"I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee."--_1 Kings 13:16._
IT is a sad story that you hear to-day. There was a man who was called
a prophet, because God spoke to him, and used to send him to declare
His will to the people.
Once God called this prophet, and told him to go to a place called
Bethel, where the wicked king of Israel, Jeroboam, had set up a golden
idol in the shape of a calf, and was teaching the people to pray to
it, instead of going to the Temple at Jerusalem to worship. He was to
tell the king of his sin, and how his idol should be overthrown and
destroyed; and when he had done this, he was to come home at once, by a
different way, and neither eat bread nor drink water, but come quickly
back.
The prophet went to Bethel, and he spoke God's words to the king
boldly; and when the king put out his hand to strike him God struck the
hand, so that Jeroboam could not draw it back till the prophet prayed
for him. Then Jeroboam felt God's power, and wanted the prophet to come
to his palace with him. But the prophet said no; for God had commanded
him to go home at once, without eating or drinking in that wicked
place. So he set off.
He had so far done well; but before he had gone all the way he grew
tired, and he sat down under an oak. It was a great pity that he
delayed, for there was a bad man coming after him with a lie upon his
lips. This man told the prophet that God had said he was to come back
and eat and drink; and I am grieved to say the prophet listened, and
turned back.
He ought to have known that God would have told him Himself if he was
to go back; but he did not think--he did what pleased himself, not what
pleased God; and he went back to feast with this stranger. But God's
anger came upon him. When he went back in the evening, a lion came out
of the wood and killed him.
The lion did not kill the ass he rode upon, nor tear the body, and the
ass did not run away from the lion; but the lion and ass both stood by
the dead prophet till--who do you think found him? The very man who had
tempted him to do wrong! Must not that have been a terrible sight?