Subtitle: Why does God judge so harshly sometimes?

Excerpt: The article warns against spiritual compromise and misplaced trust in human authority, emphasizing the importance of obedience to God’s commands.

Author: Debra Hodges

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why God judged people so harshly in the Old Testament? I have, and so have many atheists who use Biblical accounts like these as proof that a God who punishes minor acts of disobedience certainly isn’t good, even if He does exist.

But are we wiser than God? Who is the authority in these matters? Is it us or is it God? Whose voice will we listen to, the voice of God or the voice of someone else? Let’s dive deeper into one of the strangest accounts of God’s so-called misguided judgment.

Background

1 Kings 13 is one of the most unusual narratives in the Old Testament. It is the account of an unnamed “man of God” from the tribe of Judah (in the southern Kingdom of Israel) who confronts King Jeroboam (from the northern Kingdom of Israel) about his idolatry in setting up golden calves for people to worship instead of God.

The “man of God” received strict instructions from the Lord not to eat or drink anything in this area. He obeyed this command at first by refusing to accept the King’s reward for healing his hand and by refusing to accept the King’s invitation to eat and drink with him.

However, shortly after this encounter, he disobeys those instructions after being deceived by another prophet.

The “man of God” was on his way home when an old prophet pursued him and lied to him, saying that an angel told him the “man of God” was supposed to eat and drink with him and spend the night at his house.

The “man of God” believed him, ate and drank with him, and spent the night at his house. That night, the old prophet heard from God that He was going to pronounce judgment on the “man of God” for his disobedience.

Sure enough, while riding his donkey on his way home the next day, the “man of God” gets mauled and killed by a lion. The lion just sits there next to the body and doesn’t even bother the donkey.

The lying old prophet retrieves the dead man, grieves over him, and buries him in his own grave. What’s going on here? Why did God judge the “man of God” instead of the lying old prophet? After all, he was trying to be obedient and only made one small mistake.

The pattern of presumption

Beneath the strange details of this account lies a clear and timeless warning about spiritual compromise through presumption and misplaced trust.

The northern Kingdom of Israel was falling into national idolatry, and God sent a prophet with divine authority to confront it. His command to the “man of God” was to deliver the message and leave immediately, symbolizing that he was to remain separate from the corrupt worship system in Bethel.

By falling prey to the old prophet’s deception, bolstered by the claim that the message had been sent by an angel, the “man of God” trusted human authority over clear revelation from God.

He assumed that this new message could nullify a clear command from God. The lesson here is that no secondary voice, no matter how spiritual it may sound, has the authority to contradict the Word of God.

In Numbers 15, God commanded a man to be stoned to death because he was gathering sticks on the Sabbath. It may have seemed harmless, but he had defiled the Sabbath.

In 2 Samuel 6, God killed Uzza for steadying the Ark of the Covenant after one of the oxen pulling it stumbled. It may have been an innocent motive, but God had commanded that no man’s hands were to touch the ark.

In Acts 5, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, were killed for lying to Peter about the amount of money they received from the sale of their property. This event served as a severe warning about hypocrisy, greed, and lying to the Holy Spirit.

In all these accounts, the issue is our sinfulness contrasted with God’s holiness. By disobeying God, these people chose their own way instead of God’s way. God enforced the consequences for their sin, but He didn’t take pleasure in enforcing them.

The Bible explains this in Ezekiel 33:11:

“As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his way and live.”

The apostle Paul explains it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:20–21:

“We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf. Be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”

The pattern of deception

God punished all of humankind after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. They knew which tree they weren’t supposed to eat from. They had no desire to eat of it until Satan deceived Eve by making her doubt God’s reasons and intentions for His command. In the New Testament, Paul spoke of demonic deception and false teaching.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. - 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

He also warned about spiritual deception in the book of Galatians.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 11:8)

Why does it matter what a serpent or an angel from Heaven says? The Bible tells us why in the book of Acts.

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Joshua let himself be deceived by sparing the lives of two men who lied to him. (See Joshua 9:3–15). They claimed they had come from a land that God had promised to spare, but they were from one of the lands that were marked for destruction.

Instead of consulting God first about the matter, he was careless about God’s command to destroy all the idol worshippers in Canaan. Because of Joshua’s disobedience, these people ended up leading Israel into idolatry, lasting thousands of years.

Conclusion

Little sins lead to great sins. Partial disobedience is still disobedience. From this account, and others like it, we see that Scripture does not portray obedience as negotiable.

God had given these nations centuries to repent, but they refused. His actions in these accounts of idolatry and child sacrifice were due to His holiness, justice, and intolerance of extreme sin.

The goal was not destruction, but purification, bringing people back to God and setting moral standards to prevent wickedness from spreading to the surrounding nations.

The greatest threats to obedience often come from seemingly trustworthy sources and may be clothed in religious language. That’s why the Bible warns believers to test every claim.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

Faithfulness requires endurance to the end. God is just, but He is also rich in mercy because of His great love for us. The ultimate proof of this is seen in the sacrifice He made by sending His perfectly righteous Son to Earth to die on the cross and pay the penalty for humanity’s sin.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4–5)