Lions Among You

“And 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: and they 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: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.”

2 Kings 17:24-25

Shortly after the captivity of northern Israel in 606BC, the king of Assyria brought immigrants from his country to live in Samaria. They lived in the houses, repurposed the high places, and possessed all the land that once belonged to the Israelites. They brought their culture to the promised land, and made it feel like Babylon (2 Kings 17:24). But that property was and is “A land which the LORD thy God careth for:” (Deuteronomy 11:12), and He was watching.

Affront to Christ

Most Bible readers have heard of the witness of the Lord Jesus to the woman of Samaria in John 4. There we are told “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9b), but we are left to wonder why in the immediate context, and must search the Scripture. The account in 2 Kings 17 is the only place where you can find out what happened in Samaria.

The Assyrians had conquered Israel only because God permitted them. Israel had rebelled against Jehovah, and though they repented outwardly, still, “the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God.” (2 Kings 17:9) Assyria became an instrument of punishment in the hand of God. The Lord sent prophets to warn them not to wax proud because of their victory, but to repent of their own wickedness (see Jonah).

However, emboldened by Divine assistance- which does NOT equal approval- they danced into God’s land with their idolatries, as pagan as ever.

Here Come the Lions

As God sent Assyria to punish Israel, so He sent lions to punish Assyria. The scene was horrific. Imagine a carnivorous beast whose instinctive fear of man had been overruled by dictate from their Creator. They stalked into outlying villages through the unkept tall grasses and long shadows of eventide. They surrounded unsuspecting, defenseless travellers and tore them apart. They patrolled the outskirts of the cities, the pride working together to intimidate and separate the feeble and helpless. They interrupted the screams of their prey with the bone-chilling roars of the predator.

(If that seems like fiction, you should research, “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo” by John Henry Patterson published in 1907)

The lions were terrible, but what caused the lions was even worse.

Now, let us assemble the relevance for Christians today with the reason for the lions. Then we will conclude with an effective recourse to deal with spiritual predators.

REASON: Why does God allow the lions?

According to 2 Kings 17, the Babylonians and others who came to take the place of God’s people did so carelessly. They thought that Israel’s God was defeated because His people had been judged. But the Lord God always was and always is in control of the nations, and He uses one against another to bring His words to pass, and to bring glory and attention to Himself. When any nation is not careful to examine and exalt the Bible for what God said would come to pass, they are headed for lions!

They also lived fearlessly. The root of carelessness may be ignorance, but the root of fearlessness is insolence. They disrespected what they knew of the God of Israel. The commandments were not kept, the ordinances not observed. The Book of God was not read, and the altars were not used.

They were profiting on the blessing of God, but living their own way. That is a lion-call if ever there was one.

RELEVANCE: How does this relate to Christianity?

“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.”

1 Peter 5:8

Nearly 700 years later, the Apostle Peter writes from Babylon to believers. His final warning to them shows a threatening likeness of the devil to a stalking, roaring, starving lion. The danger he poses is spiritual, but REAL, nonetheless. The Babylonians in Samaria and the believers in America face similar foes. Both do bodily harm (1 Corinthians 5:5), but one you can see coming, and the other you cannot.

Knowing that God resisteth the proud, a believer must focus on his relationship with the Lord before he attempts to fight the devil. Many people blame the devil for ‘resistance’ in their life, when it is the Lord. The source of the issue in 1 Peter, as in 2 Kings, is with the Lord; the devil is merely the instrument.

God oversees the devil, and though we cannot see him, we can avoid him by taking instruction from the all-seeing word of God, 1 Peter 5:6-7:

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

Fearful submission and a trusting care.

God demands the fear, and bears all the care. Our problems are the same as the Samaritans- we simply don’t care or fear, whereas the Lord Jesus says, fear ME, and cast your care on ME. Those two attitudes are spiritual lion deterrent.

RECOURSE: What can you do when under spiritual lion attack?

Those Babylonians in Samaria got attacked by lions. Some of them were killed.

The believers in the church get attacked by the devil. Some are destroyed, some also are killed.

Our response to these is predictable: defend against the lions. Build bigger fences. Get more weapons. Study lion behaviour. Obsess over the lions. Read books on demonology. Become experts in the cults. Argue with the devil. We focus on the symptom, but ignore the source.

Some

There are two important words, one from each of the two Scriptures we have compared. The first word is from 2 Kings: “the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.” Do you see that limitation, ‘some’?

If God had wanted to kill them all- He would not have had to use lions. And if the lions were turned loose by supernatural command without control- they would have killed them ALL.

May

But there is a second word in 1 Peter 5:8, the “lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Do you see that condition, ‘may’?

The devil would devour all if he is allowed. He can easily overpower any human, even believers (“who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Timothy 2:26). But he is muzzled because he may NOT devour everyone.

Manners

What keeps the lions away? In 2 Kings 17:26-28, the Samaritans observe this:

“Wherefore they spake 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.

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 Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.”

The people needed to know more about God than about lions. The lions were on a ‘may devour’ diet. Likewise, believers need to learn God’s ‘manners’ to avoid being one of the devil’s ‘mays’. A healthy fear of God and a hearty trust in God keep the soul safe from the adversary, and allow us to resist, stedfast in the faith. A well-ordered relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the best defense against spiritual adversaries.

---