Prophet and Lion

1 Kings 13 tells the story of a prophet who challenged King Jeroboam, but was killed by a lion on his way home. I have always been intrigued by this man who is not named. Why did he end up being killed, when he had completed a very challenging prophetic task?

Jeroboam was one of the most evil kings in Israel’s history. In the Old Testament, he is the benchmark for political evil. Jeroboam built two gold bullocks for the people to worship. He established priests in Bethel (where Jacob had met Yahweh), and made an altar to make burnt offerings. It is not clear who they offered to.

A man of God came and challenged Jeroboam while he was standing by the altar ready to make an offering. The prophet declared that human bones would one day be offered on this altar. He said that the altar would be split in half and spill its ashes as a sign to the king.

Jeroboam called for his guards to seize the prophet, but when he stretched out his hand it shrivelled up and the altar split in half before him. The king asked the prophet to pray for him and plead with God for his hand to be restored. There is no hint that the king repented of his idolatry. The prophet sought Yahweh’s goodwill and the hand was restored.

The King then asked the prophet to come to his house and eat with him and receive a gift. He offered up to half his household. The king was obviously grateful for the healing of his hand, but he did not seem to repent. The prophet was uneasy about dining with the rebellious king, because he could easily be compromised. He said,

Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.

The prophet then went out by a different way from the way he came to Bethel.

I wonder if God did really say that he should not eat or drink until he got home. That is a strange thing for God to say, as a prophet needs to be alert and sharp, whereas going without food and drink would make him weak and vulnerable. I am reminded of 1 Kings 19:5, where God sent an angel to provide Elijah with food when he was sending him into a tough spiritual encounter. God wants his prophets to be sharp.

I wonder if God had told the prophet not to socialise with the king. Given that he had not repented, God would not want the prophet to be in fellowship. So probably did tell his prophet to avoid the king and go home without visiting his house.

Maybe the prophet exaggerated what God said, to make his refusal to accompany the king more emphatic. The anti-climax after a prophet has given a powerful word is the time when he is most vulnerable. So I can understand that the prophet exaggerated God’s command and said he was not allowed to eat and drink until he got home, to enforce his message to the king and provide justification for refusing his fellowship.

Expanding God’s word is a huge temptation for prophets. The prophet is so committed to God’s word, that they sometimes reinforce the word with their own additions to make the word seem stronger. This is a mistake. God’s word is always powerful and can stand on its own. The Holy Spirit will make it effective.

Old Prophet
An old prophet heard what the prophet had done. He invited the prophet who had delivered the word to Jeroboam to his house for a meal. It is not clear what his motivation was, but he seems and seemed to want to get in on the glory of the miracle that God had done. This is a temptation for the old prophet. Had God called him to go and speak to Jeroboam. I suspect that he might have, because it makes sense that he would have used an experienced prophet for this tough task. Having missed out on a great victory, I suspect that the old prophet invited the successful one to a meal, so he could share in the glory of the victory he had heard about.

The old prophet did a couple of things wrong. First of all, he said,

I two am also prophet, like you (1 Kings 13:18).

A true prophet does not need to announce his ministry. God’s word demonstrates his ministry for all to see.

Secondly, the old prophet compared himself to the prophet who had been successful and said that he was “like him”. That was not true, because he had not given a word or completed a task that got him into the scriptures. Old prophets should be careful about proclaiming their own success, especially when they have been off task.

The old prophet lied and said that Yahweh had told him that the successful prophet had to come back and eat and drink with him. The prophet went and ate with him. If the prophet had added the words about not eating and drinking himself, he would know they were not true. This would tempt him to go and eat with the prophet, even though God had told him to go straight home.

Listening to directions from an older prophet is a mistake for a younger prophet. He should be focusing on hearing the Holy Spirit’s directions, rather than following the instructions of other prophets. Obeying a command from another person is risky, if you have not heard from God himself. The scriptures note that the older prophet was lying (1 Kings 13:18).

Old Prophet Speaks
The conclusion of the incident is strange. A word of God came to the old prophet and he spoke to the prophet dining with him. You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. 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 ancestors (1 Kings 13:21-22).

This is a strange word. The first part was true. The prophet had defied God’s word by stopping and dining when God had told him to go straight home.

I suspect that the second half of the prophecy was not from God. The old prophet had lied, so that would have left him vulnerable to a lying spirit.

I suspect that the second part of the prophecy was given by a lying spirit, because God needed the prophet to live, not die. He just needed him to learn a lesson from what had happened, and be careful about how he behaved after he had successfully delivered a word.

The prophet from Judah had submitted to the older prophet and obeyed his instructions by coming to dine with him. This placed him under the authority of the spirit that was at work in the old prophet. The serious consequence of this submission was that the prophet opened himself to a spirit of death. As he was going home, he encountered a lion and was killed. This was a sad end for a man of God who had begun well.

The prophetic declaration of the older prophet was fulfilled, but that does not mean it was from God. It is more likely that it was the lying spirit who was speaking through him. The word was fulfilled because the successful prophet submitted to the word by accepting it. He implicitly submitted to the evil spirit that was behind the word.

God indicates his view of the prophet from Judah by the reality that the lion does not maul him or the donkey that he was riding. It just stands beside him and guards his body. God wanted him to be honoured, even though he had made a mistake.

After hearing that the prophet from Judah had died, the older prophet said,

It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD (1 Kings 13:26).

This is a bit rich, as the older prophet did not have the right to judge the prophet who had died. The older prophet had deliberately lied to deceive him, and possibly released the spirit of lying and the spirit of death that led to his killing.

The older prophet had the dead prophet buried in his own grave (which is a bit odd), I presume that he was still trying to share in his glory in some way, which is a dangerous behaviour.

The old prophet declared.

For the saying which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.

It was good that he honoured the prophet who had died and attempted to validate his word, but it was too late. It would have better if he had stood with him when he spoke against Jeroboam. If he had had another prophet supporting him when he spoke to the king, he might have been bolder and less vulnerable to fear.

Two lessons
The usual interpretation of this incident is that disobedience to God is dangerous. However, the message from this passage is more subtle and more important.

• Older experienced prophets should be careful about how they treat younger prophets. They should avoid trying to bask in their glory and should certainly not lie to make them part of their team.

  An older prophet who lies can harm a less experienced prophet. By lying, even if it is for good, he can release a false spirit that can do a lot of harm.

• Less mature prophets should be cautious in their relationships with older prophets. They should not take the older prophet’s word as gospel, especially if it is flattering. Flattery is really dangerous for a prophet who has successfully delivered a word. It can leave them open to spiritual attack. It does not matter who the flattery comes from, it should always be resisted.

  During the period after successfully delivering a word from God, every prophet should be alert, because this is the time when they are most vulnerable to spiritual attack and deception.

  After delivering a confronting word, a prophet can feel a bit flat, even if his word was received as truth. He probably needed the older prophet to encourage him, not trick him and judge him.

Fulfilled
The story ends in the time of King Josiah. He tore down all the altars in Judah. He also destroyed the altar that Jeroboam had built at Bethel. When he saw the tombs on the hillside around it, he dug them up and burned them on the altar to defile it, as the prophet had prophesied would happen (1 Kings 13:2).

The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?” The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.” “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet (2 Kings 23:17-18).

When his prophecy was fulfilled, the prophet from Judah was honoured, whereas the older prophet was not mentioned, even though he was buried in the same tomb.

Source: http://getrad2.blogspot.com/2025/06/prophet-and-lion.html