TWO PROPHETS OF GOD
TWO PROPHETS OF GOD
24 When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. 25 And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
This passage tells the stories of two prophets. Since the
bible didn’t tell us their actual names. We refer to them as Young
Prophet and Old
Prophet. One day, Young
Prophet was sent by God to go to King Jeroboam to do a task. He
obeyed and went to see the king. After he had finished the task, God
instructed Young Prophet not to stay, eat, or
drink there (with the king or anyone), not to go back by the same route he had
come. This means, if he came by Queenstown, he should not go home by
Queenstown. He must leave by the Bukit Merah route.
Young Prophet obeyed God. Even
though the king tried to coax (tempt, lure) him to eat with him, Young Prophet rejected
and left by another route. Until here, he completely obeyed the Lord.
Now Old Prophet heard
about Young Prophet and his
meeting with King Jeroboam through the mouth of his sons. He quickly saddled
his donkey and went to look for Young Prophet. When
he found him, he
invited him to his home. Young Prophet courteously said, “I can’t, neither
can I eat and drink at your home, I cannot go back by the same route I came, as
instructed by God.”
Old
Prophet then told a
lie, saying an angel of the Lord told him
that Young Prophet could
return with him to his house, to eat and drink. Young Prophet believed
Old Prophet’s deceits
(lies) and followed him to his home. While Young Prophet was
eating halfway, the Word of the Lord came to Old Prophet. He
pronounced to Young Prophet saying,
“Because you have disobeyed the Word of the Lord, and have not kept the
commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but you came back, ate
bread, and drank water…. your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your
fathers.” (1King 13:21-22).
After finishing his meal, Young Prophet left. Midway
on his journey, he met a lion that killed him. The lion did not tear and
devour his body, nevertheless, it simply stood by his corpse. (This tells
us the lion did not attack due to hunger, hence it was an execution of God’s
judgment)
After reading this passage, like many, we might question, "God,
punish Old Prophet. He told a lie that caused
Young Prophet's death. If he didn't lie, Young Prophet wouldn't
have gone back and, as a result, been killed by the lion.
But
the answer is ‘NO’. Young Prophet died
of his disobedience and failure to obey God.
One prophet had practiced lies and deception, another was
disobedient to the voice of God, which resulted in a tragic death. If Young Prophet is
still alive, how does he feel about being deceived by an assumed ‘godly’
person? To be convicted of a death sentence through the mouth of the same
person who lied to him in the first place? To be killed by a lion while the
other escaped death?
Though Old Prophet escaped
the death penalty, we could imagine that his ending may be spiritually dreadful
(awful) for speaking lies and falsehoods to Young Prophet (a
true prophet).
This passage teaches us that a prophet, a ministry leader,
or an ordinary believer who practices disobedience suffered severe
penalty before Christ’s era, before Jesus came to redeem us from
all sins. But this does not advocate (support, promote) that since Jesus has
redeemed us from all sins, we can be careless.
We must exercise care and be mindful to obey God’s
commandments when HE speaks or warns.
In another Scripture, we learned of an ordinary
believer (known as a neighbor, a follower) who refused to obey a
prophet, and he was later killed by a lion.
1 King 20:36
Now a certain man of the sons of the prophets said
to his neighbor by the word of the LORD, “Strike
me, please.” And the man refused to strike him. Then he said to
him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, surely, as soon as you
depart from me, a lion shall kill you.” And as soon as he left him, a lion
found him and killed him.
This neighbour might have thought, “How could I struck
(hit, hurt) you, prophet? I might kill you accidentally?” But the verse told
us the prophet spoke to his neighbor by the word of God.
The prophet instructed his neighbour to strike or hit him
(create a wound) because he wanted to confront the wicked king Ahab.
Whatever voices that come, God’s voice (spoken on behalf by
a prophet, a preacher, a spokesperson for God) cancels all other voices.
Consider how Jesus confronted Peter:
Jesus told Peter that His mission was to go to the cross
and not to become a political king. Peter tried to correct Jesus’ decision by
telling Him it should not happen to Him that way. Even though Jesus loves
Peter, he has to rebuke the spirit behind him.
Matthew 16:22-23
Then
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You,
Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind
Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you
are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to be obedient to Your voice, Your
Words, and instructions given to me. Grant me discernment to know if that voice
is from You, just as 1 Corinthians 2:10 says, but God has revealed them to us
through His Spirit, and we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:10) so that we can
rightly judge all things and act accordingly. In Jesus’ name, amen!
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