History · Chapter 7 of 25

2 Kings 7

Amid the famine, Elisha prophesies that within a day food will be abundant and cheap in Samaria, but a scoffing officer will see it and not eat. Four lepers, deciding to surrender to the Syrians, find the camp abandoned, for God had frightened Syria into flight. They feast, then bring the good news to the city. The people plunder the camp, and the doubting officer is trampled to death.

What happens in 2 Kings 7

Elisha announces that by the next day flour and barley will sell cheaply in Samaria's gate, but the officer on whom the king leans scoffs that even windows in heaven could not do it, and Elisha says he will see it but not eat of it. Meanwhile four lepers outside the gate reason that surrendering to the Syrians is their only hope, since staying means death. Approaching the camp at twilight, they find it deserted; God had made the Syrians hear the sound of a great army, so they fled in panic, leaving everything.

The lepers eat, drink, and hide plunder, then, conscience-struck, decide that this is a day of good news they must tell. They report to the city. After cautious verification, the people rush out and plunder the camp, and food becomes cheap exactly as prophesied. The doubting officer, placed in charge of the gate, is trampled by the crowd and dies.

2 Kings 7 in context

This continues directly from the siege of the previous chapter. The four lepers, excluded from the city, become the unlikely evangelists of deliverance. God routs a vast army with a sound alone, needing no Israelite sword.

The fate of the skeptical officer underscores that unbelief forfeits the blessing it refuses to trust. Barley and fine flour prices signal the sudden reversal from famine to plenty in a single day.

Main themes of 2 Kings 7

2 Kings 7 (KJV)

1Then 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. 2Then 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. 3And 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? 4If 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. 5And 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. 6For 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. 7Wherefore 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. 8And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. 9Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household. 10So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. 11And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within. 12And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. 13And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see. 14They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. 15And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. 16And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 17And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. 18And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria: 19And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. 20And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

Verses to carry from 2 Kings 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.”2 Kings 7:1

“Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”2 Kings 7:9

“And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.”2 Kings 7:16

Reflection

Have I found good news too good to keep silent about? The lepers could not feast while a city starved. Salvation came to Samaria as sheer gift, apart from any battle won. Do I trust the promise enough to act, or do I mock it like the officer and miss the feast entirely?

A prayer from 2 Kings 7