Reflections on 2 Kings 7

2 Kings 07 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Elisha answered, "I have a message for you. The LORD promises that tomorrow here in Samaria, you will be able to buy a large sack of flour or two large sacks of barley for almost nothing."
   
2. The chief officer there with the king replied, "I don't believe it! Even if the LORD sent a rainstorm, it couldn't produce that much grain by tomorrow." "You will see it happen, but you won't eat any of the food," Elisha warned him.
   
3. About the same time, four men with leprosy were just outside the gate of Samaria. They said to each other, "Why should we sit here, waiting to die?
   
4. There's nothing to eat in the city, so we would starve if we went inside. But if we stay out here, we will die for sure. Let's sneak over to the Syrian army camp and surrender. They might kill us, but they might not."
   
5. That evening the four men got up and left for the Syrian camp. As they walked toward the camp, the Lord caused the Syrian troops to hear what sounded like the roar of a huge cavalry. The soldiers said to each other, "Listen! The king of Israel must have hired Hittite and Egyptian troops to attack us. Let's get out of here!" So they ran out of their camp that night, leaving their tents and horses and donkeys. When the four men with leprosy reached the edge of the Syrian camp, no one was there. They walked into one of the tents, where they ate and drank, before carrying off clothes, as well as silver and gold. They hid all this, then walked into another tent; they took what they wanted and hid it too.
   
6. (SEE 7:5)
   
7. (SEE 7:5)
   
8. (SEE 7:5)
   
9. They said to each other, "This isn't right. Today is a day to celebrate, and we haven't told anyone else what has happened. If we wait until morning, we will be punished. Let's go to the king's palace right now and tell the good news."
   
10. They went back to Samaria and shouted up to the guards at the gate, "We've just come from the Syrian army camp, and all the soldiers are gone! The tents are empty, and the horses and donkeys are still tied up. We didn't see or hear anybody."
    
11. The guards reported the news to the king's palace.
    
12. The king got out of bed and said to his officers, "I know what those Syrians are doing. They know we're starving, so they're hiding in the fields, hoping we will go out to look for food. When we do, they can capture us and take over our city."
    
13. One of his officers replied, "We have a few horses left--why don't we let some men take five of them and go to the Syrian camp and see what's happening? We're going to die anyway like those who have already died."
    
14. They found two chariots, and the king commanded the men to find out what had happened to the Syrian troops.
    
15. The men rode as far as the Jordan River. All along the way they saw clothes and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away as they escaped. Then they went back to the king and told him what they had seen.
    
16. At once the people went to the Syrian camp and carried off what was left. They took so much that a large sack of flour and two large sacks of barley sold for almost nothing, just as the LORD had promised.
    
17. The king of Israel had put his chief officer in charge of the gate, but he died when the people trampled him as they rushed out of the city.
    
18. Earlier, when the king was at Elisha's house, Elisha had told him that flour or barley would sell for almost nothing.
    
19. But the officer refused to believe that even the LORD could do that. So Elisha warned him that he would see it happen, but would not eat any of the food.
    
20. And that's exactly what happened--the officer was trampled to death.
    

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The narrative of the account given in chapter 7 began in 6:24. Israel was again under attack by the Arameans. This time the capitol city of Samaria was under siege and had been long enough that people were turning to cannibalism. Although the king was not a believer - at least in the God of Israel - when a woman cried out to him for help, he acknowledged that only the Lord could help. When he heard the woman's story he vowed to kill the prophet Elisha, blaming him for their plight.

The woman's story gives evidence of the cannibalism that was taking place. She and another woman had agreed to eat their babies, one of them on one day and the other on the next day. So they boiled and ate this woman's baby the first day but the other woman hid her baby the next day. This story illustrates how bad the conditions in Samaria had become under this siege, but I think it also illustrates how bad the situation was spiritually as well. What mother sacrifices the life of her child for her own survival, and do so by her own hand?

As mentioned, the king was so angry after hearing this story he vowed to kill Elisha before the day was out. His anger toward the prophet was perhaps due to Elisha's foretelling the circumstances that had occured. Thus the king saw him as responsible when it was his own apostasy that was responsible. Killing Elisha would not remedy their plight, but repentance by the king would. How many are willing to die and allow scores of others die as well, only to save their pride? Despite the king's unrepentant heart and even with his desire to kill the Lord's prophet, God had a plan to save the city. But He would do so to show His superiority to Baal to these non-believers, not because they deserved it.

As the king sent his captain to arrest Elisha, Elisha was at his house meeting with the elders of the city. No explanation is given for this meeting but we have to wonder if they had turned to Elisha, and thus God, for a solution to their situation even though the king refused to do so. God revealed to Elisha that the king's messenger was approaching and he told those gathered with him, "Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him?" (7:32) When the king arrived and both he and his captain were allowed in the house, Elisha made a prediction, telling them, "About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, six quarts of fine meal will sell for a shekel and 12 quarts of barley will sell for a shekel." (7:1) He was telling them that by the next day the siege would be over and grain would be plentiful. The captain expressed utter disbelieve at this possibility at which Elisha said that he would indeed see this with his own eyes but he would not eat of the food.

When we find ourselves in circumstances that seem to have no possible solution, we should remember this account when God provided a solution in a way no one could have imagined. It is also often at the point in which we are ready to give up that God provides His solution. In this account God's solution was merely a sound in the ears of the Aramean soldiers. This sound caused them to think, "The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us." (7:6) With this thought they panicked and fled leaving behind everything, even flinging off anything along the way that hindered their flight.

It was three outcasts rather than anyone of importance who discovered that the city was no longer under siege and food was available in the deserted Aramean camp. After eating their fill they realized they were "not doing right," by keeping this to themselves. So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers of their find. Word spread throughout the city and soon arrived at the palace. When the king was awakened and told the news, his immediate response was to think it a trick by the Arameans. They were merely hiding outside their camp, the king thought, and when he sent his troops out to investigate they would gain entry into the city. It is obvious the king had given no credence to Elisha's prediction of deliverance. He had no expectation that this could be that deliverance. It was one of the king's servants who convinced him to at least send a few men out on horses to check it out. Anyone they sent would die anyway from starvation. If they were killed by the Arameans it would only hasten their death. So the king consented.

When it had been verified that the Arameans were gone, the city gates were opened and people swarmed to the deserted camp to plunder it. It was then, scripture tells us, "that six quarts of fine meal sold for a shekel and 12 quarts of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD." (7:16) Elisha's prediction had come true and the captain who said it couldn't happen saw it, but as Elisha predicted, he did not eat of the food. He was assigned to keep charge of the city gate. When the people swarmed out of the city he was trampled to death.