2 Kings · chapter 7 of 25
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2 Kings 7 tells how Elisha announces that by tomorrow, in the middle of the famine, flour and barley will sell cheaply at the gate of Samaria. Four lepers discover that the Lord made the Syrian army flee and that its camp is empty. They carry the news to the city, the people plunder the camp and the prophet's word comes true. The officer who did not believe is trampled at the gate and dies.
Chapter 6 ended with Samaria under siege, extreme famine and a king who blamed the Lord. 2 Kings 7 answers with a word of hope from Elisha and an astonishing deliverance that uses the most despised people in the city, the lepers. The chapter shows that God can change a hopeless situation in a single day, and that unbelief has consequences.
Elisha tells the king, in the presence of his officers, that by this time tomorrow, at the gate of Samaria, a measure of fine flour and two of barley will sell for a shekel. The officer on whose arm the king leans answers that even if the Lord made windows in heaven this could not happen. Elisha tells him he will see it with his own eyes but will not eat any of it.
At the entrance of the city are four lepers who reason that if they stay there they will die of hunger, and if they go into the city they will die too. They decide to go to the camp of the Syrians. At dusk they arrive and the camp is deserted: the Lord had made the Syrians hear the sound of chariots, horses and a great army, and thinking that the king of Israel had hired the kings of the Hittites and of Egypt, they fled at twilight and left everything behind.
The lepers eat and drink, take silver, gold and clothing, and hide them. Then they say to each other that they are not doing right to keep this good news quiet, and they tell the gatekeepers of the city. The king suspects a trap and sends horsemen to scout. They follow a trail of clothing and equipment that the Syrians threw away in their flight as far as the Jordan, and return with the news.
The people go out and plunder the camp, and the price of flour and barley falls as Elisha had said. The king had put the officer in charge of the gate, but the crowd tramples him and he dies, just as the prophet had told him.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Elisha announces that by this time tomorrow, flour and barley will sell cheaply at the gate of Samaria. The word comes at the darkest point of the siege, when nothing pointed to a change.
The Lord made the Syrian army hear the noise of chariots and horses, and they fled in terror. God delivers his people without Israel lifting a sword.
The lepers realize that this is a day of good news and that they must not keep it quiet. Their discovery is a model of announcing the faith: what God gives must be shared with those still in need.
The people trample the unbelieving officer at the gate, and he dies according to Elisha's word. The text contrasts the faith of the lowliest with the hardness of the one who doubted the word of the Lord.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That flour and barley would sell cheaply at the gate of Samaria. — 2 Kings 7:1
Answer: He did not believe it; he said that even if the Lord made windows in heaven it could not happen. — 2 Kings 7:2
Answer: Four lepers who were at the entrance of the city. — 2 Kings 7:3-5
Answer: The Lord made them hear the sound of chariots, horses and a great army. — 2 Kings 7:6-7
Answer: That it was a trap set by the Syrians; so he sent scouts. — 2 Kings 7:12-14
Answer: The people trampled him at the gate and he died; he saw the plenty but did not eat any of it. — 2 Kings 7:17-20
The deliverance of Samaria began with four men who had nothing to lose. Sometimes, when we are at the bottom, we discover that God has already done what we could not imagine. In a class or small group you can ask which situation we believe has no way out and how God's word invites us to wait on him.
The lepers also teach us not to keep good news to ourselves. Whoever has received God's grace has a responsibility toward those who are still hungry. And the officer's fate warns that mocking God's promises, even when they seem impossible, is a dangerous road.
2 Kings 7 ends with Samaria fed and Elisha's word fulfilled to the letter. In chapter 8 we will meet the woman of Shunem again and see Elisha travel to Damascus, where a change of kings will be announced.
They were the most marginalized people in society, forced to live outside the city. God uses them as the first to discover the deliverance and as its messengers. The story shows that the Lord does not depend on human prestige to work.
It is an expression the officer uses with irony: not even a miracle of that size, he says, could make such plenty possible. His unbelief costs him his life. It is a warning against putting limits on what God can do.
The text says the Lord made the Syrians hear the sound of chariots, horses and a great army, and they thought Israel had hired allies. It was not a human battle. God worked on the minds of the Syrians to deliver his people.