, and this word was given him by the old prophet. "And he cried to the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of Jehovah, and hast not kept the commandment which Jehovah thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place of the which Jehovah did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come to the sepulchre of thy fathers." It is not that his spirit did not go to the Lord. We are sure it did, but, nevertheless, his body did not come to the sepulchre of his fathers. The Lord did deal with him, and dealt with the body that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.

"And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase."

What, we may ask, should have kept the man of God from falling into this snare? His own word gives the answer, for he confesses, "So was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest." Evidently, then, his safe-guard against every effort to draw him into a false association was unswerving obedience to the word of God. In reference to this scene one has truly said, "Whenever God has made His will known to us, we are not to allow any after influence whatever to call it in question, even although the latter may take the form of the word of God … In every case our part is to obey what He has said."

He refuses until the old prophet with his wiles says once more (verse 18), "I am a prophet as thou art; and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water." But he lied to him. He was tested this time by what was in its substance the very thing he was sent to protest against — false religious imitation. Here was a man who had all the outward trappings of being a true prophet. "I am a Christian, as you are," they say; "I am quite happy here. I can settle down amongst these people. I have words from the Lord. I have seen an angel." He was lying. Whether he was consciously lying may be questioned. He may have been the victim of delusions. He did not see an angel that came from heaven. It may have been an angel from the pit. The man of God ought surely to have said, "God never goes back upon His instructions." He never begins an enterprise not foreseeing all the eventualities, and in the middle countermands His programme. God begins by foreseeing everything, and His instructions at the beginning stand to the finish. He ought to have known that what God begins with He carries through. Taken on the ground of this religious imitation the man of God fell. God intervened, and He used those lying lips to tell the man of God his doom — a doom which fell upon him in the government of God. You find how God at the beginning of things makes a drastic example of somebody. You can find various illustrations of that: Achan in Joshua's day, at the beginning of the conquest of the land, and Ananias and Sapphira at the beginning of the church's history. Although the man of God failed on the fourth test, it pleased God in His government to make an example of him, that you and I might learn the lesson of no compromise. Be very careful when the compromise comes to you by the way of religious imitation. It may be someone who was like the old prophet of Bethel. Perhaps they were once true prophets of the Lord but have backslidden, and take a terrible pleasure in drawing aside others. It makes them feel more easy in their minds if they can get others back in the compromising path. You may be tested in this way by some poor backsliding saint, or possibly — I do not want to pronounce on the old prophet of Bethel - someone who only makes a religious profession.

The old prophet invited the man of God to go home with him for a meal, but the man of God rightly responded that he could not do so, for by the Word of the Lord he must not eat bread or drink water in that place (vs.15-17). The old prophet responded that he also was a prophet and that an angel had spoken to him by the Word of the Lord, telling him to bring the man of God back to his home to eat and drink with him. But this was a deliberate lie (v.18).

Certainly the man of God should not have been deceived by this, for God's Word to him directly was decisive: God would not change His mind. The prophet said an angel had spoken to him, but such second-hand or third-hand messages are not to be compared to the direct Word from God. We too must be careful to cling absolutely to the Word of God, and not be deceived by men who claim to be prophets, as many do today. The man of God accepted the word of the old prophet in preference to the Word of God, and returned with the old prophet to Bethel (v.19).

However, while they were eating, the Lord intervened by giving the old prophet a solemn message for the man of God. He told him, "Thus says the Lord, Because you have disobeyed the Word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but came back, ate bread and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers" (vs.20-22).

At least we might expect the old prophet to apologize for lying but there is no mention of this. But after giving his solemn message to the man of God, he saddled the donkey for him, to send him on his way (v.23). He did not go far, for a lion met him on the road and killed him (v.24). Yet the lion did not try to eat the corpse, nor did it touch the donkey, and the donkey did not run away. Both the lion and the donkey remained standing by the corpse. How strange this would appear to all who saw it! Clearly God had one object in view in this incident, that His servant would be taken away in death!

He was not told to sit under an oak. There was the beginning of it. There was his first failure, and there is no failure — there is no ruin — that takes place at one step. There is always a departure from the word of the Lord which exposes us to the power of the devil, and it is not first, I repeat, Satan's power. It is first our own failure, our own sin, our own disobedience. He was sitting, then. He had been told that he was not to return by the same way that he came. He was evidently to get away as fast as possible. A man that is forbidden to eat and drink was not intended to sit under a tree. But this old prophet found him sitting under an oak, "and he said to him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah?" Nothing could be apparently a more thorough recognition of his mission and of his work from God. He was a servant of the most high God that had, no doubt, come to show them the right way. There was great respect. "And he said, I am. Then he said to 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 Jehovah, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest."

The old prophet is justly punished inasmuch as God compels him to expose his own duplicity by pronouncing judgment upon the man of God. As to the man of God, he has to learn that, if he regards the word of his brother more than the word of God, the very one by whom he has been drawn into disobedience will be the instrument in God's hand for exposing his sin.

The severity of the judgment that overtakes the man of God clearly shows how deeply God resented his disobedience.

The LORD had given this man of God great light as to the evil of Bethel and His abhorrence of it, and the judgment that was coming upon it. Great honour had been put upon him in being used as a witness against the evil. God had plainly warned him against being entangled in a false association. In spite of light, and privilege, and warning he allowed himself to be drawn into a false association with the result that in spite of all former faithfulness, and boldness, his career as a witness for God is closed on earth. It is no small matter to disregard the word of God and sin against the light.

Being in a false position the old prophet was ready to go to great lengths to get the man of God to sanction his unfaithfulness by associating with it. Alas! the man of God fell into the snare and destroyed his own testimony by associating with one who, while admitting the evil, yet bore with it.

Thus, as it has been truly said, of this man of God, "He is proof against temptation when presented in the form of evil, and he falls when tempted by apparent good. The voice of a brother, his standing and reputation, are honoured above the word of God. He disobeys God and accredits a lie in his brother … He triumphed over the opposition of the world without, and is seduced into unfaithfulness by a brother within." By abstaining from eating and drinking with the king he took God's part against the evil: by returning to eat and drink with the old prophet he took his part in associating with it.

The last part of the story (verses 20 to 32) clearly shows that God is not indifferent to the unfaithfulness of the old prophet nor the failure of the man of God. In the governmental ways of God both come under His chastening.

Sorrowful spectacle! Two disobedient servants of the living God turning back to Satan's chief stronghold in the land to eat and drink! Surely each had a bad conscience; with each one the word of the Lord had no power, at least for the present. The government of God, which cannot tolerate sin in those who are near to Him, moved quickly. In His divine sovereignty God put the sentence of death against the deceived one in the mouth of the deceiver himself! "He cried to the man of God that came from Judah (note the word "cried"), saying Thus says Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of Jehovah, and hast not kept the commandment which Jehovah thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place of the which He did say to thee, Eat no bread and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come to the sepulchre of thy fathers (1 Kings 13:20-22). There was no such severity towards either Jeroboam or the old prophet. It is a blessed thing to be in intimate relationship with God by grace; but it is a solemn thing if we dishonour His holy name. In the city of Corinth in Paul's day there were probably persons far more wicked than any in the Assembly, yet certain in the Assembly were divinely laid low in sickness, and some were put to sleep. Strange as it may seem, they were fit for heaven but they were not fit for Corinth!

The parting at the door of the prophet was solemn. Each knew that they would not meet again in this world; but both men, with ourselves, will "be manifested before the judgement-seat of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:10). The man of God had not gone far when a lion met him, and slew him. The Holy Spirit notes the facts that the lion did not harm the ass, nor did he devour the carcass; moreover, he allowed passers-by to observe what he had done without molesting them. What a lesson is here! The animal obeyed the divine commission, and did not exceed it in any detail. It is humiliating to reflect that the humblest of God's creatures can be more obedient to their Creator than man made in His image! In Isa. 1:3, the ox and the ass are cited as rebuking the people of Jehovah, and in Jer. 8:7, four birds are mentioned from whom disobedient men and women might learn something. The ravens were faithful in their service when they carried bread and flesh twice daily to Elijah at Cherith (i.e., they did not eat the food); the fish that swallowed Jonah obeyed his Creator in putting out the prophet when his lesson was learnt; and the colt submissively carried the Lord Jesus through shouting crowds into Jerusalem. When the old prophet heard of the disaster to the man of God, he saddled his ass and rode quickly to the spot. What a sight he beheld! The lion and the ass standing guard, as it were, over the dead body! Surely a parable is here! The dead messenger of Jehovah was a strange blend of the lion and the ass; with the king so bold, but with the old prophet so foolish! Similarly, Peter was bold in the presence of armed men, but terrified when amongst servant-maids! All the circumstances proved that the road-side tragedy was the hand of God. Jeroboam was spared the consequences of his sin in answer to prayer (1 Kings 13:6), but the fault of the man of God was outside the range of prayer, it was "sin to death" (1 John 5:16). It was left to the old prophet to carry back the body to Bethel, and bury it in his own tomb, with the lamentation, "Alas, my brother!" But he was led to confirm all that the dead man had said concerning Jeroboam's iniquities: "The saying which he cried by the word of Jehovah against the altar in Bethel, and against all the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass" (1 Kings 13:32).

The "man of God" who was deceived by the old prophet would have had security in the divine principles had his soul been alive to them. The word received, it is most sure, would have secured him; for it expressly forbade his eating and drinking in that place. But divine principles would have been his shelter also. The word he had received when he set out on his journey was founded upon them, as we may easily perceive. For how, I ask, could the Lord employ an unclean vessel? The old prophet had been clearly laid aside as unfit for the Master's use. He was dwelling in the very city where the Lord had a business to be done, but he was passed by. The Lord had gone down to Judah to get a witness against the altar at Bethel, though a saint of His own was living on the very spot. How could "the man of God" think that the Lord could employ the prophet of Bethel as His vessel? He had already passed him by. He had already after this manner treated him as unfit for His use according to the principles of His own house that an unpurged vessel is not fit for service. (2 Tim. 2) How could the man from Judah be careless about all this? The word he had received was enough to tell him how this principle of God's honour was at that moment, so to speak, alive in God's thoughts, because he was enjoined neither to eat not to drink in that unclean place, nor was he to return by the way that he came: so particular was the commandment in keeping him apart from all fellowship with that against which He was employing him to testify. And yet "the man of God" is beguiled to receive a message as from the Lord by the hand of one who was in contact and communion with the unclean thing against which he has been brought all the way from Judah to testify! Strange forgetfulness! sad and shameful carelessness about the principles of the house of God. A saint as he was, and servant as he was, faithful too in the face of the offers of a king — his carcase is not to come to the sepulchre of his fathers. (1 Kings 13)