2 Kings 7:1-20

II. ELISHA'S PREDICTIVE MIRACLES 6:24-8:15

Three predictive miracles of Elisha are recorded in connection with this period of Aramean invasion: He predicted (1) the deliverance of Samaria from an Aramean siege (2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:20); (2) a famine in Israel (2 Kings 8:1-6); and (3) the murderous career of Hazael (2 Kings 8:7-15).

A. PREDICTION OF DELIVERANCE FOR SAMARIA 6:24-7:20

Several different stories connected with an Aramean siege of Samaria have been collected in 2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:20. The main purpose of the section, however, is to demonstrate the predictive powers of Elisha. This somewhat lengthy section can be discussed under six heads: (1) the sad plight of Samaria (2 Kings 6:24-29); (2) the personal jeopardy of Elisha (2 Kings 6:30-33); (3) the dramatic prediction of the prophet (2 Kings 7:1-2); (4) the joyous discovery of four lepers (2 Kings 7:3-11); (5) the cautious investigation by the king (2 Kings 7:12-15); and (6) the literal fulfillment of Elisha's prophecy (2 Kings 7:16-20).

1. THE SAD PLIGHT OF SAMARIA (2 Kings 6:24-29)

TRANSLATION

(24) And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Aram gathered all his camp, and went up, and besieged Samaria. (25) And a great famine came about in Samaria, and behold besiegers were against it until the head of an ass was worth eighty pieces of silver, and the forth part of a qab of dove's dung was worth five pieces of silver. (26) And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried out unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king! (27) And he said, If the LORD does not save you, whence shall I save you, from the threshing floor or from the wine vat? (28) And the king said to her, What do you want? And she said, This woman said unto me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and my son we shall eat tomorrow. (29) And we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said unto her the next day, Give your son that we may eat him, and she had hidden her son!

COMMENTS

Though the nuisance raids of the marauding bands came to an end, Israel was still to suffer much at the hands of Aram. Some considerable time after the memory of Jehoram's kind deed had been forgotten, Benhadad the king of Aram gathered his entire force and invaded Israel. Realizing that he was no match for Benhadad's forces in the field, Jehoram withdrew to his capital at Samaria and prepared for a long siege (2 Kings 6:24). Benhadad blockaded the city and attempted to starve its inhabitants into submission. The situation in the city deteriorated to such a degree that an ass's head, the worst part of an unclean animal, which would normally never be eaten, sold for eighty pieces of silver (about $50.00) and a qab (pint) of dove's dung for five pieces of silver ($3.00; 2 Kings 6:25). Dove's dung may have been the popular name for some food such as roast checkpeas. If actual dove's dung is intended, it was probably sold as fuel.[541]

[541] Gray, OTL, p. 522. But Josephus relates that during the Roman siege of Jerusalem people ate dung, Ant. IX, 4.4.

King Jehoram[542] made regular inspections of the fortifications and guard posts on the broad walls of Samaria during the siege. On one such tour a womanpossibly one of the inhabitants of the houses which abutted on the wallcried out to the king for help (2 Kings 6:26). The king was taken back by this pitiful appeal and assumed that the woman was seeking relief from the pangs of hunger. What could he do for the woman? Only God could provide food under the circumstances! Did this woman think that the king had secret stores of food or vats full of wine which he had withheld from the populace? The royal stores were as much exhausted as those of the lowliest subjects (2 Kings 6:27). The woman must have explained that she was not attempting to beg food from the king, but that she was seeking from him a decision as the supreme judicial officer of the land. This being the case, the king asked the woman to relate her complaint. She told a gruesome story of a pact with a neighbor lady to eat their two sons, the one on one day, and the second the following day (2 Kings 6:28). The one child was boiled and eaten. But the following day the neighbor woman had reneged on the agreement and had hidden her son to avoid the terrible ordeal of seeing him killed and eaten (2 Kings 6:29).

[542] Others think the unnamed king was Jehoahaz or Joash. In this case, the Benhadad of 2 Kings 6:24 would be Benhadad II, the son of Hazael.

2. THE PERSONAL JEOPARDY OF ELISHA (2 Kings 6:30-33)

TRANSLATION

(30) And it came to pass when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his garments. And as he was passing by upon the wall, the people looked, and behold sackcloth upon his flesh within. (31) And he said, Thus may God do to me, and thus may he add if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remain on him this day. (32) Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him when the king sent a man from before him. But before the messenger came unto him, he said unto the elders, Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? See when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast in the door. Is not the sound of the feet of his master behind him? (33) While he was yet speaking with them, behold the messenger came down unto him. And he said, Behold this evil is from the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer.

COMMENTS

The king was horrified at this terrible tale of the desperate mother, and he realized how deplorable conditions within the capital had become. He tore open his clothes in anguish, and his subjects standing about noticed that he had on sackcloth. These penitential garments were worn close to the skin so as to constantly chastise the flesh. Secretly the king was repenting of his sins, though no doubt he was far from possessing a chastened or humble spirit. No one knew of his personal spiritual struggle until the terrible tale of the distressed woman caused him to rend his robes (2 Kings 6:30).

In his distress, the king swore an oath[543] that he would have Elisha decapitated that very day (2 Kings 6:31). It is not entirely clear why the king blamed the horrors of the famine on Elisha. Perhaps he felt that Elisha should work some mighty miracle to relieve the city of its suffering and to vanquish the enemy. The Law of Moses nowhere sanctioned decapitation, and in taking this oath, Jehoram was assuming the arbitrary power of other monarchs of that day.

[543] The Hebrew oath was an imprecation of evil on oneself if one did, or failed to do, a certain thing.

Elisha was sitting in his home in Samaria with the elders of the land sitting before him at the time the king dispatched the prophet's executioner. These elders had probably come to consult the man of God about the critical conditions within the city and, if possible, obtain from him some miraculous assistance. Their conversation was interrupted when Elisha received a supernatural revelation of what was about to take placethat an executioner had already been dispatched, but that the king would arrive shortly thereafter. Elisha referred to Jehoram as that son of a murderer in reference to his father Ahab who had sanctioned all the atrocities perpetrated by Jezebel. By his recent order to have Elisha eliminated, the king had shown the same bloodthirsty disposition as his father. The prophet called upon those present with him to resist the royal messenger and bar the door to him, because the king himself would shortly arrive, and he would either confirm or countermand that original order (2 Kings 6:32).

Even while Elisha talked to the elders, the messenger of the king appeared at the door. Apparently the elders did obey Elisah and barred the door to this royal representative. Meanwhile, the king himself seems to have arrived, and he, of course, was admitted to the prophet's abode. The king seems to have repented of his hasty order to slay the prophet and hurried after his own messenger in order to give the prophet a final opportunity to live. The question asked by the kingWhy should I wait for the Lord any longer?implies that Elisha had previously urged the king to wait for divine interposition. The king interpreted the calamity as being from the Lord. Why should he try to hold out any longer? Why should he not break with God, slay his lying prophet, and surrender the city to the Arameans?

3. THE DRAMATIC PREDICTION OF THE PROPHET (2 Kings 7:1-2)

TRANSLATION

(1) And Elisha said, Hear the word of the LORD: Thus has the LORD said: About this tune tomorrow a seah of fine flour will be worth a shekel, and two seahs of barley will be worth a shekel in the gate of Samaria. (2) Then an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said: Behold, if the LORD were about to make windows in the heavens, would this word come to pass? And he said, You will see with your eyes, but of it you shall not eat!

COMMENTS

Elisha responded to the king in the most solemn mannera manner which could not help but arrest the attention and command the respect of Jehoram. The prophet's life was hanging in the balance. Everything depended on whether Elisha, with a half dozen or so words, could change the king's mind. He therefore made such a precise prediction that within a short period of time the whole nation would know whether or not he was a true spokesman for the living God. Within twenty-four hours, declared the prophet, such a quantity of grain would be available to the inhabitants of Samaria that barley and fine flour would again be bought and sold at the pre-siege prices, and this right in the city gate of Samaria (2 Kings 6:1). A seah is roughly equivalent to a peck in modern measures, and the shekel would be worth about a dollar. The gates of ancient cities were spacious places consisting of several buildings where public business was transacted.

One of the officersthe king's personal attendantwas vocally incredulous. With scoffing sarcasm he insisted that the prediction was utterly impossible of fulfillment. Even if the Lord were to make windows in the heavens, and pour down through them grain instead of rain, could this prediction come to pass? The disdain of this officer was directed not only at the veracity of the prophet, but at the power of God. For this reason Elisha answered him sternly: You will see it, but not partake of it. By these words, the officer, if he was wise enough to discern it, was forewarned of his imminent death, and thus given time to set his house in order and make his peace with God.

4. THE JOYOUS DISCOVERY OF FOUR LEPERS (2 Kings 7:3-11)

TRANSLATION

(3) And four men, lepers, were at the entrance of the gate. And they said one to another, Why should we continue sitting here until we die? (4) If we think we shall go into the city, the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we remain here, then we shall die. And now come, and let us fall unto the camp of the Arameans! If they allow us to live, we shall live; and if they slay us, then we shall die. (5) And they arose in the twilight to go unto the camp of the Arameans, and they came to the edge of the Aramean camp, and behold no man was there. (6) The Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great host; and they said one to another, Behold the king of Israel has hired against us the Hittite kings and kings of Egypt to go against us. (7) And they arose, and fled in the twilight, and forsook their tents and their horses and their donkeys, the camp as it was; and they fled for their lives. (8) Now these lepers came to the edge of the camp, and they went into the first tent, and they ate, and they drank, and took up silver and gold and garments from there, and went and hid them; and they returned and went into another tent, and took from it and hid it. (9) Then they said one to another, What we are doing is not right! This is a day of good news, but we are remaining silent; if we delay unto the light of morning, punishment will overtake us. Now come, that we may go and tell the house of the king! (10) And they came and called to the gate-keepers[544] of the city, and told them, saying, We came unto the Aramean camp, and behold no man was there, nor voice of a man; but horses tied, and tents as they were. (11) And the gate-keepers called out[545] and told the house of the king within.

[544] Though singular in the Hebrew, the word seems to be used here collectively.
[545] The verb is singular. However context seems to demand, and some manuscripts point to, a plural verb.

COMMENTS

Lepers were forbidden by law from dwelling within the cities of Israel. Relatives within the city normally kept them supplied with food, and hence they congregated about the city gates. Because of the extreme scarcity within the city during the siege, these unfortunates were on the verge of perishing (2 Kings 6:3). As they contemplated their plight, they realized that even if they were able to re-enter the city by some means or the other, they would perish there of the famine. Yet to remain at the city's gate would only bring death. The only alternative was to desert to the enemy. Perhaps they would be able to exchange some intelligence information for food to prolong life awhile longer. And if the Arameans should kill them, they would be no worse off than sitting where they were and dying by degrees (2 Kings 6:4).

The lepers waited for the lengthening shadows of evening twilight before they began to move toward the Aramean camp. Had they attempted to head for the enemy camp in broad daylight, Israelite soldiers on the walls of Samaria would have shot arrows at them. Entering the outer edge of the Aramean camp, the lepers found no sign of life. Not a soul was to be seen anywhere (2 Kings 6:5). Shortly before the arrival of the lepers, the Lord had miraculously intervened on behalf of His people by causing the Arameans to hear what they thought was the sound of an enormous army sweeping down upon them. The jittery Arameans thought that Jehoram had hired the Hittite kings from the north and the rival dynasties of Egyptian Kings from the south to attack from both directions[546] (2 Kings 6:6). In their panic the Arameans never paused to contemplate how remote was the possibility that Jehoram could have arranged a simultaneous attack by two powers so widely removed from one another. The Arameans simply fled for their lives, leaving their camp[547] exactly as it had been (2 Kings 6:7).

[546] Gray (OTL, p. 524) suggests it may have been one of Elisha's disciples who started a rumor in the Aramean camp.
[547] The horses left behind must have been chariot horses, which they had no time to harness.

Entering the first empty tent, the lepers grabbed and began to devour the food and drink to be found there. Having satisfied the pangs of hunger, the lepers cast a covetous eye about on the gold, silver, and beautiful garments which the enemy had left behind. Their first impulse was to hide these valuables, for they knew the spoils of war belonged to the nation as a whole and to the king in particular. They knew that when their comrades discovered the flight of the enemy and descended upon that empty camp, that there would be no consideration for lepers in the distribution of the spoil. From tent to tent the ecstatic men ran, carrying out whatever delighted their eyes to place in their secret catch (2 Kings 6:8).

During the process of the plundering, the consciences of these lepers began to bother them. Their countrymen and relatives within Samaria were perishing and sufferingmothers eating their childrenwhile they had spent hour after hour enjoying their good fortune. To withhold such good things from their desperate countrymen must surely be a criminal act for which God would punish them. So, belatedly the lepers determined to carry the news to the king's house, i.e., his officers and court, those through whom the king himself might be approached (2 Kings 6:9). They first shouted the news to the guard at the gate of Samaria (2 Kings 6:10), who in turn reported the matter to the royal officials (2 Kings 6:11).

5. THE CAUTIOUS INVESTIGATION BY THE KING (2 Kings 7:12-15)

TRANSLATION

(12) And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, Let me tell you now what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, and they went out from the camp to hide in the field, saying, When they go out from the city, we shall seize them alive; then unto the city we shall go. (13) And one from his servants answered, and said,. Then let five of the remaining horses which remain in the city be taken, I pray you, (behold they are as all the multitude of Israel which are consumed) and let us send, and investigate. (14) So two chariots of horses were taken, and the king sent after the Aramean camp, saying, Go and investigate. (15) And they went after them unto the Jordan and behold all the way was filled with garments and baggage which the Arameans had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

COMMENTS

The king, aroused from his sleep, greeted the news of the Aramean retreat with incredulity. He knew of no reason for such a sudden turn of events, and suspected that the Arameans were employing some devious stratagem to lure the unsuspecting Israelites from the protection of their walls (2 Kings 6:12). One of the royal attendants suggested that a small body of horsemen be sent out to reconnoiter. The majority of the Israelite horses had died of starvation, or else had been slain to furnish meat for the soldiers who remained in the city, for the entire city would shortly be dead from starvation. So by means of these persuasive arguments the royal servants convinced Jehoram that he should at least check out the report of the lepers (2 Kings 6:13).

Two chariots of horses, i.e., two chariots and the accustomed number of horses (normally two horses to a chariot) were dispatched from Samaria (2 Kings 6:14). These charioteers were probably under orders to make contact with the enemy and ascertain their positions if possible. Finding the Aramean camp deserted, the patrol began to follow the main road toward the Jordan. All along the way they saw the garments, weapons, and baggage discarded by the fleeing troops. By the time they reached Jordan, the Israelite patrol was convinced that the Arameans had truly fled, and that the deserted camp was no ruse. They then hastily returned to Samaria and reported what they had found to the king (2 Kings 6:15).

6. THE LITERAL FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY (2 Kings 7:16-20)

TRANSLATION

(16) And the people went out and spoiled the Aramean camp. And it came to pass that a seah of fine flour was valued at a shekel, and two seahs of barley at a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. (17) Now the king had appointed over the gate the officer upon whose hand he leaned; but the people had trampled him in the gate, and he had died just as the man of God had spoken when the king had come down unto him. (18) And it came to pass just as the man of God had spoken unto the king, saying, Two seahs of barley will be worth a shekel, and a seah of fine flour worth a shekel about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria. (19) And the officer had answered the man of God and said: Behold if the LORD were to make windows in the heavens, would this word come to pass? And he had said, Behold you will see with your eyes, but of it you will not eat. (20) And so did it happen to him; and the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

COMMENTS

By the time the patrol got back to Samaria, morning had arrived. The news of the good fortune spread through Samaria like wild-fire. The whole population en masse descended on the near-by Aramean camp to feast and take spoil (2 Kings 6:16). The officer who on the previous day had scoffed at the predictions of Elisha was trampled by the mob in the gate of the city (2 Kings 6:17). To underscore the fact of Elisha's prophetic powers and the dreadful consequences that follow upon scornful rejection of a message from God, the sacred writer repeats in the final three verses of chapter 7 the earlier predictions of Elisha with regard to the abundant supply of grain and the imminent death of the royal officer (2 Kings 6:18-20).