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. [But] he lied unto him.
Ver. 18. I am a prophet also.] A prophet, and yet tell a lie! What a foul business is that! It was wont to be said, Sacerdos est, non fallet: Christianus est, non mentietur. But afterwards it became a proverb, ‘A friar a liar.'
And an angel spake unto me.] Lie and all; unless it were an angel of darkness, such as Pisanus a reporteth spake to John of Alvern, a friar, when in a rapture, indeed in a diabolical delusion, he was elevated above every creature; and his soul swallowed up in the abyss of the divinity.
By the word of the Lord.] This Bethelite boasting himself of a false gift, was like clouds and wind without rain, as the wise man hath it. Pro 25:14
That he may eat bread.] This, to a hungry man, was a sore temptation, and soon yielded unto.
But he lied unto him.] And thereby cheated him into the lion's mouth: so do sect masters simple men and silly women, into the devil's danger. Nothing is so apt to deceive as the fairest semblances, as the sweetest words. We cannot be deceived, saith a reverend writer, if we believe not the speech for the person, but the person for the speech. A good man, saith another, may act for Satan, and not discern it. Mat 16:23 Mr Archer, a holy man, did hold and broach hellish opinions. The temptation lieth in this, when angels from heaven, men of singular parts and piety, preach other doctrines. Gal 1:8
a Ex lib. conformitat.