old prophet, The

An unnamed prophet (1Kgs 13:11) who lived in Bethel during the reign of Jeroboam I (ca. 926–907 BCE). Hearing of a Judean prophet, also unnamed, who had uttered a prophecy against an altar in Bethel, the old prophet went in search of him. When he found him and heard that God had forbidden the Judean prophet from delaying in Israel, the old prophet lied to him about a word of the Lord that had come to him, brought the unnamed Judean prophet to his own dwelling, and thus caused the Judean prophet’s death because of disobedience to God’s word (1Kgs 13).