2 Kings chapter 6. Last week we considered the first portion of the chapter, specifically God's deliverance through the prophet Elisha of that one prophet's axe head that fell into the river Jordan. God did minister to a particular need, a rather mundane need in terms of the world and military and strategies and that sort of thing, God nevertheless comes and blesses this one servant. And then as well, the Syrians had come to Israel in raiding bands and wanted to try and get the best of Israel.
That through the prophet Elisha, God struck them with blindness, led them right into the nation's capital, the northern kingdom's capital of Samaria, and then they were captured essentially, and then they were let go. Now in chapter 6 at verse 24, we'll pick up reading, we see that Syria comes back to Israel, back to Samaria specifically. And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria, and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a cab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.
Then as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Help my lord, O king! And he said, If the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress? Then the king said to her, What is troubling you?
And she answered, This woman said to me, Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give your son that we may eat him. But she has hidden her son.
Now it happened when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes, and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. Then he said, God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, remains on him today. But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man ahead of him.
But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? And while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger coming down to him.
And then the king said, Surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? Then Elisha said, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seas of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.
So an officer, on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of God and said, Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, how could this thing be? And he said, In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, we will enter the city, the famine is in the city, and we shall die there.
And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall only die.
And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise, no one was there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army. So they said to one another, look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.
Therefore, they arose and fled at twilight and left the camp intact, their tents, their horses and their donkeys, and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and carried from it silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. And they came back and entered another tent and carried some from there also and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, we are not doing right.
This day is a day of good news and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household. So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them saying, we went to the Syrian camp and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound, only horses and donkeys tied and the tents intact.
And the gatekeepers called out and they told it to the king's household inside. So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, let me now tell 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 catch them alive and get into the city.
And one of his servants answered and said, Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it, or indeed I say that they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed. So let us send them and see. Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, Go and see.
And they went after them to the Jordan, and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. And the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a sea of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seas of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened, just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, To see as a barley for a shekel, and to see a fine flower for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria. Then that officer had answered the man of God and said, ìNow look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?î And he said, ìIn fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.î And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.
Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 6:24–7:20
Amen. Well, as we look at this particular chapter,
Introduction
we see the brutality, not only of war, but the brutality of rebelling against God Almighty. We will see as we move through the chapter that that's one of the primary emphases. Israel is reaping what they had sown. God had promised in the The books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, that if the nation was faithful to Him, they were consistent in their obligations with reference to the covenant, they would be blessed in the land.
But if they go into the land, they take on the gods of the land, they turn away from Yahweh of Israel, then they would reap the consequences for that unfaithfulness. and this chapter highlights, or this section highlights that in spades. Well,
The Siege of Samaria
it breaks down into two main sections. First, the siege of Samaria in chapter 6, verses 24 to 33, and then the deliverance of Samaria in chapter 7, verses 1 to 20. So let's look first at the siege of Samaria.
Syria's Full-Scale Assault
We ought to notice what may appear to be a bit of an inconsistency between verses 23 and 24. Notice, so the bands, in verse 23, of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel. And then in verse 24, it happened after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. Now, up until this particular time, there had been sort of an uneasy peace between these two nations.
But already in chapter 5, Syria sends bands of raiders, not the entirety of their army, for a full incursion into the land but bands of raiders under the command of the king of Syria. So the uneasy relationship gives way to sporadic bands of raiders to full-fledged war here initiated by Syria to accomplish what Jehoram had suspected back in chapter 5 at verse 7. He says there, therefore please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. So again, there was a truce, there was a peace, but it was uneasy, it was tenuous at best, and Jehoram always suspected that the king of Syria was trying to pick a fight with him.
So these bands of raiders come in chapters 5 and 6, and at the end of chapter 6 we have a full-on assault. Proven describes it this way on the statement in 623. Syrians no longer venture into Israel's territories, not even in large groups sent by the king himself. When they come again, it will be in the safety of overwhelming numbers.
So it's not a band of raiders, but rather it's a full-scale assault upon the nation of Israel by the Syrians. And then note specifically the strategy that they employ. They basically besiege the city. They secure the city so that persons cannot escape and so that supplies cannot make their way in.
As Matthew Henry says, the Syrians designed not to storm the city, but to starve it. We see that they were very successful in this particular process.
Effects of the Siege
Now note the effects of the siege in verses 25 to 29. There are famine conditions in verse 25. There was a great famine in Samaria and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver. Now one shekel was about a month's wages.
So you're spending 80 shekels of silver for a donkey's head and one-fourth of a cab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. So the text is telling us that there was not food in the city. The text is telling us that the Syrians were being successful. The text is telling us that the Syrians, instead of storming it, were in fact starving the city.
Davis says, who knows how many calories in a donkey's head, but it was probably not nutritious and it was certainly not kosher. So they are reduced to eating an unclean food. As he goes on to explain, the donkey has a single, not split hoof, and is not a ruminant. Hence its meat is unclean for Israel.
So it's showing the degree or the length of the famine that has affected them. Now some try to explain that the dove droppings here is probably something like a carob pod. But Robert Alter makes this observation. He says, some scholars understand the term for pigeon droppings as a reference to carob pods, but that dilutes the hyperbolic power of the statement that even animal filth was consumed by the starving people and that at a stiff price.
Again, there's a situation where they don't have Superstore, they don't have Walmart, they don't have the internet, they can't call and have people deliver food, so they're having to spend exorbitant amount of money on the sorts of things that we would not normally eat. That is the effect of faithlessness before the living and the true gods. We've got famine conditions, but notice the text goes on to indicate the desperate conditions affecting the people. This situation involving two women with two sons.
Now it's certainly reminiscent of that instance where Solomon deals with the prostitutes in 1 Kings chapter 3. But we see that Israel has come a long way and not in a good sense. Solomon was able to take those two prostitutes and the situation that faced them and render a verdict that was indeed just and upright. This king, Jehoram, is unable to speak to this particular situation.
Proven says we have traveled far in Israel's story, however, from the glorious era when a wise king could ensure justice. Now note the woman's particular problem. Verse 26, she says, Help my lord, O king. And he said, if the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you?
I don't think he's saying it in a legitimate way or in a genuine way or in a sort of a way that would console this particular woman. It's more ironic than anything because he goes on to say, from the threshing floor or from the wine press. The idea being that neither the threshing floor or the wine press is able to produce the sorts of food that persons need in this famine. The city has been sealed off.
The Syrians are trying to starve us. The king recognizes this and understands this, and he cannot help this particular woman. So he asks her, what is troubling you? And she gives the response, this woman said to me, give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.
So we boiled my son and ate him, and I said to her on the next day, give your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son. Now, unfortunately, this is a terrible effect of a famine situation. It's not the only time that this would happen in Israel's history. In fact, if you turn to the book of Lamentations, The Book of Lamentations records Jeremiah's lament over the destruction of Jerusalem in the 6th century B.C.
Now, what we are studying in terms of Syria and Israel happens in the 9th century B.C. So, this is something that was indeed the case that would indeed affect the people of Israel for their unfaithfulness to God Almighty. Notice in Lamentations chapter 2, specifically at verse 20. Jeremiah is the lamenter.
Jeremiah is the weeper. Jeremiah is the one that is fleshing out or writing out or pouring out his heart in terms of what has taken place when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians had come and destroyed the southern kingdom. Notice in 2.20, See, O LORD, and consider, to whom have you done this? Should the women eat their offspring, the children they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? And then again in Lamentations chapter 4. Lamentations chapter 4 at verse 10, the hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children. They became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Notice in Ezekiel chapter 5, and I'm not pointing this out just so you'll be disgusted or sickened or say, wow, I never thought such things were in the Bible. I'll never read it again. This is the consequences and this is the effects of sin. I think far too often we do not appreciate that reality.
Far too often we sanitize sin. Far too often we treat it as if it's a domesticated pet. Far too often we look at it as something that really doesn't bring the kinds of consequences that, say, Paul the Apostle tells us that it does. The wages of sin is death.
We don't make that connection. And so it's good for us to confront sin and see it as it is expressed in the Bible. And this is a result, again, not of Elisha the prophet, not of the Lord God in terms of him being some sadistic being that pours out these sorts of things upon his people, but rather it is the effect of Jehoram, the king of Israel, owing largely to Jezebel and Ahab before him, or owing largely to Jeroboam the son of Nebat before them, that plunge the nation into depravity. The result or consequence of such things is war, it is famine, and it is such the case that when people are confronted with such things, they'll eat their own children.
Notice in Ezekiel 5.10, Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds. So we see those Old Testament examples, but it also occurred in the A.D. situation, in A.D. 70. I think I shared this going through the Olivet Discourse.
When Jerusalem was under siege by the Roman armies, the same sort of thing took place. There was famine. There were persons that ate their children. In fact, Josephus, in his Wars of the Jews, indicates or highlights in a particular section, an extended section, a certain Mary who cooked and ate her own son in the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.
So this is a consequence of war, a consequence of famine, something that was facing these persons in this siege of Samaria. It shows the desperate situation that they were facing. It shows the desperate conditions that they were facing as a result of their sin and rebellion against God. So we understand the famine, the desperation, but we need to see that this is indeed covenantal in nature.
Covenantal Context of the Famine
Turn back to Leviticus chapter 26. Those of you who have been with us in our study of the former prophets, which is Joshua, the second Kings, will know that many times I've referred to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. In a sense, those chapters function as a blueprint for Israel's history. They're programmatic.
You do what you're supposed to do, blessings will come upon you. You disobey and rebel against God and go whoring away from God, then curses will come upon you. It is a listing of the covenant blessings for obedience and the covenant cursings for disobedience. Notice in Leviticus 26, specifically at verse 27.
And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters." Notice in Deuteronomy 28, same emphasis there, same idea, same promise concerning the curse of God for covenantal infidelity. Notice in Deuteronomy 28, 52.
They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you in the siege, and desperate straits in which your enemies shall distress you. The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
The tender and delicate woman among you who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity will refuse to the husband of her bosom and to her son and her daughter her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears. For she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. Meredith Klein says, but the inhumanity of the enemy warrior pales beside the bestiality of even the tenderest Israelite mother turned cannibalistic in the horror of the siege. You see, that's what is happening in this particular section.
And again, I know the temptation is there for us to recoil in horror and say, I cannot believe that such things are recorded in the Bible. and forget the reality that it was the sin of Israel, the sin of the kings, the sin of those who continued to reject the living and the true God, who gave them over to such things that was the reason for this particular wretchedness. Now notice, the conditions facing Israel had been foretold by God. And then notice that
Futility of Human Government
the conditions facing Israel demonstrate the futility of government aid at such times. You see, when it comes to a situation like this, it is only supernatural help. that will ultimately bring aid, right? The government can't help you when it gets to this position. Jehoram is useless.
Jehoram has no ability here whatsoever. He says as much, if the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you?
The King's Response and Threat
Now notice Jehoram or the king's response in verses 30 to 33. He has distress, verse 30. And naturally so. I don't think any king, as bad as he may be, is going to look upon such a situation and smile or laugh or joke.
He is distressed over the situation. He tore his clothes, and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. Notice the king's indignation. He's upset, he's angry, but it's not at his own sin.
It's not at the fact that Ahab and Jezebel taught him from his youth to be an idolater. It's not at Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. It's not at the nation around him that continues to plunge themselves headlong into sin. It's at the prophet.
He's upset with Elisha, probably thinking that Syria wants to get rid of Elisha, or perhaps that Elisha is able to stop this siege, but he is not doing so. Because in the previous section in the chapter, Elisha is the instrument by which the Syrian armies are blinded, not totally, but confused, be clouded, and they are led into Samaria and they are captured. So probably the king is wondering, why is Elisha allowing this to continue? Why is Elisha allowing such things to happen?
And he makes this threat in verse 31. He said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, remains on him today. It's a terrible thing, isn't it? The guy has his kingdom collapsing around him, and he's cutting himself off from the primary aid that God has indeed provided.
The commentator Paul House says, he is now acting toward Elisha the way Ahab acted toward Elijah. He considers his chief asset a liability, his best friend an enemy, and swears to have the prophet killed. It makes absolutely positively no sense whatsoever. Matthew Poole says this wretched and partial prince overlooks his own great and various sins, and amongst others, his obstinate cleaving to the idolatry of the calves." Remember when we meet Jehoram, he's not as bad as Ahab and Jezebel, but he hasn't given up calf worship.
He still continues to worship those calves that were instituted by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. So back to Matthew Pool. This wretched and partial prince overlooks his own great and various sins, and amongst others, his obstinate cleaving to the idolatry of the calves, the whoredoms and witchcrafts of his mother Jezebel, and the wickedness of his people, which was the true and proper cause of this and all their calamities. And he lays the blame of all upon Elisha." You see, when all else fails, blame the prophet.
When all else fails, blame the prophet's God. You see, he is going to do that very thing in just a moment. Now, note his intention in verses 32 and 33. The prophet knew the king's intention.
Elisha knew what was happening. He's sitting in his house. The elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders.
Now, messenger is a very nice translation. It should be assassin. I mean, it really is messenger in terms of the Hebrew, the way it should be translated, but he's an assassin. He is there to behead the prophet Elisha, and Elisha knows that.
The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger or assassin came to him, he said to the elders, do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? There's that prophet Elisha who doesn't fear nor flatter the face of any man. He's not going to kowtow with reference to the king. He's not going to say, oh king, I respect you greatly.
No, you're the son of a murderer and you are not turning to repentance, but rather you are turning to further acts of murder. Now there might be a hint in verse 30 that Jehoram had been pleaded with by the prophet Elisha to repent. Notice what he's wearing. He's wearing sackcloth, which is an evidence or a description of someone that is in repentance.
Now we notice from what King Jehoram is doing here, this isn't genuine repentance. This isn't the real deal. Turning to murder instead of repentance is not repentance. It is further acts of atrocity and sinfulness and wickedness.
Notice verse 32. Look when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? So Elisha tells the elders what is happening.
The king has sent an assassin to take off my head. I want you to block him. I want you to keep him out of here, because I don't want him to kill me. And then in verse 33, while he was still talking with him, there was the messenger coming down to him, and then the king said...
I don't think the king is with him at this particular time. The king said it through the messenger. The king said it through his servant. And here's what the king says.
He goes from blaming Elisha to now blaming Yahweh. Surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? Again, I think the emphasis here is that Elisha did tell him to repent.
The sackcloth was an external sign or a signal or a symbol that he was supposedly repenting. But his attitude did not match the sackcloth. The heart did not conform to the exterior. And this gives evidence to this.
Surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?" In other words, Elisha, I've heeded your instruction, I've put on the sackcloth, I've done my bit, and yet God hasn't delivered. Why should I wait any longer? Off with your head, Elisha.
I am tired of dealing with you, and I'm tired of dealing with the God who sent this calamity upon us. That's probably indicative of his heart.
The Deliverance of Samaria
Now the fact that chapter 7 is in the Bible, and the fact that there is a deliverance from this siege in Samaria, is the proof positive that God is indeed a gracious God. That God is indeed a long-suffering God. That Jehoram should receive a stay of execution. that Jehoram should be spared from this sort of a just judgment from God is proof positive of Yahweh's long-suffering, of His kindness, of His mercy. So that is the siege of Samaria.
Let's look at the deliverance of Samaria in chapter 7.
Elisha's Promise and Unbelief
Notice the promise in verses 1 and 2. Then Elisha said, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seas of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. You see what he's saying?
Not necessarily underscoring the good deal that there's going to be now on fine flour and barley, but there's going to be fine flour and barley. You're no longer going to have to scrape out the stuff inside of a donkey's head or eat dove droppings in order to get some sustenance that you had to pay a great deal of money for. Notice the immediacy of it. Tomorrow about this time a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a shackle and two seas of barley for a shackle at the gate of Samaria.
Again, the long-suffering of God. The king threatens to cut off Elisha's head, and Elisha prophesies that everything's going to be reversed by tomorrow about this time. Everything's going to be changed back to quasi-normal tomorrow at this time. And so this officer of the king doubts this promise.
It says in verse 2, so an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Lord, look, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? I think the language is reminiscent of Genesis 7-11 and Genesis 8-2, when God opened the windows of heaven, as it were, and sent forth rain to flood and destroy the world. So the man is essentially saying, if the windows of heaven were to open up today, there's no way we'd have the supplies of barley and the supplies of fine flour that you've just prophesied that we would have. It just can't happen, Elisha.
The math just doesn't add up. It is going to take time for these crops to come into bloom. It's going to take time for trade to be restored in Samaria. Now, notice what Elisha says.
He confirms the promise and he adds to it a dimension that is a threatened judgment upon this officer. And he said, in fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Proven says, what is possible for God? Now, this is a real practical application in the passage.
I realize that. been going over the siege of Samaria and horrifying everybody at the thought of cannibalism. But just stop and see. This is the same guy that you're going to see in chapter 7, 16 to 20. He's the guy that's guarding the gate or watching the gate when trade is restored in Samaria.
And what happens? He gets trampled. He sees it, but he doesn't eat it. What's the point?
Unbelief was his undoing. You know what's primary in this chapter, or one of the primary emphases, is the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord, according to the Word of the Lord. In other words, you need to believe the Word of the Lord, no matter how unbelievable it may appear.
This is the kind of faith that Abraham demonstrates, according to the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 4, who, contrary to hope, in hope believed. You see, that's what faith is. Faith takes the promises of God and receives them and embraces them. Faith doesn't hear the promises of God and say, well, there's no way that could ever happen.
Faith takes the promises of God and says, well, if God has said that He grants grace to His people so that they can indeed mortify the deeds of the body, well, I'm going to walk by faith in that promise. I'm not going to say things like, well, I just can't fight this sin. I can't tame my tongue. I can't guard my eyes.
I can't stop lusting. I can't stop taking this drug, or I can't stop drinking this alcohol. That is not believing the promises of God. Romans 8.13 is very clear.
If by the Spirit you do mortify the deeds of the body, you will live. Isn't that what God says? You're no longer... you're not under law, but you're under grace. Therefore, sin shall have no dominion over you.
Do we believe that promise or do we whine and cry and snivel and say, well, I just can't. Well, God has said you can. Do you believe Him or not? You're going to walk by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself up for you?
Or are you going to whine and snivel and cry and be like this officer and say, look, even if the heavens opened up and rain flooded the earth, there's no way we'd have that fine flour and barley for the people in Samaria by tomorrow. He doesn't believe God. Proven says, what is possible for God cannot be measured in terms of what is conceivable to mortals. The officer will see the miracle happen, but he himself will not eat.
Salvation for the people will involve judgment for this one man. For to mock the prophetic word is to mock Yahweh. That's the point. He's mocking God.
God, in His mercy and in His kindness, instead of completely obliterating Samaria, allowing the Syrians to run roughshod over the city, and multiplying the number of mothers that would eat their own children, God raises up the Prophet, and the Prophet promises, by tomorrow, these things are going to end. And what happens? The Messenger says, well, this can't ever happen. And we surmise that he's telling the king, and the king expresses that same sentiment with reference to this whole thing.
We'll see that in verse 12. He doesn't believe the promises of God, the king himself.
The Unlikely Instruments of Deliverance
Now notice the instruments of deliverance. Remember last week, I said it on Wednesday night, I think I said it on Sunday, the Bible's exciting. How does God deliver? Through the most unlikely means you and I would ever imagine.
He doesn't rain guns and artillery and tanks and helicopters out of heaven so that the people in Israel and Samaria will be better fortified to beat the Syrians. He's got four lepers that serve as his instrument. You talk about exciting, you talk about perplexing in the right way, God does in fact move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. Notice in chapter 7 at verse 3.
Now, there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, kind of an interesting sort of flow in the context. We've got this siege in Samaria, we've got cannibalistic mothers, we've got a king who wants to de-head or behead the prophet Elisha. We've got the prophet Elisha saying, everything is going to change by tomorrow. We've got this officer, this messenger of the king saying, there's absolutely no way this is going to happen.
And Elisha says, not only is it going to happen, you're going to see it, and you're not going to eat of it. And now, by the way, there were these four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, why are we sitting here until we die? If we say we will enter the city, the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also.
Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall only die. And what they say is essentially this. We've got nothing to lose.
If we stay here, we're going to die. We go into the city, we're going to die. We go to the Syrians, if they kill us, we're going to die. But, who knows, they might throw us a loaf of bread.
It's just God, isn't it? You wouldn't expect this. You wouldn't expect deliverance from the Syrian siege of Samaria to come through for leprous men. You see, it is inconceivable to us the way that God works, but the way that God works ought to elicit from us praise and worship and adoration, because it's truly amazing the way that He displays Himself.
House makes the observation, ironically, just as the once leprous Naaman led Syria to many victories over Israel, so now these lepers will lead Israel's looting of Syria's army. So notice their success. They go to the camp of the Syrians and what do they find? They find all the stuff of the Syrians, but no Syrians.
So what do they do? Now they start to meander about and eat and drink and load up. What would you do if you were a leprous man in this scenario and you had been starving and you see all of this spoil and all of this booty, all of this loot, and not a Syrian soldier around? I mean, look at what we read there specifically.
In verse 8, when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and carried from it silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried some from there also and went and hid it. It's kind of like the kid who comes home and his mother's been baking all day and she's gone. She went to the store and he sees one tray of goodies after another tray of goodies after another tray of goodies and he bounces from one to another and he's eating as he goes.
That's what these leprous men are doing. They go to the camp, all the stuff is there, but there's not a Syrian in the midst. So they help themselves. Now, verse 9, they get this pang of conscience.
They say, wait a minute. We've been greatly blessed today, but we've remained silent. Unless some judgment or punishment come upon us, we really should tell somebody about this. We should really send word to the king in order to inform him of what's happened with reference to the Syrian camp.
So we see, with reference to the instruments of deliverance, we see these four lepers. They reckon they will be punished if they keep the good news to themselves, so they send word to the king. Now, considering this instruments of deliverance, we not only have the four lepers of verses 3 and 4 and 7 to 11, but we have this servant of the king in verses 12 to 15. So when the word gets to the king's household, what's the king's response?
He doesn't believe what the messenger has told him about what Elisha has told him. He does not believe that tomorrow at this time there will be fine flour and barley traded again in Samaria. He does not believe this. He thinks that the empty camp, with reference to the Syrians, is a ruse by the Syrians to lay in wait and to ambush the Israelites.
They know we're starving. They know that we're going to go to the camp. We're going to go and try to find some foodstuffs. And when we do so, they're going to seize upon us and kill us.
That's the king's complaint in verse 12. He's operating again with unbelief. He has not believed the testimony of the prophet Elisha. that trade will be restored on the morrow. He says, let me now tell you, verse 12, 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 catch them alive and get into the city. Now the servant, and God has blessed servants in the book of 2 Kings. More often than not, it's unnamed servants that speak wisdom in the presence of the kings. It was the unnamed servant who said, Elisha can help us with reference to the situation that we're facing with this Moabite rebellion.
It is unnamed servants that come up with wisdom. So the instruments of deliverance in terms of the siege of Samaria comes to the four leprous men and this servant, this wise servant of the king. The king is convinced that this is a strategy to destroy Israel. The servant essentially says something like the lepers before him.
What have we got to lose? King, why wouldn't we scout this out? Why wouldn't we send men with the five remaining horses? You know why there's only five remaining horses in Samaria?
Because all the other horses have been dead and eaten. There's only five left because they haven't been shish kebabed up to this point. You see, before you eat the donkey's head or the pigeon droppings, you're probably going to eat some tasty horse meat. Stuff that we wouldn't normally eat in our day-to-day lives probably looks yummy and inviting after Syria has besieged your city and you are dying of starvation.
So the servant says, take some men, take the five remaining horses and scout it out. Check it out. We've got nothing to lose. We're going to die anyway.
If the Syrians are in their camp, we're going to die in the famine. If the Syrians are in their camp, we're going to die quicker. If the Syrians are waiting for us so that we go to their camp and they ambush us, we're going to die. It's a die-die situation.
We might as well investigate what these leprous men have said and go check it out for ourselves. So God's instruments are most unlikely for leprous men and a servant to the king. But
Providence Behind the Deliverance
underscoring all of this instrumentality is the providence of God. You see, the whole account hinges upon God's supernatural power, showing a miraculous display of confusing the Syrian armies. I skipped specifically verses five, six, and seven. Notice in verse five, they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians.
And when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, To their surprise, no one was there. Note the language of verse six. Four, the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army. So they said to one another, look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.
Therefore, they arose and fled at twilight and left the camp intact. their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, and they fled for their lives." So the unlikely instruments of the four leprous men and the servant, it's all hinged upon the providence of God in confounding the enemies of Israel, confounding these Syrians. Remember in the previous section in chapter 6, When the Syrians come, Elisha's servant freaks out. Elisha's servant is just utterly perplexed, and Elisha prays for him that he'll know the stability and comfort of the Lord, and then he shows him, or he asks for God to show him a vision, and the prophet's servant sees this vision of the armies of the Lord God Almighty. So in the previous part of chapter 6, the unseen armies is the thing that stabilizes the servant of the prophet.
Here in this portion in chapter 7, it's these unseen armies that God uses to terrorize the Syrians, so they leave their stuff and they get out of Dodge. So the unlikely instruments coupled with God's powerful providence and his sovereign ability is what is used by him for his glory. Proven says, supernaturally deceived into thinking that they are faced with a mercenary army, the Syrians flee from the field, abandoning their possessions where they lie. The lepers simply walk into their camp as unwitting victors.
See, God prepared the way for these unlikely instruments. God prepared the way for these lepers. God prepared the way so that this servant would say, hey, why don't we give it a shot and test the veracity of these lepers' report? Matthew Henry makes this observation.
He says, the wicked flee when no one pursues. Isn't that the Proverbs 28 one? Righteous or bold as a lion, but the wicked flee when no one pursues. That's what's happened here with the Syrians.
They leave their stuff. And when they give chase, or when the servants' words are heeded, and they take these horses, most likely sending the horses in front of them, them behind, perhaps with ropes, so they can survey and recon the area, they keep seeing Syrian stuff all along the way. It wasn't a strategic departure. It was a run-and-hide departure.
So they know of a truth that the Syrians have departed. But back to Matthew Henry, makes this observation, the wicked flee when none pursues. God can, when he pleases, dispirit the boldest and most brave and make the stoutest heart to tremble. Those that will not fear God, he can make to fear at the shaking of a leaf.
Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that glorious? That's absolutely spot on. God sends terror into the hearts of the Syrians so that these four leprous men wander in, eat their fill, and then say, wait a minute, we should probably tell the king about this.
And then the king, of course, supposes that it's an ambush by Syria, verse 12, and the servant says, wait, we have nothing to lose. Let's take the five remaining horses, let's recon the situation, and let's go get it. And that's precisely what happens, and
Fulfillment of the Prophetic Word
the chapter ends with the fulfillment of God's word in verses 16 to 20. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a sea of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seas of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. So chapter 7, verse 1 is fulfilled.
Now that just leaves chapter 7 verse 2. Is that going to be fulfilled? Verse 17. Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate.
But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king. You see the emphasis? You see what the prophet wants us to know or what the author wants us to know throughout 1 and 2 Kings, throughout 1 and 2 Samuel, throughout Joshua, throughout Judges, throughout all of the books of the Bible?
It's the word of the Lord that's primary. And then in verse 18, it happened just as the man of God who had spoken to the king saying, two seals of barley for a shekel, a seal of fine flour for a shekel shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria. Then that officer had answered the man of God and said, now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be? And he had said, in fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.
And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died." Davis says these verses, 16, 17, and 18, hammer home the veracity of Yahweh's word through the prophet. Three times we are told. The new crisis came about according to the word of Yahweh. Verse 16.
The officer died as the man of God had spoken. Verse 17. So it came about according to the word of the man of God. Verse 18.
True, that word had contradicted all appearances and stood opposed to the most likely human projections. But it would prove true because Yahweh had spoken. See, that's one of the main emphases of this chapter. Yes, it displays the sovereignty of God, the power of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, delivering His people from the hand of the Syrians, but the author wants us to listen to the Word of God.
He wants us to take heed to the Word of God. He wants us to take the promises of God as we receive them.
Application
Well, in conclusion, I think just that brief survey concerning the desperate conditions show us the consequences of covenantal infidelity. The curses of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are indeed visited upon an idolatrous nation. They were supposed to go into the land, they were to dispossess the land of the Canaanites and they were to make this holy community, and they were to mediate the blessings of Yahweh to the peoples around them. That was the expressed purpose in Deuteronomy chapter 4.
They were to be a city set on a hill. They were to radiate the blessings of God to the peoples around them. So they were to go into the land, dispossess the land of the Canaanites, but rather they went into the land and they became the Canaanites. They took on the Canaanite culture, they took on the Canaanite characteristics, they took on the Canaanite deities, they abandoned Yahweh, and therefore God brought judgment upon them.
You can never say, well, you know, it's just unfair that God sent Israel into the land of Canaan to conquer them and to dispossess the land of the Canaanites. No, it's just. It's righteous. Because when Israel acts like Canaanites, God dispossesses them from the land.
It's not capriciousness. It's not arbitrary. It is justice according to the moral government that God has instituted in his world. Secondly, we ought to appreciate, in a negative way I guess, the folly of the king of Israel.
The king is impatient with the prophetic word of Elisha, supposing that Elisha did tell him to repent. Verse 30 again, the sackcloth that he's wearing in chapter 6 does seem to indicate that Elisha probably had some dealings with him and said the way to navigate through this present crisis is not to continue in your sin. It's not to continue to perpetuate idolatry. It's not to continue to perpetuate evil and wickedness.
So we see that he is impatient with the prophetic word. The king resorts to blaming Elisha. I mean, verse 31 is completely unwarranted. There's no reason whatsoever the king of Israel should have blamed Elisha, the son of Shaphat, and threatened to take his head off.
Certainly, the king demonstrates his folly in blaming God, or essentially saying, I'm not going to wait for Yahweh any further. This calamity has come from Him. I'm not going to submit to Him. I'm not going to repent toward Him.
I'm not going to deal favorably with His people or with His prophet. I'm going to continue in my wickedness. And the king obviously refuses to believe the prophetic word in chapter 7, verse 12. Again, contrary to hope, in hope Abraham believed.
Brethren, at times we're given instructions in scripture that seem to be a bit difficult, but if we are faithful, if we are believing, we ought to take those things and appropriate them by faith. Now, having looked at the folly of the King of Israel, I want to do a sub-point here on the folly of trusting in the King of Israel, or the Prime Minister of Canada, or the President of the United States. Now, I'm not suggesting that we are not civic-minded people. We ought to pray for our governing authorities, we ought to vote responsibly, we ought to be good citizens.
Any body politic should profit and prosper as a result of the Christian population. Christians ought to exercise a good influence in their societies by being responsible people, by being persons that are aware, that are prayerful, and are those who indeed seek the peace of the city where they live. That's one of the the lessons to the exiles in Jeremiah 29 11. However, in North America there seems to be this government will deliver us from all evil mentality.
The government has stepped in and tries to cater to people from the cradle to the grave and the people like it so. The people wanted so. In fact, very often our first recourse is, what will the government do for me? How will the government deal with this situation?
How will the government fix this? Davis makes the observation. He says, surely the major impression we receive from this section, the chapter, or chapter six, where it shows the severity of the conditions in Israel at the time, and the woman crying out to the king for help and aid. The king can't help.
The king can't do anything. Davis says, surely the major impression we receive from this section is that of political helplessness. As James Mead says, this narrative makes an argument about the ineffectiveness of royal power in a situation that only Yahweh can reverse. Again, it's not saying we never receive any help from the government, we cut up our child tax benefit checks every month and burn them.
I'm not saying that. But brethren, our first recourse always ought to be to Yahweh, isn't it? Why is it, what will Trudeau do for me? Lord God, please help me, deliver us.
Davis goes on to say, the government simply can't find a solution. Certainly it's obvious here in the siege of Samaria. Thankfully, under God, we haven't faced such a situation. Chilliwack hasn't been besieged.
We haven't been hedged in by, you know, upset Abbotsfordians. who are stopping the water supply and stopping the food supply. We're not eating donkey head for dinner and pigeon droppings for lunch. Praise God that hasn't happened. Notice he goes on to say, and yet aren't many of us in the West sucked into thinking that our governments are somehow a big chunk of our hope?
There is no solid hope in politics. Again, I know Davis well enough to say he would not say, don't vote, don't pray for your government, don't be a good citizen. He's not saying that. But he's dealing with the mindset that is so easily imbibed in North America.
It's the handout. Give us, help us, free us, deliver us. Brethren, if we're looking to Trudeau to do that instead of God Almighty, we're always going to be frustrated people. Just like this woman who was frustrated because they ate her child one day and they weren't going to be able to eat the other child the next day.
She holds out her hand to the king. What does he say? I got nothing for you. The threshing floor is dry.
The wine press is dry. I can't help you. There is no hope in politics. We must beware of the subtle idolatry that whispers, the government must cope with this.
The text implies that governments don't cope very well. If a government ensures a degree of justice and civil order, and if graft and dishonesty are not totally rampant in it, that is probably as much as we can rightly expect. That's a pretty good observation. We must drop anchor in Psalm 146, 3-6.
And just to remind you, that says, "...do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth, and that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps truth forever." And again, I understand God at times sends blessing even through civil government. So please understand the qualifications that I'm administering.
I am not saying don't ever receive anything from the government. God may very well be funneling blessing to you through that government. But your hope must be in God. Your hope must be in Yahweh, not in the Conservative Party.
Certainly not in the New Democratic Party and not in the Liberal Party. You cannot look for them to provide for you from cradle to grave. That is the job of Jehovah, and He willingly undertakes for you. Davis goes on to say, the first words in Calvin's Sunday morning liturgy are the constant corrective we need.
Quote, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 124 verse 8. I think this chapter, at least this section in chapter 6, demonstrates the futility of looking to the government to bail us out for every jot and tittle of our lives. There are jobs that are too big for the federal government.
There are jobs too big for any man to undertake. But God the Lord is there for his people. God the Lord sends four lepers and a servant to be the means of deliverance. Now, again, he paved the way by confounding the Syrian army and terrorizing them so that they fled in fear of their lives.
But the Lord God is our hope. The Lord God is our hope. is our helper. And then finally, with reference to the providence of God, His prophetic mouthpiece in Elisha, the unlikely deliverers in the four lepers, the confusion of the Syrians, and the wise servant with a good plan. I suppose if you and I were God, we would have dropped army tanks and choppers and bombers out to send aid to Israel in order to beat back the Syrians.
And probably would have dropped big boxes of rations and food and whatnot. God sends four lepers and a servant with a good plan to deliver his people. Davis on this leper connection says, the discovery of God's work is placed in the hands of the unclean and unnamed. Surely we feel this text grabbing us by the lapels and pulling us down to kneel in praise.
Here Yahweh uses neither the healthy nor the prominent. Doesn't God deserve high praise for the lowly servants He uses? And I said that was it, but I would be remiss not to add one final allegorical thought concerning verse 9 in chapter 7. I didn't see this in any commentators, so don't take this to the bank, but I just had an allegorical thought.
That's my own musings on verse 9. We could learn a lot from these lepers. We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent.
We as the church have received the benefit and blessing of the good news. We mustn't remain silent. We need to go tell every household we can find that Jesus Christ is Lord and Jesus Christ saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through Him. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for Your Word and for Your power and Your majesty and Your glory displayed in 2 Kings 6 and 7. We thank You that You use very unlikely means, unclean men, unnamed servants, to accomplish Your purposes for the deliverance of Your people. We ask that You would increase our faith, increase our hope, increase our confidence in the Word of God Most High. knowing that you have never let your people down, you have never failed your people, you never leave us, you never forsake us, you have promised to be our God from cradle to grave. Give us grace and hope and strength to walk in obedience to you and continue to watch over us.
And let us learn the lesson from these lepers. We have tasted the good news of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Help us not to remain silent, but help us to publish it abroad. And we pray through Christ the Lord.
Amen.