Yesterday and the day before we discussed the possible reasons for the old prophet's lie and the younger prophet's acceptance of his invitation so we won't go back over that today. As we closed yesterday's passage we found a true word of the Lord coming to the younger prophet through the older prophet as the men sat at the table together. I am sure the older prophet was dismayed to hear this message of the Lord and to pass it along but he could not help passing it along. I think the words came out of his mouth involuntarily and that they grieved his heart deeply, not only for the sake of the younger man but because he himself played a part in the younger man's disobedience to the Lord.
We'll back up and reread the closing words of yesterday's passage. "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 of God 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) Yesterday we talked about why the Lord's judgment of the prophet was so harsh. If you've missed any previous installments of the Bible study, they are archived at the bottom of this page if you'd like to be able to refer to them. But here we find the Lord speaking of the death of the prophet, and although He doesn't say when the prophet will die, He gives a clue about how the prophet will die. The prophet will die in some sort of manner that prevents his remains from being placed in his family tomb. This was considered in many cultures to be a form of judgment handed down by a higher power. In the younger prophet's case that's exactly what it is.
"When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him." (1 Kings 13:23) I believe the older prophet is overwhelmed with guilt for deceiving the man from Judah and is trying to assuage his guilty conscience by doing whatever he can for him.
The younger prophet continues his journey back to Judah and meets his doom along the way. "As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived." (1 Kings 13:24-25) When the people passed by they saw the donkey and the lion standing together peacefully. This was a sign to those who viewed this sight that the prophet's demise was due to his disobedience of the Lord. The lion wasn't interested in eating the donkey or the passersby or even the prophet, as we'll see momentarily. The lion didn't attack the prophet out of hunger.
"When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, 'It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.'" (1 Kings 13:26) This comes across as sounding pretty sanctimonious considering he's the person who convinced him to disobey the Lord! I am not sure if that's the way this verse is intended to be read though. It may be that when the prophet hears that an unknown man has been mauled by a lion, he automatically suspects who the person must be. When he describes the younger man as "the man of God who defied the word of the Lord" he may not intend this description to be derogatory, just a description of who he thinks the man is.
"The prophet said to his sons, 'Saddle the donkey for me,' and they did so. Then he went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, 'Alas, my brother!' After burying him, he said to his sons, 'When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.'" (1 Kings 13:27-32)
The old prophet had a hand in the death of the young prophet. If he had not gone after him and told him a lie, the younger man might be back home in Judah by now. I think it is guilt that causes the elderly man to give the prophet a fine funeral and burial and to place him in his own family tomb. Why, though, was the sin of the younger prophet judged more harshly than the sin of the older prophet? We don't know. We can't be certain that it was, for we hear of this old prophet no more and he may have met his demise soon after and have been lain to rest beside the man he wronged. One thing I think we can assume with some confidence is that the older prophet had probably stopped allowing himself to be used by the Lord some time ago. He had retired, in other words, from his calling even though there is no retirement from being a witness to the goodness and holiness of God. I doubt he was ever used of the Lord again, even if he wished he might be used of Him, and that should be considered a worse fate for a prophet of God than death.
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