The Lord commanded the prophet from Judah not to eat or drink anything while he was in the northern kingdom. It was important that this man not appear to have any fellowship at all with any of the dark spiritual doings of that territory. He turned down an invitation from King Jeroboam to eat at his house after he healed the king's hand and when last we saw him he was resting under an oak tree.
While this man was on his way home, the sons of an elderly prophet of Bethel came home after viewing the events that took place earlier in our chapter at the golden calf Jeroboam had set up at Bethel. They told their father that a man from Judah had come to speak against the idolatrous things going on at Bethel, then King Jeroboam reached out his hand toward the prophet and ordered his guards to seize him, then the king's hand withered and froze in place, then the idolatrous altar split in two. The king implored the prophet to restore his hand, which the man did, and then the king offered him a meal and a gift, which the prophet refused. Upon hearing these words, the elderly prophet ordered his donkey saddled so he could ride after the younger man to invite him to his house. The younger man declined the invitation politely, citing his command from the Lord not to eat or drink anything in that country, so the older man lied and said the Lord had told him he was to bring the younger man home with him. The younger man accepted the elderly prophet's words without question and went home with him.
Yesterday we talked about what might have motivated the aged man to tell such a lie. My theory is that he intended no harm but desperately wanted to spend time with a like-minded man who despised the idolatry in Israel as much as he did. Were his actions selfish and misguided? Yes, but I don't think he wished the younger man any ill. I think as he grew older and as he viewed the spiritual decline in his country, he became spiritually lazy and no longer possessed the spiritual discernment of his younger years. I believe he had given up on doing much of anything further for the Lord but was pinning his hopes on the younger generation of prophets to make a positive change in the nation. The news that a younger prophet had appeared with a message may have energized the man enough to bestir himself from his home (after all, he hadn't gone out to the idolatrous altar himself to speak against it) to pass the baton to someone younger who had more physical strength and spiritual zeal.
We also talked about what might have motivated the prophet of Judah to accept the older man's words without consulting the Lord. One theory was that he had a great deal of respect for his elders and especially for elderly prophets. The man from Bethel may once have been a prophet of great renown whose word no one would have thought to question. The Bible referred to him in yesterday's passage as "a certain old prophet" as if people of the author's day would have known who he was. Today we are going to discuss a couple more possible reasons that may have caused the younger man to give in without thinking things through.
One of those reasons may have been that he was thirsty, hungry, and exhausted. He was resting in the shade of a large oak tree when the aged man found him. This indicates he was tired. It indicates it was hot out. He may have been sitting there thinking about how nice a cold drink of water would be and how nice a fresh homecooked meal would taste. He may have been thinking more about his physical needs than about his spiritual needs in that moment. The Lord obviously didn't command him to forego food and drink in the northern territory in order to cause him to faint on the journey; the Lord knew he could make it to Bethel and back without suffering any concerning health issues. But perhaps the prophet was discouraged because neither the king nor any of the king's subjects repented when they heard his message. This discouragement could have caused him to concentrate on his temporary physical discomforts more than was actually warranted.
Another reason he may have gone home with the prophet might have been due to the loneliness of being a prophet of God. I don't mean that prophets didn't have families and friends who shared their love of the Lord but the life of a prophet---much like the lives of church pastors in our day---involved speaking the word of the Lord and not always having that word received in a positive manner. That has to be a lonely feeling. It's a lonely feeling the prophet's wife and children and close friends couldn't have completely shared with him, not being prophets themselves. Perhaps he craved the encouragement and friendship of an older prophet. Maybe he thought the prophet could speak some words of wisdom to make him feel better.
You might have heard of the principle known as "HALT" which warns us not to make any big decisions when we are too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. I think the younger prophet may have been all of those things when he made the very big and very unwise decision to disobey the Lord.
While he is dining with the older man, the word of the Lord comes to the older man. I don't think this message is one that the aged man wants to deliver. He cannot help but deliver it. I think the words come out of his mouth involuntarily. "While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. He cried out to the man who had come from Judah, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.'" (1 Kings 13:20-22)
In ancient times, to not be buried with your ancestors---or to not be buried at all---was a curse. We will find this prophecy coming true in tomorrow's study. But why does the Lord judge the prophet from Judah so harshly?
I think his judgment is severe because his influence was great. We don't know the name of this prophet or how many people were following his example in Judah but his disobedience to the Lord has disqualified him to lead people in the ways of godliness. I assume his sphere of influence was large enough and that people put so much stock in everything he said that his disobedience could have turned people off the idea of coming to the Lord altogether. Just as the Lord could not allow King David to emerge unscathed from his fall into adultery and murder, He could not allow this prophet's actions to tempt others into disobedience.
The prophet will meet his death in the remainder of Chapter 13 but it's important to note that it's only his life that he loses, not his salvation. If we knew more about him and about how his testimony had affected others up until this point, we could better understand how he has somehow committed "a sin that leads to death". (1 John 5:16) When the Apostle John spoke these words he was speaking of believers who transgress the word of God in such a way that the Lord has to remove them from this world. John was speaking of believers, not unbelievers. He was speaking of saved people, not unsaved people. I don't profess to understand the message in 1 John or exactly what happened here in 1 Kings but I think it's clear that the more authority a person holds over others, the more responsibility he or she has to set a godly example, and if they instead set such an ungodly example that they will cause others to never come to faith in the first place, the Lord must remove them from the earth for the sake of those whose paths to salvation they are hindering. This does not mean the Lord takes their salvation away from them. The prophet from our text today was simply removed from the earth because so many people looked to him as their example for living and his mistake was so great that the people had to see the Lord disciplining him for it. They had to see how serious it is to disobey the commands of a holy God, especially if you are a person in a position to either build or shipwreck the faith of others.
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