Lord God, open my mind and heart to your Word today. I need it to dwell in me richly so that I can follow you more closely and share its wisdom with others.
Read 2 KINGS 6:24 – 7:2
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Famine in Besieged Samaria
24 Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels[a] of silver, and a quarter of a cab[b] of seed pods[c] for five shekels.[d]
26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”
27 The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?” 28 Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?”
She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.”
30 When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and they saw that, under his robes, he had sackcloth on his body. 31 He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”
32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Don’t you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” 33 While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him.
The king said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
7 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah[e] of the finest flour will sell for a shekel[f] and two seahs[g] of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”
“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 6:25 That is, about 2 pounds or about 920 grams
- 2 Kings 6:25 That is, probably about 1/4 pound or about 100 grams
- 2 Kings 6:25 Or of doves’ dung
- 2 Kings 6:25 That is, about 2 ounces or about 58 grams
- 2 Kings 7:1 That is, probably about 12 pounds or about 5.5 kilograms of flour; also in verses 16 and 18
- 2 Kings 7:1 That is, about 2/5 ounce or about 12 grams; also in verses 16 and 18
- 2 Kings 7:1 That is, probably about 20 pounds or about 9 kilograms of barley; also in verses 16 and 18
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
May we have open hearts to God, the Spirit, the Word, and God’s people in the world around us, especially to those who are in poverty of one kind or another.
Think Further
What a dreadful story! This siege is the situation that Elisha had prevented with his actions in the previous chapter. He averted it for a time, but the Arameans did not stay away forever. As their leader, the king of Israel should have beseeched God for his mercy, or he could have called for Elisha, as servants in previous chapters had done. His answer to the woman who calls him to help, however, demonstrates a kind of fatalism, for, instead of appealing to God, he gives a rational answer. In fact, he blames Elisha, possibly because Elisha had advised against his killing his captives (v. 22), though it is unlikely that killing the Aramean army would have prevented this siege by Ben-Hadad’s ‘entire army’ (v. 24). Alternatively, the king might have felt that Elisha had humiliated the Arameans by giving them a feast.
The previous passage had a lot about seeing and blindness. Here the king is blind. In these chapters, Elisha has repeatedly been referred to by the narrator and others as ‘the man of God.’ The king, however, sees no irony in calling on God to curse him if he does not that day murder the man of God.
At the same time, the king had some sensibility. It would be easy to read sarcasm into his response to the starving woman, but it may well have been a simple statement that there was no food or wine left. He stops to listen to her complaint; despite feeling that he can do nothing, he tears his clothes in dismay at her story and accidentally reveals in doing so that he is wearing sackcloth – clothes of mourning or repentance. Then, as now, people were complicated and their relationship to and with God was ambiguous.
Apply
Think of a difficult situation, calling for a response to someone’s suffering. Might it be best to listen, mourn, repent, intercede, all of these, or something different?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, I need wisdom as I relate to others, especially those who are struggling. Please cause the mind and heart of Christ to grow in me and use my words, as well as my actions, to relate meaningfully in ways that will glorify you.
Last Updated on October 7, 2024 by kingstar
