2 Kings 7 commentary

Man's extremity is God's opportunity of making his own power to be glorious: his time to appear for his people is when their strength is gone. Unbelief is a sin by which men greatly dishonour and displease God, and deprive themselves of the favours he designed for them. Such will be the portion of those that believe not the promise of eternal life; they shall see it at a distance, but shall never taste of it. But no temporal deliverances and mercies will in the end profit sinners, unless they are led to repentance by the goodness of God.

God can, when he pleases, make the stoutest heart to tremble; and as for those who will not fear God, he can make them fear at the shaking of a leaf. Providence ordered it, that the lepers came as soon as the Syrians were fled. Their consciences told them that mischief would befall them, if they took care of themselves only. Natural humanity, and fear of punishment, are powerful checks on the selfishness of the ungodly. These feelings tend to preserve order and kindness in the world; but they who have found the unsearchable riches of Christ, will not long delay to report the good tidings to others. From love to him, not from selfish feelings, they will gladly share their earthly good things with their brethren.

Here see the wants of Israel supplied in a way they little thought of, which should encourage us to depend upon the power and goodness of God in our greatest straits. God's promise may be safely relied on, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. The nobleman that questioned the truth of Elisha's word, saw the plenty, to silence and shame his unbelief, and therein saw his own folly; but he did not eat of the plenty he saw. Justly do those find the world's promises fail them, who think that the promises of God will disappoint them. Learn how deeply God resents distrust of his power, providence, and promise: how uncertain life is, and the enjoyments of it: how certain God's threatenings are, and how sure to come on the guilty. May God help us to inquire whether we are exposed to his threatenings, or interested in his promises.

CHAPTER 7

2Ki 7:1-16. Elisha Prophesies Incredible Plenty in Samaria.

1. Hear ye the word of the Lord--This prediction, though uttered first to the assembled elders, was intimated to the king's messengers, who reported it to Jehoram (2Ki 7:18).

To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, &c.--This may be estimated at a peck of fine flour for 2s. 6d., and two pecks of barley at the same price.

in the gate of Samaria--Vegetables, cattle, all sorts of country produce, are still sold every morning at the gates of towns in the East.

2. a lord on whose hand the king leaned--When an Eastern king walks or stands abroad in the open air, he always supports himself on the arm of the highest courtier present.

if the Lord would make windows in heaven--The scoffing infidelity of this remark, which was a sneer against not the prophet only, but the God he served, was justly and signally punished (see 2Ki 7:20).

3. there were four leprous men--The account of the sudden raising of the siege and the unexpected supply given to the famishing inhabitants of Samaria, is introduced by a narrative of the visit and discovery, by these poor creatures, of the extraordinary flight of the Syrians.

leprous men at the entering in of the gate--living, perhaps, in some lazar house there (Le 13:4-6; Nu 5:3).

5. they rose up in the twilight--that is, the evening twilight (2Ki 7:12).

the uttermost part of the camp of Syria--that is, the extremity nearest the city.

6-7. the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots--This illusion of the sense of hearing, whereby the besiegers imagined the tramp of two armies from opposite quarters, was a great miracle which God wrought directly for the deliverance of His people.

8-11. these lepers ... did eat and drink--After they had appeased their hunger and secreted as many valuables as they could carry, their consciences smote them for concealing the discovery and they hastened to publish it in the city.

12-15. the king ... said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done--Similar stratagems have been so often resorted to in the ancient and modern wars of the East that there is no wonder Jehoram's suspicions were awakened. But the scouts, whom he despatched, soon found unmistakable signs of the panic that had struck the enemy and led to a most precipitate flight.

2Ki 7:17-20. The Unbelieving Lord Trodden to Death.

17. the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned,--&c. The news spread like lightning through the city, and was followed, as was natural, by a popular rush to the Syrian camp. To keep order at the gate, the king ordered his minister to keep guard; but the impetuosity of the famishing people could not be resisted. The lord was trodden to death, and Elisha's prophecy in all respects accomplished.

To-morrow about this time - This was in reply to the desponding language of the king, and to vindicate himself from the charge of being author of this calamity. See the end of the preceding chapter, 2Kgs 6:33 (note).

A measure of fine flour - for a shekel - A seah of fine flour: the seah was about two gallons and a half; the shekel, two shillings and four-pence at the lowest computation. A wide difference between this and the price of the ass's head mentioned above.

Then a lord - שליש shalish. This word, as a name of office, occurs often, and seems to point out one of the highest offices in the state. So unlikely was this prediction to be fulfilled, that he thought God must pour out wheat and barley from heaven before it could have a literal accomplishment.

But shalt not eat thereof - This was a mere prediction of his death, but not as a judgment for his unbelief; any person in his circumstances might have spoken as he did. He stated in effect that nothing but a miracle could procure the plenty predicted, and by a miracle alone was it done; and any person in his place might have been trodden to death by the crowd in the gate of Samaria.

There were four leprous men - The Gemara in Sota, R. Sol. Jarchi, and others, say that these four lepers were Gehazi and his three sons.

At the entering in of the gate - They were not permitted to mingle in civil society.

The uttermost part of the camp - Where the Syrian advanced guards should have been.

The Lord had made the - Syrians to hear a noise - This threw them into confusion; they imagined that they were about to be attacked by powerful auxiliaries, which the king of Israel had hired against them.

The king arose in the night - This king had made a noble defense; he seems to have shared in all the sufferings of the besieged, and to have been ever at his post. Even in vile Ahab there were some good things!

They know that we be hungry - This was a very natural conclusion; the Syrians by the closest blockade could not induce them to give up the city, but knowing that they were in a starving condition, they might make use of such a stratagem as that imagined by the king, in order to get possession of the city.

And one of his servants answered - This is a very difficult verse, and the great variety of explanations given of it cast but little light on the subject. I am inclined to believe, with Dr. Kennicott, that there is an interpolation here which puzzles, if not destroys, the sense. "Several instances," says he, "have been given of words improperly repeated by Jewish transcribers, who have been careless enough to make such mistakes, and yet cautious not to alter or erase, for fear of discovery. This verse furnishes another instance in a careless repetition of seven Hebrew words, thus: - הנשארים אשר נשארו בה הנם ככל ההמון ישראל אשר נשארו בה הנם ככל המון ישראל אשר תמי

The exact English of this verse is this: And the servant said, Let them take now five of the remaining horses, which remain in it; behold they are as all the multitude of Israel, which [remain in it; behold they are as all the multitude of Israel which] are consumed; and let us send and see. "Whoever considers that the second set of these seven words is neither in the Septuagint nor Syriac versions, and that those translators who suppose these words to be genuine alter them to make them look like sense, will probably allow them to have been at first an improper repetition; consequently to be now an interpolation strangely continued in the Hebrew text." They are wanting in more than forty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. In some others they are left without points; in others they have been written in, and afterwards blotted out; and in others four, in others five, of the seven words are omitted. De Rossi concludes thus: Nec verba haec legunt Lxx., Vulg., Syrus simplex, Syrus Heptaplaris Parisiensis, Targum. They stand on little authority, and the text should be read, omitting the words enclosed by brackets, as above.

They are consumed - The words אשר תמו asher tamu should be translated, which are perfect; i.e., fit for service. The rest of the horses were either dead of the famine, killed for the subsistence of the besieged, or so weak as not to be able to perform such a journey.

They took - two chariot horses - They had at first intended to send five; probably they found on examination that only two were effective. But if they sent two chariots, each would have two horses, and probably a single horse for crossing the country.

All the way was full of garments and vessels - A manifest proof of the hurry and precipitancy with which they fled.

And the people trode upon him - This officer being appointed by the king to have the command of the gate, the people rushing out to get spoil, and in to carry it to their houses, he was borne down by the multitude and trodden to death. This also was foreseen by the spirit of prophecy. The literal and exact fulfillment of such predictions must have acquired the prophet a great deal of credit in Israel.

Dr. Lightfoot remarks that, between the first and last year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, there are very many occurrences mentioned which are not referred nor fixed to their proper year; and, therefore, they must be calculated in a gross sum, as coming to pass in one of these years. These are the stories contained in chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7, of this book; and in 2Chr 21:6-19. They may be calculated thus: In the first year of Jehoram, Elisha, returning out of Moab into the land of Israel, multiplies the widow's oil; he is lodged in Shunem, and assures his hostess of a child. The seven years' famine was then begun, and he gives the Shunammite warning of its continuance.

The second year she bears her child in the land of the Philistines, 2Kgs 8:2. And Elisha resides among the disciples of the prophets at Gilgal, heals the poisoned pottage, and feeds one hundred men with twenty barley loaves and some ears of corn. That summer he cures Naaman of his leprosy, the only cure of this kind done till Christ came.

The third year he makes iron to swim, prevents the Syrians' ambushments, strikes those with blindness who were sent to seize him, and sends them back to their master.

The fourth year Jehoshaphat dies, and Edom rebels and shakes off the yoke laid upon them by David: Libnah also rebels.

The fifth year Samaria is besieged by Ben-hadad, the city is most grievously afflicted; and, after being nearly destroyed by famine, it is suddenly relieved by a miraculous interference of God, which had been distinctly foretold by Elisha.

The sixth year the Philistines and Arabians oppress Jehoram, king of Judah, and take captive his wives and children, leaving only one son behind.

The seventh year Jehoram falls into a grievous sickness, so that his bowels fall out, 2Chr 21:19. And in the same year the seven years' famine ends about the time of harvest; and at that harvest, the Shunammite's son dies, and is restored to life by Elisha, though the story of his birth and death is related together; and yet some years must have passed between them. Not long after this the Shunammite goes to the king to petition to be restored to her own land, which she had left in the time of the famine, and had sojourned in the land of the Philistines.

This year Elisha is at Damascus, Ben-hadad falls sick; Hazael stifles him with a wet cloth, and reigns in his stead. All these things Dr. Lightfoot supposes happened between A.M. 3110 and 3117. - See Lightfoot's Works, vol. i., p. 88. In examining the facts recorded in these books, we shall always find it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to ascertain the exact chronology. The difficulty is increased by a custom common among these annalists, the giving the whole of a story at once, though several incidents took place at the distance of some years from the commencement of the story: as they seem unwilling to have to recur to the same history in the chronological order of its facts.

Measure - Heb. Seah, a measure containing six cabs, or about a peck and pottle of our measure.

Windows - Through which he could rain down corn, as once he did Manna.

Hittites - Under which name (as elsewhere under the name of the Amorites) he seems to understand all the people of Canaan. For though the greatest number of that people were destroyed, yet very many of them were spared, and many of them upon Joshua's coming, fled away, some to remote parts, others to the lands bordering upon Canaan, where they seated themselves, and grew numerous and powerful. Kings - Either the king of Egypt, the plural number being put for the singular, or, the princes and governors of the several provinces in Egypt.

Fled - None of them had so much sense as to send scouts to discover the supposed enemy, much less, courage enough to face them. God can when he pleases, dispirit the boldest, and make the stoutest heart to tremble. They that will not fear God, he can make them fear at the shaking of a leaf. Perhaps Gehazi was one of these lepers, which might occasion his being taken notice of by the king, chap.8:4.

Behold, &c. - The words may be rendered, Behold, they are of a truth (the Hebrew prefix, Caph, being not here a note of similitude, but an affirmation of the truth and certainty of the things, as it is taken Numb 11:1 Deut 9:10,) all the multitude of the horses of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even all the multitude of the horses of the Israelites, which (which multitude) are consumed, reduced to this small number, all consumed except these five. And this was indeed worthy of a double behold, to shew what mischief the famine had done both upon men and beasts, and to what a low ebb the king of Israel was come, that all his troops of horses, to which he had trusted, were shrunk to so small a number.

And so it fell out, &c. - See how heinously God resents our distrust of his power, providence and promise! Whenever God promises the end, he knows where to provide the means.

THen Elisha said , Hear ye the word of the LORD, Thus saith 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.

Either, to the Messenger, to be reported to the King: or rather, to the King, being then come to him, as it is expressed, ver. 18. and to his Courtiers, who were come with him, ver. 2.

The Lord, whom you have so highly offended, and at present despise and refuse to wait upon, of his own meer Grace and Bounty hath sent you the glad tidings of your deliverance.

Heb. Seah, a Measure containing six Cabs, or 144 Egg-shells, or about a Peck and a Pottle of our Measure.

Compare this with chap. 6. 25.

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 .

When he walked. See chap. 5. 18.

Through which he could Rain down Corn, as once he did Manna.

A just punishment for such peremptory unbelief, whereby he made not onely the Prophet, but even God himself (in whose Name it was evident Elisha said and did this and other things) a lyar.

Marginal references: Heb. a lord which belonged to the King, leaning upon his hand.

3 ¶ And there were four leprous men at the entring in of the gate : and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?

To wit, of the City; out of which they were shut by virtue Gods Law, Lev. 13. 46. and 14. 3▪ either, the dwellingplace of the Lepers was near the Gate: or, they were come very near the Gate, for fear of the Syrians.

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.

In the Evening twilight, as appears from v. 9. and 12.

6 For the LORD made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: 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.

Either, in the Air: or rather in their Ears: otherwise the Samaritans had heard it.

Under which name (as elsewhere under the name of the Amorites) he seems to understand all, or any of the people of Canaan. For though the greatest number of that people were destroyed, yet [illegible: 1+ letters]ry many of them were spared, and many of them upon Ioshua's coming, fled away, some to more remote parts, (whi[illegible: 1+ letters] that famous and ancient Inscription upon a Pillar in Africa testifies) and others to the Lands bordering upon Canaan, where by reason of the scarcity of Inhabitants there was in t[illegible: 1+ letters]t Age room enough for them; and there they seated themselves, and grew numerous and powerful, and had (after their ancient and constant manner) Kings over them. The Kings also of Tyrus or Sidon may be here included.

By which they may understand, either the King of Egypt, the Plural Number being put for the Singular, as it is elsewhere: or, the Princes and Governors of the several Nomi or Provinces in Egypt, such being oft called kings in Scripture.

Marginal references: 2 Sam. 5. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]

7 Wherefore they arose and [illegible: 1+ letters]ed in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for life .

To save their lives; which they fancied to be in such present and extream danger, that they durst not stay to take away any of their Goods, but every man fled the next way before him.

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 tell the kings houshold.

Not well for our Brethren, whom we should pity and help: nor well for our selves; for we may suffer for this neglect; either, from the Syrians, who may lie lurking hereabouts; or, from our King and people; or, from Gods immediate hand.

Marginal references: Heb. we shall find punishment.

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.

To wit, the Porter and his Companies.

11 And he called the porters , and they told it to the kings house within.

Either, his fellow-Porters of the City: or rather, the Porters or Guards of the Gate of the Kings House.

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 the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed ) and let us send and see.

So the sense is, We may well venture these Horses, though we have no more, because both they and we are ready to perish through hunger; and therefore let us use them whilst we may for our common good, or to make the discovery. But the repetition of the Phrase seems to imply something more emphatical and significant than the saving of four or five Horses, for which it is not probable they would be so much concerned in their circumstances. The words therefore may be rendred otherwise, Behold, they are of a truth (the Hebrew prefix, Caph, being not here a note of similitude, as the other Translations make it, and as it is commonly used, but an affirmation of the truth and certainty of the things, as it is taken Numb. 11. 1. Deut. 9. 10. Hos. 4. 4. and 5. 10. I[illegible: 1+ letters]h. 1. 14.) all the multitude of the Horses of Israel that are left in it: (to wit, in the City:) behold, I say, they are even all the multitude of the Horses of the Israelites, which (i. e. which multitude) are consumed, i. e. reduced to this small number, all consumed except these five. And thus the vulgar Latin, and some others, understand it. And this was indeed a memorable passage, and worthy of a double behold, to shew what mischief the Famine had done both upon Men and Beasts, and to what a low ebb the King of Israel was come, that all his Troops of Horses, to which he had trusted, were shrunk to so small a number.

Marginal references: Heb. in it.

14 They took therefore two chariot-horses , and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go, and see.

Or, two chariots [illegible: 1+ letters]f horses: or rather, two chariot-horses, as divers render the words, i. e. Horses which belonged to the Kings Chariots. For single Horses [illegible: 1 word] much more proper for this service, than Chariots and Horses. And whereas it was moved by the Kings Servant that all the five Horses should be sent, it seems it was thought by the King and others, that two were sufficient for that purpose.

Marginal references: Heb. two chariots of horses, 1. Kin. 10. 29.

15 And they went after them unto Jordan, and lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste ; and the messengers returned and told the king.

Or, in their fear or consternation, wherewith God struck them.

Marginal references: Or. in the[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word]

17 ¶ And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned, to have the charge of the gate : and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.

Partly, to prevent tumults, and disorders and mischiefs amongst the people: and partly, to take order about the shutting of the Gates, if need were, and if the Syrians should happen to return upon them.

2Ki 7:1-2

Elisha announced to him the word of the Lord: “At the (this) time to-morrow a seah of wheaten flour (סלת, see at 1Ki 5:2) will be worth a shekel, and two seahs of barley a shekel in the gate, i.e., in the market, at Samaria.” A seah, or a third of an ephah = a Dresden peck (Metze), for a shekel was still a high price; but in comparison with the prices given in 2Ki 6:25 as those obtained for the most worthless kinds of food, it was incredibly cheap. The king’s aide-de-camp (שׁלישׁ: see at 2Sa 23:8; נשׁען למּלך אשׁר, an error in writing for נשׁ המּלך אשׁר, cf. 2Ki 7:17, and for the explanation 2Ki 5:18) therefore replied with mockery at this prophecy: “Behold (i.e., granted that) the Lord made windows in heaven, will this indeed be?” i.e., such cheapness take place. (For the construction, see Ewald, §357, b.) The ridicule lay more especially in the “windows in heaven,” in which there is an allusion to Gen 7:11, sc. to rain down a flood of flour and corn. Elisha answered seriously: “Behold, thou wilt see it with thine eyes, but not eat thereof” (see 2Ki 7:17.). The fulfilment of these words of Elisha was brought about by the event narrated in 2Ki 7:3.

2Ki 7:3-7 “Four men were before the gate as lepers,” or at the gateway, separated from human society, according to the law in Lev 13:46; Num 5:3, probably in a building erected for the purpose (cf. 2Ki 15:5), just as at the present day the lepers at Jerusalem have their huts by the side of the Zion gate (vid., Strauss, Sinai u. Golgatha, p. 205, and Tobler, Denkblätter aus Jerus. p. 411ff.). These men being on the point of starvation, resolved to invade the camp of the Syrians, and carried out this resolution בּנּשׁף, in the evening twilight, not the morning twilight (Seb. Schm., Cler., etc.), on account of 2Ki 7:12, where the king is said to have received the news of the flight of the Syrians during the night. Coming to “the end of the Syrian camp,” i.e., to the outskirts of it on the city side, they found no one there. For (2Ki 7:6, 2Ki 7:7) “the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and horses, a noise of a great army,” so that, believing the king of Israel to have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to fall upon them, they fled from the camp in the twilight אל־נפשׁם, with regard to their life, i.e., to save their life only, leaving behind them their tents, horses, and asses, and the camp as it was. - The miracle, by which God delivered Samaria from the famine or from surrendering to the foe, consisted in an oral delusion, namely, in the fact that the besiegers thought they heard the march of hostile armies from the north and south, and were seized with such panic terror that they fled in the greatest haste, leaving behind them their baggage, and their beasts of draught and burden. It is impossible to decide whether the noise which they heard had any objective reality, say a miraculous buzzing in the air, or whether it was merely a deception of the senses produced in their ears by God; and this is a matter of no importance, since in either case it was produced miraculously by God. The kings of the Hittites are kings of northern Canaan, upon Lebanon and towards Phoenicia; חתּים in the broader sense for Canaanites, as in 1Ki 10:29. The plural, “kings of the Egyptians,” is probably only occasioned by the parallel expression “kings of the Hittites,” and is not to be pressed.

2Ki 7:8-11

When these lepers (these, pointing back to 2Ki 7:3.) came into the camp which the Syrians had left, they first of all satisfied their own hunger with the provisions which they found in the tents, and then took different valuables and concealed them. But their consciences were soon aroused, so that they said: We are not doing right; this day is a day of joyful tidings: if we are silent and wait till the morning light, guilt will overtake us; “for it is the duty of citizens to make known things relating to public safety” (Grotius). They then resolved to announce the joyful event in the king’s palace, and reported it to the watchman at the city gate. העיר שׁער stands as a generic term in a collective sense for the persons who watched at the gate; hence the following plural להם, and in 2Ki 7:11 השּׁערים. “And the gate-keepers cried out (what they had heard) and reported it in the king’s palace.”

2Ki 7:12-15

The king imagined that the unexpected departure of the Syrians was only a ruse, namely, that they had left the camp and hidden themselves in the field, to entice the besieged out of the fortress, and then fall upon them and press into the city. בּהשּׂדה according to later usage for בּשּׂדה (vid., Ewald, §244, a). In order to make sure of the correctness or incorrectness of this conjecture, one of the king’s servants (counsellors) gave this advice: “Let them take (the Vav before יקחוּ as in 2Ki 4:41) five of the horses left in the city, that we may send and see how the matter stands.” The words, “Behold they (the five horses) are as the whole multitude of Israel that are left in it (the city); behold they are as the whole multitude of Israel that are gone,” have this meaning: The five horsemen (for horses stand for horsemen, as it is self-evident that it was men on horseback and not the horses themselves that were to be sent out as spies) can but share the fate of the rest of the people of Samaria, whether they return unhurt to meet death by starvation with the people that still remain, or fall into the hands of the enemy and are put to death, in which case they will only suffer the lot of those who have already perished. Five horses is an approximative small number, and is therefore not at variance with the following statement, that two pair of horses were sent out with chariots and men. The Chethîb ההמון is not to be altered, since there are other instances in which the first noun is written with the article, though in the construct state (vid., Ewald, §290, e.); and the Keri is only conformed to the following כּכל־המון. 2Ki 7:14, 2Ki 7:15. They then sent out two chariots with horses, who pursued the flying enemy to the Jordan, and found the whole of the road full of traces of the hurried flight, consisting of clothes and vessels that had been thrown away. The Chethîb בּהחפזם is the only correct reading, since it is only in the Niphal that חפז has the meaning to fly in great haste (cf. 1Sa 23:26; Psa 48:6; Psa 104:7).

2Ki 7:16-20

When the returning messengers reported this, the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians, and this was followed by the consequent cheapness of provisions predicted by Elisha. As the people streamed out, the unbelieving aide-de-camp, whom the king had ordered to take the oversight at the gate (הפקיד, to deliver the oversight) for the purpose of preserving order in the crowding of the starving multitude, was trodden down by the people, so that he died, whereby this prediction of Elisha was fulfilled. The exact fulfilment of this prediction appeared so memorable to the historian, that he repeats this prophecy in 2Ki 7:18-20 along with the event which occasioned it, and refers again to its fulfilment.

Elisha Foretells the Relief of Samaria. (b. c. 891.)

1 Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord ; Thus saith 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.

Here, I. Elisha foretels that, notwithstanding the great straits to which the city of Samaria is reduced, yet within twenty-four hours they shall have plenty, v. 1. The king of Israel despaired of it and grew weary of waiting: then Elisha foretold it, when things were at the worst. Man's extremity is God's opportunity of magnifying his own power; his time to appear for his people is when their strength is gone, Deut. xxxii. 36. When they had given over expecting help it came. When the son of man comes shall he find faith on the earth? Luke xviii. 8. The king said, What shall I wait for the Lord any longer? And perhaps some of the elders were ready to say the same: "Well," said Elisha, "you hear what these say; now hear you the word of the Lord, hear what he says, hear it and heed it and believe it: to-morrow corn shall be sold at the usual rate in the gate of Samaria;" that is, the siege shall be raised, for the gate of the city shall be opened, and the market shall be held there as formerly. The return of peace is thus expressed (Judg. v. 11), Then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates, to buy and sell there. 2. The consequence of that shall be great plenty. This would, in time, follow of course, but that corn should be thus cheap in so short a time was quite beyond what could be thought of. Though the king of Israel had just now threatened Elisha's life, God promises to save his life and the life of his people; for where sin abounded grace doth much more abound.

II. A peer of Israel that happened to be present openly declared his disbelief of this prediction, v. 2. He was a courtier whom the king had an affection for, as the man of his right hand, on whom he leaned, that is, on whose prudence he much relied, and in whom he reposed much confidence. He thought it impossible, unless God should rain corn out of the clouds, as once he did manna; no less than the repetition of Moses's miracle will serve him, though that of Elijah might have served to answer this intention, the increasing of the meal in the barrel.

III. The just doom passed upon him for his infidelity, that he should see this great plenty for this conviction, and yet not eat of it to his comfort. Note, Unbelief is a sin by which men greatly dishonour and displease God, and deprive themselves of the favours he designed for them. The murmuring Israelites saw Canaan, but could not enter in because of unbelief. Such (says bishop Patrick) will be the portion of those that believe not the promise of eternal life; they shall see it at a distance—Abraham afar off, but shall never taste of it; for they forfeit the benefit of the promise if they cannot find in their heart to take God's word.

The Siege of Samaria Raised. (b. c. 891.)

3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? 4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host 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 host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: 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 asses, 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 tell 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.

We are here told,

I. How the siege of Samaria was raised in the evening, at the edge of night (v. 6, 7), not by might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, striking terror upon the spirits of the besiegers. Here was not a sword drawn against them, not a drop of blood shed, it was not by thunder or hailstones that they were discomfited, nor were they slain, as Sennacherib's army before Jerusalem, by a destroying angel; but, 1. The Lord made them to hear a noise of chariots and horses. The Syrians that besieged Dothan had their sight imposed upon, ch. vi. 18. These had their hearing imposed upon. For God knows how to work upon every sense, pursuant to his own counsels as he makes the hearing ear and the seeing eye, so he makes the deaf and the blind, Exod. iv. 11. Whether the noise was really made in the air by the ministry of angels, or whether it was only a sound in their ears, is not certain; which soever it was, it was from God, who both brings the wind out of his treasures, and forms the spirit of man within him. The sight of horses and chariots had encouraged the prophet's servant, ch. vi. 17. The noise of horses and chariots terrified the hosts of Syria. For notices from the invisible world are either very comfortable or very dreadful, according as men are at peace with God or at war with him. 2. Hearing this noise, they concluded the king of Israel had certainly procured assistance from some foreign power: He has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians. There was, for aught we know but one king of Egypt, and what kings there were of the Hittites nobody can imagine; but, as they were imposed upon by that dreadful sound in their ears, so they imposed upon themselves by the interpretation they made of it. Had they supposed the king of Judah to have come with his forces, there would have been more of probability in their apprehensions than to dream of the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians. If the fancies of any of them raised this spectre, yet their reasons might soon have laid it: how could the king of Israel, who was closely besieged, hold intelligence with those distant princes? What had he to hire them with? It was impossible but some notice would come, before, of the motions of so great a host; but there were they in great fear where no fear was. 3. Hereupon they all fled with incredible precipitation, as for their lives, left their camp as it was: even their horses, that might have hastened their flight, they could not stay to take with them, v. 7. None of them had so much sense as to send out scouts to discover the supposed enemy, much less courage enough to face the enemy, though fatigued with a long march. The wicked flee when none pursues. God can, when he pleases, dispirit the boldest and most brave, and make the stoutest heart to tremble. Those that will not fear God he can make to fear at the shaking of a leaf.

II. How the Syrians' flight was discovered by four leprous men. Samaria was delivered, and did not know it. The watchmen on the walls were not aware of the retreat of the enemy, so silently did they steal away. But Providence employed four lepers to be the intelligencers, who had their lodging without the gate, being excluded from the city, as ceremonially unclean: the Jews say they were Gehazi and his three sons; perhaps Gehazi might be one of them, which might cause him to be taken notice of afterwards by the king, ch. viii. 4. See here, 1. How these lepers reasoned themselves into a resolution to make a visit in the night to the camp of the Syrians, v. 3, 4. They were ready to perish for hunger; none passed through the gate to relieve them. Should they go into the city, there was nothing to be had there, they must die in the streets; should they sit still, they must pine to death in their cottage. They therefore determine to go over to the enemy, and throw themselves upon their mercy: if they killed them, better die by the sword than by famine, one death than a thousand; but perhaps they would save them alive, as objects of compassion. Common prudence will put us upon that method which may better our condition, but cannot make it worse. The prodigal son resolves to return to his father, whose displeasure he had reason to fear, rather than perish with hunger in the far country. These lepers conclude, "If they kill us, we shall but die;" and happy they who, in another sense, can thus speak of dying. "We shall but die, that is the worst of it, not die and be damned, not be hurt of the second death." According to this resolution, they went, in the beginning of the night, to the camp of the Syrians, and, to their great surprise, found it wholly deserted, not a man to be seen or heard in it, v. 5. Providence ordered it, that these lepers came as soon as ever the Syrians had fled, for they fled in the twilight, the evening twilight (v. 7), and in the twilight the lepers came (v. 5), and so no time was lost. 2. How they reasoned themselves into a resolution to bring tidings of this to the city. They feasted in the first tent they came to (v. 8) and then began to think of enriching themselves with the plunder; but they corrected themselves (v. 9): "We do not well to conceal these good tidings from the community we are members of, under colour of being avenged upon them for excluding us from their society; it was the law that did it, not they, and therefore let us bring them the news. Though it awake them from sleep, it will be life from the dead to them." Their own consciences told them that some mischief would befal them if they acted separately, and sought themselves only. Selfish narrow-spirited people cannot expect to prosper; the most comfortable advantage is that which our brethren share with us in. According to this resolution, they returned to the gate, and acquainted the sentinel with what they had discovered (v. 10), who straightway brought the intelligence to court (v. 11), and it was not the less acceptable for being first brought by lepers.

Samaria Plentifully Supplied. (b. c. 891.)

12 And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be 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 consumed:) and let us send and see. 14 They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. 15 And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. 16 And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord . 17 And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. 18 And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria: 19 And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. 20 And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

Here we have,

I. The king's jealousy of a stratagem in the Syrian's retreat, v. 12. He feared that they had withdrawn into an ambush, to draw out the besieged, that they might fall on them with more advantage. He knew he had no reason to expect that God should appear thus wonderfully for him, having forfeited his favour by his unbelief and impatience. He knew no reason the Syrians had to fly, for it does not appear that he or any of this attendants heard the noise of the chariots which the Syrians were frightened at. Let not those who, like him, are unstable in all their ways, think to receive any thing from God; nay, a guilty conscience fears the worst and makes men suspicious.

II. The course they took for their satisfaction, and to prevent their falling into a snare. They sent out spies to see what had become of the Syrians, and found they had all fled indeed, commanders as well a common soldiers. They could track them by the garments which they threw off, and left by the way, for their greater expedition, v. 15. He that gave this advice seems to have been very sensible of the deplorable condition the people were in (v. 13); for speaking of the horses, many of which were dead and the rest ready to perish for hunger, he says, and repeats it, "They are as all the multitude of Israel. Israel used to glory in their multitude, but now they are diminished and brought low." He advised to send five horsemen, but, it should seem, there were only two horses fit to be sent, and those chariot-horses, v. 14. Now the Lord repented himself concerning his servants, when he saw that their strength was gone, Deut. xxxii. 36.

III. The plenty that was in Samaria, from the plunder of the camp of the Syrians, v. 16. Had the Syrians been governed by the modern policies of war, when they could not take their baggage and their tents with them they would rather have burnt them (as it is common to do with the forage of a country) than let them fall into their enemies' hands; but God determined that the besieging of Samaria, which was intended for its ruin, should turn to its advantage, and that Israel should now be enriched with the spoil of the Syrians as of old with that of the Egyptians. Here see, 1. The wealth of the sinner laid up for the just (Job xxvii. 16, 17) and the spoilers spoiled, Isa. xxxiii. 1. 2. The wants of Israel supplied in a way that they little thought of, which should encourage us to depend upon the power and goodness of God in our greatest straits. 3. The word of Elisha fulfilled to a tittle: A measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel; those that spoiled the camp had not only enough to supply themselves with, but an overplus to sell at an easy rate for the benefit of others, and so even those that tarried at home did divide the spoil, Ps. lxviii. 12; Isa. xxxiii. 23. God's promise may be safely relied on, for no word of his shall fall to the ground.

IV. The death of the unbelieving courtier, that questioned the truth of Elisha's word. Divine threatenings will as surely be accomplished as divine promises. He that believeth not shall be damned stands as firm as He that believeth shall be saved. This lord, 1. Was preferred by the king to the charge of the gate (v. 17), to keep the peace, and to see that there was no tumult or disorder in dividing and disposing of the spoil. So much trust did the king repose in him, in his prudence and gravity, and so much did he delight to honour him. He that will be great, let him serve the public. 2. Was trodden to death by the people in the gate, either by accident, the crowd being exceedingly great, and he in the thickest of it, or perhaps designedly, because he abused his power, and was imperious in restraining the people from satisfying their hunger. However it was, God's justice was glorified, and the word of Elisha was fulfilled. He saw the plenty, for the silencing and shaming of his unbelief, corn cheap without opening windows in heaven, and therein saw his own folly in prescribing to God; but he did not eat of the plenty he saw. When he was about to fill his belly God cast the fury of his wrath upon him (Job xx. 23) and it came between the cup and the lip. Justly are those thus tantalized with the world's promises that think themselves tantalized with the promises of God. If believing shall not be seeing, seeing shall not be enjoying. This matter is repeated, and the event very particularly compared with the prediction (v. 18-20), that we might take special notice of it, and might learn, (1.) How deeply God resents our distrust of him, of his power, providence, and promise. When Israel said, Can God furnish a table? the Lord heard it and was wroth. Infinite wisdom will not be limited by our folly. God never promises the end without knowing where to provide the means. (2.) How uncertain life and the enjoyments of it are. Honour and power cannot secure men from sudden and inglorious deaths. He whom the king leaned upon the people trod upon; he who fancied himself the stay and support of the government was trampled under foot as the mire in the streets. Thus hath the pride of men's glory been often stained. (3.) How certain God's threatenings are, and how sure to alight on the guilty and obnoxious heads. Let all men fear before the great God, who treads upon princes as mortar and is terrible to the kings of the earth.