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A Man, A Donkey, and A Lion

A man was sent by God to deliver a message to the King of Israel. He went and cried out against the king, saying he would be removed and replaced by a child and that the altar would split in half. The king had once been a follower of God, blessed by him. But in his heart he had turned away from God. He feared men more than God. He built altars to other gods, appointed his own priests, and had allowed ungodly men to occupy seats of his counsel and leadership positions. This he allowed under his leadership. The man of God on that day delivered the message from God against him.

The king had been at the house of God that day and heard the man cry out so he reached out his hand against him, to cease him, but his hand withered so he could not pull it back. Then what the man had spoken occurred before his eyes, the altar split in two. The king then asked the man to pray for favor from God, that his hand would be restored. So the man of God asked of the Lord and his hand was restored. Then the king said to the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift.

But the messenger refused saying, If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’” So he went another way and did not return by the way he came.

Now the sons of an elder prophet of God had come home telling their father this story. So the elder went after the man of God and found him resting. Then he said to him, Are you the man of God who spoke against our king? And he said, I am. So the elder asked him to come to his home. But the man of God told him he could not and why. But the elder replied, I too am a man of God as you are and the Lord spoke to me, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he had heard from God.

So the man of God went back with the elder, and ate bread and drank in his house. But as they sat at the table the word of the Lord came to the elder to speak against the man of God saying, Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.

So the man of God left on his donkey and when he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion did not eat the corpse nor attack the donkey and the donkey did not flee from the lion. Then they went and told it in the cities. When the elder heard, he said it is the man who disobeyed God, therefore the Lord delivered him to the lion.2

Even after this event the king still did not turn from his ways and again he appointed ungodly men to his counsel and leadership positions, he did whatever he wished and this thing was the sin which would destroy his house and removed it. Because of the sin of Solomon God had split up the kingdom of Israel, he had made Jeroboam king over the northern ten tribes. Jeroboam followed God for a while but he was afraid the people would leave the northern kingdom and go back to worship at the temple in Judah so he made two calves of gold and commanded the people to worship them instead.3 This was an abomination to God.

God said to Jeroboam: Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes. But you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back. 

 Therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken.4

A Man, A Donkey, and A Lion was witness to the man of God's message that it would surely come to pass. God did not remove Jeroboam as king, but his son would die and his family would eventually be wiped out, both as God had said. God would give Israel up, scattering them, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin.5

It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left,6

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