1 Kings 13:24

_AND WHEN HE WAS GONE, A LION MET HIM BY THE WAY, AND SLEW HIM: AND HIS CARCASE WAS CAST IN THE WAY, AND THE ASS STOOD BY IT, THE LION ALSO STOOD BY THE CARCASE._ A LION MET HIM BY THE WAY, AND SLEW HIM. There was a wood near Beth-el infested with lions (2 Kings 2:24). This sad catastrophe was a severe but necessary judgment of God, to attest the truth of the message with which the prophet had been charged. The whole circumstances of this tragic occurrence-the undevoured carcass, the untouched donkey, the passengers unmolested by the lion though standing there-were calculated to produce an irresistible impression that the hand of God was in it....

23-34 God is displeased at the sins of his own people; and no man shall be protected in disobedience, by his office, his nearness to God, or any services he has done for him. God warns all whom he employs, strictly to observe their orders. We cannot judge of men by their sufferings, nor of sins by present punishments; with some, the flesh is destroyed, that the spirit may be saved; with others, the flesh is pampered, that the soul may ripen for hell. Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. He promised himself that the calves would secure the crown to his family, but they lost it, and sunk his family. Those betray themselves who think to support themselves by any sin whatever. Let us dread prospering in sinful ways; pray to be kept from every delusion and temptation, and to be enabled to walk with self-denying perseverance in the way of God's commands....

Verse 24. _A LION MET HIM - AND SLEW HIM_] By permitting himself to be seduced by the old prophet, when he should have acted only on the expressly declared counsel of God, he committed _the sin unto_ _death_; that is, such a sin as God will punish with the death of the body, while he extends mercy to the soul. See my notes on 1 John 5:16. From the instance here related, we see, as in various other cases, that often _judgment begins at the house of God_. The true prophet, for receiving that as a revelation from God which was opposed to the revelation which himself had received, and which was confirmed by so many miracles, is slain by a lion, and his body deprived of the burial of his fathers; while the wicked king, and the old fallen prophet, are both permitted to live! If this was _severity_ to the man of God, it was _mercy_ to the others, neit

EXPOSITION THE DISOBEDIENCE AND DEATH OF THE MAN OF GOD.—The seduction of the man of God, who has borne such fearless witness against Jeroboam's ecclesiastical policy, and his tragical end, are now narrated, partly because of the deep impression the story made at the time, but principally because these events were in themselves an eloquent testimony against the worship of the calves and the whole ecclesiastical policy of Jeroboam, and a solemn warning for all time against any, the slightest, departure from the commandments of God. The very unfaithfulness of this accredited messenger of the Most High, and the instant punishment it provoked, became part of the Divine protest against the new _regime, _against the unfaithfulness of Israel; whilst the remarkable manner in which these occurrences were recalle

AND WHEN HE WAS GONE, A LION MET HIM BY THE WAY, AND SLEW HIM,.... Perhaps not far from Bethel; and this lion might come out of the same wood the she bears did, that devoured the children that mocked the prophet, as Bishop Patrick conjectures, 2 Kings 2:23 AND HIS CARCASS WAS CAST IN THE WAY; in the high road, where it seems the lion seized him, and he fell: AND THE ASS STOOD BY IT; disregarded and unhurt by the lion, though the prophet was pulled off of the back of him: THE LION ALSO STOOD BY THE CARCASS: not offering to tear it in pieces and devour it, but rather, as if he was the guard of it, to keep off all others from meddling with it; these circumstances are very surprising, and show the thing to be of God; for when the lion had done what he had a commission to do, which was to kill the prophet, he was to do no more....

2. JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM AND THEIR REIGN CHAPTER 13 The Man of God from Judah _ 1. The man of God and Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:1)_ 2. The temptation and lying message (1 Kings 13:11) 3. Judgment announced (1 Kings 13:20) 4. The fate of the man of Judah (1 Kings 13:23) 5. Jeroboam's impenitence (1 Kings 13:33) A dramatic scene opens this chapter. The idolatrous King is engaged in his religious ceremony when an unnamed man of God interrupted him. He did not rebuke Jeroboam, but addressed

1 Kings 12:25 to 1 Kings 13:34. THE SIN OF JEROBOAM. THE PROPHET AT BETHEL. The sources cannot be exactly determined. Some (see Cent.B) may belong to the annals of the northern kingdom, but the tone is decidedly Deuteronomic. The prophet's message to Jeroboam is certainly late. Jeroboam's first act as recorded was to build or fortify Shechem (1 Kings 12:25). Then for some reason he transferred his seat of government to the E. of Jordan to Penuel. Possibly he was hard pressed by his former patron Shishak, who invaded Israel in his reign (1 Kings 14:25). There is no proof of this; but Abner after Saul's death set up Ishbosh

A LION. For lions in Palestine see Judges 14:5; 1 Samuel 17:34; 2 Samuel 23:20. 2Sa 20:36....

_a lion met him_ That beasts of prey were common in the land at this time we may see from the history of the shepherd life of David, where he encountered both a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34). The death of the prophet was caused by a stroke of the beast's paw, but to shew that it was a visitation of the Lord, the natural instinct of the lion to devour what it has slain is checked, and instead of tearing the body, it stands by it as a guard....

A LION MET HIM BY THE WAY, AND SLEW HIM— There was a wood not far from Beth-el, out of which the two she-bears came, mentioned 2 Kings 2:24; and it is not unlikely that out of the same wood came the lion which slew this prophet. We have in this narrative a cluster of miracles: the lion, contrary to his nature, neither eats the carcase, tears the ass, meddles with the travellers who pass by, nor hurts the old prophet and his ass. Nor is this all: the ass, on which the man of God rode, remains quietly, without seeming to regard the lion, which stands to watch the body till this strange account is carried into the city, and the old prophet arrives at the spot. All this was, doubtless, done to convince the people, that the man of God was not slain by accident, but that the lion had been directed by a supernatural power. See AElian's Var. Hist. l. vi. c. 5. Some have thought that this prophet...