11 There was an old prophet who lived in Bethel. His sons came and told him the story of what the holy man had done that day in Bethel, told him everything that had happened and what the holy man had said to the king. 12 Their father said, "Which way did he go?" His sons pointed out the road that the holy man from Judah had taken. 13 He told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." When they had saddled it, he got on 14 and rode after the holy man. He found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, "Are you the holy man who came from Judah?" "Yes, I am," he said. 15 "Well, come home with me and have a meal." 16 "Sorry, I can't do that," the holy man said. "I can neither go back with you nor eat with you in this country. 17 I'm under strict orders from God: 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop; and don't come back the way you came.'" 18 But he said, "I am also a prophet, just like you. And an angel came to me with a message from God: 'Bring him home with you, and give him a good meal!'" But the man was lying. 19 So the holy man went home with him and they had a meal together. 20 There they were, sitting at the table together, when the word of God came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 He confronted the holy man who had come from Judah: "God's word to you: You disobeyed God's command; you didn't keep the strict orders your God gave you; 22 you came back and sat down to a good meal in the very place God told you, 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop.' For that you're going to die far from home and not be buried in your ancestral tomb."

Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Kings 13:11-22

Commentary on 1 Kings 13:11-22

(Read 1 Kings 13:11-22)

The old prophet's conduct proves that he was not really a godly man. When the change took place under Jeroboam, he preferred his ease and interest to his religion. He took a very bad method to bring the good prophet back. It was all a lie. Believers are most in danger of being drawn from their duty by plausible pretences of holiness. We may wonder that the wicked prophet went unpunished, while the holy man of God was suddenly and severely punished. What shall we make of this? The judgments of God are beyond our power to fathom; and there is a judgment to come. Nothing can excuse any act of wilful disobedience. This shows what they must expect who hearken to the great deceiver. They that yield to him as a tempter, will be terrified by him as a tormentor. Those whom he now fawns upon, he will afterwards fly upon; and whom he draws into sin, he will try to drive to despair.