The Lord Sent Lions

1 Kings 17 outlines the scattering of Israel as the Assyrians came into their land and conquered the people. We read, “In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria…. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight” (v6, 20). The account tells of how the people of Israel had rejected the commandments of Jehovah and thus were ripe for destruction: “And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers,… And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal” (v15-16). This was the great scattering when the ten tribes were sent away and lost, and the writer summarized what happened this way: “Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day” (v23).  

            And yet, despite the fact that the Lord rejected Israel, the account of the lions in this chapter highlights how the Lord still sought to recover His people and encourage righteousness in the land. After most of Israel was removed, “The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel” (v24). He brought in people from all nations to dwell in the land where Israel had been, but there were surely still some Israelites who remained among this people who became known as the Samaritans. The Bible Dictionary states that there were “Israelites who escaped at the time of the captivity” who remained in the land and so “the population was therefore partly Israelite and partly gentile.” Even with such a small remnant of Israelites there, the Lord still sought to recover them spiritually. We read that the outsiders “possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord” (v24-25). Even though this was a group of mostly gentiles, the Lord was still concerned with their worship and devotion to Him. The account continues, “Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.” It reminds me of C.S. Lewis’s book The Horse and His Boy in which there were sightings of a lion throughout the book which caused great fear, but in the end they were told that the lions were all Aslan who had been pushing them in the direction they needed to go. Similarly, the lions which the Lord sent to the Samaritans were meant to inspire them to still worship Jehovah in the land, and it had at least some effect to move the people in that direction. We read that the people there, understandably concerned about the dangerous animals, spoke “to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land” (v26). So they connected the threat of the lions to the Lord and realized that they needed to worship Him there which the kind allowed: “Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord” (v27-28). So an Israelite priest was sent back to Samaria so that he could teach the people of the Lord and His ways. Ultimately they didn’t become a righteous people, but they at least were able to keep a knowledge of the Lord that was passed down for generations even until the time of the Savior when He visited the Samaritans and the woman at the well. Even though the Lord scattered the Israelites, He still sought to watch over those who remained and did not give up on His people. And of course, we know that even today He still seeks to recover Israel, scattered thousands of years ago, and bring them to a knowledge of the Lord their God and His covenants. He will not give up on His people, even if He must send us lions to motivate us in the direction we need to go.