Because the prophet lied
Thousands have died
And thousands more will follow
Because of the lies of this strange fellow.
~ Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Question:
Hi Bob.
In 1st Kings 13:11-34. Could you tell me why this old prophet
lied to the younger one and caused his death.
As always, thank you!
Response: I think you are correct that the old prophet
flat-out lied. The fact that the Lord judged the other prophet for
failing to follow His instructions makes it pretty clear that what the
old prophet did "was not from God". People do these kind of things for
their own reasons all the time. Perhaps the old prophet was jealous that
he had not been the one chosen for this mission, perhaps there was some
other sinister motivation, or perhaps (and most likely as I believe) he
was one of those people who just can't stand being out of the limelight:
he had to let this fellow know (and remind everyone who knew him) that
he too was a "prophet" and so was eager to get involved in the operation
one way or another (without worrying about the consequences for the
other fellow).
There are a couple of important applications we can draw from this
story, regardless of his real motivations:
1) "testing the spirits" (1Jn.4:1) continues to remain of
critical importance whenever we are confronted with someone who claims
to represent God or His Word in any way (teacher, pastor, prophet,
evangelist, what have you); just because someone tells us that something
"is from God" or "is what God/the Bible says" doesn't make it so (we are
responsible to check these things out for ourselves).
2) doing good by/for other people in truth is not arrogantly
assuming that we know what's best for them; history (and the history of
most people's lives) is filled with examples of this sort, that is, of
people who really have their own self-interest, wants and desires
foremost in their thinking (whether or not they are honest with
themselves about it) and proceed on this basis to "bless" others. Such
behavior oft times results more in cursing for others than in blessing
as it did for this genuine prophet of the Lord: the free meal he
received hardly compensated him for being struck dead before his time.
3) We are all responsible for what we do - even when we hand that
responsibility over to other people by accepting their authority (the
Nazis come to mind). This is especially true in the case of false
teachers, prophets, cults and groups. True enough that those who lie to
gain a following will be the more severely judged for their lies and
evil deeds, but those who follow them have chosen to do so. We all have
free will (as the younger prophet did), and when we suspect in our
hearts that something is wrong and not from God, we are very foolish to
tie our destiny those so involved (especially without thorough prior
investigation).
The young prophet knew for a fact what God had told him
- he didn't know for a fact what God had told the old prophet. He should
have based his decision upon verified truth instead of upon un-verified
claims. And we should learn well the lesson of his mistake
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