His name isn't given, simply his title: "a man of God." But he is called "a man of God" seventeen times in one chapter! And to be honest, it's a rather unusual story.
According to Wikipedia, "man of God is a biblical title of respect applied to prophets and beloved religious leaders." This nameless man was a prophet. He was sent to Bethel by a revelation from the Lord. He boldly called a curse against the altar that King Jeroboam had built and was in the process of burning his sacrifice on. When Jeroboam reached out his hand to have the man of God arrested, his hand withered.
Upon request the man of God restored the king's hand, but refused his invitation to go home with the king and be refreshed and receive a reward. This man had been commanded by the word of the Lord that he was not to eat bread or drink water or go back the way he came. In obedience to the word of the Lord, the man of God turned down the king's invitation and went another way home.
This is where the story gets confusing. There was an old prophet that was living in Bethel, and his sons had witnessed what the man of God had done. As soon he heard about it he instructed his sons to saddle his donkey and he went in pursuit of the man of God. When he found him he invited the man of God to go home with him to eat some bread. The man of God repeated to the old prophet the same thing he'd told the king. However, the old prophet responded by saying that he was a prophet like the man of God. He told him that an angel had spoken to him by the word of the Lord and that he had been given instruction to bring the man of God back with him so that he might eat bread and drink water. He deceived the man of God. But he really was a prophet. And when he went back with him to his house to eat bread and drink water, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet and he cried out that because the man of the God had rebelled against the commandment of the Lord his corpse would never reach the grave of his fathers.
When the man of God has finished eating the bread and drinking the water the old prophet saddled a donkey and sent the man of God on his way. But he never reached his destination because a lion met him along the way and killed him. Then the lion just stood there and so did the donkey! The old man went and retrieved both the donkey and the man of God.
Are you confused? Maybe just a little? I have not been able to get this story out of my head all Summer. It's like a riddle I'm trying to solve. And somewhere in the riddle I think there is a message. I think the story is confusing because some truths are hard to understand.
The first tangle I want to untie is the part that says that the old prophet deceived the man of God, but that the man of God's life was cut short because he rebelled against God's commandment. In trying to sort this out I thought about when Satan tempted Eve to disobey God's commandment. First there was the temptation. Then, once Satan got Eve to look at what was forbidden, she was deceived. She was deceived because she chose a believe what Satan said instead of what God said. Next came rebellion and then death entered the world.
I've been thinking about this pattern, and the more I've thought about it the more I've begun to recognize it repeated again and again and again. The book of James says,"No one undergoing a trial should say, 'I am being tempted by God.' For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn't tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death" (James 1:13-15).
Back to the story of the man of God and the old prophet. The old prophet takes the corpse of the man of God and buries it in his own grave. He grieves over this man of God and instructs his sons to bury him in the grave where the man of God is buried and to lay his bones beside the bones of the man of God.
This is not the last time the man of God is mentioned. Three hundred and forty years later his prophecy was fulfilled. Josiah, who had been mentioned by the man of God, asked about a monument that had been constructed beside the altar. When he is told about the man of God he declares,"Let him rest. Don't disturb his bones." There is no question that, though his life was cut short, he was a man of God.
There is no question that this story is about a man of God, but what happened to him and why did it happen? Just as Eve was deceived and consequently chose to rebel against God by eating the forbidden fruit, the man of God was deceived and rebelled against God by drinking water and eating bread. One rebellion took place in a garden, the other took place in enemy territory. Both resulted in death.
I have been thinking about this story all Summer. I have looked at it from all different angles. Day after day, then week after week, and finally month after month, I have considered this man of God. I have wondered how to share all I have learned, but to be honest I'm not sure how. If you live long enough you begin to grasp that life is very complex and there are often no simple answers. I believe that this story illustrates that reality. This story also reminds me that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
*1 Kings 13, 2 Kings 23:17,18
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