Hey! Hey! Hey!
What’s poppin’ here?
It was exciting to launch my first podcast episode last week! Yaaaayyy!
Recording and editing a podcast takes quite some work. My first episode was about seven minutes long but it took hours and hours of recording, re-recording, editing and so forth. It was a learning curve for me and I am now up for a new challenge to not only keeping the blog posts frequent but the podcasts too.
Without further ado, let’s get cracking over here; shall we?
This article is the second and final part of a sequel that I began last week. So if you are new here, please catch up with the rest of us by reading part one first then you can join us for part two. Cool?
Let me refresh your memory with the names of our characters;-
We had MoG who the Bible ambiguously refers to as Man of God and we have Mr. OP or as is written in the Bible, the Old Prophet. Finally, we have the king himself, King Jeroboam.
We left it off at the point where Mr. OP had convinced MoG to dine with him despite MoG having received clear instructions from God not to partake of any food and/or drink during the course of his assignment.
“I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’ The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.“
1 Kings 13: 18-19 NIV
When MoG was smack in the middle of chomping down his food, the Lord interrupts his dining with, “Bruh, what did I tell you?”
“While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.’”
1 Kings 13:20-22 NIV
What interests me at this point is that we are not told of MoG’s reaction to God’s Word. In the next verse, we see that he actually finished eating! How?
“When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him.“
1 Kings 13:23 NIV
I would have left the food immediately and run out of Mr. OP’s house pronto!!
How did MoG sustain his appetite after that? Perhaps he thought that he had already made his bed so he might as well lie in it. In Swahili, there is a colloquial phrase, “unachoma” which is literally translated to mean “you have burnt”. This phrase is used when someone has done or said something that is costly or embarrassing and they cannot undo it nor redeem themselves from it. So in this case, MoG alichoma.
He was still going to die anyway so why not finish his food? LOL!
As MoG was on his journey back, guess what happened? He was killed by a lion… [wait for it]… out of the blue! Crazy right? MoG met a random lion on the road that killed only him and left his donkey standing right there like: Alaaaaaa! Alaaaaaaa! Alaaaaaaa!
‘As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it.“
1 Kings 13:24 NIV
When word got to Mr. OP about MoG’s bizarre demise, guess what his response was:
“…., he said, “It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.”
1 Kings 13:24 NIV
Remember Mr. OP is the same one who beguiled MoG to dine with him even after MoG had told him about the strict instructions that the Lord had given him not to eat nor drink anything during his journey? (verses 16-17) In essence, Mr. OP is the one who tricked MoG into breaking God’s instructions. This reminds me of how Satan tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Can you see the parallels?
“The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.)“
1 Kings 13:24 NIV
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1 NIV
Another similarity between MoG and Eve is that they both bore the brunt of going against God’s word even though it was not their intention to disobey. MoG and Eve simply fell prey to manipulation and trickery and it resulted in death for both parties – a physical death for MoG and a spiritual death for Eve and her future generations.
“The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:2-3NIV
Bottom-line: Do what God told you to do because at the end of the day, you – not anyone else – will be answerable to God for your actions or lack thereof.
Meanwhile, when we get back to our main story, King Jeroboam did not mend his evil ways even after his hand was restored from paralysis and the Lord constantly warning him to change his ways. That king was kray!
“Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places.”
1 Kings 13:33 NIV
Stories in the Old Testament are quite something! I am currently reading the Book of Judges and I am often snickering to myself as I read, reeling on the floor in laughter or taken aback in shock/awe/horror or whichever emotion that the story will evoke from me. God is a master story-teller!
What’s your current favourite Bible story? Let me hear from you too.
Let’s talk in the comment section below!
God loves you so much!
XO,
#SpreadTheGospel 