II Kings 17:25 says, “And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.”
The Colville area of Washington State is heavily infested with deer. There is a saying; “There are only two kinds of people in Colville; those that have hit a deer, or those that are going to hit a deer.” I must admit, I finally hit a deer. A natural enemy of the deer is the cougar, or mountain lion. I actually saw a cougar chase a deer. I talked to some deer hunters that hunted every year next to our property. They told of a time when they had shot a deer, and before they could get to it to cut its throat, a cougar was already there eating it. My wife, Donna, watched a cougar running alongside her car only a couple of feet from the window. Cougars generally stay away from people, though not always.
There may be some debate about the kind of lions mentioned in II Kings 17:25. It is clear that they were man-eaters. It is also clear that they were sent by the Lord to kill men. If I were God, I would have sent cougars (but of course that was up to Him).
I have two questions: Why did God send them, and will He send them again?
This happened in the days when Israel was being led into 70 years of captivity in Babylon for their disobedience to God. We live in a nation that is dangerously close to judgment. People from other nations are pouring in across our southern border. Though Israel is the nation that takes center stage in the last days (not the USA), I think there is a lesson for us when it comes to the Lord’s lions. These lions slew Babylonians that had been placed in Samaria or Israel. The Israelites had already been removed to Babylon. The Babylonian king sent men to occupy the land they were taken from. The Lord did not remove Israel so the Babylonians could enjoy their land. Therefore, He sent the lions.Â
Will God do something similar in our land today? He will if He wants to. He may take out the whole nation with nuclear warfare.
Another question is what was done to stop the lions? The Babylonians called out to their king. They realized they were offending the God of the land. They didn’t know how to please the God of the land. As a result, the king of Assyria sent an Israeli priest back to Samaria to teach them about the God of the land. If he had sent Isaiah, the truth about God would have been known. The priest he sent came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord (verse 28). He didn’t know how to fear the Lord himself.
People who don’t know God can hardly help others to know God. The blind cannot lead the blind. As a result, they had a false fear of the Lord. In this false fear, they made themselves priests of the lowest of the people. What a shame to the priesthood. These priests made sacrifices in the high places. As a result, “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence” (verse 33).
Thank you, God, for coming as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, not to send peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). You are true love. Love tells the truth. Thank you, God, for your Lions! In the end, the lion will lie down with the lamb.
