And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD 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.
A death that was a testimony
Commentators note that God arranged the scene at the roadside. It was no accident.
William KellyWhat 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.
W. W. FeredayThe 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!
Why a faithful man fell
He had stood up to a king's threats and refused a king's rewards. What broke him came dressed as something good.
Hamilton SmithHe 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.
Samuel RidoutIt 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 liar becomes the mouthpiece
The man who had lied him off course now speaks the verdict. Writers see God's hand in that arrangement, cutting both ways.
Hamilton SmithGod 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.
Discipline, not condemnation
Commentators separate what God did to his body from where his spirit went.
William KellyIt 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.
J. G. BellettThe 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.
The question the lion asks us
One writer turns the scene into a question for believers today.
H. L. RossierOutright 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?
Summary
- 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.