1 Kings 13 tells the interesting story of an unnamed prophet. He speaks a prophecy against the false alter that Jereboam has set up. His prophecy is spectacular in that he calls the name of a future king who will as end to the throne some 300 years later.

Jereboam is angry at the prophet and reaches out to cause him harm, but God controls Jereboams hand and the prophet must pray for Jereboam to get the use of his hand back. The king Jereboam then tries a different tactic and tries to persuade the prophet to come over for a meal. The nameless prophet insists he must not stop for food and return home… For this was the command of the LORD.

Note: the message is clear. God’s prophets are not to be swayed… Either by force or by money, the word of the Lord is the word of the Lord.

At this point the story gets interesting as an older prophet enters the scene and persuades the nameless prophet to turn aside and done with him. Obviously he lies to the nameless prophet, but the apparent younger prophet is pursuaded to join the older in a meal (in opposition to the earlier revelation he had from God).

At the meal the older prophet rightly prophesies the death of the nameless prophet and it shortly comes to pass.

Application: the nameless prophetess used by God to utter one of the most spectacular prophecies, yet was easily decieved into not believing what the Lord told him, because of a lie told him by another prophet. How often are we like the nameless prophet? We will believe and know something is true, yet when confronted with our own tender areas of sinfulness we will be quick to make excuses as to why God would allow our particular version of sin.

This man would not be persuaded by a king, but would trust the advice of an old prophet over the Word of God.