seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 7:3 Now there were four men with leprosy[d] at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”
5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
9 Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”
10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.
12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’”
13 One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”
14 So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.” 15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said.
17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18 It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
19 The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
9 Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”
10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.
12 The king got up in the night and said to his officers, “I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, ‘They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.’”
13 One of his officers answered, “Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here—yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to find out what happened.”
14 So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, “Go and find out what has happened.” 15 They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said.
17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18 It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
19 The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
d. 2 Kings 7:3 The Hebrew for leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin; also in verse 8.
So, when I posted yesterday... the captain [the guy the king leans on] had made fun of Elisha's prophecy. Israel [the northern part... Judah was the southern part] was in a serious famine. It was so serious a stupid desperate woman ate her own son. When Elisha prophesied that the food would be available tomorrow... the captain said [paraphrased] "Yeah right, God's going to open some secret gate in heaven." But it appears God found a way and Elisha was right.
Now this feat wasn't a floodgate from heaven... God doesn't need to do things like that when He's got His humans to play with. So it's reported that the Samarian [Syrian] army heard horses and chariots so they thought the Israeli army was after them. So they all ran.
This is from the enduringword.com site.
For the LORD had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots… the noise of a great army: Israel was powerless against this besieging army, but God wasn’t powerless. He attacked the Syrian army simply by causing them to hear the noise of an army.
And left the camp intact: Everything was left behind, leaving the unlikely lepers to spoil the camp. As a result, the siege for Samaria was over – even though no one in the city knew it or enjoyed it.
Perhaps God did this by putting the noise into the air; perhaps He simply created the perception of the noise in the minds of the Syrian soldiers. However God did it, it happened.
The same God who struck one Syrian army so they could not see what was there now struck another Syrian army so that they heard things that were not there.
The same God who struck one Syrian army so they could not see what was there now struck another Syrian army so that they heard things that were not there.
And left the camp intact: Everything was left behind, leaving the unlikely lepers to spoil the camp. As a result, the siege for Samaria was over – even though no one in the city knew it or enjoyed it.
“Everybody who went to bed that night felt that he was still in that horrible den where grim death seemed actually present in the skeleton forms of the hunger-bitten. They were as free as the harts of the wilderness had they known it: but their ignorance held them in vile durance [imprisonment].” (Spurgeon)
The people in the city were afraid to come out. The people in the Samarian [Syrian] camp were so afraid they ran. Four men suffering from Leprosy had been afraid to leave the city gates where they were doomed to die. I, gratefully, can't imagine what it would be like to be so hungry, I would consider eating my own child. I, gratefully, can't imagine what it must be like to be sentenced to death and all I can do is lay and wait for it to come. Those people where in a horrible state.
Check it out.... they weren't praying. On top of that... they were so afraid... they thought their good fortune [brought by God playing mind games with the enemy] was a trap. Well that's logical... after all, the Samarians [Syrians] have had them surrounded for so long they are eating their own... so why wouldn't it be a trap. But it wasn't.... This is from the same commentary.
They went and called to the gatekeepers of the city: Since the lepers were not welcome in the city, they could only communicate with the gatekeepers. There were many people they could not speak to, but they were faithful to speak to the ones they could speak to.
And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it: The good news from the lepers was communicated in the simplest way possible. It went from one person to another, until the news reached the king himself.
So let us send them and see: This was the sensible reaction to the good news that started with the report of the lepers. The report might be true or it might not be; it only made sense to test it and see.
And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it: The good news from the lepers was communicated in the simplest way possible. It went from one person to another, until the news reached the king himself.
So let us send them and see: This was the sensible reaction to the good news that started with the report of the lepers. The report might be true or it might not be; it only made sense to test it and see.
So the lepers followed the law concerning their horrible skin disease.... but they told the gate guards. The gate guards yelled out the good news [cause that's what they did back then ... CNN of the day don't ya know] and the people started spreading the word. Fancy that... everyone in the city... including the king... heard about the Syrian camp by word of mouth. I guess so... if I'm so hungry I'm ready to eat my own child and someone says there's food and shelter just outside town for the taking... my ears are going to perk up!
Now the day before... Elisha told the captain [the one the king was leaning on] that the captain would see the food and shelter but he wouldn't live to eat it. According to the commentary... that's how it went down.
The king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate: Perhaps the king did this to rebuke his officer. The man would have to personally supervise the people responding to the provision he said could never come, because he could not understand how God could bring the supply despite the siege.
For the people trampled him in the gate, and he died: The prediction regarding the officer proved just as true as the prediction regarding the prices of food in the markets of Samaria. Because of his unbelief, he saw others enjoy God’s blessings but he did not.
For the people trampled him in the gate, and he died: The prediction regarding the officer proved just as true as the prediction regarding the prices of food in the markets of Samaria. Because of his unbelief, he saw others enjoy God’s blessings but he did not.
I don't know about you... but I was thinking about manna when this story started. I figured God would have birds or manna... but Elisha did specifically state the price of flour... not manna.... so God had a plan to restock from the supplies of the Samarians [Syrians] all along. Fancy that.
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