1 Kings 13:24

24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him; and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it; the lion also stood by the carcass.

1 Kings 13:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 13:24

And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him,
&c.] 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 2 Kings 2:24 ) 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.

1 Kings 13:24 In-Context

22 but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the LORD said to thee, "Eat no bread, and drink no water," thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers.'"

23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him; and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it; the lion also stood by the carcass.

25 And behold, men passed by and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26 And when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him and slain him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke unto him."