Question:
How could the Lord speak through men like Balaam and the old prophet in 1 Kings 13:11?
Answer:
God always uses the very best instruments He has at hand. Balaam was once evidently a true prophet of God. Through his foretelling of events, temptation came to him. Kings and noted men were willing to pay him. They had seen that after he uttered curses, curses followed, and where he blessed, blessings followed. So Balak tempted him by offering him great riches, yet God guarded the covetous prophet so that he spoke His truth. Balaam afterward sought to earn his ill-gotten gain by corrupting Israel or giving advice to Balak as to how Israel might be corrupted through idolatrous women, but in the wars that followed, Balaam himself was slain.
The disobedient prophet was destroyed because he trusted a brother prophet. The Lord does not declare that His children are infallible. Moses made his mistake. We even have the case of the Lord using the wicked high priest of the Jews. See John 11:50. “It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not,” was what Caiaphas said. The verse following: “Now this he said not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation.” God used him; He always uses the very best material that He has at hand. All He has to use for the salvation of humanity among humanity is imperfect humanity. Only God could thus use them.
