Strike A Prophet

1 Kings 20
35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him. 36Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down.

I came across this passage and I am baffled. I feel a little bad for the person who died. He is also a prophet. Should I assume that Lord spoke to both of them? In which case, it is disobedience and he deserved it. Otherwise it is very hard for me to grasp this. Because a prophet is asking another person to strike him. If the Lord has not spoken to him, he will get doubts whether the prophet is asking to be striked based on voice of Lord or something else. The best thing he can do is, go by law. Of course, he cannot strike anyone without reason. So he hesitates. And gets eaten by lion! How do you look at this passage?
 
1 Kings 20
35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow......
Are you sure this man was a prophet? According to the text, there were prophets, but then there were the sons of the prophets. I don't think the sons of the prophets were necessarily prophets themselves.
 
Are you sure this man was a prophet? According to the text, there were prophets, but then there were the sons of the prophets. I don't think the sons of the prophets were necessarily prophets themselves.
Okay, fair observation.. That does not change anything. Let's say 2 man.. It makes it even more baffling right. It is like son of an evangelist asking you to hit you. How would you react? Still baffled by this scripture, irrespective of whether they are prophets or not..
 
Deuteronomy 18:19 says that if someone does not follow the instruction of a true prophet, God will hold them accountable. Verses 21 & 22 say:

"You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Not performing the prophet's command would call into question his legitimacy in front of the onlookers.

That being said, I see your point. Why did he ask to be hit? Seems odd. Only thing I can figure is that the prophet wanted to show that man could not harm him?
 
1 Kings 20
35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him. 36Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down.

I came across this passage and I am baffled. I feel a little bad for the person who died. He is also a prophet. Should I assume that Lord spoke to both of them? In which case, it is disobedience and he deserved it. Otherwise it is very hard for me to grasp this. Because a prophet is asking another person to strike him. If the Lord has not spoken to him, he will get doubts whether the prophet is asking to be striked based on voice of Lord or something else. The best thing he can do is, go by law. Of course, he cannot strike anyone without reason. So he hesitates. And gets eaten by lion! How do you look at this passage?

It's all about obedience. Something modern folks aren't to keen on. If a prophet says jump, you ask "how high?".
 
It's all about obedience. Something modern folks aren't to keen on. If a prophet says jump, you ask "how high?".
Well, NT clearly says we should test the spirits.. If someone asks me to jump down from a building, I would ask why. We would test the spirit based on Word of God. In this case, striking a prophet is clearly not something one would consider normal. Why should the person listen? How is he to identify that the command is actually from Lord?
 
Deuteronomy 18:19 says that if someone does not follow the instruction of a true prophet, God will hold them accountable. Verses 21 & 22 say:

"You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Not performing the prophet's command would call into question his legitimacy in front of the onlookers.

That being said, I see your point. Why did he ask to be hit? Seems odd. Only thing I can figure is that the prophet wanted to show that man could not harm him?

I don't think so. The man really wanted to be harmed. Rest of the scripture clearly shows that. When this person refuses, he gets a curse and he moves on to another person! The 2nd person actually strikes him. It is all part of a lesson to the king.
 
Well, NT clearly says we should test the spirits.. If someone asks me to jump down from a building, I would ask why. We would test the spirit based on Word of God. In this case, striking a prophet is clearly not something one would consider normal. Why should the person listen? How is he to identify that the command is actually from Lord?

We can assume that the person was a known prophet. God does not send lions after people for being stupid.
 
We can assume that the person was a known prophet. God does not send lions after people for being stupid.
That is the only explanation I think we can come up with, given limited details in scripture itself. I read this in one of the commentaries also. That, the man might have been a reputable prophet. That is the obedience was dealt with such severe consequence.
 
1 Kings 20
35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him. 36Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down.

I came across this passage and I am baffled. I feel a little bad for the person who died. He is also a prophet. Should I assume that Lord spoke to both of them? In which case, it is disobedience and he deserved it. Otherwise it is very hard for me to grasp this. Because a prophet is asking another person to strike him. If the Lord has not spoken to him, he will get doubts whether the prophet is asking to be striked based on voice of Lord or something else. The best thing he can do is, go by law. Of course, he cannot strike anyone without reason. So he hesitates. And gets eaten by lion! How do you look at this passage?

It seems there was a, "school" for prophets in which Samuel was its overseer in teaching the songs, and ways of the Lord.

1Sa 19:20 And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

This guy in 1 Kings was most likely a student. Number one rule as a prophet you better do what God tells you to do, or else what good are you. Reasons of the mind are not to be considered when commanded why the Lord tells you something, you just do it knowing God has the Wisdom to see its course. The Word of the Lord came to this guy through God's prophet.
 
It seems there was a, "school" for prophets in which Samuel was its overseer in teaching the songs, and ways of the Lord.

1Sa 19:20 And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

This guy in 1 Kings was most likely a student. Number one rule as a prophet you better do what God tells you to do, or else what good are you. Reasons of the mind are not to be considered when commanded why the Lord tells you something, you just do it knowing God has the Wisdom to see its course. The Word of the Lord came to this guy through God's prophet.
Good point. I am not good in remembering places. I don't know in which city or town Samuel had the school of prophets and in which town this happened. But I think company of prophets were there in many cities. Before Elijah was taken over in the cloud, he was taking Elisha to different cities. In every city, a group of prophets would come and tell Elisha that Elijah was going to be taken that day. I think it happens in 3 different cities. So I am guessing, this company of prophets was common in many towns.
 
Good point. I am not good in remembering places. I don't know in which city or town Samuel had the school of prophets and in which town this happened. But I think company of prophets were there in many cities. Before Elijah was taken over in the cloud, he was taking Elisha to different cities. In every city, a group of prophets would come and tell Elisha that Elijah was going to be taken that day. I think it happens in 3 different cities. So I am guessing, this company of prophets was common in many towns.
I don't think these schools went beyond the time of Elisha, at least there is no mention of them that I know of.
 
But how do you link that with the passage here?
Most likely this son of a prophet probably knew the prophet of God as a friend, which would be why he refused to strike him.
Friendship has no bearing on being obedient to God. Most sons back in those days followed their fathers occupation, but not always.

Amo 7:14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.
Amo 7:15 But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'

If God punished a good prophet for disobeying him, how much more would the Lord punish the King of Israel for not striking down his and God's enemy when he was told to do so?

1Ki 20:42 And he said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.'"
 
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