And it came to pass as they sat at the table, that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet that brought him back;
The man of God from Judah has just done the one thing God forbade: he turned back and ate in the old prophet's house. And now, mid-meal, God speaks again — not to him, but to the man who lied him into that chair.
The timing is the point. God lets the meal begin before the sentence falls. One writer reads this as discipline for a believer, not judgment on an enemy:
God is judging according to everyone's work. That is, He is disciplining His people now. Judgment at the house of God has begun. And so it is here. The judgment on Jeroboam and his priests is delayed; the judgment of this man of God shall be immediate. He shall now be judged by the Lord, so that he may not be condemned with the world, or with Jeroboam, later on. The word alights upon him. It falls in judgment on him as he sits at the table of the old prophet, eating and drinking — for he was eating and drinking condemnation on himself.
The strangest detail in the verse is the channel. The same mouth that invented the angel now carries a real message from God:
But the man of God stepped off the path of obedience. Then the very man whom Satan had used to draw him off became the mouthpiece of the Lord, to announce the terrible consequence in his ears. He lied when Satan used him. He spoke truth when God used him. The erring man of God was killed by a lion because he disobeyed the word of the Lord. Yes — he stepped off the narrow path of obedience into the wide field of his own will, and there he was killed.
Was the old prophet a fake, then? One writer says the story points the other way, and names the motive behind the lie:
It is not said that he was a false prophet, and the outcome of the story would rather seem to show the contrary. But the old prophet was determined to test the man of God and see whether he could make him as unfaithful as himself. That would have been a miserable comfort to a bad conscience. Nothing troubles Christians who are not walking with God like the sight of any who are.
Nothing here lets the old prophet off. One writer reads his part in verse 20 as his own punishment: he must say out loud the condemnation of a sin he shares.
God chastises the old prophet severely for his lie. He becomes God's instrument to pronounce, against his will, the condemnation of his brother who had trusted his word. God forces him to judge in another the evil he had committed himself.
The lesson runs in both directions, and it is pointed at anyone who lets another person's voice override God's:
As to the man of God, he has to learn that if he values the word of his brother more than the word of God, the very one who drew him into disobedience will be the instrument in God's hand for exposing his sin.
Readers instinctively expect the liar to be struck down. The text goes the other way, and one writer says the instinct itself needs correcting:
If the man of God was false to God, God would be true to the man of God — and true in a most painful way. And notice, dear friends, it was entirely right. Yet in our foolishness we would have thought, "Surely the old prophet is the one who is going to die for this." Not so — it is the man of God. For it is those who ought to know best who, if they fail, God chastises most.
The announcement in verses 20–22 only names damage already done. By going back, his message and his life had stopped agreeing:
There his testimony was broken — his sword completely broken in his hand. He was called not merely to a word but to deeds. People will care little for your words if you do not show by your actions that you feel the truth you want to press on them.
One safeguard would have kept him out of the snare. It holds even when the pressure comes dressed as a fresh message from God:
What should have kept the man of God from falling into this snare? His own words give the answer. He admits that the word of the LORD had charged him to eat no bread, drink no water, and not return by the way he came. So his safeguard against every effort to draw him into a false association was unswerving obedience to the word of God. Someone has truly said: "Whenever God has made His will known to us, we must not let any later influence call it into question — even if that influence takes the form of the word of God… In every case our part is to obey what He has said."
- Word given. The man of God had a plain command. That command was his only protection, and no later voice could reopen it.
- Word faked. The old prophet's lie came dressed as a message from God, told by a man who wanted him as unfaithful as himself.
- Word returns. At the table God speaks again, and He uses the liar's own mouth: he lied when Satan used him, he spoke truth when God used him.
- Word judges. The sentence falls on the messenger first, not the deceiver, because God chastises most those who ought to know best.
- Word spares. The judgment is God disciplining His own now, so that they are not condemned with the world later.
and he cried to the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the word of Jehovah, and hast not kept the commandment that Jehovah thy God commanded thee,
The man of God from Judah had refused a king's table and a king's reward. Then he sat down to eat with a fellow prophet, in the town God had sent him to condemn. Mid-meal, God's word arrives — spoken aloud by the man who lied to get him there.
The charge rests on a command he knew and remembered. His failure was not ignorance. A second voice simply gave him a reason to set the first word aside.
The word of God was clear: he was neither to eat nor to drink there. He knew it, and he remembered it. But there seemed to be another message, a reason to set the Lord's command aside. God did not take back His word when the prophet disobeyed it. This also teaches us a lesson. Whenever God has made His will known to us, we must not let any later influence call it into question — not even an influence that comes in the form of the word of God. If we were morally nearer to the Lord, we would feel that the only true and right position is to follow what He told us at first.
The old prophet's good standing was part of the trap.
By appealing to brotherly love, the old prophet succeeds where the king's offer had failed. The old prophet was a pious and respectable man. Why should not the man of God believe what he said? But however pious he might be, should a man's word carry more weight than the word of God? The prophet from Judah is trapped by the age and authority of his brother prophet and by his sympathy for him. Let us ask ourselves seriously. What part do these ties play in our own religious life when we face the question of obedience to the Word?
No messenger outranks a word God has already given. One writer supplies the answer the man of God never gave.
If the word of his Lord had been living in him, he would have said at once: "If ten thousand prophets and ten thousand angels told me to go back, I would count them all liars. I would call them agents of the devil, sent to lure me off the holy, happy path of obedience." That would have been a wonderful reply. It would have the same heavenly ring as the apostle's glowing words. He wrote: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."
The voice that announced the judgment was the voice that had caused the sin. That one arrangement punished both men at once.
God punishes the old prophet justly: He makes him expose his own double-dealing by pronouncing judgment on the man of God. The man of God has his own lesson to learn. If he values his brother's word above the word of God, then the very person who drew him into disobedience becomes God's instrument to expose his sin.
Our instinct says the liar deserved the heavier punishment. One writer explains why it fell the other way.
If the man of God was false to God, God would be true to the man of God — true in a most painful way. And note, dear friends, it was entirely righteous. It is a righteousness that matches God. In our foolishness we would have thought, "Surely the old prophet is the one who is going to die for this." Not so, but the man of God. For it is those who ought to know best who, if they fail, God chastens most.
The judgment had a limit.
It is not that his spirit did not go to the Lord. We are sure it did. But his body still did not reach the tomb of his fathers. The Lord did deal with him, and dealt with the body so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
The chastening is not God's last word on these two men.
So it comes about that three hundred and fifty years later, Josiah carries out the word of the Lord given by the man of God. He burns the bones of the false prophets. But he spares the grave of the man of God who came from Judah, and the grave of the old prophet of Bethel. Through their unfaithfulness the people of God may come under His chastening. But through the faithfulness of God they will not share in the judgment that overtakes the world.
- Known — The command was plain, and he remembered it. His sin was not confusion. He let a later voice cancel God's first word.
- Kind — Threats and rewards failed. Warmth, age and office succeeded. The softest appeal was the deadliest.
- Claimed — Ten thousand prophets, or even an angel, cannot reverse what God has already said.
- Exposed — God made the deceiver announce the sentence. That punished the liar and showed the listener where his real authority lay.
- Chastened — The stroke fell hardest on the man who knew most. It touched his body, not his spirit. Centuries later his grave was still spared.
but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to thee, Eat no bread and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come to the sepulchre of thy fathers.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the ass for him, for the prophet that he had brought back;
The man of God has eaten the meal God forbade, and the sentence has already been spoken over the table. Now the old prophet saddles a donkey for his guest and sends him off, and the calm of the scene raises a hard question: why did God deal so sharply with His own servant?
The old prophet's last act toward his guest is a kindness. One commentator notices what he never does.
At least we might expect the old prophet to apologise for lying, but there is no mention of this. But after giving his solemn message to the man of God, he saddled the donkey for him, to send him on his way (v.23).
God did not send another messenger with the sentence. He used the man who had told the lie.
But the man of God stepped off the path of obedience. Then the very man whom Satan had used to draw him off became the mouthpiece of the LORD to announce the terrible consequence in his ears. He lied when Satan used him. He spoke truth when God used him. He stepped off the narrow path of obedience into the wide field of his own will, and a lion killed him there.
The danger was not where it looked. In front of the king he was untouchable. On a quiet road home, after a friendly meal, he was not.
God's path for the prophet who went down from Judah to Israel was a clearly marked one... It was a clear path, and it looked dangerous. The king of Israel reached out his hand to strike him. But he was protected, and the king's hand shrivelled into helplessness. Only the word of the prophet could restore it. No power of the king could harm him. Nothing could hurt him. But then he left God's path of obedience to follow his own will. He listened to the old prophet and went to eat and drink with him. A lion met him and killed him. There is a lion when you leave God's path.
The severity looks uneven. Jeroboam the king and the prophet who lied both walk away, while the faithful messenger dies. One writer points to the light this man had already been given.
The LORD had given this man of God great light about the evil of Bethel, His hatred of it, and the judgment that was coming on it. God had put great honour on him by using him as a witness against that evil. God had plainly warned him against being entangled in a false association. Despite light, privilege and warning, he let himself be drawn into a false association. So, despite all his former faithfulness and boldness, his work as a witness for God ends here on earth. It is no small matter to disregard the word of God and sin against the light.
Another writer sees the same dealing of God with Christians at Corinth.
There was no such severity towards either Jeroboam or the old prophet. It is a blessed thing to be in intimate relationship with God by grace; but it is a solemn thing if we dishonour His holy name. In Corinth in Paul's day there were probably people far more wicked than any in the Assembly. Yet God laid some in the Assembly low with sickness, and some He took in death. Strange as it may seem, they were fit for heaven but they were not fit for Corinth!
The sentence fell on his body and his burial, not on his standing with God.
This does not mean his spirit did not go to the Lord. We are sure it did. But still, his body did not come to the tomb of his fathers. The Lord did deal with him, and He dealt with the body so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
Even the lion's restraint carries the same message.
The judgment of the world is held back; the discipline of the saints is going on... The altar was torn apart, as we saw, and the ashes poured out. Now the lion is not allowed to touch the body of the man of God, or to lay its deadly paw on the donkey that had carried him. His body is kept for honour at the end, though for now his life was forfeit to the righteous judgment or holy discipline of God.
- The word given. God gave this man clear instructions, and obeying them was his one safeguard.
- The word doubted. He listened to the old prophet instead, and a fellow servant's voice proved more dangerous than a hostile king's hand.
- The word enforced. God put the sentence in the mouth of the very man who had deceived him.
- The word fulfilled. The donkey is saddled, the road looks safe, and a lion waits just off God's path.
- The word and grace. God dealt with his body, his spirit went to the Lord, and even the lion was held back — discipline for a saint, not the judgment of the world.
and he departed. And a lion met him by the way and slew him; and his corpse was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it; the lion also stood by the corpse.
A prophet had just carried God's message against the altar at Bethel and refused the king's rewards. Then, on the road home, an old prophet talked him into breaking the one instruction God had given him. Verse 24 records what happened next: a lion met him on the road and killed him — and then did nothing more. Why did judgment fall on the messenger and not on the idol-worshipping king he had rebuked? And why did the lion stop where it did?
The lion appears at the moment the prophet steps off God's road. One writer contrasts the two halves of his journey:
God's path for the prophet who went down from Judah to Israel was a clearly marked one... It was a clear path, and it looked like a dangerous one, as when the king of Israel reached out his hand to strike him. But God protected him, and the king's hand shrivelled up, helpless... No power of the king could touch him. Nothing could hurt him. But, ah, when he left God's path of obedience to go his own way, and listened to the old prophet, and went to eat and drink with him, a lion met him and killed him. There is a lion when you leave God's path.
The same point is put in terms of will: he "stepped off the narrow path of obedience into the wide field of his own will, and there he was slain" — C. H. Mackintosh.
Before the lion appeared, something else had already died. His refusal to eat or drink at Bethel was not a private rule. It was the visible half of his message.
By going back with the old prophet, the prophet from Judah destroyed the power of his own testimony. The old prophet — though he really was a prophet — put up with the evil around him. God's testimony said the opposite: this evil must not be tolerated... his refusal to eat or drink in that place was the moral and personal testimony of his own faithfulness, his conviction, and his obedience.
Another writer adds what the broken witness cost: "there his testimony was broken — his sword broken in his hand. He was called not to a word only, but to deeds. Men will care little for your word if you do not show by your deeds that you feel that word" — William Kelly.
Most readers expect the old prophet to be the one struck down. One writer answers that expectation:
If the man of God was false to God, God would be true to the man of God — and true in a most painful way. And note, my friends, it was entirely right. But this is righteousness as God measures it. In our folly we would have thought, "Surely the old prophet is the man who is going to die for this." Not so — it was the man of God. For it is those who ought to know best, if they fail, that God chastises most.
Another writer weighs what he already knew: "Despite light, privilege, and warning, he allowed himself to be drawn into a false association. The result: despite all his earlier faithfulness and boldness, his career as a witness for God is closed on earth" — Hamilton Smith.
What the lion does not do matters as much as what it does.
The Holy Spirit notes that the lion did not harm the donkey, and did not eat the body. He even let people passing by look at what he had done without attacking them. What a lesson is here! The animal obeyed the commission God gave it, and did not go beyond it in a single detail. It is humbling to think that the lowliest of God's creatures can obey their Creator better than man, made in His image!
The scene left one conclusion: "Lions do not usually behave like this... there, in front of everyone, it was clear that the hand of God was in it, according to the word of God" — William Kelly.
The sentence spoken against him touched his burial place, not his soul.
It is not that his spirit did not go to the Lord. We are sure it did. Still, his body was not buried in the tomb of his fathers. The Lord did deal with him, and He dealt with the body so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
Centuries later that line showed itself. When Josiah burned the bones of the false prophets, he spared this grave. One writer draws the lesson: "through their unfaithfulness, the people of God may come under His chastening. But through the faithfulness of God they will not share in the judgment that overtakes the world" — Hamilton Smith.
- Path. Nothing could touch him while he kept God's road. The danger began where the obedience ended.
- Testimony. The witness broke at the old prophet's table. The lion only made public what disobedience had already done.
- Light. God chastens hardest those who know best. The messenger fell, not the old prophet he listened to.
- Commission. The lion killed and then stopped. It left a scene no one could explain away — an animal obeying God more closely than the man did.
- Mercy. God judged the body, not the man. Josiah later spared his grave: chastening is not condemnation.
And behold, men passed by, and saw the corpse cast in the way and the lion standing by the corpse; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
Travellers came upon a scene no one could explain away: a dead body in the road, and the lion that killed it standing beside it. They carried the news back to the city. Commentators take that public setting as the point: God dealt with His disobedient servant where everyone could see.
Lions do not stand guard over a kill they have not eaten. That is what makes this scene evidence.
What a testimony! It is not so that lions usually behave. It was in itself a wonder. The body of the man of God lay there, the donkey beside it, the lion on the other side, all perfectly peaceful. The work was done. God was just in it, and accomplished what He pleased. But the lion had no mission to do more. There in front of everyone it was evident that the hand of God was there, according to the word of God.
The lion killed the man, and then stopped. One writer draws a humbling comparison from that restraint.
The Holy Spirit notes that the lion did not harm the donkey. He did not devour the body either. He even allowed passers-by to watch what he had done without attacking them. What a lesson is here! The animal obeyed the divine commission, and did not exceed it in any detail. It is humbling to reflect that the lowliest of God's creatures can be more obedient to their Creator than man, made in His image!
Another writer sets the lion's obedience beside the prophet's earlier faithfulness, so that both serve the same word:
It would have been the nature of the lion to kill the donkey as well as its rider, and to devour the body — but he acted just as much under divine commission in the death of the man of God as the man of God himself had acted when he pronounced judgment on the altar.
The man of God had already survived a king's attempt to seize him. What undid him was leaving the route God had marked out.
God's path for the prophet who went down from Judah to Israel was clearly marked. He was to go down, to bear witness against the king of Israel, not to eat or drink, and to return to the place he came from. It was a clear path, and it looked dangerous, as when the king of Israel reached out his hand to strike him. But God kept him safe, and the king's hand shrivelled into helplessness. Only the word of the prophet could restore it. No power of the king could attack him; nothing could hurt him. But then he left God's path of obedience for himself. He listened to the old prophet and went to eat and drink with him. A lion met him and killed him. There is a lion when you leave God's path.
The untouched body carries a further meaning. One writer sets God's dealing with His own beside His judgment of the world.
The judgment of the world is delayed; the discipline of the saints is going forward. So it is here. Yes, and more. There was a present pledge of the future judgment of the world, and there shall be now a present pledge of the future salvation of the saint. The altar was torn apart, as we saw, and the ashes poured out. And so now the lion is not allowed to touch the body of the man of God, or to lay his deadly paw on the donkey that had carried him. His body is kept for final honour, though for the present his life was forfeit to the righteous judgment or holy discipline of God.
The report went to the city where the old prophet lived — the man who had led him off the path.
The serpent, disguised as an angel of light, had seduced the man of God. Now he finds a lion on his path. The extraordinary circumstances of his death force everyone to recognise the divine intervention. The lion is not permitted to do more than fulfil the word of the Lord. The old prophet, the instrument of his brother's fall, is the witness of the consequences of that fall. How this ought to have reached his conscience and filled his soul with sorrow and mourning!
- Path — God marked out a clear route for the man of God. He was safe while he kept to it, and no king could touch him there.
- Departure — A king's threat could not move him, but a brother's voice drew him off the path. A lion was waiting where he left it.
- Limit — The lion killed but did not devour. It spared the donkey and let passers-by watch. It obeyed its commission and went no further.
- Witness — The strange scene made God's hand plain to everyone. The news travelled straight to the man who had misled him.
- Hope — The untouched body speaks of discipline, not ruin. His life was forfeit for now, but his body is kept for final honour.
And the prophet that brought him back from the way heard [of it] and said, It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of Jehovah; therefore Jehovah has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and slain him, according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke to him.
The dead body on the road tells its own story, and the old prophet who caused the fall is the one made to read it aloud. The verse names one cause — disobedience to the word of the LORD — and one agent behind the lion: the LORD Himself.
Commentators note that God arranged the scene at the roadside. It was no accident.
What a testimony! Lions do not normally behave like this. It was a wonder in itself. The body of the man of God lay there, the donkey beside it, the lion on the other side, all perfectly peaceful. The work was done. God was just in it, and accomplished what He pleased. But the lion had no mission to do more. There, in front of everyone, it was clear that the hand of God was there, according to the word of God... He knew very well whose body that was.
One writer points out how exactly the animal kept to its orders.
The Holy Spirit notes that the lion did not harm the donkey. It did not eat the body either. And it let people passing by see what it had done without attacking them. What a lesson is here! The animal obeyed the divine commission, and did not go beyond it in any detail. It is humbling to think that the lowliest of God's creatures can obey their Creator better than man, who was made in His image!
He had stood up to a king's threats and refused a king's rewards. What broke him came dressed as something good.
He is proof against temptation when it comes in the form of evil, and he falls when tempted by apparent good. The voice of a brother, his standing and reputation, are honoured above the word of God. He disobeys God and gives credit to a lie in his brother... He triumphed over the opposition of the world outside, and then a brother within seduced him into unfaithfulness.
His safety had never been in his courage. It was in staying on the road God marked out for him.
It was a clear path, apparently a dangerous one, as when the king of Israel reached out his hand to strike him. But he was protected... No power of the king could touch him, and nothing could hurt him. But he left God's path of obedience for his own. He listened to the old prophet, and went to eat and drink with him. A lion met him and killed him. There is a lion when you leave God's path.
The man who had lied him off course now speaks the verdict. Writers see God's hand in that arrangement, cutting both ways.
God punishes the old prophet justly. He forces him to expose his own double-dealing by pronouncing judgment on the man of God. As for the man of God, he has to learn this lesson. If he values his brother's word more than the word of God, then the very one who drew him into disobedience will be the instrument in God's hand to expose his sin.
Commentators separate what God did to his body from where his spirit went.
It is not that his spirit did not go to the Lord. We are sure it did; but his body did not come to the tomb of his fathers. The Lord did deal with him, and dealt with the body so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
Another writer sees the untouched body as a sign of honour still to come.
The judgment of the world is delayed; the discipline of the saints is going on... the lion is not allowed to touch the body of the man of God, nor lay its deadly paw on the donkey that had carried him. His body is kept for final honour, though for now his life was forfeit to the righteous judgment, or holy discipline, of God.
One writer turns the scene into a question for believers today.
Outright disobedience to the Word is an infinitely serious thing. How many Christian lives are made up of such acts of disobedience! Christians often ask why they meet a lion in the way without being able to answer the question. Should they not first ask themselves this? Have they been willing to submit to the word of God when it has shown them His will plainly?
- Word given. God told him not to eat, not to drink, not to go back the same way. That word kept him safe when the king reached out his hand to strike him.
- Word left. He resisted threats and bribes. Then he gave way to a fellow prophet, putting a brother's voice above what God had said.
- Word fulfilled. The lion killed but did not eat. It stood beside the body, so everyone could see God's hand, not an accident of the road.
- Word announced. The man who had deceived him was made to state the verdict, exposing his own duplicity in the act of pronouncing it.
- Word remembered. God disciplined the body, kept it for final honour, and saved the spirit for the day of the Lord.
And he spoke to his sons saying, Saddle me the ass; and they saddled it.
The old prophet lied to a younger messenger and turned him back from his road. Now he tells his sons to saddle the donkey again — this time to fetch the body of the man his lie killed.
The man who caused the fall now rides out to see what his lie produced.
The old prophet, the instrument of his fellow prophet's fall, is the witness of the consequences of that fall. How this ought to have reached his conscience and filled his soul with sorrow and mourning! His work is reduced to nothing and judged, but God uses this to bring him back; he himself is not lost… Whatever our unfaithfulness may be, God will not leave Himself without a witness. The weakest and most guilty among us may become its bearer, if he repents.
A lion had killed the man on the road. What lay there was no ordinary accident.
That is not how lions usually behave. It was in itself a wonder. The body of the man of God lay there, the donkey beside it, the lion on the other side, all perfectly peaceful. The work was done. God was just in it, and He accomplished what He pleased. But the lion had no mission to do more. In front of everyone, the hand of God was plain, according to the word of God.
The lion killed the man but did not touch his body. One writer reads that restraint as a pledge about the man's future.
The judgment of the world is delayed; the discipline of the saints is going on. So it is here. And more. There was a present pledge of the future judgment of the world, and there is now a present pledge of the future salvation of the saint. The altar was torn apart, as we saw, and the ashes poured out. Now the lion is not allowed to touch the body of the man of God, or to lay his deadly paw on the donkey that had carried him. God keeps his body for final honour, though for now his life was forfeit to His righteous judgment or holy discipline.
One command would have kept the man of God on the road home, and he knew it.
What should have kept the man of God from falling into this trap? His own words give the answer. He admits, "It was told to me by the word of the LORD, 'You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.'" So his safeguard against every effort to draw him into a false association was unswerving obedience to the word of God. About this scene someone has truly said, "Whenever God has made His will known to us, we must not allow any later influence at all to call it in question. That holds even if the influence takes the form of the word of God… In every case our part is to obey what He has said."
This story carries a warning for older and younger believers alike.
It is possible for an older believer to become a spent force; should we not guard against this? Advanced years do not always mean increased spirituality… The old prophet seemed to be a man God could no longer use. He trapped a younger man and ruined him. The younger men of our time must not overlook this danger. Respect for age and experience is good; but our only authority for action in any area of life is the Word of God. "A brother advised me," or "an angel spoke to me," will not sound well at the judgement seat of Christ.
God's discipline was not His last word about this man. A later king of Judah, Josiah, would prove it.
Still, we are allowed to see this. God in His holiness may have to discipline His people for their failure and unfaithfulness. Even so, He does not unjustly forget any work or labour of love shown toward His Name. So, three hundred and fifty years after these events, Josiah carries out the word of the Lord given through the man of God. He burns the bones of the false prophets. But he spares the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah, and of the old prophet of Bethel.
- Saddled. The donkey that carried a man back into disobedience now carries his body home. The man who caused the fall must go and look at it.
- Guarded. A lion that kills and then stands still is no accident. God left the scene in the open, so everyone could see His hand acting according to His word.
- Disciplined. The untouched body shows the difference between judging the world and correcting a believer. His life was forfeit; his body was kept for honour.
- Word. One line of Scripture was his whole protection. He already knew it and had already quoted it. No brother, no angel and no number of years could outrank it.
- Remembered. Centuries later Josiah spared both graves. God disciplines failure, but He does not forget faithful service.
And he went and found his corpse cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the corpse the lion had not eaten the corpse, nor torn the ass.
A man of God defied a king, then disobeyed God once, and a lion killed him on the road. Now the lion guards the body and eats nothing, and we are left asking why God stopped it halfway.
The point of the picture is what does not happen. A hungry predator has just made a kill, yet leaves the body and the donkey untouched:
What a testimony! Lions do not usually behave like this. It was in itself a wonder. The body of the man of God lay there, the donkey beside it, the lion on the other side, all perfectly peaceful. The work was done. God was just in it, and He accomplished what He pleased. But the lion had no mission to do more. In front of everyone it was clear that the hand of God was there, according to the word of God.
God gave the lion a task, and it stopped right there. That restraint shames man:
The Holy Spirit notes the facts: the lion did not harm the donkey, and he did not devour the body. He also let passers-by see what he had done without attacking them. What a lesson is here! The animal obeyed the divine commission, and did not go beyond it in any detail. It is humbling to reflect that the lowliest of God's creatures can be more obedient to their Creator than man made in His image!
The killing itself was not the animal's instinct running loose:
It would have been the lion's nature to kill the donkey as well as its rider, and to devour the body. But in the death of the man of God, the lion acted under divine commission — just as much as the man of God himself had acted when he pronounced judgment on the altar.
The two animals standing over the body picture the man lying between them:
What a sight he saw! The lion and the donkey stood there like guards over the dead body! Surely there is a parable here. The dead messenger of the LORD was a strange mix of the lion and the donkey. He was so bold with the king, but so foolish with the old prophet!
Why spare the body at all? The untouched body points forward:
The judgment of the world is delayed; the discipline of the saints is going on. There was a present pledge of the future judgment of the world, and there shall be now a present pledge of the future salvation of the saint. The altar was torn apart, as we saw, and the ashes poured out. And so now the lion is not allowed to touch the body of the man of God, or to lay his deadly paw on the donkey that had carried him. His body is reserved for final honour, though his life was for the present forfeit to the righteous judgment or holy discipline of God.
The man who lied him off the road is the same man who sat at the roadside and identified the body. God used both his mouths:
But the man of God stepped off the path of obedience. Then the very man whom Satan had used to draw him off became the mouthpiece of the LORD. He announced the terrible consequence in his ears. He lied when Satan used him. He spoke truth when God used him. The erring man of God was killed by a lion because he disobeyed the word of the Lord.
His fall looks small next to Jeroboam's idolatry, yet he had been told plainly what to do and had already stood firm under threat and bribery:
He had light, privilege, and warning. Even so, he let himself be drawn into a false association. So despite all his former faithfulness and boldness, his career as a witness for God is closed on earth. It is no small matter to disregard the word of God and sin against the light.
The old prophet asked to be buried in the same grave, because he was certain the word spoken against the altar would still come true:
The old prophet told his sons that when he died they should bury him in the same grave beside the man of God. He knew that the prophecy of the man of God against the altar of Jeroboam would come true. God's testimony remained true despite the failure of the messenger.
- Commission — The lion killed, then stopped. It did the work given and no more. So the scene reads as God's act, not a wild animal's appetite.
- Contrast — A beast stayed inside its orders. A prophet, made in God's image, stepped outside his. The creature's obedience is the rebuke.
- Cause — He set another prophet's word above God's word, after God had already given him light and warning.
- Care — The untouched body is mercy inside the blow. God disciplines His own now, and delays the judgment of the world.
- Continuity — The messenger fell; the message did not. The word against the altar still came true.
And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back; and the old prophet came into the city, to mourn and to bury him.
A lion has killed the man of God from Judah for disobeying God's word. The man who now lifts his body onto the donkey is the one whose lie sent him there, and the burial that follows asks what such severe discipline means.
The judgment spoken over him touched his body. One writer marks where it stopped.
It is not that his spirit did not go to the Lord. We are sure it did, but his body did not come to the tomb of his fathers. The Lord did deal with him, and dealt with the body so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
God made the old prophet see, handle and carry the result of his own deception.
The old prophet, the instrument of his brother's fall, is the witness of the consequences of that fall. How this ought to have reached his conscience and filled his soul with sorrow and mourning! His work is reduced to nothing and judged, but God uses this to bring him back; he himself is not lost.
Another writer turns to the man of God's own responsibility.
The man of God has to learn this. If he values the word of his brother more than the word of God, then the very one who drew him into disobedience will be the instrument in God's hand for exposing his sin.
A man who had just lied could be suspected of faking his grief. One writer reads it differently.
There was in him what was of God as well as what was of nature or the flesh… He had lived carelessly as a believer. He had settled down in an unclean place… Yet he seems to have been a righteous man, like Lot, though living in a Sodom. His lamentation over the man of God was genuine, and it was that of one saint over another… He also charges his sons to bury him, when he dies, in the same tomb. It was the tomb where he was now laying with reverence the remains of the one he calls his brother, the man of God.
Note the grave and the size of the funeral.
Taking the body back to Bethel, he buried it in a tomb prepared for himself. The old prophet and his sons were apparently the only mourners. Any relatives of the man of God would likely know nothing of what became of him.
One writer reads a sign in what the lion did not do.
The judgment of the world is held back; the discipline of the saints is going forward… The altar was torn open, as we saw, and the ashes poured out. And now the lion is not allowed to touch the body of the man of God, or lay his deadly paw on the donkey that had carried him. His body is kept for final honour. For the present, though, his life was forfeit to the righteous judgment or holy discipline of God.
One writer points to what happened at Bethel long afterwards.
Yet we can see this. If God in His holiness must chasten His people for their failure and unfaithfulness, He is still not unrighteous; He does not forget any work or labour of love shown toward His Name. So, three hundred and fifty years later, Josiah carries out the word of the Lord spoken by the man of God. He burns the bones of the false prophets. But he spares the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and of the old prophet of Bethel. Through their unfaithfulness, the people of God may come under His chastening. But through the faithfulness of God they will not share in the judgment that overtakes the world.
Commentators differ on how much hope the story holds. Rossier sees God bringing the old prophet back. On the man of God, one writer is blunt.
Despite light, privilege, and warning, he allowed himself to be drawn into a false association. The result was that, for all his earlier faithfulness and boldness, his career as a witness for God is closed on earth. It is no small matter to disregard the word of God and sin against the light.
- Cause — He valued the word of a brother above the word of God.
- Consequence — The man who misled him had to carry his body home. God made the deceiver handle the result of his own lie.
- Limit — The discipline reached his body, not his spirit. He missed his family tomb, but the Lord dealt with him so that his spirit would be saved.
- Pledge — God would not let the lion touch his body. It was kept for honour later.
- Proof — Three and a half centuries later Josiah burned Bethel's bones and spared this grave. God's people may come under His chastening, yet they do not share the world's judgment.
And he laid his corpse in his own sepulchre; and they mourned over him [saying], Alas, my brother!
A funeral at Bethel closes the story: the old prophet lays the man he ruined in his own grave. Were his tears real, and is God finished with a servant He has had to discipline?
The burial spot was not a family plot or a public tomb. The mourners were few as well.
He took up the corpse and laid it on a donkey. He showed unusual courage in the presence of the lion, but the lion did not interfere. Taking the body back to Bethel, he buried it in a tomb prepared for himself. The old prophet and his sons were apparently the only mourners. Likely any relatives of the man of God would know nothing of what became of him.
The same man had led him into the fall that ended here. Yet one writer finds real grief in that cry, not theatre.
There was in him what was of God, as well as what was of nature or the flesh… He had lived carelessly as a saint. He had made his home in an unclean place. He was too much like an old professing believer who needed reviving. Satan uses him — as we have seen, sad to tell it — to corrupt his younger brother, a freshly-anointed vessel of the Spirit. But still, he seems to have been a "righteous man," like Lot, though living in a Sodom. His lamentation over the man of God was genuine. It was that of one saint over another, as genuine as David's lamentation over Jonathan. It was the sorrow of a saint of God.
The man who caused the fall had to look at the result. One writer sees God using that sight to bring him back.
The old prophet, the instrument of his brother's fall, is the witness of the consequences of that fall. How this ought to have reached his conscience and filled his soul with sorrow and mourning! His work is reduced to nothing and judged. But God uses this to bring him back. He himself is not lost… His soul is restored before he dies. He seals his brother's testimony against the altar of Bethel with his own. He extends that testimony to all the high places in the cities of Samaria. Whatever our unfaithfulness may be, God will not leave Himself without a witness. The weakest and most guilty among us may become its bearer, if he repents.
Mourning a man you helped to ruin is a solemn sight. The danger it exposes is not scandalous sin but settled ease with disobedience.
How true and how full of instruction, but how solemn! Solemn to think of the man of God — but, oh, what can we say of the old prophet? What can we say of those who tempt faithful men of God to turn from the word of the Lord? They snatch a miserable moment's comfort for themselves. It gives cover to their own life of habitual disobedience. They live at habitual ease in the very place where the man of God was forbidden to eat bread or drink water. Nothing so hardens the heart, and nothing so destroys the conscience, as habitual disobedience to the word of the Lord. It is not gross sin, but religious indifference. … Beware of those who use their age, their position, or anything else to weaken God's children in their obedience to the word of the Lord.
The grave has a sequel. What happened to it centuries later shows how God treats a servant He has had to discipline.
Yet we may see this. God, in His holiness, may have to chasten His people for their failure and unfaithfulness. But He will not unrighteously forget any work or labour of love shown toward His Name. So, three hundred and fifty years later, Josiah carries out the word of the Lord given by the man of God. He burns the bones of the false prophets. But he spares the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah, and the tomb of the old prophet of Bethel. Through their unfaithfulness the people of God may come under His chastening. But through God's faithfulness they will not share in the judgment that overtakes the world.
- Grave — The old prophet buried the man of God in the tomb he had prepared for himself, with only his own sons as mourners.
- Grief — The lament was real sorrow, one saint over another. The man still had what was of God in him, though he lived in an unclean place.
- Guilt — The man who caused the fall had to watch the result. Commentators see his soul restored before he died.
- Guard — What ruined him was not gross sin but habitual ease with disobedience. Such men weaken the faithful by trading on age and position.
- Grace — Centuries later Josiah spared that one tomb. God chastens His people, but He does not forget their labour of love.
And it came to pass after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons saying, When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.
The man who asked for this grave had lured its first occupant to his death. His last recorded words are about bones, and they work as both a confession and a testimony.
What ruined this man was not scandal. One commentator points to something quieter, and to the warning it carries.
Nothing hardens the heart like habitual disobedience to the word of the Lord. Nothing destroys the conscience like it either. And this disobedience is not in open, shocking sins, but in religious indifference. That was what marked the old prophet. He consoled himself that he had respect for the Lord — respect for the man of God. Then he was put to the test. He was Satan's instrument, and he brought out the weakness of the very vessel that God had made so strong against king Jeroboam… Beware of such men! Beware of those who use their age or their position, or anything else, to weaken the children of God in their obedience to the word of the Lord.
His grief at the grave was not a show. Another writer weighs the mixture of God and flesh in him.
There was in him that which was of God, as well as that which was of nature or the flesh… He had lived carelessly as a saint. He had taken up his dwelling in an unclean place. He was too much like someone who had long professed faith and needed fresh life. Satan uses him, sad to tell it, to corrupt his younger brother, a freshly-anointed vessel of the Spirit. But still, he seems to have been a "righteous man," like Lot, though living in a Sodom. His lamentation over the man of God was genuine, and it was that of one saint over another.
His order ties his own bones to the man he had helped to ruin. One commentator reads this as a soul brought back before death.
God reduces his work to nothing and judges it. But God uses this to bring him back, and he himself is not lost… His soul is restored before he dies. He seals his brother's testimony against the altar of Bethel with his own, and he extends that testimony to all the high places in the cities of Samaria. Whatever our unfaithfulness may be, God will not leave Himself without a witness. The weakest, the most guilty among us may become its bearer, if he repents. In his death the old prophet testifies to his association with the man of God.
The next verse gives his reason: he was sure the prophecy would come true.
The old prophet told his sons to bury him, when he died, in the same grave beside the man of God (v.31). He knew that the prophecy of the man of God against the altar of Jeroboam would come true (v.32). God's testimony remained true despite the failure of the messenger.
This grave mattered again centuries later. One writer shows what King Josiah did with it.
We are still allowed to see this. God, in His holiness, may have to chasten His people for their failure and unfaithfulness. Yet He is not so unjust as to forget any work or labour of love shown toward His Name. So, three hundred and fifty years after these events, Josiah carries out the word of the Lord given by the man of God. He burns the bones of the false prophets. But he spares the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah, and the tomb of the old prophet of Bethel. Through their unfaithfulness, the people of God may come under His chastening. But through the faithfulness of God they will not share in the judgment that overtakes the world.
That restraint also sets the pattern for how we treat the memory of servants of God whose record is mixed.
Whatever this man's unfaithfulness had been, Josiah recognises what he had done for God. He also spares the bones of the prophet of Samaria. That prophet caused his fall, yet he had humbled himself for his error. This is how every true Christian heart acts. It acknowledges what men of God in past times did to serve Him. It respects their work, even though failures blemished it and robbed it of its power or spoiled its result.
- Bones of a failure. This man lived in the place God had condemned. Quiet disobedience, not scandal, made him Satan's instrument against a faithful brother.
- Bones mourned. His grief was real. One writer sees a righteous man in a corrupt place, weeping over another saint.
- Bones confessed. Asking to lie beside the man he misled reversed his whole course. His soul was restored before he died, and God found a witness in the guiltiest man in the story.
- Bones staked on the word. He was certain the prophecy would come true. The messenger failed; the message did not.
- Bones spared. Three and a half centuries later Josiah's fire passed that one tomb by. Chastening is real. Yet God does not forget work done for His Name, and neither should we when a servant's record is blemished.
For the word that he cried by the word of Jehovah against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall certainly come to pass.
The old prophet of Bethel had just buried the man of God whose fall he had caused. Now he gives his sons a dying order: lay my bones beside his. His reason is not sentiment. He is sure that the message spoken against Jeroboam's altar will come true, and that it reaches far past Bethel.
Everything in the chapter turns on one repeated phrase: "the word of the LORD," which older translations render "the word of Jehovah." Three men stand in three different places toward it:
The central figure of 1 Kings 13 is the "man of God out of Judah." All the instruction of the chapter turns on the words "the word of Jehovah," repeated ten times. To Jeroboam the word of Jehovah meant nothing; self-will was his rule of life. To the old prophet who lived in Bethel, the word of Jehovah meant something, but it had lost its power over his soul. To the man of God the word of Jehovah meant everything — until the fatal moment when he let himself be drawn away from it.
In verse 32 that word takes hold of the old prophet again.
The old prophet had to watch what his own work produced. That ruin became God's way of reaching him:
The old prophet, the instrument of his brother's fall, is the witness of the consequences of that fall… His work is reduced to nothing and judged, but God uses this to bring him back; he himself is not lost… His soul is restored before he dies. He seals his brother's testimony against the altar of Bethel with his own, extending that testimony to all the high places in the cities of Samaria. Whatever our unfaithfulness may be, God will not leave Himself without a witness. The weakest and most guilty among us may become its bearer, if he repents.
He asked to share the grave out of real grief. Good and bad were both in this man, and the burial shows which side had the last word:
There was in him what was of God, as well as what was of nature or the flesh. But he was now old… He had lived carelessly as a saint. He had made his home in an unclean place… But still, he seems to have been a "righteous man," like Lot, though living in a Sodom. His grief over the man of God was genuine, the sorrow of one saint over another… And he charges his sons to bury him, when he dies, in the same tomb. It was the tomb where he was now reverently laying the remains of the one he calls his "brother," the man of God.
The old prophet widens the message from one altar to a whole region. The name he uses raises a question, because Omri built the city of Samaria only later. One writer separates two uses of the name:
The word Samaria appears in a speech of the old prophet (1 Kings 13:32), years before Omri built the city. Omri named it Samaria after Shemer, the owner of the hill (1 Kings 16:24)… In 1 Kings 13:32 Samaria is used, it would seem, as the name of a district — "cities of Samaria" — like Heshbon and her cities (Joshua 13:17), or "cities of Hebron" (2 Sam. 2:3). But in 1 Kings 16 it appears for the first time as the name of the city built by Omri on the hill he bought from Shemer, its former owner.
Centuries later the word came true. One writer notes what happened to the shared grave:
Even so, we are allowed to see this: God in His holiness may have to discipline His people for their failure and unfaithfulness. Yet He is not unrighteous to forget any work or labour of love shown toward His Name. So it comes about that three hundred and fifty years after these events, Josiah carries out the word of the Lord given through the man of God. He burns the bones of the false prophets. But he spares the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah, and of the old prophet of Bethel. Through their unfaithfulness, the people of God may come under His discipline. But through the faithfulness of God they will not share in the judgment that overtakes the world.
- Word spoken. One phrase measures the whole chapter: "the word of the LORD." Jeroboam ignored it. The old prophet let it lose its hold on him. The man of God obeyed it until one fatal turn.
- Word slighted. The old prophet caused his brother's fall. Then he buried him, and saw his own work reduced to nothing.
- Word repented. God used that ruin to bring him back and restore his soul. God will not leave Himself without a witness, and the most guilty may carry it, if he repents.
- Word widened. His dying words reach past Bethel's altar to the high places in "the cities of Samaria." Here the name marks a district, years before Omri gave it to a city.
- Word fulfilled. Three hundred and fifty years later Josiah burned the false prophets' bones, but spared both graves. God disciplines His people; He does not judge them with the world.