Religious Study

So I was reading in the Old Testament and found this very odd story in 1 Kings 13.  It all began with a "man of God" coming to Jeroboam, King of Israel, and prophesying of the birth of Josiah.  This man of God also states what the Lord asked him to do in verse 9, "For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest."  So, he refused staying with Jeroboam and went out of Beth-el another way. 

Now there just happened to be in Beth-el an "old prophet" whose sons came and told him about the things that happened with Jeroboam and the man of God.  This old prophet rode out after the unnamed man of God and entreated him to come to his home and eat bread.  Well, the man of God reiterated his charge from the Lord to "eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest (v.17).  Then the pivotal response from the old prophet in verse 18: "He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an ^aangel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and ^bdrink water. But he lied unto him."  Based on this information, the man of God went home with the old prophet and ate bread at his house.  Whoops!  The Lord did not like this and he sent a lion to kill the man of God as he left the city.  The old prophet went out and got the body and mourned the death of the man of God. 

After reading this chapter the thought that ran through my head was, 'What?  What just happened here?'  I didn't understand why the old prophet would lie to the man of God, consequently causing his death, and then go rescue the body and mourn him on his own soon-to-be grave.  So I went back to look over the chapter and found that I had missed a vital "cross reference" in verse 18...by the Joseph Smith Translation, it should read "He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water, that I may prove him; and he lied not unto him."  This made much more sense to me.  The old prophet was sent to try the man of God to see if he would continue in obedience.  Too bad the man of God failed miserably.  This story taught me that if the Lord directly tells me to do something, then I should do it, no matter who tells me differently, unless it is the Lord.  I also think it is interesting that neither of these prophets were named and there is no way to conjecture about their identity.  Additionally, just think of all those people out there who don't have the Joseph Smith Translation who actually think that one prophet deceived another just for kicks.