2 Kings 6:24-20

Relief Of The Siege Of Samaria (2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:20).

The incident that follows appears here because it is a part of the Elisha narrative, in which the wonders wrought by YHWH for Elisha are described, not because it is in its chronological position. For it probably occurred in the time of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, and thus a considerable time after the previously mentioned incident, and after much of the history that follows in chapter 8-9.

The ministry of Elisha covered a period of over fifty years during the reigns of Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz and Jehoash. During the reign of Jehoram YHWH had, as we have seen, given special protection to Israel. But the continuing sinfulness of the kings of Israel apparently caused the forfeiting of that special protection so that YHWH no longer intervened in the same way. And one of the results of that is described in what follows. It is a reminder that if God is not sought in a time of favour, then judgment and chastening will inevitably follow. So while it might have appeared that with Elisha around Israel had little to fear, that is now being revealed as being untrue. Not only was Samaria besieged, but it had been allowed to reach a point where the people were literally starving and were literally eating anything, and Elisha was sharing in their sufferings. It is a reminder that Elisha was very much subject to YHWH's will in what he did.

The passage deals with the investment by Benhadad, king of Aram, of the city of Samaria during a full scale invasion. Such an invasion had not occurred in the days of Jehoram, but Israel had been considerably weakened by Jehu, and in the time of his son Jehoahaz it reached its lowest ebb. This then was probably when the siege described took place. It brought Samaria to its knees, as the city suffered under extreme shortage of food, with the result that every form of edible matter was eaten, even sinking down into cannibalism. This kind of thing is also testified to in sieges through the ages. It was nothing unusual in terms of history.

But things had become so bad that the blame inevitably fell on Elisha, who had previously so wonderfully delivered Israel. The king could not understand why, having no doubt encouraged the people to resist, he did not arrange for their deliverance again in the same way as he had previously. He failed to recognise that it was YHWH's doing, and not Elisha's, and that Elisha was wholly dependent on YHWH and His will. And he failed to recognise that it may have been due to his own evil living. However, on sending messengers to Elisha he received the assurance that the siege would shortly be lifted so that all would have enough to eat. The final deliverance of Samaria by YHWH's power is then described in the second subsection.

The passage divides up into two subsections:

1) The description of the siege and its consequences (2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:1).

2) The discovery of YHWH's amazing deliverance (2 Kings 7:2).

The first subsection is within the inclusio which opens with details of the cost of food in the period of severe shortage (2 Kings 6:24), and closes with the details of the cost once plenty is to be restored (2 Kings 7:1). 2 Kings 6: 2 Kings 7:1 in fact unites the two sections. For the second subsection is within the inclusio which commences with 2 Kings 6: 2 Kings 7:1 followed by the captain's comment about the ‘windows of Heaven', which is then followed by the warning of his demise (2 Kings 7:2), and closes with verses which are parallel with 2 Kings 6:1 and a description of his actual death (2 Kings 7:19).