A bad friend is someone who brings a negative impact on a person’s life. Get to know more about bad friends here ‘ What is a bad friend? ‘. And these are the names of people in history, as recorded in the Bible, who brought a negative impact on their friends.
1. Delilah, the friend of Samson
As far as the Bible is concerned Samson never had it easy with his love friendships or love relationship. This is because, again and again, Samson fell in love with pagan women, particularly, Philistine women. His first relationship with a Philistine woman whom he attempted to marry resulted in a disaster.
With time, Samson befriended another Philistine woman called Delilah who came from the Valley of Sorek. Samson was so in love with her that he spent quite some time with her. This woman proved to be nothing but a traitor; influenced by the love of money, she betrayed Samson with the hope of getting 1,100 pieces of silver from each of the Philistine lords. This is the story:
4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”
7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” 11 And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.
15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. Reference Judges 16:4-21
2. King Rehoboam’s bad friends
Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. As a precondition for accepting him as king, the people of Israel came and requested that Rehoboam should reduce the heavy tax burden his father King Solomon put on them. Rehoboam told them to go and return in three days for his reply. So the people went away.
Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had served his father while he was yet alive. And the old men said to him, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” Their council suggested that they had wanted Rehoboam to consent to the people’s request in order to have their loyalty. But Rehoboam abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him. Rather, he went and sought advice from the young men who were his friends, who had grown up with him. And his friends told him to say this to the people on their return: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
So on the third day, the Israelites came to Rehoboam for an answer to their request according to the word of the king. And the king answered them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men, King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of his bad friends, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So from then, ten tribes of Israel rebelled against Rehoboam and became independent. But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. Reference 1 Kings 12:1-15
So Rehoboam’s bad friends contributed to his fall; that is, their bad advice sparked a rebellion, leading to the loss of a greater part of his kingdom.
3. King Ahab, the friend of King Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat was a good king, but throughout his life, he associated himself with bad kings, the kings of Israel, starting with King Ahab. King Ahab was an idolatrous and wicked king, whose regime brought about the extermination of prophets in Israel. And his wife was the evil woman Jezebel. However, for whatever reason, King Jehoshaphat who was a good king befriended King Ahab and even took his daughter Athaliah to marry his son Jehoram.
Over time, King Jehoshaphat went down to Ahab in Samaria. And King Ahab entertained him and those who came with him very well. And there, King Ahab convinced King Jehoshaphat to join him to battle against the Philistines in Ramoth-gilead.
So King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat went up to Ramoth-gilead. And before the battle began, King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And King Ahab disguised himself and appeared like an ordinary soldier, and they went into battle.
Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” As soon as the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; God drew them away from him. For as soon as the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.
But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel, King Ahab, between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”And the battle continued that day, and the king of Israel was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening. Then at sunset, he died.
Had it not been the Lord who was on the side of King Jehoshaphat to save him, King Ahab of Israel would have fooled him to his untimely death so that he Ahab would live. Reference 2 Chronicles 18
4. Jonadab, the friend of Amnon
King David’s children were Amnon, Absolom, Tamar, etc. Tamar and Absolom were of the same mother. King David had a brother whose name was Shimeah whose son was called Jonadab. Jonadab and Amnon were cousins. However, these two were good friends to the extent that the Bible rather focuses on their friendship and calls them friends. Jonadab was a bad friend whose bad advice led Amnon to commit an abomination which cost his life. This is what happened:
Amnon fell in love strongly with his half-sister Tamar. And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon’s friend, Jonadab, was a very crafty man. He said to Amnon, “O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” Then Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’”
So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.” The king sent Tamar to Amnon as he requested.
After Tamar prepared the food and brought it to Amnon to eat, Amnon seized the opportunity to rape her, committing incest. Absolom, later, avenged his sister by killing Amnon at a party he organized. Reference 2 Samuel 13
So Jonadab, being a bad friend, contributed to Amnon’s fall; that is, his bad advice led Amnon to his misdeed, and his disgrace, and finally, his death.
5. Judas Iscariot, the friend of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus Christ was selecting His twelve disciples to engage them in full-time ministry, he included a man called Judas Iscariot. In the eyes of Jesus, these 12 men were his disciples, brothers, and friends, etc. So Judas Iscariot too was a friend of Jesus. But Judas Iscariot, driven by the love of money went to the enemies of Jesus, the chief priests, who were seeking to kill Jesus and he said to them, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you (Matthew 26:15)?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
While Jesus and His disciples were in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas Iscariot came there, and with him was a great crowd with weapons from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the Iscariot had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him. Reference Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 26:47-56
6. Bar-Jesus, the friend of Sergius Paulus
Paul and Barnabas who were missionaries visited the island of Paphos. There they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus or Elymas and he was the friend of a very intelligent man who was the proconsul of Paphos, whose name was Sergius Paulus.
Sergius Paulus called Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God from them.But his bad friend Elymas the magician did not want the proconsul to hear the word of God so that he might believe for his salvation. So he opposed Paul and Barnabas, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the Christian faith.
But Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at Elymas and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”
Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he could not see anything and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened. Reference Acts 13:6-13
Conclusion
The examples we have seen so far say a lot on how bad friends impact the lives of others negatively. Therefore, it pays to desist from bad friends.