Context: Israel and Syria (2 Kings 24-25, 30-31)
- According to scholars, Israel and Syria share the same ancestry, going back to Shem
- Moses calls out that Israel’s forefather (Jacob) was a Syrian
- While they were related, there was constant war between Israel and Syria
- A healed army captain, Naaman, didn’t help stop the conflict
- Syrian army couldn’t make much progress though because
- Elisha told what they were about to do – to the King of Israel
- At one point Syrian king tried to catch and kill Elisha
- Didn’t work out – so they stopped the raids
- Briefly!
- Didn’t work out – so they stopped the raids
- At one point Syrian king tried to catch and kill Elisha
- Elisha told what they were about to do – to the King of Israel
- There was another war and the city was besieged
- Potentially causing famine and heavy inflation
- To the point of cannibalism
- Jehoram, son of Ahab, King of Israel decides its Elisha’s fault
- and tries to get him killed
- Potentially causing famine and heavy inflation
- While they were related, there was constant war between Israel and Syria
What was Elisha’s Prophecy? How did Israel’s captain respond to it? (v1-2)
- Things will change in 24 hours. Famine will cease. Inflation will come down.
- Where a donkey’s head was sold for 80 silver coins
- Two gallons of fine flour would be sold for 1 silver coin?
- Where a donkey’s head was sold for 80 silver coins
- Captain thought this was impossible – not just to man
- But also to God? For him, even if God were to make windows in heaven
- Stil this is not possible
- But also to God? For him, even if God were to make windows in heaven
- Food for thought: Syrian captain (Naaman) has more faith than Israel’s captain?
What was the leper’s story and the king’s response to it? (v3-12, Proverbs 28:1)
- 4 lepers decided to surrender to Syrians in the hope of finding some food
- They would die of starvation anyway – so being killed wasn’t a concern
- Syrian army camp had no Syrians
- Horses, donkeys, silver, gold, clothing and food were still around
- Why did they leave their horses?
- Horses, donkeys, silver, gold, clothing and food were still around
- Syrians fled for their life because the Lord had caused them to hear
- Sound of chariots, horses and the noise of a great army
- King thought that this was surely a Syrian trick to get them out of the city
- King doesn’t even remember the Elisha’s prophecy from 24 hours ago
How was Elisha’s prophecy fulfilled? (v13-17)
- His servants told him that they should check it out with their last 5 horses
- Because they are all either dying or dead anyway
- So the king let them take the horses and 2 chariots to “Go and see”
- Because they are all either dying or dead anyway
- His servants found that Syrians had dropped garments and equipment in their haste!
- So the Israelites plundered the Syrian camp – ending famine and inflation
- The unbelieving captain was in charge of the gate and got trampled
- So the Israelites plundered the Syrian camp – ending famine and inflation
- Food for thought: King of Israel was willing to listen to his servants
Conclusion
- Do we trust that God can turn around even those impossible situations?
- Are we willing to listen to reasoning that aligns with God’s word?
Main Passage 2 Kings 7:1-17 – World English Bible (WEB)
7 Elisha said, “Hear Yahweh’s word. Yahweh says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah[a] of fine flour will be sold for a shekel,[b] and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” 2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”
3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let’s surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.” 5 They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, no man was there. 6 For the Lord[c] had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.” 7 Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 8 When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried things from there also, and went and hid them. 9 Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they came and called to the city gatekeepers; and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, not even a man’s voice, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”
11 He called the gatekeepers; and they told it to the king’s household within. 12 The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, “I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.’”
13 One of his servants answered, “Please let some people take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let’s send and see.” 14 Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them out to the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” 15 They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the path was full of garments and equipment which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned, and told the king. 16 The people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah[a] of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel,[b] according to Yahweh’s word. 17 The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; and the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.
Footnotes
- 7:1,7:16 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks
- 7:11.7:16 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces. In this context, it was probably a silver coin weighing that much.
- 7:6 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”
Notes / Cross References
2 Kings 6:24-25 24 After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab[a] of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
2 Kings 6:30-31 30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he was passing by on the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body. 31 Then he said, “God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”
Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
