The Man Of God Who Came From Judah

Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and dine, and I will give you a gift. But the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your kingdom, I will not go in with you; nor will I eat food or dink water in this place. For thus I was commanded by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat food, or drink water, or return by the way that you came.” So he went another way and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.

Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel. One of his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words also that he had spoken to the king, they told to their father. Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey for him, and he mounted it. He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.” Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.” But he said, “I cannot return with you, or go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place; for it was said to me by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat food or drink water there, or return by the way that you came.” Then the other said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.” But he was deceiving him. Then the man of God went back with him, and ate food and drank water in his house.

As they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; and he proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the LORD: Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God commanded you, but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, ‘Eat no food, and drink no water,’ your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.”

1 Kings 13:7-22

An unidentified man of God performed miraculous signs at the altar in Bethel. But then, after this great victory, he took the word of another prophet to be the truth even though he knew it was contrary to what God had told him. Because of his disobedience, he was killed by a lion. The story teaches us that God’s Word is superior to anyone else’s word and therefore should be obeyed. When we are tempted to buckle under pressure, it is then that we must stand firm. God’s Word – the truth – can always be relied on. God’s Word is the compass that keeps us on course.

Our Daily Bread – June 5, 2006