Warts and All

October 8, 2021

This morning’s reading was from 1 Kings 13, the story of a prophet who delivered a politically incorrect message to a renegade king. He faithfully and bravely faced the king and barely escaped with his life. God had told him that after delivering his message he was to go straight home, not stopping even to eat. 

An older prophet learned of this brave encounter and set off to meet him, inviting him home for a meal. The original man of God refused until the older prophet told him that an angel had appeared to him with the message that it was permissible for the other to turn aside and have a meal. But he lied. There had been no such visitation, and when the original prophet yielded, the older man gave him the bad news that he had been disobedient and would be killed by a lion on his way home. 

When that happened, the older prophet claimed the body, and mourning, had him interred in his own tomb. 

It is a strange story with perhaps a lesson about obedience to God in spite of pressure to do otherwise, but it’s the part where the older prophet lies that bothers me. The punishment seems a bit harsh for believing a man of God who turned out to be a shyster. This story does have an unusual redeeming feature however. It leads me to believe the veracity and integrity of the Bible. I can’t think of any other ancient writing that would include such a convoluted story, revealing the foibles and failures of its heroes. Usually, the ancient records endlessly magnify and glorify their protagonists. The Bible presents them as they are, warts and all. If there is any reason to believe this Book is what it claims to be, stories like this do the job for me.