Learning how to discern the true word from God

The story of the disobedient prophet makes for confusing reading because it defies our expectations. How could the man of God, who faithfully spoke God’s message to Jeroboam, be so deceived? How could God’s genuine word come to the old prophet later when he lied about God’s message earlier? Why did he lie in the first place? He does not seem to be antagonistic to the man of God from Judah but mourns for him, affirms his message and even wants to be buried with him. These questions circle around several unsettling issues regarding God’s Word, the discernment of the truth, as well as obedience and character. How could the man of God have avoided being deceived and disobedient? How can we discern what comes from God and what is a false message?

False prophecy

This is the first time we encounter the phenomenon of false prophecy, though Moses warns against it before Israel enters Canaan (Deut 18:20).[1] The key is that a false prophet will speak rebellion against the Lord (Deut 13:5), either encouraging outright worship of other gods or other forms of disobedience to God’s command (Deut 13:1-5). This is the issue for the man of God who is invited back to Bethel even though God has forbidden him to have table fellowship there (1 Kings 13:16-17). The old man appeals to his credentials as a fellow prophet and to an angelic messenger, though the narrator tells us that he lied (1 Kings 13:18). Did he do so because he desired the company of a fellow prophet and dismissed the prohibition about table fellowship as unimportant? Was he himself deceived believing he had a genuine message from God (compare 1 Kings 22:24-25, where Zedekiah, a false prophet, thinks exactly that)? The narrator does not tell us. The truth is then revealed in a prophecy, and God’s judgment follows swiftly (1 Kings 13:21-24).

Responses to the truth

The old man draws the correct conclusions about his colleague’s disobedience but also grieves over him and his efforts to bury him decently (1 Kings 13:26, 28-30) are an attempt to honour him, nevertheless. The old prophet recognises that the other’s fate is an illustration of what happens to those who go astray and do not heed God’s Word and that it underlines the truth of the man’s earlier message about Israel’s idolatry and God’s judgment (1 Kings 13:32). Jeroboam, however, persists in sin after this (1 Kings 13:33-34) and his attitude foreshadows the northern kingdom’s story. Yet the tragic end of the man of God also illustrates Judah’s path. Although at times the southern kingdom will follow the Lord, they will be seduced by their interactions with the north and succumb to the same sins. Eventually, the old prophet and the man of God, the deceiver and the deceived will share the same grave (1 Kings 13:31), just as Israel and Judah will share the same fate.[2]

How to learn discernment

This curious story teaches us that wherever God’s Word is spoken, other voices will also speak to mislead – intentionally or inadvertently. Credentials, supernatural experiences are no proof of truth. We must never rely on a particular person to give us a true Word from God but test everything against what has already been revealed (Scripture for us). For those in ministry, fruitful service is no guarantee of or replacement for personal obedience. Neither can God’s servants claim special privileges or exemption from judgment. The hardest aspect in discernment, however, is not intellectual but the way our desires twist our understanding so that we justify and excuse our sins as harmless, manageable or even negligible. Discernment then is primarily a test of our love of God (Deut 13:3).[3] The more we love a person and are happy with them, the less tempted we will be to find satisfaction elsewhere and the more it will hurt us to betray or hurt them. Our eyes will also be more open to what can disrupt the relationship. Our best defence against being misled then is to grow in our love of God. How? By remembering how much the Lord loved us, what it cost Jesus to redeem us from being enslaved to sin, and by reminding ourselves that nothing can truly fulfil our heart except the relationship with Him.

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[1] One criterion for discernment is if the words of the prophet do not come true (Deut 18:22). This requires a wait-and-see attitude, so does not always help one in the present.

[2] Although Israel went to Assyrian captivity in 722 BC and Judah to Babylon in 587 BC, they both ended in exile, which symbolised death (true life meant living in the land God has given Israel-Judah, see Deut 30:15-30). Both groups also landed in roughly the same geographical area (Assyria and Babylon both ruled over the same territory though over a hundred years apart).

[3] Deuteronomy 13:3 may sound to some as if God had placed temptations in our way to test us, but this is not so. James 1:13-15 is clear that God does not tempt anyone. Nevertheless, God allows temptations to come our way and those reveal what is truly in our heart.

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