290. THE MAN OF GOD, THE WORD OF GOD AND THE PROPHET WHO LIED FROM BETHEL

(The Information & Edification Series – Batch 9)

When king Jeroboam was on the throne in Israel, some time after that Kingdom had been parted from Judah, he caused the people of Israel to sin against God, by setting up two calves of gold in Israel for them to worship and other idolatrous practices. His motive for doing so was completely self-serving, as he did not want the people of Israel to go to Judah to sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, fearing that their heart would turn again unto king Rehoboam. King Rehoboam was the son of king Solomon, who had previously reigned over both Israel and Judah. Jeroboam was therefore afraid that if the people went to Judah to worship, that they would wish to restore the Kingdom of Israel to king Rehoboam and would therefore kill him, as he had taken the Kingdom of Israel away from him.

He therefore devised a plan to have them worship right in Israel without them having to leave that place, by setting up false gods. The Bible states:

• “Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.” (1 Kings 12:28-31)

In response, God, who hates idolatry, sent a man of God from Judah to prophesy against Israel’s idolatrous practice. 1 Kings 13:1-2 reads:

• “And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.”

King Jeroboam, not liking what the man of God had said, the Bible states, “he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.” (vs.4)

This being the case, king Jeroboam then had no choice but to ask the man of God to pray to his God on his behalf, so that his hand could be restored. The man of God did so and the Bible states that the king’s hand was restored.

Perhaps out of gratitude, the king then invited the man of God to come home with him to refresh himself and told him that he would give him a reward. Surely, to be invited to the home of a king and to get the opportunity to feast on his dainties, would have surely been an honour back then. It may have been considered a wonderful and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one which most persons would have loved to have. However, the man of God declined the invitation because God had not given him permission to do so.

In verses 8-10, it reads:

• “And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.”

The man of God had done well! He had obeyed God’s call to go to Bethel and had declared the message that God had put in his mouth. He had withstood the invitation to go to the home of the king and to dine there, as that would have meant disobeying God’s directive. Having turned that invitation down, he was making his way out of Bethel and once again, in obedience, had taken another path to the one he had used to come, just as God told him to do.

However, while on his way back to Judah, the sons of an old Prophet who lived in Bethel and had witnessed all that had occurred, went and told their father what had taken place and he pursued after the man on an ass. He eventually found him, sitting under an oak and invited him to come home with him and eat bread. In response, just as he had done on the first occasion when offered the same thing by king Jeroboam, the man of God stated:

• “I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.”

However, the Prophet persisted, telling him in verse 18: “I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water.”

However, although he was indeed a genuine Prophet, the Bible states that he lied unto him. No angel had given him any such instruction. However, the man of God fell for it, believed him and returned to his home, where he ate the bread and drank the water offered.

As a result, he was punished severely by God for his disobedience. While they sat at the table, the Lord used the very Prophet who had gotten him to disobey, to pronounce judgment on him and in keeping with that judgment, soon after he left the Prophet’s home, he was killed by a lion, on his way back to Judah.

The Word of God states in verses 20 to 26:

• “And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

• And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

• And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.”

This story is a sad one to read but it contains important lessons for us as Christians today. Some that came to mind as I meditate on what transpired with the man of God, the Word of God and the Prophet who lied from Bethel are as follows:

LESSON ONE – When the Lord gives you a command or an instruction, expect opposition, whether blatant or subtle. You should not be surprised if someone or some circumstance comes along, trying to get you to disobey that instruction.

That person or circumstance, motivated by the devil of course, will try to get you to believe that God did not tell you what he told you or that you misheard what he told you or that he had since changed his mind, revealing something else to them, on your behalf.

It happened way back in the garden of Eden, when the devil used a serpent to deceive Eve with lies, convincing her that God had not said what he had said and had not instructed what he had instructed. Like the man of God in 1 Kings 13, she believed what the serpent said over what God had clearly commanded, disobeyed God and suffered the consequences for it.

In 1 Kings 13, the attack was two-pronged. Two people were used by the enemy to try to get the man of God to disobey what God had clearly instructed him not to do. First, it was the ungodly king Jeroboam, which the man of God seemed prepared for and was therefore able to overcome and second, it was through a more subtle means, coming from a man who was a genuine Prophet. This second situation seemed to have caught the man of God off-guard. It seems that, once the man from Bethel informed him that he was a Prophet as well, maybe discerning that this was true, he threw caution to the wind, trusted what he had to say completely and believed that God had really spoken through him, so as to give him different instructions from those he had directly received.

Yet, while the Word of God acknowledges that this man was truly a Prophet, it says that he lied. Given that the devil is the father of lies (John 8:44) and God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), it was clear that this Prophet, like Balaam, was misusing his gift for his own selfish purposes and had allowed the devil to use him, to the man of God’s detriment.

This reminds us that we as Christians, must always be watchful, alert and diligent, expecting that opposition will come from any direction, the purpose being to derail you from the path that God has willed and commanded you to be on. Even Job in the Bible learned this, his own wife being used by the devil to try to get him to curse God when he had lost his children, his wealth, his health and the respect of those around him.

In the enemy’s quest to bring the children of God down and to get them to act in a way that would bring dishonour to God and his chastening hand upon them, he uses any person that he can find and any person that makes himself or herself available to be used. The method he deploys may be blatant (as in Jeroboam’s invitation) or it may be subtle (as in the Prophet’s invitation). The attack may come not just from those we know are ungodly or who we know do not wish us well but even from a trusted confidante or friend. We must not just be watchful without therefore, meaning attentive and on our guard when dealing with the ungodly. We must also be watchful within, meaning that we must be attentive even when dealing with those who profess to be believers and are a part of the household of faith. This does not mean that we must be anxious, paranoid or walk around being distrustful of everyone but we must not be so naive, that we let our guard down, to the point where we elevate what someone says, over what God’s Word clearly says. For, we live in an imperfect world where the enemy of our souls is rampant. If we are not careful, he will use people, not just the blatantly ungodly or the imposters pretending to be Christians in the Church but also genuine believers who allow themselves to be used by him, to steer you off the right path and to get you to sin against God through disobedience.

Notably when the Prophet met the man of God, he was found sitting under an oak. Most likely he was resting, which may have been justified, if the journey was a long one. However, in that resting position, his defences were clearly down and once the Prophet told him that he was a Prophet, he quickly came to the conclusion that God had spoken to him and believed what he said, over what God had told him directly.

LESSON TWO – Always be wary and cautious of people coming to you and telling you that the Lord told them something about you or that the Lord told them that he wants you to do something.

We are in a day and time where religious people love to go up to other people and tell them that the Lord told them something about that person or that that person should do something.

My thing is, if a person is a Christian and is walking with the Lord in sweet fellowship, then why would the Lord tell somebody else what he wants that person to do? Why wouldn’t he tell the person himself or herself?

I would advise that you should always seek the Lord for yourself and hear what he has to say to you, for yourself, in any particular situation. Don’t allow someone to come and tell you that the Lord told them that you should do something, when the Lord never told you the same.

The best way to know what God wants you to do is to prayerfully study what the Bible, which is the Word of God to us today, has to say about the issue. If you are seriously seeking God’s will about a matter, the Lord is able to guide you to a portion of scripture, which contains the answer to whatever your question is and to enable you to hear his voice through that Word. In John 10:27, Jesus said of those who belonged to him “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”.

It is dangerous to rely on what someone claims the Lord told them about you or what he told them that you should do in a particular situation. Seek the Lord for yourself. Many professing believers have been led away and down the path of destruction through this trick. Someone came to them and told them that the Lord said that they were to be their husband or spouse and they believed them and got married to them, when the Lord told them no such thing. They therefore made a colossal and irreversible mistake, by marrying people that God never ordained for them to marry and outside of his will, based on what somebody said the Lord told them.

The message may have even come from someone that they respected, like a Preacher, Teacher or Pastor, who they considered to be super spiritual. They therefore believed what this person said, never sought the Lord for themselves or waited on his answer ended up getting duped, making a poor decision and wreaking havoc in their lives.

1 John 4:1 states, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

The Christian would do well to remember this and to therefore take what people are quick to say the Lord told them, with a grain of salt, so-to-speak.

If the Lord sees it fit to tell someone something about you and your life, he is able to tell you as well and because he is a faithful God, once you seek him, he will let you know his will in the matter. Furthermore, if the Lord wants you to do something or to make a particular decision, he will usually tell you directly, once you are walking with him. He does not need to tell someone to tell you what his will is. He can use someone to confirm what he has already told you but always beware of those who come with messages about what you are to do, when the Lord hasn’t yet told you any such thing.

If indeed he has told them what they claim he has told them, then you can afford to wait on God to tell you the same. Always wait on him. Never rush ahead to do something or to take any step because somebody, even a fellow brother or sister in the faith, tells you that God told them to tell you something or that you should do something. Let God tell you himself.

I have had my own experience in this regard. I remember distinctly one point in time where I was duped into a particular job that God had warned me against some years earlier because a lady who attended my Church and who I thought was a believer, had started working there and contacted me to enquire if I was interested in the post. She was working in the Human Resource Section and seemingly allayed all of my concerns about the post and whether it would want me to compromise my beliefs. I therefore believed that God had placed her there at that point, to let me know that it was okay now to take up the appointment and so I did. Once in the job though, I realized that I had been duped. Although it was extremely well-paying, I had no peace in my spirit, given the culture of the organization and the kind of work they wanted me to be involved in. It clearly required me to turn my back on Jesus Christ and on my faith in him, which I refused to do. Throughout the year I worked there, the Lord kept telling me, through his Word, through Preachers on the radio and in other ways, that he wanted me out of that job. I therefore planned to leave it when my one year contract was up and not to renew, come what may. I had no other job lined up and I knew that my decision would attract attacks, even from people who professed Christianity, as they had already labelled me as lazy in the past and as not wanting to work which was a lie from the devil. However, I told the Lord that I would leave, no matter if it meant that I would be unemployed again and ridculed by those around me, as I had endured in the past.

When the lady got wind of my plan though, she told me, when I told her what the Lord had instructed me, that the Lord had not told me to leave. I knew then that she was being used by satan to get me to stay in that job and bring dishonour to the Lord, so I disregarded the lies coming out of her mouth, mustered up courage and boldly left that job in obedience to my Lord. Till this day, I have no regrets whatsoever. I would leave it again in a heartbeat, irrespective of all the voices that were around me trying to talk me out of taking this step, which I knew for sure, God wanted me to take.

I suffered as a result of my decision, as I went without a salary for quite a long time and people laughed, mocked, ostracized and criticized me for what I had done. Yet, through the tears, which were many, Jesus sustained me and got me through that difficult period and I had wonderful peace in my spirit because I had obeyed him!

THREE – The Lord does not contradict himself. His counsel remains steadfast. For, he is an unchanging God, the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

The Lord clearly gave the man of God a charge as to what he was to do and not do, after delivering the message he gave him. Yet, an old man who was also a Prophet, came along and told him that God had sent his angel and told him otherwise. The man of God therefore, in consideration of the two varying set of instructions, came to the conclusion that God must have changed his mind and changed his instruction, so that what was prohibited before, was now permissible.

He was so wrong! Of course this was not the case. Whatever God had said to him the first time, stood.

Similarly, whatever God has said to us the first time, if anybody comes claiming that he told them otherwise, mark that person. For he is a liar. Romans 3:4 states, “…let God be true, but every man a liar.”

If God told you to do something today, he is not going to send someone to tell you to do otherwise tomorrow. If he told you go in direction A, he is not then going to send someone to tell you to go in direction B. He is not a confused God and he is not doubleminded. If he says he hates divorce and that remarriage is wrong he is not going to then come and say that divorce and remarriage is now okay.

If he wishes to change the instruction he gave to you for his own divine purposes, he needs no conduit to deliver the message. The same way that he told you initially what he wanted is the same way that he will tell you, if there is to be a change. He will not use someone to deliver a different set of instructions to you, when he clearly commanded you otherwise before. Be wary therefore of people who, after God has given you a clear command, come to tell you that God told them that you are to do something else or that God changed his mind and communicated the change in instructions to them, to communicate to you.

FOUR- Do not have respecter of persons, to the point where you get duped by a lie because you hold the person who said it, in high esteem or have always believed them to be upstanding in Christian character and spiritual maturity.

Irrespective of who is bringing the message, always examine what is said against the Word of God. What does the Word of God have to say about what the person is saying or promoting? Does it endorse it? Is it in agreement or is there clear opposition? Remember, if there is contradiction then somebody is lying and it is never the Lord. Even if the person utters some truth, if lies is mixed in with it, then it is not from God. In 1 Kings 13, using the same technique that the serpent used against Eve in the garden, the Prophet from Bethel told some truth, so as to persuade the man of God by causing him to let his defences down. He told him “I am a prophet also as thou art” (vs. 18). This was true. He therefore deliberately chose to begin with the truth. However, the rest of his statement was a complete lie. He continued, “and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water.”

Let the Word of God be the yardstick by which you measure everything. It is the only way that you will be able to tell if what has been said is true or not. Sift everything you hear, through it, from beginning to end. A Preacher or Teacher could be saying a whole lot of things right but also subtly including some lies with the intention of leading you astray and on major points. If he is always mixing lies with truth, then he is completely false, no matter who he is because he is not being faithful to the whole counsel of God.

No matter who says what or sings what or writes what or does what, if it is in not in accordance with the Word of God, we have a responsibility to reject it and vehemently so. The man of God should have examined what the Prophet was saying by the standard of what God had told him. Had he done that, the Prophet of God would have been found wanting, as what he was saying was in stark contrast to what God had revealed to the man of God, was his will for him. Yet the man of God dismissed the clear and direct counsel of God, for what the Prophet told him the angel of the Lord had told him.

He clearly got bowled over so to speak, by him mentioning that he too was a Prophet, like him. This apparently caused him to let his guard down and to trust his words, him being in such an esteemed position. Surely a Prophet would not lie would he? This seems to have been the thought process of the man of God.

Some Christians do the same today. According to who the speaker is, if he is well-respected and high up in the so-called “Christian ranks”, they readily believe what he says, without doing like what the Bereans did and checking their Bibles to see if what he is saying is really true.

Yet, God warned the Israelites, not to get turned away from his will and his Word because of the person bearing the message.

• “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.”

We ought not to get carried away therefore, based on who is doing the talking or bringing the message. God’s Word is the ultimate authority. If the messenger’s message contradicts God’s Word, then that messenger is lying, no matter who he is or how admirable his Christian character has been.

At times, we must reject even the counsel of our own flesh, us being prone to self-deception. We are capable of lying to ourselves from time to time and even in those occasions, we must deafen our ears to our own lying voice and instead, listen to what God’s Word says.

As Paul stated in Galatians 1:8-9:

• “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

LESSON FIVE – Often times when people leading you down a path and away from what God’s Word says, you are the one that will bear the consequences for your disobedience.

In 1 Kings, it was clearly the Prophet who had lied for his own selfish purposes to the man of God and got him to turn back, yet it was the man of God against whom judgment was pronounced and who lost his life shortly thereafter. Ironically, it was through the same Prophet that God used to pronounce the judgment on him and the sane Prophet who commented afterwards, when he heard that someone had been killed, that it was the disobedient man of God.

Verses 20-26 states:

• “And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back: And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

• And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

• And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.”

In the above verses we see where, although the Prophet was clearly the one that brought him back, against the counsel of God and therefore had his part to play in the disobedience, he is now a bystander, as the judgment of the Lord fell upon the man of God. In commenting on his sad outcome, he did not say that it was the man of God who he brought back or who he enticed to disobey God but “the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord.”

The lesson is clear. People will often entice us to do wrong but then sit as bystanders when we are reaping our punishment from the Lord, as if they had no part in it.

In 2 Samuel 13, this is what Jonadab, who had counselled Amnon on how to handle his issue with Tamar, had done. In giving Amnon his friend bad advice, this set in motion a whole series of events which ended up in Absalom killing his half-brother Amnon. Then we see this same Jonadab, the mastermind behind what gave rise to the killing in the first place, seeking to bring comfort to David the King, telling him that it was only Amnon that had died and the reason why Absalom had killed him,. He did not mention, as he stood as spectator, of his involvement in the whole ordeal though, as he looked on at the mess that he had created.

People will often lead us down the path of wrong and then sit as spectators when we find ourselves in trouble with God. The Lord will deal with them in his own time and way, as I’m sure the Lord did with the lying Prophet but it is sobering to remember, that no matter who inveigled us, when we disobey God’s clear command, we reap our painful consequences alone. Notably, the Prophet who brought the man of God back and got him to disobey God in so doing, continued to live on, while the man of God who gave in to his deception, died. Similarly, Amnon, in reaping the consequences for his sinful actions, died, while Jonadab his friend, who had counselled him to do what he did, lived on.

LESSON SIX – The enemy of our soul is persistent. Even if you overcame the temptation to disobey God on one occasion, the battle is not over. He will most likely try to get you to fall again, through more subtle means, if necessary.

The man of God was victorious the first time round when Jeroboam tried to get him to come home and eat at his house. He remembered the Word of God and declared it and did not disobey it. However, on the second occasion, he believed the lying Prophet over what God had told him and disobeyed him, to his demise. He seemingly underestimated the persistence of the enemy and that being victorious once, did not mean that he was out of the words, so-to-speak. He was still on his journey and had not made it back to Judah as yet. Similarly, until we reach the end of life’s journey and are safe in the arms of Jesus, where sin and its allures cannot reach us, we must “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

LESSON SEVEN – When God gives a command or instruction, he expects complete obedience. Partial obedience, even when you’ve done almost everything he asked is still complete disobedience.

As stated before, the man of God had done many things right. He had obeyed the call and went to Bethel, unlike Jonah who had sought to escape God’s call on his life by not going to where he had sent him with a message. The man of God was not intimidated by king Jeroboam when he saw him in Bethel but proclaimed exactly what God had placed in his mouth to say. In obedience, he also turned down Jeroboam’s invitation and did not remain in Bethel but proceeded to make his way out of it, without eating bread or consuming water, just as God had directed. He even went a different way to the route by which he came because that was the instruction that God had given. However, before he could reach Judah, he was met by a Prophet of Bethel and swayed by his words, turned back and ate and drank at his home. Although he had scored high points in obedience therefore, when he about turned, he lost every one, going from the beautiful realm of submission, into the ugly realm of rebellion.

He partially or almost completely obeyed God but given that this equates with complete disobedience, he was punished for it.

(Written on 24th September, 2023)