God Killed the Deceived & Did Nothing to the Deceiver

[Paidion]

This is a story at which my mother used to wonder. She found it "strange" and "mysterious" and "hard to understand" but she never questioned its veracity, for it was written in the infallible and flawless "Word of God" (the Bible). It is found in 1 Kings 13:1-32

In short, a man of God, a prophet, made a prophecy to an altar upon which King Jeroboam was making offerings to other gods. He prophesied that the altar would be destroyed. Jereboam, stretched out his hand toward the prophet, and said to one of his servants, "Seize him!" His hand immediately became withered or paralyzed so that he couldn't move it. He then asked the man of God to pray to Yahweh to restore his hand. The prophet did so, and it was immediately restored. Jereboam was so grateful (or perhaps it was the thought he'd better not mess with a prophet whose prayers God answered) that he invited him to his home to eat and drink, with a promise of a reward. But the prophet said, "Even if you give me half of your possessions, I will not go. For Yahweh commanded me not to eat or drink while away, or return by the same route."

But an old prophet from Bethel learned from his sons what the man of God had done. So he rode and met the man of God and invited him to his house for a meal. Again the man of God refused on the basis of Yahweh's commands. But the old prophet said, "I, too, am a prophet. An angel told me the word of Yahweh, that I was to bring you to my house for a meal. But the old prophet lied. No such angel had appeared to him at all. But the man of God did not know this. He knew that Yahweh sometimes changed his mind, and thought He had done so on this occasion. So he went to the lying prophet's house and ate with him. Then Yahweh spoke to the man of God through the lying old prophet, "Because you've disobeyed my instruction to you, your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers." So after the man of God had eaten and drunk, he rode away on his donkey, and encountered a lion that killed him. The lion and the donkey stood beside his body. People who saw it told the old prophet. The old prophet said, "That is the man who disobeyed the word of Yahweh. So Yahweh gave him to the lion." Then the old prophet rode to the body, laid it on his donkey, and brought it back to the city. Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and mourned his death, crying, "Alas! my brother!" After that he requested his sons that when he died, they would lay him in the same tomb—lay him beside the man of God, "For," he said, "The word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places in Samaria shall surely come to pass."

Why did the prophet lie to the man of God? Did he WANT God to kill him? Yet he seemed to truly respect the man of God since he wished to be buried with him, and declared that the man's prophecy from Yahweh, would surely come to pass. Was the lying prophet punished, or even rebuked for his deception? There is nothing in the record that suggests so. And does that fact indicate that Yahweh APPROVED of the prophet's deception? Is obeying minor commands such as He gave the man of God, more important to Yahweh than refraining from lying or deception?

These are questions for which I have no answer. Any thoughts?

[TK]

Thank you, Paidion, for boggling my mind once again!

The lying prophet didn't even seem to feel any guilt at all about his lie getting the true prophet killed. You think he would have said, "Woe is me for my lying lips have surely resulted in the death of this man of God." Instead, he seems to say, "Na na na na nah- that prophet didn't obey God (leaving out that it was all his fault) and now he got what he deserved."

Of course, Jesus would have said "get thee behind me Satan," so perhaps that is what the true prophet should have said to the liar. Of course that means he would have had to have known that the liar was lying. Obviously he didn't- the question on the table is whether he SHOULD have known.

[steve]

The Judean prophet is the one who was being tested, who failed the test, and suffered the consequences. The older prophet, I think, was hoping his younger colleague would see through the test and stand firm with what God had plainly told him.

It is my understanding that the old prophet, living in idolatrous Israel, was (like Elijah, at a later time) somewhat starved for fellowship with an uncompromising man of God. He heard rumors about the young prophet, and probably wondered if here, at last, was such an uncompromising follower of Yahweh.

He set out to test him, knowing that any real prophet would be sure of what God had told him, and any loyal prophet of God would stand unflinchingly to his instructions. The business about "an angel told me you should ignore what God said" should have had no more affect on the resolve of the young prophet than would Mohammad (or Joseph Smith) saying, "an angel told me to tell you to ignore the gospel as Jesus taught it."

To the old prophet's disappointment, the younger man did not prove to be "the right stuff." Nonetheless, the old man wanted to be buried near him, knowing that he (despite his failure) had been a true prophet through whom God had spoken. I am not surprised that the old prophet honored the young man as a true vessel of God. Lonnie Frisbee was a man powerfully used by God, but he also failed the test, and, in the end, his compromise killed him. This failure does not prevent my honoring him as one through whom God worked—a work from which I personally benefited immeasurably.

[Candlepower]

With Him are strength and prudence.
The deceived and the deceiver are His. (Job 12:16)

Thank you for your informative and edifying comment, Steve.

The younger prophet was a good man and a true prophet, but a somewhat weak one. He should have known better. He should have passed this test. But he didn't. I'm glad the story was included; it provides a good lesson for me.

[dizerner]

Or how about a man being killed for refusing to hurt someone:

1 King 20:35 Now a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor by the word of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” And the man refused to strike him. 36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, surely, as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you.” And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him.

[Paidion]

That's quite the story, too, Dizerner. And there's more that follows it:

35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the LORD, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him.
36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down.
37 Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him—struck him and wounded him.
38 So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.
39 And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’
40 And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.”
41 Then he hurried to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.
42 And he said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.’”

As for the story I shared, I've heard others interpret it as Steve did. But I don't buy that interpretation. It's not an obvious way to look at it, but seems to be but a desperate attempt to save the honour of the lying prophet, while finding the other one guilty of disobedience—simply because it is implied in the story that God killed the man of God since the old prophet correctly predicted that he would die for his "disobedience."

TK, I think you interpreted it in a more obvious way.

[dizerner]

This is a story at which my mother used to wonder. She found it "strange" and "mysterious" and "hard to understand" but she never questioned its veracity, for it was written in the infallible and flawless "Word of God" (the Bible). It is found in 1 Kings 13:1-32

Your mother was a good woman to respect the Holy Words of God like that.

Why did the prophet lie to the man of God? Did he WANT God to kill him? Yet he seemed to truly respect the man of God since he wished to be buried with him, and declared that the man's prophecy from Yahweh, would surely come to pass. Was the lying prophet punished, or even rebuked for his deception? There is nothing in the record that suggests so. And does that fact indicate that Yahweh APPROVED of the prophet's deception? Is obeying minor commands such as He gave the man of God, more important to Yahweh than refraining from lying or deception?

These are questions for which I have no answer. Any thoughts?

It's a puzzling thing for sure. I would say we have indications that not all humans have the same level of revelation or accountability (to much is given, much is required). That would be where I would start with this. I don't think you can derive in any way that the lying prophets words were condoned or approved of by God, simply because he was not immediately corrected or judged, as the other man was, who was apparently walking in a higher place spiritually. Not all judgment is immediate, Scripture oftentimes reminds us that most judgment and reward is reserved for the world to come and not here. Could this have been an allowed test? I don't really see a reason against it. The devil could have used this old lying prophet just like he used Judas or a snake. God could have known it would happen or even directly allowed it. Or it could have simply happened because this old prophet wanted some of the "glory" again or to feel "alive" and spiritual relevant again, since he obviously seems to have corrupted his character to a great extent, that I would not even be certain of his salvation, even if God was able to use him to speak a prophetic word, perhaps to his own surprise, one more time (and we are assured in Scripture that our miracles and signs and oracles are not indicative or a guarantee of personal righteousness or holiness, but only the Word of God is). But how their sins stacked up from an eternal perspective only God knows.

[Paidion]

Thanks, Dizerner. That's an interesting way of looking at it.