1 Kings 13:26 and following put before us once again the mysterious nature of the behaviour of the old prophet of Bethel.
In this verse the old prophet reacts to the news of the disobedient prophet’s death by declaring that the tragedy was a result of God’s judgment. The mysterious matter is this: in the words that we are given by the writer of Kings, there is no mention of his own part in tempting the man of God to return to share a meal with him. Why did this so-called prophet seem to feel no guilt?
We might suggest that it was because God used him, the old prophet, as the instrument through which to pronounce the judgment that was coming. That fact, however, does not erase the part that he had played in bringing about the disobedience. Was a guilty conscience leading him to distance himself from the disobedience of the man of God?
Where, we may ask, was the fear that he had placed himself under God’s anger and possible judgment? This fear seems to be nowhere present.
26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD spoke to him.”