One hour the man of God was a man with a mission, the next a corpse by the wayside. Disobedience to God was the cause of his swift and inglorious death. The speedy penalty that overtook him was a further testimony to the king and people of Israel that obedience to the Lord’s commands is the only path of safety. In the rending of the altar, the withered arm of the king, and the swift death of the prophet who had gone contrary to the Lord’s command, the nation could have perceived the Lord’s displeasure, and His purpose to make entirely clear to Israel that the pathway of disobedience is the pathway of sorrow and death.