Two Offers To A Prophet

“And he said, ‘I may not return with you… for it was said to me by the word of the Lord…’ And he said to him, ‘I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’ But he lied to him.” – 1 Kings 13:16-18

How was it that this prophet from Judah refused the invitation of a king, but gave in to one from an old man living in the city? Both offers are almost verbatim the same; one could even say King Jeroboam’s was more persuasively worded, for he offered both refreshment and a reward. Not to mention the fact that the king’s food would have likely been better than the simple fare the old man had to offer. 

But when the Judean prophet was before the king, he was still in the midst of the spiritually intense, climactic encounter for which he had journeyed to Bethel. He had intercepted the king at a favored altar, cried out terrible words of judgment, endured the threat of arrest, seen God’s judgment on the king’s hand and restored that hand through his words. His guard was up; God’s words were running high in his mind; he was in battle mode. It was easy to see King Jeroboam for the evil person he had become.

But when the Judean prophet was before the Bethel prophet, he was already on the road home. He had stopped to sit under a tree. He was probably physically hungrier by that time, likely spiritually and emotionally exhausted or lonely. And the man who made this offer was one of his own; his lie all too believable. It was a terrible lie, really; one can’t help feeling he ought to have been the one lying dead between a lion and a donkey. But that isn’t the point. God wants us to see that obedience is just as important in the daily grind of the journey as it is in public moments of crisis. That people are not infallible, that prophets and the word of man are not infallible. That the plausibility of holiness can be more dangerous than the explicitness of evil. That temptation from unexpected sources can be harder to handle. That pride or unguardedness can easily follow spiritual victories.

Jesus came not only as priest and king, but as prophet. He too was sent for a specific mission. He too spoke bold words that threatened existing power structures. He too resisted offers of reward from one who was evil. He too healed a shriveled hand. But he never veered from obedience. He spoke not one word that was untrue. He was himself the very word of God, God come to dwell with us, to invite us to his table, so we truly can stop and eat and drink. We can do so because he rode to his death in our place, the Lion of Judah, sitting on a donkey.