We Will Prove Them Herewith

The chapter 1 Kings 13 contains a surprising story about two unnamed prophets. The first prophet was from Judah and came to prophesy to Jeroboam, the new king of the northern tribes, at Bethel. He prophesied that the altar there at Bethel would one day be destroyed along with the wicked priests by a future king of Judah named Josiah. When Jeroboam put forth his hand against the man of God, “his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him” (v4). The king pleaded with the man of God to restore his hand to him, and the prophet did indeed heal Jeroboam. Jeroboam, happy that this miracle had been performed and he was made whole, invited the prophet to come home with him to give him “a reward” (v7). The account relates, “And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el” (v8-10). The man of God had been told by the Lord that he was not to eat or drink in that place, and determined to follow the Lord he headed home. He had shown his determination to follow the will of the Lord and had performed an incredible miracle upon the king.  

               It seems like that should have been the end of the story, but unfortunately for this prophet, it wasn’t. A second man of God, “an old prophet in Beth-el,” learned what had happened and got on a donkey to follow the first prophet. The story continues, “[He] found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest” (v14-17). For the second time, this man of God from Judah confirmed his determination to follow the will of the Lord to not eat or drink in the place where he had been sent. The next verse is perhaps the most surprising of the story, and the JST version reads this way: “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, that I may prove him;  and he lied not unto him” (JST v18). This second prophet told the first prophet that an angel had spoken to him and encouraged him to bring the first prophet back to his house to eat bread and drink water, and this must have been true because he “lied not.” With this information, the first prophet decided—despite his original determination and his instruction he had received from the Lord—to go with this prophet from Bethel and eat and drink. Once there the prophet from Bethel said to the prophet from Judah, “Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers” (v21-22). So, the first prophet had been tested by the Lord through the second prophet, and he failed the test. The man of God from Judah took his journey home, and while traveling “a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way” (v24). He lost his life because he had disobeyed.

            This story is a sobering one because of the way that the Lord tested this prophet who originally was so faithful. The verse that comes to mind is this one about our lives here on earth: “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25). The Lord will prove us to see if we are willing to obey His commandments, and this story of the prophet from Judah shows an example of such proving. In modern revelation the Lord also said, “Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:4). The way the Lord tried Abraham was even more sobering, and the Lord suggested that we too will have to be tested in difficult ways. The message than from this Old Testament story is that we must hold fast to what we know the Lord has commanded and not let anyone dissuade us from doing what we know to be right.