2 Kings 7

2 Kings 7:3-11

1. Elisha foretells the relief of the city, and the death of the unbelieving lord, ver. 1, 2. 2. If panic fumes the Syrians, and their fights is discovered by four lepers, ver. 3—11. 3. The plenty that expired, and the death of the infidel lord, ver. 12—20.

2. WHEN Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD, Thus faith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 2. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

v. 1, 2. Despair now covered every face with blackness, and the king gives up all for loss; but when we are most reduced, God will make sure his holy arm.

2. Elisha foretells the suddenly approaching plenty, in consequence of the siege being raised, v. 1. welcome news to far-infrared Israelites.

3. He denounces the doom of the unbelieving lord, that refused to mendle his predilection, v. 2. He was a great courier; on whose arm for state his master now leaned; and because it was impossible with men, he foolishly deems it impossible with God. Not, (1.) Great couriers are too frequently great infidels. (2.) Unbelief is among the greatest sins, and most fatal to the soul.

4. ¶ And there were four leprous men at the entring in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why fit we here until we die? 4. If we say, We will enter up to the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we fit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the hoft of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. 5. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. 6. For the LORD had made the hoft of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great hoft: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. 7. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their allies, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. 8. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. 9. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and sell the king’s household. 10. So they came, and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. 11. And he called the porters, and they told it to the king’s house within.

God will be found true, and all who disturb him be proved liars.

1. According to his word the siege is raised, and by his own power a dreadful panic is sent among the hofts of Syria. A terrible sound of horses and chariots is heard, and fear magnifying their danger, they conclude the Egyptians and Hittites are hired to fall on them, and that nothing but instant flight can secure their lives. They immediately quit the camp, and each man with the utmost precipitation runs for his life. Not, (1.) God’s terrors can make the stoutest tremble. (2.) The wicked freeth when no man purforth.

2. The discovery of the flight is made by four lepers, who carry tidings of it into the city. Familiarity in their secluded hut without the gate, neither daring to enter the city, nor hoping for any relief thence; since die they must, if they abode where they were, they resolve to go to the Syrian camp, hoping that compassion might engage them to relieve them: at worst, they can but die. They immediately go, and now great their affronishment to find the camp desisted, and all the tents and every thing in them remaining. Hunger first called for relief, and when that was satisfied, they began to load themselves with the richest plunder, till by and by recollecting how unkind this was to their barthren, to neglect acquainting them with the good news, and how dangerous it might be to themselves, if they should be found to have concealed the glad tidings, merely to enrich themselves, they hail back to the city, and acquaint the centinel with the state of the Syrian camp, v. 10. and instantly the news is carried to the king. Not, (1.) Every sinner is in these lepers safe; where they are it they continue, they must perish. There is but one door of hope; the compassion of that God may have made their enemy, and happy is it, when self-despair drives us to him. (2.) The mercies we ourselves have experienced, we must publish for the comfort and edification of our brethren.

3. ¶ And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us: they know that we de hungry, therefore are they gone out of the camp, to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. 13. And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are conformed) and let us send and see. 14. They took therefore two chariot-horses, and the king sent after the hoft of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. 15. And they went after them unto Jordan,

Before Christ by: 1. Let us, 2. 3. Luke 29, 17—19. 1. Did, shall, 2. 6. Page, 1. xxiii. 1. 4. Mat. xlii. 44. Eph. ii. 4. 5. Or incipuly, or prochiment will find an.