At the point of the man of God’s refusal, the discussion should have come to an end. Sadly, it did not! Sin on the part of both prophets is evident in these two verses. First there is the deception of the old prophet from Bethel, and it is followed by the disobedience of the man of God.
The old prophet declared to the other that he too was a prophet. That statement, nonetheless, did not supply adequate information. Was the old man a prophet truly called by the Lord? The old prophet claimed an equal standing to that of the man of God, but how do their credentials compare? The Lord attested to the prophecy of the man of God by a sign given and a miracle performed. There was no such attestation to the old prophet’s claims.
There is also something more to consider. Whatever the answer to these questions, they did not in any way change the instructions that the man of God had received from God? Almighty God does not contradict himself.
Despite these matters, the old prophet claimed that there was a new revelation that revoked the prohibition that had been laid upon the man of God. He told the prophet from Judah that he was to bring him back to his home so that the man of God could eat bread and drink water.
Many commentators point to the distinction between the two revelations given. The man of God received a direct revelation from Yahweh¸ while the other was indirectly given through an angel. Such a state of facts is suggested by the claim of the old prophet, but in reality there is every reason to believe that he had received no revelation at all.
We need to guard ourselves from the temptation to believe that the situation presented the man of God with a real dilemma. That was not the case. The Lord had spoken; his duty was clear. The choice before him should not have challenged him any more severely than the one posed by Jeroboam. Why did the man of God succeed in his encounter with the king of Israel and fail in the encounter with the old prophet? The difference might have been that in the first encounter between himself and a powerful king, he knew he needed to trust the Lord, while in the second encounter he was content to trust in himself.
18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.