Transcript

There was a lady who once was baking cookies in her kitchen. There was a knock at the door. She went to find a man at her door. He was a handyman and he asked if there was any odd jobs he could do around her house. She said, “Can you paint?”

“Yes,” he said. “I’m a rather good painter.” “Well,” she said, “there are two gallons of green paint in the garage and a brush, and there’s a porch out back that needs to be painted. Do a good job, and I’ll pay you what the job is worth.”

He said, “Sure. I’ll take care of it.” She went back to her cookie making and didn’t think much more about it until there was a knock at the door a couple hours later.

She went, and the obviousness of his painting was evident, as green paint was all over his clothes.

She said, “Did you finish the job?” He said, “Yes.” She said, “I’m impressed at how quickly you finished.” He said, “Yes. But ma’am, there’s one thing I’d like to point out to you. That’s not a Porsche back there. That’s a Mercedes.”

This handyman didn’t hear the instructions for what to paint very clearly. But in the account we’ll look at together, we will see that the Syrian army heard the sound of chariots and horses very clearly and it sent them running away in fear.

2 Kings 6:24-25 reads: “And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

“And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.”

In verse 23, we read that “the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.” Following the kindness Elisha had shown the Syrians after he had blinded and led a large portion of their army to Israel’s capital city, Samaria, but then fed and released them, they ceased sending raiding parties into the land of Israel.

Sometime “after this,” in contrast to the smaller raiding parties that no longer attacked Israel, in verse 24 we learn how the king of Syria, Benhadad II, mobilized his entire army, and conducted a large, full-scale invasion of Israel. They were so successful that they were able to penetrate far into the land of Israel and put the city of Samaria under siege.

Ben Hadad’s strategy was to focus all of Syria’s forces on one city, Samaria, the capital city of Israel. Inside Samaria were the king of Israel and all of the elders of the city. This would be something like laying siege to Washington, D.C.

With their siege, the Syrians surrounded the city and prevented all business and trade from entering or leaving the city. No one dared to leave the city, just as no one dared to attempt to enter it without the possibility of being captured or put to death.

The purpose of a siege at that time was that by cutting off the city from all its supplies and necessities, they would eventually starve the population into surrender. And thus they could conquer a city and its people without hardly a shot being fired.

We see from verse 25 that the stranglehold of the siege resulted in a terrible famine gripping the city of Samaria. And the city virtually ran out of food.

When we are really hungry we might say “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse!” But on occasions, people have become much more desperate than that in their hunger. And we see the desperate conditions for the residents of Samaria during this siege.

A donkey was an unclean animal according to the law of Moses and was not to be eaten under any conditions.

But those in Samaria were so desperate for food that they ignored the law, and a donkey’s head, one of the least nourishing, most repulsive, and cheapest parts of this animal, became a highly valued commodity, selling for 80 shekels, or around 2 pounds of silver.

And not only that “the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung” sold “for five pieces of silver.” Dove’s dung, or animal excrement, of course, would not have been “clean” to eat either. And a half pint of dove droppings was selling for 5 shekels or two ounces of silver.

So in those desperate days, when a husband came home and greeted his wife with, “Honey, what’s for dinner tonight?” She might’ve said, “Heads or tails?” Heads, as in donkey head, and tails, as in dove droppings.

Sadly, verses 26-30 tell us about how the king of Israel, King Jehoram, learned of two mothers who had made a pact to even eat their children.

But after eating the child of the first mother, the second mother refused to follow through on her promise and she hid her child.

After the first mother protested to the king that her friend hadn’t kept her part of the bargain, in his grief, the king rent his clothes and put on sackcloth, mourning greatly after he learned that cannibalism was being practiced by the people (Deut. 28:53).

This is an example of Israel reaping the curses of the law by their disobedience. Because Deuteronomy 28 predicted that if they failed to hearken unto the voice of the Lord, “thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege…wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.”

In verse 31, the king blamed Elisha for the terrible conditions in Samaria and for failing to do anything to relieve the situation. And so he vowed to kill him before the day was over.

2 Kings 6:32-7:1: “But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?

“And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?

“Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.”

Elisha was sitting in his house in Samaria, and with him were the elders of the city. By divine insight, Elisha knew the details of the whole episode with the king.

As he sat, he told the elders that a messenger from the king was on his way, followed by the king himself. He ordered the elders to bar the door of the house from the messenger, or the executioner, and to keep him from entering until King Jehoram arrived after him.

Elisha knew the king had changed his mind about his order for Elisha’s death so he had the elders refuse entrance to the messenger until his master, or the king, arrived to revoke the order. Almost immediately the messenger arrived, and then the king.

When the king arrived, he was admitted into the house, and he confessed to Elisha that he believed that this calamity was a judgment from the Lord. And he stated that things were so helpless that he could not wait on the Lord any longer and he was ready to throw in the towel; there was no other solution than to surrender to the Syrians.

Then Elisha declared that within 24 hours, God would completely reverse the deplorable conditions in the city of Samaria. Miraculously, the famine and inflation would end. Supplies would be plentiful, and the price of food would be very reasonable.

There would be both barley and fine wheat flour, which would be sold for unbelievably low prices the very next day. Seven quarts of flour would sell for one shekel. And fourteen quarts of barley would sell for one shekel.

2 Kings 7:3-9: “And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?

“If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

“And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.

“For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

“And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”

The scene shifts to outside the gates of Samaria and to four lepers. Ordinary people of the city were suffering from hunger, and these four men were suffering even more.

They were outcasts who were shut out of the city because of their disease. They were most likely beggars who relied on charity.

They were dying, not only from their dreadful disease and the rotting of their flesh, but also from starvation. No one in Samaria had any food to share with them.

These men were in a desperate situation, and so they decided to take desperate measures.

They talked together and stated that if they tried to go into the city, they would die, because there was no food there. If they stayed at the gate and did nothing, they would die of starvation, because no one in the city had enough food to share with them.

If they took their chances and went to the Syrians, they might die there too, but it would be better to die quickly from the sword than to die slowly from hunger and starvation.

And if they went to the Syrians, who knows, they might possibly receive some pity and some food and we might live. Better to die trying was their thinking.

They concluded that they had nothing to lose by going to the Syrian camp where there was plenty of food. And they all agreed to go to the Syrians and beg for mercy.

They rose early the next morning and headed out while it was twilight. Now put yourself in the sandals of one of these men for a moment. As they approach the Syrian camp, they see the tents from a distance.

As they got nearer, they see the horses, still tied up, but they do not see any guards, in fact, they don’t see so much as one Syrian. They continue to make their way into the camp cautiously. Campfires were still burning. It’s quiet, too quiet.

One of them works up the courage to pull back the flap of one of the tents, but no one is inside. They look in another tent and then another, and they find that there is not one person in the entire camp. The tents are not empty, however. Inside each tent are great treasures: food, drink, clothing, gold and silver.

When they come to the supply tents, they find that they are full of grain and other food.

They came into the first part of the camp and the second part and the third part, and there is abundance, and abundance, and abundance. These lepers look at each other and realize: We’ve struck it rich!

Verse 6 tells us the reason that the camp was empty: “the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host.”

In the previous account in chapter 6, God had enabled Elisha’s servant to SEE the great host of the Lord, and the horses and chariots of fire in the mountain of Dothan.

Here we find that God enabled the Syrian army to HEAR those same unseen angelic, supernatural chariots of fire, horses, and the noise of that great host here in Samaria.

Hearing them in the night, the Syrians thought that “the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.”

Hearing the sounds of on-rushing horse hooves, chariot wheels, and footsteps and shouts of a massive force near the camp frightened them. The volume and intensity of the sounds convinced them that the advancing army was even greater than theirs. The only army this large was that of the Egyptians, or the Hittites, or perhaps even both!

This caused them to rise up and flee in panic, leaving all their supplies and equipment behind, as verse 7 says, they “left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.”

There was no opportunity to calmly assess the situation or organize a response. There was no time to think. There was not even time to get dressed, to put on one’s armor, or hitch up the horses. Terrified at the sound and thought of a massive army descending on them, everyone panicked, ran, and scattered into the night.

Then the next morning, four lepers wandered into the empty camp. And they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

And then they did what any hungry man would have done, they went into one tent “and did eat and drink.” They ate and stuffed themselves. Afterward, they looted the tent of its wealth, carrying out its silver, gold, and raiment, and they went and hid it.

After hiding the treasures from the first tent, the lepers continued their hoarding and went to a second tent and spoiled it as well and again hid what they gathered. But there was so much, there was no way they could possibly gather it all.

So they stopped to have another conference and to assess their situation.

They realize that while here they were stuffing themselves with food and gathering up all this wealth in this abandoned camp, while the people back in the city were suffering and on the brink of starvation.

It was only right that they return to the city and share the good news with the people. They understood that to remain silent and to selfishly enjoy this blessing would be wrong. They had a responsibility to share the good news with others.

2 Kings 7:10-13: “So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within.

“And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they 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, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.”

The lepers returned to the gates of Samaria, where they called out to the “porter of the city” or the gatekeeper. They told the good news to the gatekeepers that the camp of the Syrians was abandoned.

The gatekeepers then passed this report on to the king’s house. The king was awakened from his sleep and told the news.

The king’s response was that he was suspicious and sure that this was a trap. He reasoned that the Syrians, knowing that they were hungry, had retreated and were hiding nearby in the fields, just waiting for the people of Samaria to come out of the city, where they could fall upon them and kill them and then invade the city.

From a military point of view, this was a very logical and reasonable conclusion. But the king did not connect the good news with Elisha’s prophecy of plenty within 24 hours.

One servant then offered wise counsel to the king. He simply encouraged the king to consider that he had nothing to lose and everything to gain by checking out this report.

He said that he should send scouts out with five of the horses that remained in Samaria to inspect the camp. If it all turned out to be a trap and they were all killed, they would have all died from starvation before long anyway had they stayed in the city.

Their reasoning was: Why not take a chance if it might save their lives?

In the rest of the chapter, we learn how the king sent out men on two chariot horses and, to their amazement, found the camp empty. They then followed the Syrians’ escape route all the way to the Jordan River, 25 miles away, and found the ground littered along the way with the clothing and equipment that the army discarded as they fled.

They then returned to Samaria and told the king. The people immediately went out and plundered the tents. They found an abundance of food to eat and to sell back in the city, so that as a result, “a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD,” verse 16 says.

God’s promise to provide food for the people of Samaria the very next day was fulfilled exactly as He said. As incredible and far-fetched as Elisha’s prophecy seemed, it was fulfilled to the letter by the scattering of the Syrian army.

God, in His perfect wisdom, used those who had come to destroy Israel to be the very means of her deliverance.

God dealt bountifully with Israel here on the basis of His mercy and grace. It was not that the people of Samaria deserved anything from God.

In fact, their oppression at the hands of the Syrians was the just consequence of their unbelief and rebellion against God and His law. They deserved judgment. But in spite of their sinfulness and disobedience, God brought about a mighty deliverance.

Much like God’s provision of salvation in Christ, in spite of us being ungodly, disobedient sinners, God has provided a mighty salvation for us through Christ.

Romans 5:6,8 tells us that “Christ died for the ungodly” and “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Like those in Samaria were in a desperate situation and were dying, so we are in a desperate situation in our sins and we are dying. But God has provided deliverance and has given His Son to die for our sins that we might be saved and find life in Him.

In Israel’s desperate situation, God provided a miraculous rescue. But none of the Israelites knew about it. They thought they were still trapped within their city walls. But four men knew the truth that they could be free.

Like the four lepers, we who have believed have already discovered and experienced the benefits and freedom and bounty of God’s deliverance. But like the lepers we must realize something very important: now we have a MESSAGE TO DELIVER.

The lepers said in verse 9, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace.” In other words, “We have good news; we shouldn’t keep it to ourselves!”

Those four men knew that the enemy had been defeated. They knew that the people in the city could be saved.

They knew that people who were starving did not need to die. And they knew they should not keep such an amazing life-saving message to themselves!

And we are just like those four men. We also have a life-saving message of good news to deliver and share and not keep to ourselves.

We say to sinners, “Our enemies of sin and death have been defeated. You can be saved!”

We say to those who are dying in their sins, “You can live!”

We say to those who are starving spiritually, “There is bread enough and to spare.” And it’s all through the Bread of life, through Christ alone and trusting His finished work.

Like when the king of Israel was told about the abandoned camp and their deliverance, he was skeptical and thought that there must be a catch. And with many who we tell about the salvation and riches we find in Christ by faith alone in Him, we can get a skeptical response. They think if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

But it really is the truth. It’s the truth of God’s Word to just trust Christ alone and have deliverance and life eternal.

And as we discover God’s salvation and blessing in Christ, there is abundance, abundance, abundance all by the grace of God. We, who have believed, have discovered and experienced the riches of God’s grace in Christ.

And God wants us to tell others about the salvation and rich blessings of grace, hope, and forgiveness that is found in Christ.

Leprosy is a picture of sin in the Bible. The lepers were outcasts, poor, beggars, and they were dying. They had no resources and nothing to offer anyone. They are a picture of the spiritual condition of each sinner outside of Christ, separated from God.

These men realized that if they did nothing they would perish. Their only hope was to go to their enemy, the Syrians, and ask for mercy.

Likewise, for each sinner, if you do nothing, you will perish in your sins. Your only hope is to go to Christ to receive mercy. If you do, and you trust Him as your Savior, you will find life and provision and deliverance and abundance of blessing in Him.