Basic HTML Version
122
Royalty and Ruin
Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go
to their master.’”
Verses 18-22
.
God Honors Elisha’s Prophecy
For a time after this, Israel was free from the attacks of the
Syrians. But later, under king Hazael, the Syrian armies surrounded
Samaria and besieged it. Never had Israel been brought into so
great a crisis as during this siege. The horrors of prolonged famine
were driving the king of Israel to desperate measures, when Elisha
predicted deliverance for the following day.
The next morning, before dawn, the Lord “caused the army of
the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the
noise of a great army.” Overcome with fear, “they fled for their lives,”
leaving “the camp intact,” with rich stores of food.
2 Kings 7:6, 7
.
[97]
During the night, four leprous men at the gate of the city, made
desperate by hunger, had proposed to visit the Syrian camp and
throw themselves on the mercy of the besiegers, hoping to obtain
food. To their astonishment, when they entered the camp, they found
that “no one was there.”
Verse 10
. With no one to stop them, “they
went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and
gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and
entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went
and hid it. Then they said to one another, ‘We are not doing right.
This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent.’”
Verses 8, 9
.
Quickly they returned to the city with the glad news.
The supplies on that day were so abundant that “a measure of
fine flour was sold for a shekel” (
Verse 16
, KJV), as foretold by
Elisha the day before.
Elisha’s Message Reached the Honest in Heart
In ways like these the man of God labored year by year, drawing
close to the people, and in times of crisis standing by the side of
kings as a wise counselor. The dark shadow of apostasy was still
everywhere, yet here and there were those who had firmly refused
to bow to Baal. As Elisha continued his work, many learned to
rejoice in the service of the true God. These miracles of divine grace