Beware of the Lie

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

BEWARE OF THE LIE

1 Kings 13:11-22

11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. 12 Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" "I am," he replied. 15 So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat." 16 The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been told by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.'" 18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house. 20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back. 21 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. 22 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 fathers.'"

NIV

We are not told the name of the man of God; however, when asked by the old prophet if he was the man of God who came from Judah, he replied, “I am.” Interestingly, the “I AM” is referred to as the Lion of Judah; a lion ultimately killed this man of God who came from Judah. But the point of this story, at least, something we think would be a point to ponder on, is that the old prophet lied to the man of God about having a visit from an angel that the man of God was supposed to come back and eat and drink. Then he does have a word from the LORD against the man of God. Why would the old prophet lie? Why would he say and act in a manner that was of his thinking rather than wait to hear a word from the LORD? We know that every word of the LORD always comes true. We know that not every word a person says is always accurate; in fact, we are told that the old prophet lied. We know he was a prophet, an inspired man, as the Hebrew word for prophet denotes. However, he still lied to the man of God and caused him to defile the word of the LORD, as he did not keep the LORD's command. First, we need to recognize that not every word from the heart of man is accurate; therefore, we have been given the Holy Spirit, who provides the gift of discernment. Second, we should be careful before we speak about the Lord’s command so that we do not deceive anyone, as the old prophet deceived the man of God. There are some silver-tongued purveyors of deception today whom we need to be careful not to listen to. Let us test everything against the word of the Lord, listening to the Spirit who also leads us into all truth. Beware of the lie.