1Ki 13:16-17 | KingComments | STEP | The old prophet hears from his sons what has happened. They were present at the feast of Jeroboam. Would he have sent them? In any case, he could not keep them away from being there. Apparently he did not go himself. In this context, a practical remark: Do we allow our children to go to places where we do not want to go ourselves? We may ask the Lord to help us make the right decisions. The sons inform their father of what they have seen and heard, including the words with which the man of God rejected the offer of Jeroboam. The old prophet is so misted in his thinking because of his long stay in this wicked environment that he devises a plan to get the man of God in his house. It is a false plan. His plan is to “make the Nazarite drink wine” ( ), that is to say, to get a believer devoted to God to the point where he becomes unfaithful to his calling. He does so to justify himself in his false position and to soothe the voice of his conscience. If he can get the man of God to come to his house to eat with him – eating together is a picture of fellowship – then he is not so bad. The old prophet possesses the same spirit as Jeroboam. He is led by the same selfish motives as Jeroboam and comes to the same blatant disobedience as Jeroboam. The old prophet finds the man of God sitting under an oak. The man of God sought some rest, but this is the beginning of the deviation. He has brought his message by God’s command to a place that cannot be a place of rest. It may be that his service has demanded so much of him that he has become tired. It is understandable that he had to rest for a while. Here we see that a weakness that is admitted becomes a reason for sin. When the man of God tells what the LORD has said to him, the old prophet tells who he is in his reverence. He is also a prophet. That is not a lie. But then he lies about a word he says he received from God through an angel. He is an example of all those people who say you can read the Word of God differently than the way it came to you. If they also have an honorable age, there is a great danger of accepting what they say. They distort the truth and appeal to their own relationship with God. How misleading it is when people call on it to gain access to others. The old prophet is so preoccupied with himself that he does not think about what the consequences for the man of God will be if he believes in his lie. A person who is in a false position and is looking for a justification for it is blind to the evil he does to others he wants to use for that justification. The man of God should have known that if God had come back on His word, He would have told him so Himself, just like the first command. To go with him on the basis of a lie is a gross disobedience that he has to pay for with his death. He is much more responsible than the old prophet, because he knows better.

‏ 1 Kings 13:16-17

The Lie of the Old Prophet

The old prophet hears from his sons what has happened. They were present at the feast of Jeroboam. Would he have sent them? In any case, he could not keep them away from being there. Apparently he did not go himself. In this context, a practical remark: Do we allow our children to go to places where we do not want to go ourselves? We may ask the Lord to help us make the right decisions.

The sons inform their father of what they have seen and heard, including the words with which the man of God rejected the offer of Jeroboam. The old prophet is so misted in his thinking because of his long stay in this wicked environment that he devises a plan to get the man of God in his house. It is a false plan. His plan is to “make the Nazarite drink wine” (Amos 2:12), that is to say, to get a believer devoted to God to the point where he becomes unfaithful to his calling.

He does so to justify himself in his false position and to soothe the voice of his conscience. If he can get the man of God to come to his house to eat with him – eating together is a picture of fellowship – then he is not so bad. The old prophet possesses the same spirit as Jeroboam. He is led by the same selfish motives as Jeroboam and comes to the same blatant disobedience as Jeroboam.

The old prophet finds the man of God sitting under an oak. The man of God sought some rest, but this is the beginning of the deviation. He has brought his message by God’s command to a place that cannot be a place of rest. It may be that his service has demanded so much of him that he has become tired. It is understandable that he had to rest for a while. Here we see that a weakness that is admitted becomes a reason for sin.

When the man of God tells what the LORD has said to him, the old prophet tells who he is in his reverence. He is also a prophet. That is not a lie. But then he lies about a word he says he received from God through an angel.

He is an example of all those people who say you can read the Word of God differently than the way it came to you. If they also have an honorable age, there is a great danger of accepting what they say. They distort the truth and appeal to their own relationship with God. How misleading it is when people call on it to gain access to others.

The old prophet is so preoccupied with himself that he does not think about what the consequences for the man of God will be if he believes in his lie. A person who is in a false position and is looking for a justification for it is blind to the evil he does to others he wants to use for that justification.

The man of God should have known that if God had come back on His word, He would have told him so Himself, just like the first command. To go with him on the basis of a lie is a gross disobedience that he has to pay for with his death. He is much more responsible than the old prophet, because he knows better.