“He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Kings 13:18 Mean?
"He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him." An old prophet in Bethel deceives a man of God from Judah. The younger prophet had been given clear instructions from God: deliver your message and don't eat or drink in Bethel. He obeyed. But then the old prophet lies — claiming an angel gave a contradictory message — and the young prophet believes him and stays to eat. He dies on the road home, killed by a lion.
The story is disturbing because the deception comes from a fellow prophet. Not a pagan priest. A prophet. The man of God was faithful against the king's invitation but fell to a peer's lie. The danger isn't always from the obvious enemy.
Reflection Questions
- 1.When has someone used spiritual authority to convince you to do something God clearly told you not to?
- 2.Why is peer-level deception more dangerous than obvious opposition?
- 3.How do you hold fast to what God clearly said when someone claims a newer, contradicting revelation?
- 4.What clear instruction from God are you in danger of abandoning because a respected voice is saying otherwise?
Devotional
He lied unto him. A prophet lied to a prophet. Using God's name. Claiming angelic authority. To convince a faithful man to do the one thing God told him not to do.
This is one of the most chilling stories in the Bible because the deception comes from inside the house. The man of God from Judah had already passed the obvious test — King Jeroboam invited him to dinner and he refused. He stayed faithful against political pressure. But when a fellow prophet said "an angel told me to bring you back," he believed it. The peer-level deception succeeded where the political pressure failed.
The lesson cuts deep: the most dangerous deception doesn't come from your obvious enemies. It comes from people who share your language, your credentials, your community. The old prophet said "I am a prophet also as thou art" — establishing common identity before delivering the lie. He didn't say "listen to Baal." He said "an angel of the LORD told me." The lie was packaged in the vocabulary of truth.
The man of God had a clear word from the LORD. Go, deliver the message, don't eat, don't drink, go home a different way. Crystal clear. And he abandoned that clear word because someone he respected claimed to have a newer, contradicting revelation. When a clear word from God gets overridden by someone claiming a new word from God, something has gone terribly wrong.
Hold fast to what God has clearly told you. When someone — even a prophet, even a pastor, even a trusted friend — tells you an angel gave them a message that contradicts what God already said, that person is lying to you. Even if they don't know it.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And it came to pass, as they sat at the table,.... The old prophet, with his sons, and the man of God; the Arabic…
But he lied unto him - It is always to be remembered that the prophetic gift might co-exist with various degrees of…
An angel spake unto me - That he lied unto him is here expressly asserted, and is amply proved by the event. But why…
The man of God had honestly and resolutely refused the king's invitation, though he promised him a reward; yet he was…
He said unto him The Hebrew has the conjunction - And he said": there is no reason for its omission in the English.
Iam…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture