2 Kings 6: 1 – 33
Surprise
6 And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. 2 Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.” So, he answered, “Go.” 3 Then one said, “Please consent to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.” 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.” 6 So the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. 7 Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it. 8 Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” 9 And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” 10 Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus, he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice. 11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?” 12 And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” 13 So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.” 14 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. 15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18 So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 Now Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria. 20 So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria! 21 Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” 22 But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” 23 Then he prepared a great feast for them; and after they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So, the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel. 24 And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. 26 Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” 27 And he said, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” 28 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” 30 Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes; and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. 31 Then he said, “God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!” 32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” 33 And while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger, coming down to him; and then the king said, “Surely this calamity is from the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
One of the attributes that I think is woefully undervalued in life is the capacity to be surprised.
Do things happen that we didn’t expect? Do we venture into experiences that we haven’t had before and are therefore surprised?
Were you ever surprised when a plan you didn’t think had a prayer worked? Were you ever stunned when someone you didn’t have a lot of confidence in, or perhaps even mistrusted, far surpasses your expectations.
It becomes challenging, however, when we are invested in our opinion, when the surprise thereby calls into question our critical competence or the trustworthiness of our judgment. That’s when it gets hard.
And maybe it’s hardest when we weren’t even aware of how invested we are in an opinion or judgment. Or maybe weren’t aware we even had one. Even when the surprise is a good one – someone we’ve written off has really shined – it’s upsetting because it reveals that we were holding a bias or opinion of someone that was negative – and we’d like to think better of ourselves – and that we were wrong to boot!
That kind of surprise isn’t just unsettling it can also create a bit of guilt, of seeing something about ourselves that perhaps we hadn’t wanted to admit. This is often what’s behind the tense conversations that emerge around stereotypes. We don’t want to admit that we would ever make judgments about someone based upon their ethnicity, gender, age, or orientation, and when we realize we have – and that we were wrong – it can be hard to take.
But that very unsettling feeling, of course, can also lead to growth and change. To difficult, perhaps painful, change, but change that can take you to a new place in terms of knowing yourself, valuing others, and being willing to look at a person or challenge from a variety of angles before deciding.
Which is why being willing to be surprised is so essential, I believe, for good leaders. Because if you’re willing to be surprised, you’re still learning, still know you have a lot to learn, still open to being stretched and growing in ways you wouldn’t imagine.
Our Great and Mighty God Yahweh will teach this very important lesson not only to foreigners but to the Israelites. He will cause some humorous surprises that will expose the deep-down feeling of us human being toward each other.
6 And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. 2 Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.” So, he answered, “Go.”
The request of these faithful men to Elisha, on one of his visits, was for permission to take time off from their teaching work to build new premises for themselves. It does not indicate that Elisha lived with them, but it does bring out how faithful they were in their duties.
They wanted permission to take time off to build larger premises. These would not be very luxurious. The timber available from by the Jordan was of the small tree variety (such as willow, tamarisk, acacia and plane trees), but it was nevertheless quite suitable for the kind of shelter that they were intending to build in the hot, dry climate of the Jordan rift valley. Elisha gave his permission. The fact that he was not expecting to go with them points to the fact that he was not the resident leader of that community.
3 Then one said, “Please consent to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.”
They then asked for his company while they were doing it. They wanted to take advantage of his being with them, and it would give them further opportunity to talk with him. Furthermore, they respected his advice. They may also have felt that his presence would act as a protection against wild animals because they knew YHWH’s special care for him. And he agreed to go with them.
4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.”
So they all went off to the Jordan and began to cut down some trees for their building. However, as one of them was at work cutting the timber that grew by the river the iron axe head that he was using came off the shaft and fell into the water. If it was the only iron axe head that they had we can understand why he was so distressed, especially as they did not have the resources to obtain a new one.
6 So the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float.
So, it was a good thing that Elisha had come along with them. Take note of the change ‘the man of God’ (from Elisha to ‘man of God’ suggests that a miracle was about to take place) asked, ‘where did it fall?’, and on being informed cut down a stick and cast it on the water, and the result was that the iron floated.
7 Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So, he reached out his hand and took it.
Then he told the man to reach out and pick it out of the water, which, because of the miracle he was able to do. By this lesson the prophets were made to recognize that without God the truth that they presented would have no cutting edge. It was also an indication to them that God would always help them in their difficulties, especially when disaster struck. The story is a reminder to us that life will not necessarily always go smoothly but that our Father is aware of our needs and of our circumstances and will meet us at the point of our need when the time is right.
Now at this time the king of Aram was puzzled because he kept raiding Israel only to discover each time that the king of Israel appeared to have advanced information, and thus had troops ready to forestall him. He could only assume that it was because he was being betrayed. But his servants, presumably obtaining their knowledge through their intelligence service, explained to him that it was because there was a prophet in Israel called Elisha, who knew his secrets even as he dreamed of them. By this YHWH was revealing to Israel (and Judah) that if only they would trust in Him they would be safe.
The king of Aram then decided that his best move would be to eliminate Elisha, and, learning that he was in Dothan, sent a host with horses and chariots to abduct him. But he had reckoned without YHWH. For at Elisha’s request YHWH in some way blinded the host so that they became easy prisoners of Israel. Elisha, however, then insisted that they should not be harmed, and having been fed they were returned to Aram. Understandably Aram then decided that while Elisha was around it would be better not to invade Israel any more.
8 Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”
There was a state of war between Israel and Aram, and after consultation with his advisers, the king of Aram would send his troops into Israel to take them by surprise, determining to take Israel by surprise and establish their camp in certain places, thus gaining control of the area around and obtaining much spoil.
9 And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.”
Unknown to him Elisha would learn from YHWH what the plan was and would tell the king of Israel where to station his troops because of the anticipated Syrian assault.
10 Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus, he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice.
Again and again when the Syrians attacked it was always to find the Israelite army ready for them. Early notification was important as each time the raid was a major one the general host would have to be called on to support the standing army. It was thus extremely useful to know that an attack was coming before it happened to be able to muster the troops before the enemy could do much damage.
11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”
This became so obvious that the king of Aram was both puzzled and troubled, and wondered how it was that the king of Israel was always able to forestall him, and always appeared to know what he was going to do next. He could only assume that there was a spy among his advisers, who were the only ones to know of his plans. So, he challenged them as to who the traitor might be.
12 And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
But one among his high officials, who was possibly in charge of intelligence, explained to him that it was not a question of a traitor. The fact was that Elisha, who was a prophet in Israel, knew even what he said in his innermost room.
13 So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.”
This alarmed and upset the king, and so he asked his official to discover where Elisha was to abduct him. The reply came that he was in Dothan ten miles north of Samaria, at the head of the Valley of Jezreel, on the main Damascus to Egypt trade route.
14 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
The king’s evil intent was made clear when he sent a large host with chariots and horsemen to abduct Elisha. And they came and surrounded Dothan by night. It was an indication of Elisha’ reputation that such a large force was felt to be necessary, and that they recognized that they would have to take him by surprise.
15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
When Elisha’s servant arose in the morning and saw the city besieged by such a powerful force, and the number of chariots and horses gathered there, he was alarmed, and came to Elisha and asked, “Alas, my master! how shall we do?”
16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
Elisha assured him that he need not be afraid because the forces that were with him and Elisha were far greater than those that were with the Syrians. They had YHWH of Hosts, with all His hosts, on their side.
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha had spiritual eyes and could see what is going on in the background. He prayed that YHWH would open his servant’s eyes so that he might be able to see what he saw. And when YHWH opened the young man’s eyes, he discovered that the mountain on which Dothan stood was covered with chariots of fire, and horses of fire. These were the real strength of Israel, available to them while their hearts were right towards YHWH.
This extraordinary vision is of great importance, for it is a reminder to us also that the invisible forces of God are ever watching over and protecting His own. It is a reminder to us that as Christians we live in a sense in two places. In our bodies we live in, and are limited to, the physical world, but in our spirit we live in, and have contact with, ‘the heavenlies’ (Ephesians 1.3), where we are seated with Christ, and under His personal protection, and where we engage in warfare against the forces of evil (Ephesians 6.10-18).
18 So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
Elisha now prayed to YHWH to smite the Syrians with ‘blindness’. They were rendered completely helpless.
19 Now Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria.
Elisha convinced them that they were in the wrong place, and that he would lead them to the right place.
20 So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!
Elisha presumably knew that the Israelite forces were gathered at Samaria, for their presence would be necessary once the eyes of the Syrians were opened. They no doubt moved out to surround the helpless force with swords and spears at the ready. They were at the mercy of the army of Israel.
21 Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
The excited king of Israel, finding his great enemies at his mercy, called on Elisha and cried, “My father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them?” It seemed too good an opportunity to miss. But God had not smitten them with blindness to see them destroyed. His purpose was to teach Aram a lesson that it would not forget for a long time, and that would be best served by sending them home unharmed as a permanent message to their king. Who could fight against this kind of thing?
22 But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”
You see who is in charge here. Elisha commanded that instead of smiting them they should provide them with provisions. They had been captured without fighting and they should therefore be treated mercifully as what they were, YHWH’s prisoners of war. Elisha called on the king of Israel to provide hospitality and return them back unharmed to their land. Knowing that they all could have been killed they would take back this story for other descendants about how Mighty the God of Israel Is.
23 Then he prepared a great feast for them; and after they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So, the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel.
The whole raiding party were ‘fed and watered’. It was clear that Israel with their powerful God were better left alone.
The result was that all forays into Israel by raiding bands, whether large or small, ceased for a good while until the memory of what had happened wore off.
The ministry of Elisha covered a period of over fifty years during the reigns of Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz and Jehoash. During the reign of Jehoram YHWH had, as we have seen, given special protection to Israel. But the continuing sinfulness of the kings of Israel apparently caused the forfeiting of that special protection so that YHWH no longer intervened in the same way. And one of the results of that is described in what follows. It is a reminder that if God is not sought in a time of favor, then judgment and chastening will inevitably follow. While it might appeare that with Elisha around Israel had little to fear, that is now being revealed as being untrue. Not only was Samaria besieged, but it had been allowed to reach a point where the people were literally starving and were literally eating anything.
The passage deals with the investment by Benhadad, king of Aram, of the city of Samaria during a full-scale invasion. Such an invasion had not occurred in the days of Jehoram. This new attack brought Samaria to its knees, as the city suffered under extreme shortage of food, with the result that every form of edible matter was eaten, even sinking down into cannibalism.
Things had become so bad that the blame inevitably fell on Elisha, who had previously so wonderfully delivered Israel. The king could not understand why, having no doubt encouraged the people to resist, he did not arrange for their deliverance again in the same way as he had previously. He failed to recognize that it was YHWH’s doing, and not Elisha’s, and that Elisha was wholly dependent on YHWH and His will and he failed to recognize that it may have been due to his own evil living. However, on sending messengers to Elisha he received the assurance that the siege would shortly be lifted so that all would have enough to eat. The final deliverance of Samaria by YHWH’s power is then described.
This section opens with details of the cost of food in the period of severe shortage (verses 24-25), and closes with the details of the cost once plenty is to be restored (7.1).
24 And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria.
Benhadad was a throne name of the kings of Aram. This was Benhadad III, who succeeded Hazael, who had caused great distress to Israel. This therefore was a full scale invasion, and having taken many towns and cities, the Syrians had surrounded and besieged Samaria in order to starve it into submission.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed, they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.
The result was that as the months passed food began to run out and the stage was reached when the people were starving and would almost eat anything. The eating of an donkey’s head was forbidden in the Law (Leviticus 11.3 ff.), it was the most inedible part of the ass, and the price was clearly exorbitant. Only the wealthy could afford it. The condition was so bad that ‘dove’s dung’ would also be eaten.
26 Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
One day the king was walking on the wall of the city surveying the defensive position, when a woman called out to him for an audience.
27 And he said, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?”
His first bitter response brings out the depths of his feelings. He had no means of helping her. The threshing-floor and winepress were empty. Her only hope was to look to YHWH. And if He failed to answer, what could anyone else do?
28 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”
The king the asked her what her problem was and was horrified to learn that with another woman she had indulged in cannibalism by eating her son, with the understanding that after that they would eat the other woman’s son. But now the other woman had gone back on her promise and was withholding her son, and the first woman was asking the king for justice by enforcing the agreement. The very fact that she expected him to do so demonstrates that she knew that this was now a fairly common practice under the problems of the siege.
30 Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes; and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body.
The king was shocked and tore his clothes to express his strong emotion. As king he had of course been shielded from the kind of starvation that these people were experiencing, but now it was being brought home to him with a vengeance. The tearing of his clothes revealed to all that he was wearing the sackcloth of mourning underneath, because of his distress at the situation of his people, making clear his genuine feeling for their sufferings.
31 Then he said, “God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!”
Being so wound up with anger he had to put the blame on somebody other than himself so he swore that the head of Elisha would be forfeited that day. This may have been because Elisha had encouraged standing firm in the face of the threat on the grounds that YHWH would at some point intervene, or his reasoning may have been that as the chief prophet of YHWH, Whom he saw as responsible for this situation, Elisha should have been able to do something about it (as reputedly he had done in the past). In his view as the situation continued it was therefore primarily Elisha’s fault. This would bring out how dependent Israel felt at that time on the prophets. They above all were the people who could change situations by their prophecies. In other words, the king and people had a superstitious belief that what caused and changed situations was the actual activity of prophets, who could make things happen or not as they would. They did not stop to consider that in Israel these prophets pointed out that these things happened because of YHWH’s anger at the sinfulness of the king and people, and that therefore the situation was the fault of the king and people themselves.
32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
Elisha, meanwhile, equally concerned about the situation of the famine was discussing matters with the elders of the people who had come to his house in view of the seriousness of the national situation. But even while he was talking with them he was made aware by YHWH of the king’s intentions and of the fact that an assassin being sent as a messenger was coming from the king. Elisha therefore turned to the elders and pointed out that this was only to be expected of a man whose father had reveled in blood (although ‘son of a murderer’ need only indicate one who was capable of murder), and gave orders that his door should be barred and bolted against the messenger, as the king himself would be following right after him.
33 And while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger, coming down to him; and then the king said, “Surely this calamity is from the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
When the king showed up he blamed YHWH directly for the evil that had come on them. Sinners never see themselves as really deserving of God’s chastisement, and he may therefore have felt that wearing sackcloth was enough indication of repentance, and have been wondering why, in view of it, YHWH had not responded with help for the Israelites. He did not see that really this evil had sprung from the behavior of himself and the people. His further words may be a threat to rid himself of Elisha and turn to other gods for help, claiming, having performed such rites as they thought were necessary without receiving a response, perhaps it was time to look to Baal. He had failed to understand that in fact the only ‘rite’ that YHWH really demanded was repentance and submission to His covenant (Isaiah 1.11-18), and that without that all ritualistic efforts to placate God were in vain.
7 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’
Elisha’s reply was basically that it was YHWH’s sure prophetic word, a word that must therefore necessarily come to fruition, that within a day the siege would be relieved, and the shortages would be over. By this on the next day, he assured the king, the markets in the space in front of the city gates would be selling flour and barley at normal prices. With the Syrian army still encamped around the city, it must have appeared very unlikely. We will pick up with this verse when we look at chapter 7.
