seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 7:3 Now there were four men with leprosy 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.
WWWWWWWWWWWW
Here's the link to the commentary I read.According to the word of the LORD: Through Elisha, God announced the exact prices in the Samaritan markets, and the prophecy was proven to be precisely true.
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.
WWWWWWWWWWWW
So yesterday we learned that the people of Samaria were trapped in a walled city with no food or water. They were so desperate; they ate a woman's baby!
The king of Israel found out about the boiled baby from the mother herself. He was so angry he wanted to punch God right in the eye. Since he couldn't punch God, he sent for Elisha. He would feel vindicated if he could cut the Prophet Elisha's head off!
Elisha heard the king was going to murder him and he sent word back to the king.
Paraphrased.... "Everything's going to be just fine. By this time tomorrow, the siege will be over and food will be cheap again.".... Paraphrased.
We read yesterday, there was an officer [close to the king] who doubted what Elisha was saying.
Paraphrased... "How can that possibly be true???"... Paraphrased....
Elisha heard the officer's remark and told him "It'll happen, God will make it happen, but you won't live to enjoy it"... paraphrased.
Well today we read that it did happen. God sent the Syrian soldiers running. They thought they heard a huge army coming to attack and they ran.
Two men with leprosy found the Syrian camp empty when they went to turn themselves in. See, they figured being a prisoner, or dying as a prisoner, was better than dying hungry just outside of the camp. They were cast aways because of the leprosy anyway, so they might as well take a chance of getting something to eat if they were destined to die anyway.
When they got word back to the city and got word to the king, the king sent out a scouting party to check it out. The scouts followed the tracks of the missing army. Apparently, the soldiers were so afraid of the noise that God put in their heads, they were stripping off their clothes to lighten the load as they ran.
When the word got back to the king, the prices in the market dropped through the floor. The prices when down to just where Elisha predicted. Everyone could eat.
Oh, and that soldier who doubted Elisha.... was trampled to death at the gate by the people who were running to the Syrian camp. The people ran right over him to get food to eat and then joined the plundering of the empty camp.
We've already learned that God can make a donkey talk if He so desires. This time, God made the wind talk!
God made the wind talk and ended the siege.
God made the wind talk!
