At the Lord’s command a prophet from Judah went to Bethel and arrived there as Jeroboam stood at the altar to offer the sacrifice. Following the Lord’s command, the prophet denounced the altar…
When King Jeroboam heard this, he pointed at him and ordered, “Seize that man!” At once the king’s arm became paralyzed so that he couldn’t pull it back. …King Jeroboam said to the prophet, “Please pray for me to the Lord your God, and ask him to heal my arm!”
King Jeroboam saw the idea of God and religion as a means to control his subjects – much like Ahab (2 Kings 1:9-15). Ah, but there is a reality beyond all that… 😊
The prophet answered, “…The Lord has commanded me not to eat or drink a thing, and not to return home the same way I came.” So he did not go back the same way he had come, but by another road.
I wonder why. Such an interdiction would indicate to me that the northern culture was already lost without remedy (2 Kings 17:5-6).
At that time there was an old prophet living in Bethel.
Why wasn’t this prophet sent instead of the one from Judah? This reinforces the idea that the tribes of the north were already doomed.
But the prophet from Judah answered, “…the Lord has commanded me not to eat or drink a thing, and not to return home the same way I came.”
Then the old prophet from Bethel said to him, “I, too, am a prophet just like you, and at the Lord’s command an angel told me to take you home with me and offer you my hospitality.” But the old prophet was lying.
So the prophet from Judah went home with the old prophet and had a meal with him. As they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet, and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “The Lord says that you disobeyed him and did not do what he commanded. Instead, you returned and ate a meal in a place he had ordered you not to eat in. Because of this you will be killed, and your body will not be buried in your family grave.”
*oops* The conversation probably dragged after that… For the prophet from Judah to be so easily deceived, he must have been looking for an off ramp. When the path of obedience is clear, no room can be given to listen to other voices.
After they had finished eating, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet from Judah, who rode off. On the way a lion met him and killed him. His body lay on the road, and the donkey and the lion stood beside it. Some men passed by and saw the body on the road, with the lion standing near by. They went on into Bethel and reported what they had seen.
You are in control of everything, Father (Psalm 91:7). This episode also makes me think of Balaam and his donkey (Numbers 22:31-33). May I remain ever joyful and free from anxiety in you (Philippiens 4:4-7).