Sun. evening message
Don’t Hold Your Peace !
2 Kings 7:1-20
I. The Dilemma Of The Lepers. V 3
a. They were sick.
In Biblical times the disease of Leprosy was regarded as a awful punishment from the Lord. It’s very name means "smiting". Those who were afflicted with the disease were considered to be unclean.
(From Smith’s Bible Dictionary)The disease began with little specks on the eyelids and on the palms of the hands, and gradually spread over different parts of the body, bleaching the hair white wherever it showed itself, crusting the affected parts with shining scales, and causing swellings and sores. From the skin, it slowly ate its way through the tissues, to the bones and joints, and even to the marrow, rotting the whole body piecemeal. The lungs, the organs of speech and hearing, and the eyes, were attacked in turn, till at last, consumption or dropsy brought welcome death. The dread of infection kept men aloof from the sufferer; and the law proscribed him as above all men unclean. The disease was hereditary to the fourth generation.")
The awful disease of Leprosy reminds us of the sinful condition of mankind, and it’s affects. Like leprosy the sinful nature of man is inheritied. Every person born into this world outside of Christ himself is born in sin. The writer of the Psalms declared "In sin did my mother conceive me." Like leprosy, sin spreads. Leprosy affected those who were in immediate contact as does sin.
Leprosy started off seeminly innocent with just specks, but would soon spread like cancer and consume the individual. Sin, like Leprosy brought shame and disgrace upon the individual. The leper was hopeless apart from a work of God as is the sinner. Outside of a miracle from God the Leper would die in his condition. Apart from the work of grace, the sinner is doomed !
b. They were separated.
We see in our scripture tonight the separation of the Leper. They were outside the gates of the city. No leper could live in a walled city. And wherever he was he was required to have his outer garment torn as a sign of deep grief. He was required to go bareheaded, and to cover his beard with his mantle as if lamenting at his own virtual death. He was obligated further to warn passers-by to keep away from him, by calling out "Unclean ! Unclean ! A leper was not allowed to speak to any one, or receive or return any salutation since this involved in an embrace. The Leper was cutoff from the house of God, and was excluded from priesthood. They lived a shameful, segregated, and separated life. What a awful glimpse of the results of our sinful nature. We are separated from God because of our sin ! We are unclean !
c. They were starving.
Not only were the lepers forced to deal with the disease that ravished their body, and the shame that occupied their soul....they were starving. Look at their dire situation.
Look at 2 Kings 6:25 "There was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold they beseiged it(referring to Syria) until an asses head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
The famine was so severe that it lent opportunity for the Syrians to beseige Samaria. The Syrian army literally had the people shut in, and intended on starving them out ! Food was so scarce that the head of a donkey was selling for 80 pieces of silver, and a 1/2 pint of dove dung was selling for five pieces of silver. The donkey was a unclean animal, and so to resort to the eating of it especially the head demonstrates the severity of the situation. And before this could even be done one had to be able to afford it. The dove dung could have been purchased for several reasons. For the use of fuel, for fertilizing of crops or it could have been for consumption since there have been times in history when people collected dung to eat in times of serious famine.
As bad as this sounds, some had actually stooped to the point of consuming human flesh.
If there were any food to be had, the Lepers would probably have been the last ones to receive any hand-outs !
II. The Decision Of The Lepers. V4
a. We see them dying.
Though Leprosy itself was and is rarely fatal, it is like a living death because of the pain associated with it, the deformity that it brings, and the stigma that accompanies it.
They were alive.....but dead ! In Europe during the Middle Ages people with Leprosy were declared dead. They then witnessed their own funeral and symbolic burial before they were banished. The person without Christ is alive physically, but dead spiritually.
Paul refers to the lost as being "dead in trespasses, and sin !
The living nightmare of the Lepers in our passage was worsened by the fact that they were starving. Shunned by family, friends, and society, they were without hope, and helpless.
Like the Lepers in our text, the lost are starving for the bread of life. The world is thirsts for the truth !
b. We see them dwelling. V4
Why sit we here and die ? There were few opportunities for the lepers. Not many choices were available. But they realized that if they remained where they were...they would die !
c. We see them deciding. V4
To enter the city would first of all be in violation of the law, and would only end in their death because of the famine. Yet to sit where they were would be certain death. They had to make a decision ! Something had to be done !
d. We see them departing. V.4
....."let us fall unto the host of the Syrians:" The word "fall" means to "cast ourselves down". "If they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die..." This wasn’t much of a choice, but it was better than sitting at the gate !
The Lord has provided a way for us to escape our sinful state. The Lord Jesus died on the cross that we might be cleansed ! Like the Lepers, we too must make a decision to depart from where we are.
e. We see them depending. V5
They were putting themselves at the mercy of the Syrians or so they thought. Unknown to them, God had provided the miracle which had earlier been prophesied. It wasn’t the Syrians that they could trust, but it was Almighty God that proved himself trustworthy, and faithful ! We can trust God ! We can cast ourselves down before him, and find mercy and grace !
III. The Discovery Of The Lepers. V7-8
As they entered the camp of the Syrians about twilight, they found that the camp had been totally abandoned. Everything was left behind as the Syrians fled for their lives ! The Syrians left the camp at twilight, and the Lepers arrived at twilight ! God is always just in time, and on time !
a. They discovered refreshment. V8
The starving lepers found food and drink. They consumed it, devoured it ! In Christ Jesus we partake of the bread of life which does not perish, and we drink from a well that never runs dry !
b. They discovered riches. V8
They found the plunder of the Syrians. These poor lepers...outcasts from society....begging for handouts went from doing without to discovering silver and gold.
The believer has received in Christ much greater worth. According to Paul in Eph 3:8 the riches of Christ are unsearchable. We have the riches of his grace ! We have the riches of his goodness ! We have the riches of his glory awaiting us !
c. They discovered raiment. V8
Having a change of clothing was a bonus to these lepers ! I doubt if a change of clothing was high up on their list ! Yet, God furnished them with raiment.....robes !
God has promised to supply our needs. The believer need not worry about what he shall wear tomorrow ! And even greater still is that through Christ Jesus we are clothed in his righteousness, and though at times now we groan in these bodies we shall one day be clothed in a new body !
2 Cor 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
IV. The Delay Of The Lepers. V8-9
Josephus records that they plundered four different tents.
a. They were selfish.
Who could blame them for stuffing themselves with the essentials ? But they became so caught up in the surprise, and the excitement, and were so overwhelmed that they totally forgot about the condition of the others. The mentality of our world today is get as much as you can while you can ! Eat, drink and be merry ! Take care of number one !
This was a miraculous supply from God, and they had a responsibility of making it known...yet
b. They were slack.
They were slack concerning their responsibility ! As believers in Christ Jesus, as the church of the living God, have we become slack in our responsibility of sharing that which we have rec’d from the hand of God ?
c. They were silent.
They filled themselves with food, and drink...clothed themselves in new raiment, and hid gold and silver......and kept silent ! One of the greatest sins of the church today is that of remaining silent. The lepers held their peace ! There is a time to hold our peace. There are some things that we ought to keep quiet about.....but sharing what God has done, and what he has supplied is not one of them !!! While they were dining....others were dying. As they were filled, others were famished. They were helped...others were hopeless. They knew the secret.....yet for awhile they didn’t share !
But thank God notice.....
V. The Declaration Of The Lepers. V9-10
a. There was a remembrance.
They remembered their condition of starvation, and thirst just earlier, and recalled the terrible circumstances of those outside of the Syrian camp, and within the city walls. The believer must keep in mind our previous spiritual condition before being saved. We must not forget that the world needs that which we have received....just as we once did.
b. There was a recognition. V9
"We do not well: this day is a day of good tiding, and we hold our peace"
They recognized that what they were doing was not just or right ! Is it right for the believer, and the church to have tasted of the manifold blessings of God, and yet not share with others ? It is a day of good tiding. Let us not hold our peace for there is plenty to go around for God is plenteous in mercy !
c. There was the revelation. V 10
Samaria had been delivered but did not know it. But now the four lepers will make it known to them. It is now night, but it will not wait til morning, and so in the darkness they return to the gates of the city, and reveal the good news to the gatekeepers who in turn spread the news to the king.
Night is falling. The good news of the death, burial and resurrection will not keep. We must share it now ! We must not hold our peace any longer ! The church can no longer tarry. We must share the message of salvation to those who are hungry, thirsty, and dying ! The souls of men, women, boys and girls are at stake !
