In 1 Kings 13, there is the strange account of a prophet from Judah who went to Israel in the north to pronounce judgment on them. After delivering his message, he informed the people there that the Lord told him not to eat, drink, or travel the same road twice in their country (1 Kgs 13:9).
We are not told why God gave the prophet such strange instructions. But it seems relatively easy to figure out. He announced this judgment to the king in the north while he was conducting false worship. This prophet from the south was saying by his refusal to engage in everyday activities in the Northern Kingdom that he was not associated with it in any way. He did not want to become comfortable in that environment. No lunches or dinners. He wasn’t supposed to get familiar with the area. When we travel on the same roads, we get to feel at home. It has become a habit. The Judean prophets wasn’t to do that.
Another issue was this: How could he pronounce judgment on them if he got to feel too much at home? It would have been tempting for this prophet to feel at home. After all, the people up north and the folks from his home in the south were all Jews. They had much in common. They were relatives. I am sure he had many friends up there.
Applications can be tricky. People will often say they are a matter of personal opinion. It is a strange and unique story. There were many other prophets in the OT and they were not told to do this. Someone else might suggest that an application would be that we should not be comfortable when we see believers engaged in certain sinful activities. Paul tells us we are not to eat with believers caught up in sinful lifestyles (1 Cor 5:11).
In 1 Kings 13, the prophet does not mention immorality. Instead, he indicts the Northern Kingdom over false worship. The king was not engaging in sexually immoral activity when the prophet confronted him. He was worshipping at a false altar.
Perhaps if we are looking for a direct application, it would revolve around doctrine.
Here is a suggestion. It is sometimes tempting to work alongside people who preach a different gospel. They proclaim a gospel of salvation from hell by works. Perhaps they say you cannot know whether you have eternal life, or they say you can lose it. Perhaps they say you have to do certain rituals to obtain it or hold on to it. We disagree with those messages but want to work with them in many other areas. We feel comfortable in those other areas. We feel at home. They are lovely people. They are our friends.
But how can we speak out against the false gospel we hear if we minister with people who believe and teach a false gospel?i It would not be easy to eat, drink, share ministry, walk on the same road with people, and then turn around and tell them they believe and teach a false gospel. They would rightly point out: How come you feel so comfortable around us then?
What could happen is that the purity of the gospel would be compromised. That was the danger for the prophet from the south. If he got too comfortable with his friends in the north, he would forget the importance of his message.
If the application I am suggesting is valid, we need to beware of being comfortable around those who believe and teach false doctrine. This was an unusual case in the OT. We could find ourselves in a similar situation. At least in some circumstances, we run the danger of feeling too comfortable around false teaching. When we get comfortable with different gospels, we water down the message we are sent to proclaim. We should never be comfortable with false doctrine, especially false gospels.
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i Paul said in Gal 1:8-9 that we should treat those proclaiming a false gospel as those under God’s curse. We are not to fellowship with those whom God anathematizes.
