DONKEY SOUP
2 Kings 6:24-33, "And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 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. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him? And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?"
Israel, God’s chosen nation, was constantly in trouble for their rebelliousness and disobedience. Every time God would reach out to them and bless them, they would answer God’s expressions of love by turning their backs on him and start chasing after other gods. If there is one thing that is encouraging to me, it is the fact that God never completely gave up on Israel.
Even when the Jews took God’s only begotten Son and murdered him upon a cross, God did not give up on them. Even when they rejected Jesus, God’s Son, after his resurrection, God didn’t give up on them. Even today, 2000 years later, God is still working on behalf of the Jews and He has promised them that they will never be utterly destroyed.
What a faithful God we have! It is impossible to comprehend God’s love for fallen man, or for a rebellious child! Oh but aren’t you glad that God loves you so much that he just keeps giving you opportunity after opportunity to make things right with him! I’m so glad that God doesn’t give up on us after the first, second or ten thousandth try. I’m so glad that his mercy endures forever.
In the scriptures that we read we see that Israel is under siege again. This time it’s part of the Northern Kingdom of Samaria under the King Jehoram who was as godless a king that ever ruled in Israel.
If there is one thing that amazes me about the way that God deals with his people, it’s the fact that he uses ungodly man to bring judgment upon his own people who are living in sin and this was another of those instances.
King Benhadad of Syria had come down and entrenched his army, and laid siege to the Samaritan King and his capitol city. There was no way in or out and Benhadad’s plan was to starve the city into surrendering. This has been a long-standing method of warfare for as long as war as existed.
The campfires of the Syrian army looked like one long continuous campfire at night that ringed the entire city and by day it seemed that there were so many Syrian guards that they were standing shoulder to shoulder with no possibility of sneaking out at any time to go after help from the rest of Israel.
Things really looked bad for Israel and for King Jehoram. There was no escaping the inevitable outcome of defeat, slavery and even death.
Have you ever felt as though the devil had you hemmed in on all sides? So often we find ourselves involved in things or desiring things that are not a part of God’s perfect plan for our lives, but being the proud and sometimes rebellious people that we are, we throw caution to the wind and go do those things anyway.
What kind of reasoning runs through the mind of a Christian when they begin to disobey God?
1) Well, God is a loving God and he will forgive me for this later. That’s presumption and tempting God and it’s dangerous ground.
2) What I want to do is not so bad. There are a lot of people doing things a lot worse than this and they seem to be getting by just fine. First of all let me tell you that we should not compare ourselves and our self-righteousness by looking at other people. If we are going to compare with anyone, compare with Jesus and the Word of God. That’s the true measure of where we stand. Secondly, just because someone seems to be doing fine doesn’t mean they are. I dare say that I could go around this sanctuary right now, and if every one of you would be honest, there isn’t a single person, or family, here that isn’t having your fair share of troubles. Outward appearances are a reliable indicator of what is really on the inside.
3) I know that what I am doing is not totally right but it’s not that bad and I’ll make it right later. Wow, what a warped way of thinking! God makes no distinction between what is partially right and what is totally wrong. There is no gray area in obeying God. It’s either all or nothing. It’s either complete obedience or total rebellion. There is no in-between territory where God will wink at sin and allow it to continue unchecked in the lives of his children. Also, how do we know that we will ever have space to repent? Sure God will forgive if we go to him in true repentance, but how do we know that we will live long enough to repent? Suppose your life is snuffed out before you get the chance or the Rapture of the church comes before you can repent, where would that kind of thinking leave you then?
I’ll tell you where it will leave you. It will leave you standing on this earth while the rest of God’s people are sitting at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It will leave you in despair, hopeless and stuck in this sinful world and you may never find a place of repentance. That’s the kind of thinking that a multitude of Christians have right now and I’m fearful that the majority of those who think this way will not be a part of the Bride of Christ that Jesus calls home in the rapture.
King Jehoram was discovering this truth the hard way. God had allowed Syria to bring Jehoram and Israel to their knees but the Israelites weren’t getting the message and so the siege continued for many days.
Have you often wondered, “God, how long will you allow this battle go on in my life? I’m so tired of fighting the devil and sometimes it feels like I’m not going to win?”
The question I have for us then is, “How long did we live in rebellion and disobedience before we even thought to seek forgiveness?” We can’t stand the idea of being under the correcting, chastening hand of a loving God, but we don’t think twice about offending him for as long as we want to.
King Jehoram is walking along the wall of the city. Not on the time because he might get shot by an archer from the Syrian army. He was likely walking along the parapet just hoping that he would look out and see that the Syrians leaving but they weren’t going away. He was downhearted, dejected, and saddened by the conditions in Samaria.
There was almost no food to eat and very little water. The people were suffering so greatly. Things were so bad that only those who had wealth could find anything and what they could find I don’t think that any one of you would have wanted to eat it.
They were paying 80 pieces of silver for the head of a donkey. 80 pieces of silver, just so that they could make donkey hide jerky, donkey ear sandwiches, donkey brain soup, donkey tongue stew, and then they could boil the donkey skull to make a broth. What a prize a donkey’s head would be. Why we could feed the whole family on one donkey’s head for a whole week! Dinner will be served at noon – is anyone hungry for some good old donkey brain soup?
And if you think that eating the donkey head was bad, then think about what the poorer class had to eat. They couldn’t afford the luxury of a donkey head, they had to pay five pieces of silver for a little cup of dove droppings . Is anyone here hungry for a good old cup of dove dropping soup? No, well how about a little bit of dove droppings spread over a piece of molded bread – now there’s a real treat!
Don’t laugh or get too sick thinking about this because I want you to know that there are a whole lot of people who are living in rebellion against God right now, in this very community, and perhaps some in this very church, who are living on worse food than this in a spiritual sense.
In fact some of them haven’t had enough spiritual food to keep a sparrow alive in years and they wonder why their children are being rebellious and the family is falling apart.
The “spiritual food” that they eat is being paid for by their eternal soul and the soul of every member of their family. There is no greater value than your soul and yet we cast it aside and sell out to the devil to get the “spiritual dove droppings” that he allows us to have. Just look around you and you will see worldly people, and even some Christians, who are selling out their souls to the devil and getting nothing in return but garbage and death eternal.
They think that the “food” the devil is giving to them is great.
They get to eat on alcoholism or any other form of drug – trading the destruction of their soul and their life for a moments pleasure.
They “eat” on immorality and perversion – selling their body and soul to the pleasures of sin for a moment – only to receive fatal diseases like AIDS, and a lifetime of guilt and shame followed by an eternity without God.
They “feast” on the desires of the flesh – fulfilling the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life – trading their eternal home for an earthly home, the love of God for the false love of the world, and the temporal things of a life of vanity for the eternal glories of Heaven.
The price that we pay to get the “dove droppings” that devil sells to us is far worse than what the Samaritans were paying, and the things that we so easily accept from the devil are far worse than the donkey’s head that the Samaritans had.
As King Jehoram walked along a woman called out to him for help. He was the King, surely, she thought, he could help me. I know that the king must have some food. I know that he is God’s anointed king and that he will give me justice and righteousness and that he will teach me the way. I know that the King will have the answer I need.
I want you to know that I don’t have your answer, the President of the United States, whether Republican or Democrat, does not have your answer, the Congress of the United States doesn’t have your answer, the United Nations doesn’t have your answer, and no power on earth has the answer to your pain and suffering in this sinful, rebellious world that in under God’s judgment.
Where is your answer found? It is found only in Jesus! It is found only in repentance and obedience to the Word of God! It is found only in a close and personal relationship with your Lord and Savior!
King Jehoram answered her, “Who do you think I am, God? If God can’t help you, what do expect me to do? Can I make wine out of an empty winepress? Can I produce grain out of a barn plank? I’m in the same place that you are. I had donkey soup for lunch and I’m having donkey soup for dinner and I don’t even have enough of that to share with you!”
Can you see that this is the same problem that the world has today, even in the church?
People are looking for answers but in all the wrong places! People, sinners and Christians alike, are in need of help, in need of something that will nourish their souls and give them a better life, but they refuse to look at the only real source of help. They refuse to study God’s Word and they won’t seek the face of God in prayer until there is no one else and no other source to turn to.
King Jehoram knew it was bad, but he didn’t really know how bad things were until he heard the story of the woman. She and another woman had entered into a contract to eat their own children. I can think of no greater depth of despair and want than to be forced to resort to cannibalism, the eating of human flesh just to stay alive.
I see this every day. People are so caught up in their lifestyle of sin that they don’t care what happens to their own children anymore. The love of many is growing colder and colder just as Jesus said it would do in these last days.
I go to the schools every day in our area. It’s not going to be any different no matter where your schools are. Kids rule the schools and anarchy reigns. The teachers, parents, and administrators, by-in-large, are at their wits end trying to figure out what is happening.
One young man, about 7 years old, in an elementary school in our area, began to throw a temper tantrum. He destroyed the classroom, then went down the halls turning over TV carts, knocking down pictures and bulletins, went into the front office and destroyed it, throwing paper, pencils, and office equipment on the floor, and finally went into the principal’s office and destroyed it the same way. He was allowed to run rampant through school and no one would stop him until the police arrived and finally subdued him.
My first thought was, why was a 7-year-old kid allowed to do so much? Couldn’t anyone hold him down? The answer I got is a sign of the times. No one would touch him because his parents had already threatened to sue the school if any laid a finger on their perfect son. That kid knew he could do whatever he wanted and that’s what he did.
The parents don’t love that kid or they would correct him. The schools don’t love those kids or they would do something for him and correct him, law suit or not. The parents don’t want to be bothered and the school is scared to death to interfere and so a kid is allowed to self destruct and he will be lucky to stay live long enough to spend his life in prison.
We are cannibalizing our own children for the sake of expediency and doing our own thing!
King Jehoram discovered just how bad the siege had gotten. His people were desperate. He was desperate. They needed help. Something had to be done.
Now you would think that the King of Israel, the man chosen by God to be leader of the people at this time in their history, would finally come to his senses, fall on his face in repentance and turn Israel back to God. He should have realized that God was his Deliverer and his Provider.
I believe that if Jehoram would have turned back to God, that God would have conquered the Syrians very quickly. But this was a time of testing for Jehoram and he was going to fail the test again.
Instead of turning back to God, Jehoram blamed the whole thing on Elijah, God’s prophet. It was Elijah’s fault that Syria had come. It was Elijah’s fault that judgment was upon them. Now he wanted Elijah’s head!
This reminds of a scripture in Galatians 4:16, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"
Have you ever noticed that so many people are offended by the truth? They want to hear messages of love, compassion, and forgiveness. But don’t preach against sin or you will offend someone. Just preach the truth and you will make some enemies because people don’t like being reminded where they are doing wrong. They will leave the church, cut down the ministry, and turn their back on God, just like Jehoram.
Jehoram had dispatched an assassin to kill Elijah and bring his head back to the king. Elijah was sitting in his house, talking with a number of the Elders of Israel.
Thank God that there are always some who will want to hear the truth and will not bow their knee before the devil. I thank God that I believe we have a lot of those kinds of people in this church. I hope and pray that all of us will prove to be that kind of man or woman of God when the chips are down. Let us never forget that God alone is our source, the Word of God is our only truth and that Jesus is the One and only Lord.
Finally Jehoram came to his senses and realized what he had done. He ran after the assassin to try to stop him but the assassin got to Elijah’s house first. The Elders held the assassin because God had already revealed Jehoram’s plan to Elijah and had already told Elijah that the king was coming to stop his own plan.
Jehoram had repented of his attempt to kill Elijah but not for his rebellion and unbelief. But God, merciful and willing that his people should be delivered, decided to honor even this small gesture of Jehoram and to bring the siege to an end.
2 Kings 7:1-7, "Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 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? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? 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 die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life."
Think about it! The King of Israel was living in defeat. Israel was suffering in want and despair. And yet, God already had a plan for victory! All Israel had to do was to turn back to God and then he would turn away their judgment! I wonder how long Israel had to suffer needlessly because they refused to obey God? I wonder how many times I have had to suffer needlessly, or that any of you have had to suffer needlessly, because we waited just a little longer to obey the will of God?
King Jehoram still didn’t believe that God was their answer even after Elijah had told him that God was going to bring deliverance to Samaria.
The food that was so scarce and cost so much now would be plentiful within 24 hours. How could that happen? Were there a lot of caravans just outside the camp of the Syrians waiting to deliver supplies to the city? Was food going to fall out of the sky? Was God going to open a window in the portals of Heaven and pour out bushels of food? How could a city in such desperate condition be given this much provision in such a short time. It was impossible to Jehoram!
Thank God that he is a God that makes the impossible, possible! He is still Jehovah Jireh, my Provider! He is able to do what he says he will do!
If you read a little in the previous chapters of 2 Kings, you will see where Elijah prayed and God revealed the fact that the very mountains around him were filled with the Heavenly host of God’s army in flaming chariots.
I believe that God allowed the Syrian army to hear those same chariots in the darkness of night and it scared them to death. They were stumbling all over one another, fleeing in fear, running from certain death, trampling one another into the ground and maybe even outrunning the horses as they ran for their very lives. They left everything behind; all of their armor, all of their weapons, all of their tents, all of their livestock, and all of their food and provisions for the entire army! There was Samaria’s food supply, just like the prophet had said.
But King Jehoram didn’t get to enjoy the food, the victory or the deliverance. He still wouldn’t trust God and, in his mind, the whole scenario was nothing more than an ambush. He just knew that the Syrians were waiting for the Samaritans to rush to their empty camp to get the food they had left as bait, and then the Syrians would come out of hiding and destroy them in the field.
Do you know that if we live in disobedience long enough, and we live in rebellion long enough, that there will come a time when we will become so cold toward the things of God that we won’t be able to receive the blessings even when they come?
I have seen those who refused to serve the Lord and would not come back to God even though all their friends were being saved. They just couldn’t believe it for themselves any more. The devil had them where he wanted them and they could not break free.
Hebrews 12:15-17 gives us a solemn warning, "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."
Now I don’t know of a single person in this church who has come to this place. I don’t even know of a single person who is getting close to this condition. But I know that God has told me to give this warning for someone. God knows the hearts of all men and it is he who directed me to this message just for you.
God wants to deliver his people. God wants us to have the best that Heaven can offer. God wants us to live an abundant, happy and prosperous life. God wants us to inherit our eternal reward. God wants us to come and live with him forever. God has provided everything we need and he will give us the desires of our hearts.
But we must not be like King Jehoram. We must not doubt him. We must not rebel against him. We must not turn away from the truth and embrace a lie. We must turn to God in true repentance for sin and live in obedience to the Word of the Lord.
Let’s not settle for the “donkey soup” of the devil. Let’s feast upon the good things of God.
