Don't let anybody go. 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. But once his repentance was revealed, the people knew that the king knew there was someone above him. The presence of the wicked king had disturbed the heavenly tone of his soul.
The four lepers, without any swindling, will themselves discover an even bigger Aramean cache in due course. 2nd Kings 7: Messianic prophecy in Elisha and four leper ‘saviors’ –. " "And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that behold there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. " Now, I want you to know that God has resources that you know nothing about, and God has ways of working of which you not have not even thought. And such was the state, not merely without a blessing, but under a judicial curse from God. They went and called to the gatekeepers of the city: Since the lepers were not welcome in the city, they could only communicate with the gatekeepers.
By an unaccountable fright into which God put the Syrians (v. 6), which caused them to retire precipitately (v. 7). And he had said, "In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. " And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid" but so it was according to the word of the prophet. And if they kill us, we haven't lost a thing because we're going to die anyhow. Bible Review 7 (Feb. 1991), 18. The event answered the prediction both in the sudden plenty (v. 16), and the death of the unbelieving lord (v. 17-20); for no word of God shall fall to the ground. No one believed them! Elijah was more after the pattern of John the Baptist who repelled the advances of men; who rebuked, if he came across those who were in exalted station but living to dishonour God. Hence, the lepers' determination to desert to the Arameans indicates that the Omride dynasty had lost function as a legitimate royal regime because of its utter failure to protect their subjects, especially, the lowest class of the society. The people in the city were starving just as much as they were. "We shall but die, that is the worst of it, not die and be damned, not be hurt of the second death. " If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7 1. "How often faith breaks down in this way!
First, he doubted the power of God. God was pleased so to draw out the mind and heart of the prophet. Four lepers discover that the Syrian camp is deserted, and bring word unto the city (Not in Chronicles). Renteria, "The Elijah/Elisha Stories, " 86. Commentary on 2 Kings 7 by Matthew Henry. The king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate: Perhaps the king did this to rebuke his officer. Commentaries/geb/ 1999. There were four leprous men — The Gemara in Sota, R. Sol. God's promise and what the lepers discovered. Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate.
Disappears: he has gone out from the presence of God as Israel is now, as it were, gone out from God's presence. They would have no quarter there. This Book, indeed, for the most part is made up of the annals of the poor and despised. " All the world might have done it in vain. Subversive Implications of 2 Kings 7:3-10 with Focus on the Lepers –. "And as they were seething pottage, one of them put in some wild gourds, which were poisonous. They did think better of their actions. It is brought about, 1. In this sense, the lepers appear more rational and realistic than the king. The captain leaned on and treated the king with great honor. The narrator draws our attention to the lepers' ethical sense.
Instead of scarcity, there would be such abundance that food prices would radically drop in the city. By the seasonable discovery which four lepers made of this (v. 3-5), and the account which they gave of it to the court (v. 8-11). 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 shall die also. He said, "Behold this evil is of Jehovah; what should I wait for Jehovah any longer. " Now God worked a miracle. So we boiled my son and did eat him; and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him, and she hath hid her son. " 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? The same God who struck one Syrian army so they could not see what was there now struck another Syrian army so that they heard things that were not there. So they decided that their chances were better if they surrendered to the Syrians. And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate,.... Of the city of Samaria; lepers, according to the law, being obliged to be without the city and camp, Leviticus 13:46 these might have a dwelling assigned them near the gate; or they might get as near to it as they could, partly to obtain relief from the city, and partly for fear of the Syrians; these, the Jews say x, were Gehazi and his three sons, see 2 Kings 5:27. and they said one to another, why sit we here until we die? But the leper's report swept away all his words to the winds. And so they headed toward the camp of the Syrians, four leprous men. What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7 niv. And this is all that poor Israel can do. We remember the remarkable difference in the case of Elijah, who tested the faith of the poor widow by asking first for himself.
And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. It is only so that the blessing stays. Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, "Go and see. " Smith, Charles Ward. Enough to feed the whole city. What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7 1 15 sermons. " Elisha, on the contrary, was a witness of grace, and he therefore does not turn away from the habitations of men into the desert, but could, as we see, pass in to eat bread with this Shunammite. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die. " Now [the prime minister, ] the guy upon whom the king leaned, said to the prophet of God, if God would open up windows in heaven, could such a thing be? C. Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be: The king's officer doubted the prophecy, and his doubt was based on several faulty premises.
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? And the oil stayed. " The noise of horses and chariots terrified the hosts of Syria. These four guys sitting there starving to death], one of them looked with at the others and he said, [Fellows, ] why just sit here 'til we die? And there was great indignation against Israel, and they departed from him. " If we say, 'We will enter the city, ' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. Where Elijah sends anything of the sort, he leaves them to it. 13 During the reign of the Omrides, the elites who directed the society's production and redistribution strategies were not concerned with policies that would sustain all the members of the society, rather they were concerned with their own opulent lifestyle. "Then she came and told the man of God.
If grace works it will prove its own character, it will prove its own sovereignty, it will prove its own wisdom. They had either had their dwelling-place near the gate, or had come near it for fear of the Syrian army. They decided to risk it all and visit the enemy camp. So she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.