The Lion, The Liar, and The Lord's Word
Introduction: The Unwavering Word
We live in an age that is drunk on subjectivity. Our generation treats the Word of God like a buffet, taking what it likes and leaving the hard sayings to crust over under the heat lamp. We want a God who is endlessly affirming and never demanding. We want a faith of feelings, of personal "words," of subjective experiences that conveniently align with our own desires. We want the comfort of religion without the sharp, two-edged sword of divine command.
This story from 1 Kings is a bucket of ice water thrown on that kind of thinking. It is a stark, terrifying, and absolutely necessary account of what happens when a man of God decides that a "new" word from a questionable source can override a direct, explicit command from Yahweh Himself. This is not a story about a minor slip-up. It is a story about the foundational nature of obedience and the absolute, unyielding authority of God's revealed Word.
We have two central characters here: a man of God from Judah, who starts with breathtaking courage and faithfulness, and an old prophet from Bethel, who is a living embodiment of religious compromise. The man from Judah had just faced down a king, pronounced judgment on an apostate altar, and seen his prophecy miraculously confirmed. He was at the peak of his ministry. The old prophet, on the other hand, was living comfortably in the very center of Israel's state-sponsored idolatry. He was part of the problem. What follows is a collision between faithfulness and compromise, and the tragedy is that compromise wins the battle, even as it proves the truth of God's Word in the end.
This is a warning to the church in every generation. It teaches us that the most dangerous temptations often come not from the openly godless, but from those who claim to speak for God. It shows us that God takes His commands with deadly seriousness, and that disobedience, especially from His appointed messengers, brings swift and severe consequences. And it demonstrates, in a most dramatic fashion, that God's Word will be accomplished, even if it has to be spoken through the mouth of a liar and executed by the teeth of a lion.
The Text
Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and recounted to him all the work which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they recounted to their father. And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” And he said, “I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’ ” And he said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he dealt falsely with him. So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.
Now it happened as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back; and he called out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have rebelled against the word of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’ ” Now it happened after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. Then he went and on the way a lion met him and put him to death, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived.
Then the prophet, who brought him back from the way, heard it and said, “It is the man of God, who rebelled against the command of Yahweh; therefore Yahweh has given him to the lion, which has mauled him and put him to death, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to him.” Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. And he went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” Now it happened after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, you shall bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. For the word shall surely happen which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”
(1 Kings 13:11-32 LSB)
The Pious Lie (vv. 11-19)
The scene opens with an old prophet in Bethel. The very fact that he is living there, apparently without protest, tells us a great deal. Bethel was ground zero for Jeroboam's apostate, state-run religion. This old prophet was, at best, compromised. He was part of the establishment. When he hears of the man of God from Judah, his motives are likely mixed. Is it professional jealousy? A desire to be associated with this new, powerful work of God? A genuine, if twisted, desire for fellowship? Whatever the reason, he sets out to bring him back.
"And he said, 'I cannot return with you... For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.'" (1 Kings 13:16-17)
The man of God from Judah initially stands firm. His resolve is admirable. He has a direct, clear, and specific command from God. There is no ambiguity here. The prohibition was total. It was a sign of the complete separation from and judgment upon the corruption of Bethel. He was to go in, deliver the message, and get out, having no fellowship with that place. He understood his orders perfectly.
But then comes the temptation, and it is a master class in spiritual deception. The old prophet does not appeal to reason or comfort. He appeals to a higher revelation.
"And he said to him, 'I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.' But he dealt falsely with him." (1 Kings 13:18)
Notice the tactics. First, he establishes common ground: "I also am a prophet like you." This is an appeal to professional courtesy, to the fraternity of prophets. Second, he pulls rank: "an angel spoke to me." A direct word from God is good, but a word from an angel seems even more spectacular. He is claiming a more recent, and therefore superseding, revelation. He wraps his lie in the very language of heaven. The text is blunt: "But he dealt falsely with him." Or, more simply, "He lied to him."
And the man of God from Judah, weary from his journey and his confrontation, falls for it. Why? Because the lie came from a fellow prophet. Because it offered him rest and hospitality. Because he let the word of a man, however pious-sounding, override the clear Word of God. This is the central error. A direct command from God cannot be countermanded by another man's reported experience, even if that experience involves an angel. The Apostle Paul settles this for all time: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). The man of God had his command. He should have held to it, no matter who said otherwise.
The Terrible Truth (vv. 20-25)
The scene at the dinner table is thick with a terrible irony. As they sit in fellowship, a fellowship born of disobedience, the Word of the Lord comes. But it does not come to the man of God from Judah. It comes to the liar who led him astray.
"...the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back; and he called out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, Because you have rebelled against the word of Yahweh... your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.'" (1 Kings 13:20-22)
God's Word is so sovereign that He will use a lying prophet to pronounce a true judgment. The old prophet is made to be the mouthpiece of condemnation against the very man he deceived. The sin is named clearly: "you have rebelled against the word of Yahweh." The man of God was not judged for being tricked; he was judged for disobeying. He was responsible for knowing and obeying the command he had been given. The judgment is specific and personal: a dishonorable death, far from home.
The execution of this sentence is swift and supernatural. A lion meets him on the road and kills him. But this is no ordinary animal attack. The lion does not eat the corpse. It does not maul the donkey. The lion, the donkey, and the body stand there on the road as a tableau, a divine sign for all who pass by. The lion is an instrument of God's specific judgment, a divine executioner. God had commanded His prophet to have no fellowship with Bethel, and when the prophet disobeyed, God sent a lion to enforce the separation permanently.
A Compromised Confession (vv. 26-32)
The news gets back to the old prophet, and his reaction is telling. He doesn't blame himself. He doesn't say, "What have I done?" He says, "It is the man of God, who rebelled against the command of Yahweh." He correctly interprets the event as God's judgment for disobedience. He is theologically astute, even in his corruption.
"So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back... He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, 'Alas, my brother!'" (1 Kings 13:29-30)
What follows is a strange mixture of guilt, respect, and self-preservation. He retrieves the body, gives him a proper burial in his own family tomb, and mourns for him as a brother. This is the cognitive dissonance of a compromised man. He honors the man he destroyed. He weeps for the brother he led into a fatal sin.
But his final act is the most stunning of all. He instructs his sons to bury him next to the man of God from Judah. Why?
"For the word shall surely happen which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel..." (1 Kings 13:32)
He believed him. The old, lying, compromised prophet of Bethel absolutely believed the prophecy that the man of God from Judah had delivered. He knew judgment was coming to Bethel, and he wanted to be associated with the true prophet in the day of judgment. He wanted the man of God's bones to protect his bones. He had enough faith to believe the prophecy, but not enough integrity to obey God in the present. He wanted future deliverance without present faithfulness. This is the portrait of a man who knows the truth but loves his comfort more.
Conclusion: The Unfailing Prophet
This is a hard story. It is a story of a faithful man's tragic failure. It is a story of God's terrifying holiness and His demand for absolute obedience to His Word. It is a warning against every voice, internal or external, that says, "Did God really say?"
The man of God from Judah had one, clear command. His downfall was listening to a second voice that contradicted the first. We are in the same position. We have the completed Word of God, the Bible. This is our one, clear command. Let us not be deceived by the lying prophets of our age who come to us saying, "I am a prophet like you," and offer us a new word, a new experience, a new ethic that contradicts what is written. Let us not trade the rock of Scripture for the sand of experience.
But there is grace here as well. The man of God from Judah failed. He disobeyed and was judged. But he is a signpost pointing to the one Prophet who did not fail. Jesus Christ, the ultimate Man of God, was led into the wilderness and tempted. The devil, the original lying prophet, told Him to disobey God's Word for a piece of bread. But where the man from Judah failed, Jesus stood firm. He lived by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He obeyed perfectly.
The judgment that the man of God received, to be killed by a lion, is the judgment that our disobedience deserves. But the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, stood in our place. He was torn and mauled by the judgment of God on the cross for our rebellion. He was cast out so that we could be brought in. He died the death of a rebel so that we, the true rebels, could be welcomed into the family of God.
Therefore, let us hold fast to His Word, the only word that is true. Let us test every spirit, every prophecy, and every teacher against the unchanging standard of Scripture. And let us give thanks for the perfect Prophet, our Lord Jesus, whose obedience is counted as ours, and whose blood cleanses us from all our foolish and tragic disobedience.