10/14/2008
2 Kings 7:1 - 7 (HCSB) 1Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, six quarts of fine meal [will sell] for a shekel and 12 quarts of barley [will sell] for a shekel.’”
2Then the captain, the king’s right-hand man, responded to the man of God, “Look, [even if] the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?”
Elisha announced, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”
3Four men with skin diseases were at the entrance to the gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die? 4If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s go to the Arameans’ camp. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.” 5So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans’ camp. When they came to the camp’s edge, they discovered that there was not a [single] man there, 6for the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army.
The Arameans had said to each other, “The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us.” 7So they had gotten up and fled at twilight abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had fled for their lives.
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Samaria was under siege by the army of Aram. The Aramean army was camped around the city and the city was having to subside only on what had been stored up, because they could not leave the city. Food was becoming very expensive.
So when Elisha says “six quarts of fine meal will sell for a shekel and 12 quarts of barley will sell for a shekel.” He is saying that food will be very inexpensive within one day. The commander of the armies smirks that even God couldn’t do such a thing – to which Elisha responds: “you will see it, but you will not experience it.”
How many times have we been in the presence of God and doubted that He could do the miraculous? How quick are we to limit what God can do by our own understanding?
Very early in the morning, before sunrise, 4 lepers decided to go into the Aramean camp. It was a death-wish of sorts. They figured that the Arameans would either have pity on them and give them food, or kill them. Either way, they thought, would be better than starving and sick. As they approached the camp, they noticed no-one there. The entire camp was empty.
The scripture tells us that God caused the Aramaen army to hear what sounded like masses of cavalry moving in the night. Because of the darkness of the night, the Arameans could not see anything but from what they could hear, they became so afraid that they fled without even packing their supplies. They even left their horses.
The lepers reported this to the king and when it was verified, the people from the city rushed the Aramean camp, trampling the commander of Israel’s army in the process. The Israelites even followed the path of the retreating Arameans and found armor and clothing strewn along the way as they army threw off items to lighten their load.
God did exactly what He said He would. In one day, the city had plenty of food, water, and a surplus of provisions that had been completely abandoned by their attackers. Israel had “won” a battle without even engaging in battle. They had taken massive amounts of plunder without lifting a finger.
We are so quick to doubt God. What God can do so easily, we fail to grasp. We know what we can do and limit what God can do by our own limitations. The commander of Israel’s army was killed because of his doubt. Really, he was killed for his mockery of God.
Let us not be so quick to doubt what God can do. And heaven forbid that we ever be found mocking God’s power.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
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