II Kings 1:2 how often we ignore God and try to rely on the gods of our age - science; God does not demand we ignore medical truth, , just that we realize and acknowledge who truly REMAINS sovereign - NOT men and their gods, but God alone 1:3 how easily He could ask this of us! 1:8 I can almost hear the King sigh - "oh my, that has GOT to be Elijah..." 1:9-12 Arrogance and threats; it is MOST amazing that the 2nd Capt was a bigger fool that the 1st; the 1st did have at least some passing knowledge of Elijah's fire bringing days with Ahab? But the 2nd had the burnt bodies around his feet as absolute witness and yet he was unchanged; 1:13-15 at least THIS guy had enough sense to recognize a tactically disastrous situation when the smoke blew in his eyes...! Perhaps, too, the other 2 arrogant fools would have injured or killed Elijah during his trip as they clearly held him in utter contempt as seen by their sneered "Man of GOD" address of Elijah; this 3rd guy was very liable to be as careful as if Elijah was his own mother; 1:16 note that Elijah was already careful to quote EXACTLY and ONLY what God had told him - no embellishments, no side comments (Unlike our own more confounding tendencies...); THAT is why they could write of him in v 17: "...according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken." NO mistake as to WHO'S word was be relayed to the king; Ch 2 was this some sort of test of Elisha? All this "stay here, no I'm going with you" stuff? We see Elisha 1st introduced, his character revealed in I Kings 19:19-21, then later here in 2:1-14; Then follows E's life as seen in 18 snapshots: 18 events of miraculous power demonstrated through him that revealed insights about: 1. All men, including US 2. God's character Or maybe better divided: 1. unsaved men 2. saved/believing men 3. God who reveals His character to ALL men God revealed Himself 18 times - each time showed HIS character, and the nature of believers and unbelievers as they BOTH came face to face with the revealed nature of God through a man named Elisha; On all of Elisha's "miracles", these were GOD'S miracles, NOT Elisha's! Through these we learn of GOD'S character (NOT Elisha's) these were meant to teach us of HIM, to reveal to us HIS nature and character alone! 2:3 why NOT speak of it? Was it out of his sadness at the thought of losing his mentor? Was it out of desire NOT to make a most holy event the topic for mere gossip/common conversation? Note that Elijah has NOTHING to say to ALL these prophets, and they don't dare to approach him either... 2:9 WOW! Elisha was a man with a true deep wonderful hunger for the deeper more true things of the Lord 2:10 the answer was tied to whether or not Elisha was willing to keep his attention focused on what really matters; if his priorities were true, God WOULD honor that; WHY was it a "hard" thing? Hard for God? Not hardly! Hard for Elijah? Again, not hardly! But with a life time of living in the shadow of the Spirit, Elijah knew it would be hard for Elisha! He was asking to be placed in the center of ground zero, in the heart of the storm, in the center of the target! Only Elijah could KNOW how REALLY "hard" such a burden would be for any man; yet he clearly did not begrudge Elisha his desire to drink as deeply as possible from that Eternal Living Fountain of Life; 2:12 this in part answers the ? of v 3 and 5; Elisha was broken hearted, and Elijah's departure was a PERSONAL loss for him, as that of losing a Father - seeing it coming, and not able to do anything about it except grieve at it's inexorable approach; 2:14 I can appreciate his terrible sense of loss and abandonment - his deep sense of fear that he is now "alone" without Elijah to count on, hide behind, to be a VISIBLE TANGIBLE PROOF of the reality of a Living Invisible God - so his ? was a deep one born of grief and hurt and fear, as a child who suddenly and terrifyingly discovers his mother and father has disappeared into a crowd of strangers it was crucial that here and now, Elisha make a critical transition in his relationship with the Lord, that God become real and true and alive DIRECTLY to him PERSONALLY - so that He will NOT just be "the God of Elijah", but ALSO "the God of Elisha" as well... AND GOD ANSWERED with ALL His power to love and reassure, as if to say, "just because Elijah's gone doesn't mean I'VE left you too..." 2:15 THESE guys were watching to see if Elisha was gonna be the new power hitter; 2:16-18 was their perspective born of a motive to really confirm Elijah was gone so they would only have ONE big shot to contend with? 2:21-22 "Never again..." (NIV) See how GOD heals? Unlike the temporary efforts of man, when God cleanses, it NEVER changes back; and what GOD cleanses FOREVER remains clean! 2:23 if this had occurred BEFORE he was the declared prophet of God perhaps it would only be some punks harassing an "old man", but NOW - and especially with HOW they jeered - it is clear they are seeking to mock GOD as seen in and through His representative and so God punishes their failure to accept HIS SOVERIGN AUTHORITY; 3:1-3 we never know why he did one "good" thing - removed a Baal his dad made but otherwise remained rotten as the rest - his motives were confused at best, unless it was a blatant attempt to depose his father, to "prove" HIS place as the King over his father, and therefore over his father's gods as well? To remove all trace of his father's influence and to increase his own, more than some vague ill defined desire to "do good"? 3:11-12 poor old Jehoshaphat! What lousy company he kept! Yet his heart was true! HE knew of whom to inquire! 3:13 Elisha knew the heart of this wicked man, that it wasn't out of a desire to honor God, but only to do ANYthing to save his own crummy neck! You must come to God on HIS terms, always and only! 3:15 Why HARP music? 3:16 all our own efforts are only empty ditches until and unless the LORD fills them with HIS blessings! 3:17 lest there be ANY doubt as to WHO did WHAT - there would be water, BUT on GOD'S terms and in a way that NO one could contest/deny the source: GOD Himself; What do we see here? God can and will deliver His own, and sometimes the pagans enjoy the side-effects of blessing , too, when they align themselves with God's own; It also shows the DETERMINED wickedness of Joram - he SAW everything WE saw and yet remained an ardent Baal worshiper! Some men will insist on continuing to worship a false and demonstrably inept god rather than change to give God His due... Re: the Moabite stone - Mesha declared his survival a victory - shows how a man can make himself believe what he wants, in spite of every evidence; 4:1-7 God will fill everything we offer Him and He always provides always ENOUGH but never MORE than we need - perhaps one source of fear and discomfort for us is in our failure to agree with God about what constitutes "enough", or what HE might decide is "enough" for those we love and have to entrust into His care... it is here that only a confidence in His CHARACTER (that He is, in fact, loving, tender hearted, caring, trustworthy, that HE CAN be depended upon to do always and only that which is infinitely right and for the best good for those we love) can begin to ease a troubled mind; As Zuck et al noted, Elisha's miracles tended to be personal individual ones for people in need vs. Elijah's grander "group rates"; 4:8-10 how FORTUNATE this man was to have such a Godly wife! And how WISE he was to listen to her and take her advice regarding Elisha; a Godly wife will ALWAYS bring blessing to a husband who APPRECIATES her character; 4:13 she was a woman at peace with herself, with her own barrenness - she trusted in God; 4:18-23 she didn't tell her husband what had happened...? Did she hide the body in that upper room until she could get to Elisha? 4:27 sometimes the Lord keeps even the big shots in the dark... 4:29-31 why the staff thing? Would be most easily seen as Elisha trying ONE way to see if God would respond and when He didn't, Elisha knew he needed to go on, too 4:33-35 deep and fervent prayer - we're never told why God waited to answer till after Elisha stretched out twice; 4:38-41 "The deadly gourds"; was this a way of demonstrating how even an innocent effort can POISON us, i.e. LOOKED good (i.e., Baalism), but was deadly; and only God can redeem and purify the poisoned "stew" i.e. metaphor for syncretistic practices - mixing Baal and Yahweh worship, and God must needs purify the polluted pot of Judaism; 4:42-44 There was more than enough because GOD SAID SO, NOT Elisha; contrast this to Jesus, who blessed of His OWN authority and power, and MADE it so; 5:2-3 he must have been a good man for a captive slave to desire HIS healing - or perhaps SHE was a truly Godly servant who desired to honor God by and through her servant-hood of excellence; note: Naaman NEVER released her for her kindness in leading him to his cleansing; she was never named in person, either... Obviously they had never heard of Elisha nor of his "power" 5:4-6 the king highly prized Naaman and figured that loot was a small price to pay indeed on such a wild gamble as this! Note: No HEBREW lepers were EVER healed! ALAS! What a bitter proof of their NATIONAL lack of faith; Naaman must have figured he had nothing to lose - he was WORNG, of course; there was his pride still left to lose; v6 maybe the king of Israel was right in his suspicion that the Aramean King just saw another chance to pick a fight; on the slight hope that Naaman could be healed, he sent him, but then figure, "Oh well, it's pretty unlikely, but it can't hurt Naaman AND I'll at LEAST get a chance to go to war with Israel if all else fails..."; either way, he wins - pretty crafty guy! No wonder Naaman followed him! 5:7 what utter blindness! Sure, the letter directs him to "do" the healing, but all the Godly people in this time ALWAYS took the impossible problems to the Lord WHO ALWAYS ANSWERED! 5:8 HOW did Elisha always "hear" the latest news at court? Clearly God had placed a Godly unknown and unheralded person THERE to keep Elisha up to date - what a risk! God's Spy?! A bit of a poke at the king - "well send him here and at least HE'LL know there's a real prophet in Israel"; i.e., since YOU clearly do NOT know this! 5:9 what a glorious sight Naaman and his military retinue must have made! The very MODEL of a proud man who KNOWS his own abilities, BATTLE TESTED, unafraid even of this horrible disfiguring wasting disease, ready to face off AS AN EQUAL with this POWERFUL prophet - contrast him to the Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant; Picture the glittering scene of barbaric war-like splendor - we need to realize that in THOSE days stealth was NOT the preferred technology - the greater the leader, the brighter and more glorious his apparel - 1st so his scattered armies could always see him even at a distance and so be ready to rally to him; 2nd, so he could awe and humble his enemies - as if to say: HERE I AM, come and take your best shot!; Naaman was THE ultimate warrior of his nation; the prancing horses, the jangle and clinking of armor against armor, the smell of the leather and horses and sweat - the sounds and smells of men of war; 5:10-11 Imagine Naaman's INDIGNATION at this very...eh... unusual and er... irregular reception by God's man! God did not slam Naaman for his pride; He DID require that he drop it in order to receive His gift for him; but the result was even MORE impressive to a pagan like Naaman - without fanfare and by LONG-DISTANCE, Elisha brought HEALING of an incurable disease! 5:12 note: Naaman indignantly wants to know why HIS rivers wouldn't do; HOW OFTEN men ask this! A clear analogy of the inadequacies of OTHER men's religions, of the incomparability of other false religions and God's true worship; 5:13 How PRECIOUS is a wise servant! How wise it is to heed their advice! Note: "my father" - perhaps a desire to express their true love for the man, in order to better persuade him to do this actually simple thing; only the humble CAN appreciate how really little a thing pride is compared to what really matters! It took servants, men stripped of pride to SEE the value in giving up pride in order to gain something infinitely more valuable; perhaps THIS is one reason why Jesus Gospel is so more greatly received by the lowly, meek and humble, than by the high and mighty... they are so much more experienced at receiving grace than in giving it; WHAT an example for us to follow as the servants or employees of other men (perhaps pagan men) - how easy it would have been to have just sat back and let him do whatever he wanted, after all, it's not as if it was OUR/THEIR problem - why run the risk of increasing his already fired up wrath? Remember, this guy KILLS people for a living! But as Godly servants, our calling is to ALWAYS seek our bosses best good - to seek the success of those whom God has placed in authority over us - remember Joseph?? Well, these servants were faithful to their master and wisely encouraged him to DO the right thing; 5:14 what an interesting man - near absolute ruler, certainly possesses a most complete and profound power over all he has, and yet, in spite of his rage, he is approachable AND he listens, even to the lowly that serve him; no wonder he seems to inspire such love and devotion from his own slaves; No evidence that this cleansing was gradual/progressive; Naaman was JUST as leprous as he went down for the 7th time as he was when he walked into the river, and yet, he UNDERSTOOD OBEDIENCE, he did it ALL without any further questions, and when he rose up the 7th and last time, he wasn't just healed, he was totally and utterly transformed and renewed! 5:15 he could have left right from the river to go home, after all, he HAD what he had come for; BUT he was ABLE to see BEYOND the gift TO the Giver and because of the tremendous value of the gift, he realized the tremendous value of the GIVER! AND he realized it wasn't the prophet, it was the GOD of the prophet! That's what salvation is like: God always gives us MORE than we could expect; He could have gone back to Elisha ALONE - But NOT our man Naaman! He always lead his men, his people; he had lead them into death and battle without flinching or hesitation, and NOW he is DETERMINED to lead his men into LIFE and SALVATION; even unto declaring himself PUBLICALLY a believer of a foreign God! He made sure there was NO doubt in ANYONE'S mind, INCLUDING the Kings, as to WHO he would NOW worship, NO MATRER the cost; Naaman was able to see how BIG God IS - having been cleansed of much, he was able to SEE much - how BIG God is - a God over ALL the world! Even OVER his OWN former national gods; 5:16 Elisha wants to insure that there is NO confusion or question as to GOD'S motivation, AND as to the CHARACTER of the prophet WHICH was a DIRECT reflection on GOD'S character; perhaps, too, he wanted to impress upon Naaman that he could NEVER "pay back" the debt he owed God for his cleansing/salvation; 5:17 Pagans often believed that a god could only be worshipped on their "own" soil, so he wants SOMEHOW in his clearly immature and new understanding of his new God, to DO the RIGHT thing; his hearts 1st and immediate desire is to honor and please his saving God; what a MAN! There is no hesitation in him, no half measures for him! NO sharing his worship/commitment - it's ALL God and nothing LEFT for his old gods; OH that Israel could SEE that... 5:18 Poor Naaman, he is a man of deep and intense loyalty! Although he will always honor God, he does not wish to dishonor his king; to have him arm-in-arm can be the kings way of constantly reaffirming to his people his absolute confidence and reliance upon his #1 man: Naaman! It was a political statement, and it was meant to honor Naaman and he knew that; Sure, there are a dozen other better alternatives to Naaman's request - see Daniel's method; and yet remember, N has only been a believer for a few hours! He has never had teaching concerning his new God; all he knows is that he can't be/act disloyal to his king and yet wants to PUBLICALLY proclaim before his OWN men that no matter what they may see, he is SOLD OUT to God; his heart s totally given over to Him; he wants to insure they know his heart; see this! He ALREADY knows his new God of salvation is a forgiving God! An understanding God! 5:19 How does Elisha react? With accusations and tirades about mixing pagan worship with true? NO - he saves that for men who SHOULD (and do) KNOW BETTER; for innocent still naïve Naaman, he doesn't tell him, "Oh that's OK, go ahead", but he does tell him he can go in peace, secure in the knowledge that God will continue to grow and mature his understanding and faith; but that for now, what Naaman is trying to do in his imperfect knowledge is enough - how strange to see the Bible scholars squirm uncomfortably with this one - so many with "prophets" so few with "mercy" that they are unable to see that a child can only shoulder so much burden and no more, that God is patient with those who truly want to honor Him even if it is imperfectly at 1st; that He can "let" someone go in peace until they grow into a more complete understanding; God's prophetic curses are reserved for that tragic generation that SHOULD have known better, but REFUSED to do right; 5:20 Oh Gehazi! What a perfect contrast between this one who had ALL the advantages and training and DID know better and the new convert, eager for any chance to obey; Naaman who, though lost, was good on the inside but corrupted (by disease) on the outside VS Gehazi, who, though supposedly saved, was corrupted on the inside and only superficially "good" on the outside 5:21 leave it to a military man to want to know that everything was 'all right" 5:22 the 1st lie - to Naaman 5:23-24 the "getaway" 5:25 the 2nd lie - to Elisha; what a sad and bitter truth! N's pagan servants were better and more true to their master than this supposedly "saved" servant was to God's own Prophet! A warning to us ALL who would be servants! 5:26 The TRUTH! You can't hide sine from the Lord, alas! He sees us ALL! The issue was NOT about the $'s, but rather the possible compromise of God's character! The secondary confusion created for others about WHO God is and what kind of God HE is; 5:27 and NOW the corruption that before was hidden, now is revealed, what was inside is NOW also outside; we never hear from/about Naaman again? 6:1-7 WHY was this included? What does it tell us about the Lord? That He is a God who finds what seemed hopelessly lost - and NOT by man's efforts, nor by a way that makes sense to men - but by His OWN way, a way that might seem contradictory to US, but gets the lost found Iron was EXTREMELY precious stuff! Most of these guys were still into bronze - iron was still rare and expensive - this loss could cost this man his whole life's worth and his family to boot since they could sell the family to cover debts! It might seem trivial to us, who can go down to the &-11 and get an ax head worth a kings ransom back then; There was no "Oh well, I have ax head insurance that will cover this"; NO! he cried alas because he suddenly saw in one horrible heart and gut wrenching moment, his whole world destroyed, his family sold to pay the debt he owed - No going to court to "settle" matters, either; How like our own hopes seem to sink down deep into the endless depths - lost beyond all human reasoning - gone beyond ALL human hope of repair or restoration and almost always because of our own actions; This shows God cares about our "worldly" woes, NOT just our spiritual ones; truly, for God, there is NO distinction between the two - ALL that is in and of and around our lives is of some SPIRITUAL consequence; 6:7 What does Elisha say? He tells the man, "Lift it out!" WHY? SEE FOR YOUSELF - God wants us to experience His love and provision 1st HAND - to feel it taste it, touch it for OURSELVES - He is a God Who is interested in each one of us individually, personally; He's not just interested in the bog shots He cares for those who have no "names" in scripture; I have learned that NO one is somehow less affected by terrible tragedy only because of their place among men - It isn't just the great men who suffer great tragedy, even the smallest "nameless" one can know the FULL force of heart break fear and grief - even as that man did who saw his LIFE sink below those waters along with that ax head; God wants us to participate in His activity here - we don't have to be just watchers, sadly standing by, wishing somehow WE could be part of His life and power and actions like the "Big Shots" - WE CAN; He YEARNS for us to, more that WE 6:8 same king who sent Naaman! And N is no where mentioned in this account - why? Is this before N became the leader? Is N the informant of the kings plans? Unlikely, as that would probably NOT be a "detail" to be missed in this account - if N is dead, and therefore left out, we know at least he didn't die of leprosy, AND he died a BELIEVER; 6:9 WHY warn such a rotten wicked godless king? Why not let him fall into the trap and take delight in his fall - shouting with smug glee, I KNEW he was there ALL along!! Har Har, Nyah Nyah Ny-Nyah Nyah!"? because although he was evil, he was STILL God's authority placed there and NOT displaced YET - in other words, if God had wanted him deposed, He would have SAID so to Elisha, so Elisha had a divine obligation to do what he could to support the king in a GODLY way (although avoiding any direct support of any wickedness of the king) Also, it was obviously GREAT advertising on God's part, to again demonstrate to the PEOPLE (AND the king) just Who really WAS God around here! Baal and his crowd certainly weren't providing any useful early warning/intel! 6:10 not just once, but A LOT of times! And each time the king checked on Elisha's info and found it perfect! AND YET, the king continued in his wickedness and refusal to turn from Baal to the One True God! What utter hard heartedness and hard headedness; how easy a trap for us all to fall into! 6:11 a minor understatement! "Enraged"; he was at least a smart enough fellow to realize he had a SERIOUS security leak! And one HIGH up, too! He didn't realize HOW HIGH, though! 6:12 interesting! Obviously terrified they were GLAD to be able to point the finger at one outside their circle; THIS implies that Arameans ALSO had their spies in Israel to keep them posted on what and who was a threat - make no mistake: this army was PROFESSIONAL; Even the PAGANS were willing (too willing) to give credit where credit was due - Elisha had NOT kept it ANY secret what he was doing - WHY? This wasn't done out of a sweet desire to save a wicked king?! NO! it was out of a holy desire to DEMONSTRATE the POWER and TRUSTWORTHINESS of a LIVING God! God makes even kings into object lessons - whether they are believers or not! Oh what a terrible truth OUR leaders should draw from this! So many live as if that as long as THEY don't believe in God and His eternal truths, then they are NOT AFFECTED by Him OR those truths! As if by denying Him they can be free of His power! Like children playing - closing their eyes and crying out, "If I can't see you then YOU can't see me!" BEWARE oh men! God will NOT be denied! 6:13 the king decides to "stop" the leak before he goes anywhere else - like so many unbelievers, he has mistaken the man for the God - he thinks only Elisha is his problem - NOT an eternal infinite God; It's amazing that he thinks he's going to surprise and capture the same man who has apparently thwarted his entire Army already; ....he is in Dothan... again Elisha makes NO secret of his whereabouts, his trust is in the Lord; 6:14 a WHOLE army out to surround and conquer ONE "lone" man! No one in the army apparently was suspicious that this fellow could be so easily trapped after being SO able to thwart them before; 6:15 Again a 'servant" - here WE are all in all this - how so much more like the servant than the "hero" we are! Imagine his panic - go to bed, all nice and quiet and peaceful, wake up, go outside to draw a little water and WHAT do you SEE?? Aramean soldiers and chariots as FAR as the eye can see! ENDLESS ranks upon ranks of men who you just KNOW have got to be really and thoroughly HACKED OFF at YOU for making them the laughing stock of the entire area! These men are NOT known for their broadminded sense of humor - SEE IT!! Standing there, rank upon rank, quiet as death, grim and looking for pay-back, their armor glinting in the early morning sunlight, no sounds except the occasional jingle of chariot traces, stamp of a horses hoof, squeak of leather armor and saddles - no words from this crowd, you just gotta figure their being there sort of begs the question as to what they want! So what does the servant do? Same as we do when we run smack flat into the world and all it's terrors and problems - HE PANICED; but NOT without certain cause; I mean, it HAD to look pretty pointless by his personal estimation of things - but what ELSE did he do - the one really SMART thing he did? He took his terror to the Lord - in the person of His Prophet (remember the apostles in that boat on that stormy sea - how they howled at Jesus to at least be gracious enough wake up in time to see them drown!?) "what shall we do?!" - your basic honest to the point kind of prayer - how God LOVES to answer those! No long winded attempts to impress Him with our Bible knowledge and "Holy" terminology; 6:15 how did Elisha answer? Did he slam the servant for his faithlessness, did he deride and scourge him for failing to see God's BIGGER plan? God's greater power? No; HIS 1ST words were of comfort - How God wants to speak these same words to us if we would but ONLY ask Him! If we would but seek Him OUT - He is NOT hard to find, He does NOT try to conceal Himself - He does NOT have ANYwhere else MORE important that He's rather be except right within our hurt and frightened hearts, and whisper these words of PROMISE: "Don't be afraid" - Fear not"; when GOD says this it is MORE than meaningless words - it is His PROMISE to US - that He is NOW and FOREVER will be the GOD of ALL Creation, able and willing to fulfill His WILL not only IN us but AROUND our lives! No, he gently answered him with a truth that was at first too difficult to grasp; Picture the servants face when E. says THOSE who are with us are MORE that those out there" - can you imagine what he thought? "OH GREAT!! We're surrounded, we're gonna die, and Elisha NOW chooses to lose HIS FLIPPING MIND!!"; picture his eye's darting back and forth in that room, NOT SEEING ANYTHING but the Aramean Light Armored Division looking for PAYBACK! 6:17 God knows we are but dust, struggling to understand His greater presence and His purposes when it seems our tiny lives are about to fly apart; Elisha HAD to have seen that look in his servants face too, and AGAIN, instead of blows and abuse for his servants tiny faith, he SHOWS him something - something that will CERTAINLY only BUILD his servants confidence in his God - after all, that's what faith really is - CONFIDENCE in GOD, in His ABILITY to keep GOOD on His WORD to us, to keep His promises to us! God wants to build up and encourage us in HIS trustworthiness and He WILL do so as we seek Him out, NOT in our proud self-confidence, but rather in our crisis times and terror, when WE have run out of all OUR options and only now stop fooling around and seek HIM out - in utter and total dependence on HIM; What did God do? Did He suddenly show up at the last minute to save the day? NO! He had ALREADY BEEN there! He had ALWAYS been there - the problem was NOT God's "availability" (given His busy schedule and all), it was NOT "can" or "will" He arrive - He has ALWAYS been there even before WE got there, the problem is that WE don't SEE Him! It's not His timing, it's OUR VISION!! NOW what had BEOFRE looked like a pretty overpowering army NOW, in comparison to GOD'S Airborne Army of Fire looked pretty petty indeed, like Boy Scouts facing the 82nd Airborne Div; Isn't it amazing what a little change in perspective can do for a person? Had ANYthing at ALL actually changed? NO, those angelic hosts had ALWAYS been ready to stomp the Arameans flatter than road-kill; The ONLY thing that had changed was the SERVANTS vision, his ability to SEE God's provision; No WONDER Elisha slept so well at night! No WONDER he felt no need to hide out! THIS, by the way, has GOT to be the absolute ULTIMATE in Stealth warfare! 6:18 So right about now these poor unsuspecting Arameans come ROLLING in like thunder, expecting to sweep right over these now 2 UN-naturally calm looking men and GRAB them; What does Elisha ask God to do? WHY BLIND them? Why not just kill them? God wasn't looking for more dead pagans, He wanted LIVING WITNESSES to WHO He is - besides, if you killed them all, that bone-headed king of Israel would probably try to grab the credit; NO, God wanted then and still does now, want for men to KNOW Him, to realize He is their God, so that they will LEAVE their dead sightless deaf powerless gods of wood and stone, money and influence and prestige and TURN to the One True God, the ONLY God Who can GIVE their lives (and our lives) true meaning and purpose and joy; v19 - Imagine their, eh, chagrin - one moment they're a mighty army rolling like doom onto the city, the NEXT , they're blinder than bats, wandering around, finally having to ASK for DIRECTIONS; Actually, it is a tribute to their training and discipline as a military force that they FIRST did not panic and run, and SECOND, they STILL were determined to complete their mission; although, probably they feared their greatly enraged king and what he'd do if they showed up empty-handed MORE than a relatively MINOR inconvenience like sudden BLINDNESS!! That would HAVE to be a pretty terrifying king! Did Elisha lie? NO. He met them OUTSIDE Dothan and promised then he'd take them to SEE Elisha - AND HE DID! By leading them into the strongest most heavily armed city in the COUNTRY! The capital, which was 12 mi south of Dothan - easily made in a days ride; v20 - talk about mixed FEELINGS! OK, NOW they can see again, BUT what DO they see? NOTHING but Samaritan soldiers, ALL looking for a fight! The Aramean leaders strategy of surround and capture was SO good, God used it on HIM; v21 - Get a load of this KING! After ALL the ugliness he's said about Elisha and his God, NOW all of a sudden it's "Oh my father!!"?? HOW SAD! He sees the army he sees the miracle RIGHT in FRONT of him, yet he FAILS to see the GOD Who MADE the miracle, he NEVER DOES honor or acknowledge God's handiwork AS such; THIS is God's warning to US, ESPECIALLY us - we who SEE God's provisions day in and day out, who enjoy the GREATEST life style in HUMAN HISTORY; who eat and breath our blessings as if we somehow ALWAYS deserved them, as if they're ALWAYS gonna be there! Like this king men are daily confronted with God's PROOFS of His claims on us - we dare NOT ignore them! ALL the king can see is an army he'd like to slaughter; v22 - What did Elisha say? NO. WHY?? For the same reason he didn't ask GOD'S army to - God wants LIVING witnesses of His power over ALL men; It's odd - Joram the rotten Samaritan king would NOT have been likely to kill POWs in a regular battle - it was ANOTHER indication of his lousy character that he'd propose to slaughter helpless POWs NOW; But at LEAST he knew BETTER than to argue with the man who DELIVERED those POWs; There was MORE than kindness behind Elisha's instructions for the King to feed them a great feast: In the ancient Near East, eating together UNDER one's roof constituted making a MUTUAL covenant of PEACE - the Arameans were NOW BOUND by their HONOR, by powerful social custom to NOT attack the friend who had extended his gift of hospitality and protection; SO, at least for a while the Arameans quit their raiding God wants us to know that He DOES provide; alas that Joram and Isreal didn't see it - what a warning to us! WE are NOT immune to such blindness, either! 6:24-7:20 The Samaritan Famine v24 Give him credit - he doesn't discourage easily! He's given up on the unsuccessful method of trying to sneak around - well, if you can't sneak up on 'em, just gather the whole stinkin' army and storm right on in! Actually a reasonable tactic given the proven failure of the small raids strategy; The only way to make this up front strategy work is to go in, grab the head guy and KILL him - merely running around tearing up the country side is of little lasting value - because EVENTUALLY YOU want to go home and if the other guys still left alive, he'll pop out and STILL be king, rally the people and come for YOU; NOTE the parallel with modern times: SO, how DO you get him? You gotta pry him out of his hiding place - you lay siege to his fortress; he's too strong and well defended for a frontal attack - some military men of history have said to take a defended place you'll need more that 2-3 times the men the defender has; SO you wait him out - YOU can't get in, but HE can't get OUT either - while he's eating what he can find IN the city, YOU'RE eating what you can find out in the war ravaged country side - each hopes the other STARVES out 1st! MEANWHILE the people suffer both in the city and in the country; v25 - a DONKEY'S HEAD!! Hmmmmm! This is one of the LEAST nourishing MOST repulsive part of of an animal who is "UNCLEAN" according to their LAWS as well as customs; WELL, by now, well into the siege, you TOO can have one of these little beauties for only TWO POUNDS of SOLID SILVER! AND a 1/2 pint of seed pods (what you'd feed animals) will go for about 2 OUNCES of silver; thinks of it as dog food; WHY has God let this happen? WHAT is He trying to do? To PROVE? To get across here? WHAT'S HIS POINT?? V26 - even the king was restless; pacing those walls, looking out over his blasted apart country, smoking and in ruins, the TENTS of a vast army of ravening conquerors who want HIS head on a pole carpeting the surrounding country side - the smells of their cook fires wafting MADDENINGLY across the valleys and hills of Jerusalem - making his belly ache with FEAR AND hunger; SO, you gotta figure he's not in his most convivial and charming mood when one of the citizens exercises her right to appeal to the king directly - v27 What does he say? "HEY, DON'T blame ME! THIS is GOD'S fault"?? WHY won't he blame Baal? Aren't we the same way? Do we blame our dead gods of money, power, position, self-sufficiency? NO, when things go hard on us, WE BLAME GOD; What does his answer say about him? WHO'S he nad at? GOD, WHY?? [someone read Lev 26:27-29, Deut 28: 47-57] v28-29 - What a ghastly and grisly plan!! They would rather eat their children! WHY? Because they feared death, they feared pain too much; How terribly desprate to be! To be willing to trick another mother into FEEDING you her baby! Having rejected God as the center of their universe, having cast themselves adrift in an ocean of gods, goddesses, godlets and demons, they had also cast away the one who CAN MAKE our lives make sense, Who can enable us to bear the unbearable, Who can GIVE peace in the midst of chaos and wreck and famine of the heart and soul as well as of the body - Who CAN make us see what is TRULY terrible - slaughtering the innocent in the name of our OWN personal welfare; When we reject Him, we reject His holy influence that tells us what is right - that SELF-sacrifice for the sake of the innocent is to be desired, is better than the other way around; Having NO ONE to calm their fears, NO one in whom they could place their hope, NO one they could trust - THEIR FEARS DESTROYED THEM - DROVE THEM TO A TERRIBLE PLACE; A monstrous place, one they would NEVER have believed they would or could ever go in better times; How many of US sit around and speculate on whether we'd EAT our children if we were to find ourselves starving?? V30 - SACK CLOTH!? WHY? What does it mean? Rending the garments was a sign of GREAT emotional distress and vexation and sorrow; Ordinarily it's a sign of repentance - an outward sign that one s grieved and broken hearted over their sin and NOW desire to start anew, with GOD as the One in charge of their life; BUT Joram?? WHY would a Baal worshipping king CARE if his citizens ATE their children or NOT? Baal worship OFTEN included the sacrifice of LIVING infants thrown into the fire; It would appear that some vestiges of older belief remained, left behind as sort of a cultural residue from earlier days when God's laws held meaning, such that even to a man as wicked as Joram that cannibalism is somehow BEYOND even HIS jaded hardened wretched pagan beliefs (as if to say, "oh, WELL, SURE, throwing live infants into a fire as they kick and scream and shriek in agony is OK for WORSHIP, but to EAT THEM??? EEEEYYYUUUU!" bizarre how one thing is acceptable, even desirable, but the other is viewed with distaste) THIS shows that once a people decide that SOME of them have less value (in this case, children) then it won't take much or take too long before they decide they have NO value AT AL:L; what 1st becomes a sacrifice to their god of appetite finally becomes a sacrifice to their OWN appetites - they LITERALLY ate their children; WE are consuming them emotionally and spiritually as seen by the growing wave of abuse of the innocents, of the weak and helpless; Once a people stray from God's commanded laws (preferring their OWN self-law), there is NOTHING to keep them from going to ANY extreme - once they severe their ties to that Divine anchor, there is NO LIMIT or RESTRAINT to keep them from drifting into ALL manner of horrible perversity and monstrousness; SACKCLOTH: it was a FURTHER sign to a desperate people of just how bad things really were! But did it mean Joram was REALLY ready to return to worship only the One True God? NO! The text never explains this weird deviation in behavior of Jorams; perhaps he was trying to hedge his bets, seeing from his top perspective just how bad off they were, and knowing how utterly useless his gods had been to resolve it, maybe he was scared enough to be driven to this attempt to appease a God he neither knew, nor understood, but half remembered hearing about a long time ago, hearing of how He delivered - and yet his pride and fear and unbelief kept him from making his "repentance" genuine, his plea to God real; This is more of a superstitious ritual, some vague hope that by going through the motions (secretly, of course), he could somehow influence things; IS THIS AN ATTEMPT TO PLACE FORM OVER SUBSTANCE??? The only thing we do get is that the text implies that his attempts to "look confident" in front of the people - to "put on a good front" to keep them from a COMPLETE panic was NOW rather dented and wasted; v31 - after it was all said and done - garment torn, etc, what was his response?? To BLAME someone ELSE!! Rather than dealing with the REAL cause of God's discipline - Joram's OWN apostasy, he blames Elisha! Perhaps, too, he is remembering those soldiers Elisha prevents him from slaughtering earlier v31 - reason ONE for there NOT being a LOT of applicants for the job of "Prophet": If you are TRUE to the Lord - Kinds will OFTEN want you DEAD; v32 - 2nd reason? Elisha is ALSO starving in the siege; What sort of deal is THIS?! HEY, if I'm a really good guy - go to church - keep my cussing down to a reasonable minimum - try to be a Christian, THEN NOTHING BAD is supposed to happen to me EVER, RIGHT?? WRONG! God frequently calls His children into the hard dark foul-smelling places of the world; WHY?? Because THATS where the NEED is, THATS where those He died for ARE, and they are often more acutely AWARE of their needs than the well to do pagans who can MAINTAIN the ILLUSION of NOT needing anything or anyone more than what they already HAVE (or plan to get); BUT, He doesn't send us in there alone, He doesn't actually SEND us ANYwhere at ALL! HE'S ALREADY THERE AND HE'S CALLING US TO COME JOIN HIM THERE!!! To come and share and take part in what HE'S doing BEEN doing LONG before WE ever wandered by! During med school and residency training, there were some Sr doc's who'd send the jr guy in to try to figure things out alone before finally coming abck - often no better off than when he went in -BUT the REALLY GOOD ones, the ones we ALL wanted to be on call with were the ones who'd say, "hey, come on with me, follow along, watch and learn and do with me what I do"; Now THOSE were TEACHERS; God is that way, too; Nevertheless, Elisha's got a front row center seat with a REALLY great view of the famine! Look who's with him! The elders? Who ARE those guys?? The officials of the land, the actual movers and shakers and policy makers - well at least the famine wasn't wasted on THEM; they at least and at last seem to have finally come to realize WHO their God is and how GREATLY they NEED to serve and obey Him; What are they discussing? Who knows - perhaps their own spiritual awakening; AGAIN God's early warning radar is FULLY active; v32 "Son of a Murderer" - we know the Son is Joram, but son of WHO? Jezebel! The queen who HUNGERED for the blood of God's Prophets! Not only did he know to hold off the "messenger" (nice name for official assassin), he knew the king would be close behind! A man of faith, yes! But certainly NOT above bolting the door against wickedness - tiny lesson for us! It's important ESSENTIAL to trust God, BUT when we have it with in our means to RESTRAIN evil, we CAN and SHOULD do so! V33 - what did the king mean? Wait for WHAT? Apparently Elisha has notified Joram before that rather than surrender and take their chances with the Arameans, he should wait for God to deliver them - who knows, perhaps the sackcloth was part of Elisha's "deal" with Joram; NASB, AMP, KJV "this evil", NIV "this disaster": Heb "ra'" - means evil, misery, distress from root word that is a powerful moral ethical term USUALLY identifying something evil in GHOD'S eyes, BUT can also be used to describe something utterly evil to US BECAUSE it brings us misery and distress; Don't be surprised at his question OR his attitude; we so often share it; How often have we rather do SOMETHING ANYthing than just wait; all those times when we did NOT feel sure at ALL what the Lord wanted us to do, and how we struggled to wait until we DID have a clear picture - and how often we just decided to go ahead with SOMEthing, ANYthing even when we did not have the SLIGHTEST idea as to whether or NOT it was pleasing to God and part of HIS plan; We are so often limited by our OWN tiny sight, our own munchkin view of things, unable to imagine HOW God could POSSIBLY be able to handle THIS one... God answers this question of WHY should I wait for God's answer when I'm ready to do MY answer NOW?! 7:1ff - missing is any "be not afraind" absent is ANY of the tenderness God reserves for His frightened Children - who YEARN to believe, but just fall short... HERE it's Official Prophecy Time! "HEAR the Word of the LORD!" Knowing Joram as we now do, this is NOT as redundant as it might SEEM! 7 quarts of flour will sell for about 11 grams of silver and 14 qts of barley (used to feed livestock) would go about the same price - basically business as USUAL; And ALL this would change in just 24 hours, now THATS a Prophecy! NONE of this mystic vagueness about "a wealthy and powerful man will get married sometime in the next 12 months"! If Elisha was lying, THEY'D KNOW where he'd be - same as them! Trapped in the city and they STILL killed lying prophets on those days (if you were stupid enough to get caught!) v2 - there's ALWAYS gotta be at least ONE smart guy in the crowd - his remark was basically their way of saying not even GOD could provide THAT kind of blessing! SEE what happens when you choose to follow after a false believing man? YOU become the SAME! His god was just too small to be able to do what was admittedly HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish Alas! We shall se what his reward for shooting off his mouth was! To SEE but NEVER to enjoy Gods provision; 7:-9 - Lepers to the Rescue - God can use ANYone to accomplish His will. THIS has GHOT to be the pits! Dying of leprosy, locked out of the city because of it AND starving to BOOT! No WONDER these 4 men felt they had nothing to lose - DEATH would at least be QUICK v4 - the terrible logic of desperation, sometimes we HAVE to get where we just don't care WHAT happens before we're willing to experience what God wants for us... v5 - what did they find? God had made a raid at dusk! He used their own fears to panic the Arameans into fleeing - now ADMIT it! NO one could say, "I knew He'd do that!" Joram and Samaria were just hoping to SURVIVE this - God DOES give more than we can ask or even think to ask! V8 - they are now the RICHEST lepers in all the Kingdom! V9 - in the middle of the night, in the middle of their furious feasting and pillaging, what occurs to them? KJV: We do not do well NIV: We're not doing right was it totally sweet spiritedness that prompted this? NO - fear of retribution! As one put it - rather than suffer as criminals, they preferred to be treated as hero's; v10: Good News at the Gate! V11 Good News Travels FAST! - even in the dead of middle of the night, such news ripped through the starving city; v12 - starving, yes; pagan demon worshiper, yes; stupid? NO. This is a sad reflection on his inability to trust God - did he say, Hey Elisha! Is THIS God's provision you've been promising? NO, he ran it his own way and DELAYED the cities receiving God's deliverance! 7:13-15 Two Plans - One less horse! V13 1st plan - let 5 guys on horse back scout out the area - if there's Arameans there, they'll spring the trap and only die a little SOONER than the rest of us; v14 BETTER idea! Save one horse (probably to EAT later) send two chariots and fewer men HOW would YOU have felt, to go on what HAD to be the LAST military assignment of your career? Starving, watching your family starve, knowing you'll never see the inside of the city again...do you think BAAL was of much comfort then?? V15 - REPRIVED! Imagine their growing sense of wonder at the silence of the camp, the long scattered trail of clothing, armor, weapons and loot lying quietly in the early morning dust and dew - not a word, not a sound but the faltering hoof sounds of those starving horses, the jingling of their traces, creak of the leather and rumble of the chariot wheels on the hard rocky road - NO one, NOT ONE SOUL in sight - and that horrible sensation in the small of your back, in the back of you neck, just WAITING to feel the bite and shock of an arrow or spear... and that feeling slowly fades away - replaced by a tightening in the gut as the EXCITEMENT of the truth SLAMS into you - NO more siege, NO more starvation and slow death for you OR you family; against ALL possible human expectation - YOU ARE GOING TO LIVE! Suddenly you starvation weakness is gone in a RUSH of adrenaline, you jerk those poor scarecrow buzzard-bait horses around and BEAT them into a frenzied race to get BACK to the city, to recover those 25 miles of road littered with loot, to GET the news of this INCREDIBLE thing BACK to home, and to get your family HERE, where there's LIFE, and FOOD and HOPE again; Imagine those city gates! Imagine the crowd surging against the soldiers, DESPERATE to get OUT, to get TO that wild rumored salvation that is JUST OUTSIDE; the crowd MUST be WILD with fear and hope and desperation, barely contained, barely more than a riot about to explode - waiting for HOURS for those 2 lonely chariots, STRAINING for ANY word of their fate, KNOWING your life hangs with theirs; The king must be walking those same battered walls, waiting, waiting...then suddenly someone sees the dust of those racing chariots - WHY are they running? Is ALL LOST? Are they fleeing a hidden Aramean ambush? Will they die, and our hopes WITH them? NO! WAIT! There's NO on in pursuit! Those horses covered with sweat, eyes WILDLY rolling, foaming at the bits, whipped into a bloody frenzy, come tearing like madmen up to the gate. The words shrieked out, "THEY HAVE FLED!! THERE IS NO ENEMY! WE ARE SAVED!!!" V16 "the people went out", INDEED! Those charioteers cries must have been like a blow torch in a fireworks factory; that wild eyed starvation maddened mob must have torn off those gates at the hinges to get OUT of that city of death, and fear, and monstrous depravity to get OUT to their salvation; oh yeah, and that smart mouthed hard hearted officer? He heard the news all right, saw the empty tents, and then was crushed into pate' by the mob as it poured out like a flashflood through the gate he had been sent to guard; and the people ate! And EVERY DETAIL of Elisha's prophecy came exactly true - NO minor deviations to excuse, NO subtle errors or variations - even down to the commercial value of the food - ALL was as he said! V10-20 LEST ANYone miss the point here, the writer makes SURE to remind the reader - it was NO accident! It was NO coincidence! It was GOD at work! As He PROMISED!! God, NOT Baal provides food, in fact, God made SURE they knew it was HIM by telling them all 1st what HE was going to do; How bitter and sad a fact, that in spite of this obvious UNdeniable provision of grace on His part, the King AND the people ALL REFUSED to honor Him, to acknowledge HIM for what He's done! WE are NOT immune to this sad and terrible ingratitude - we need to always be grateful to and thanking Him constantly for His many provisions, His uncountable blessings for us; Lest we miss another truth here this is MORE than a wonderful story of God providing even as He promised; this is ALSO an allegory of our own world NOW. There are men and women DESPERATELY starving in their hearts and souls for SOMEthing to give meaning and purpose and satisfaction to their lives - they hide, cowering behind walls of anger, indifference, fear and heartache as the world tears away at their lives, and at their very hearts and minds... BUT LOOK! Once again, God has picked the lowly, the despised, the least in the world to bring GREAT NEWS! We can BE as those poor lepers and BRING them that news, we can be as those frantic charioteers, depserate to get to them with the news that beyond ALL possible human expectation, GOD has PROVIDED for THEM! NOT because they are worthy or wonderful (remember? BOTH mothers were saved that day), NOT because they deserve it or EVER WILL deserve it, but ONLY BECAUSE GOD PROMISED IT - He gives salvation as a FREE gift! NOT earned, BUT RECEIVED! They WAIT for us to return and tell them; Oh GOD, make me more able to do so! Make me as eager as those charioteers MUST have felt to return with the GREAT NEWS, that GODD NEWS of GOD'S Salvation Gift in Jesus Christ! 8:1-6 A Widow Restored 1: I assume she is a widow, as she has no one else but her son, and has to leave her ancestral birth right because she can't provide for herself in famine... God desires us to know His will - what did He call her to do? To remain and testify to God's power etc? No - God said go away for a while - AT THE TIME THERE WAS NO FAMINE; Elisha was essentially asking her to give up EVERYTHING only on HIS say so, to lose it ALL, when there was NO visible REASONABLE threat; 2: what did she do? SHE LEFT. As we experience God's presence and life in our own and experience His faithfulness, our ability to trust Him can and does grow; She left BEFORE the famine - by obeying God she got OUT while the getting was good; where she traveled does not matter nearly as much as WHY she traveled - out of a desire to obey and honor God; How do you think the Baal worshipping crowd felt as they watched their land shrivel and dry up before the dead stone face of their god of the harvest, their god of the storm and of the harvest? WHY the famine?? What was God desiring to do? To PROVE Himself to those sad bone headed stubborn false-god worshipping Israelites; Their land was a giant model of their hearts as a people - barren, fruitless, Godless; Why tell the widow to leave? To spare her the hardship and loss of famine - instead of pouring money hopelessly into one failed crop after another, having to buy scarce food at inflated prices, she was safely away; Both she AND her household - there WE are again, the servants, what a BLESSING to be able to live/work in a Godly environment - a lesson to us - we WILL share in the blessing if we align ourselves among other believers; v3: she was told 7 years - that was enough for her, no mention that she was TOLD the famine is over - because she believed Gods word, she didn't need a crop report, all SHE needed was a calendar! Instead of trying to depend on externals, she placed her hearts trust in the Lord's word; what was her appeal? Maybe not to get it back FREE, but at least to be allowed to BUY it back; v4: must have been before his fall from Elisha's employ, or perhaps King Joram was so foolish and disobedient of God's laws that he saw no problem in having a leper in his household; even Joram, the apostate, could be curious about his nemesis Elisha; Paul said for us to be ready to give an account for the hope that is with in us - how tragic Joram's curiosity never develop into conviction! V5: BEHOLD! The timing of an infinite sovereign God! From death to life! WHAT a testimony that boy, now a young man, has! Simple but marvelous - "once I was dead, now I live!" - even WE can make this same testimony of our lives! Though not as profoundly as his, perhaps..? v6: she was ready and able to answer a king - notice EVERYONE was surprised by God's plan - the king was only looking for entertainment and got to meet a miracle face-to-face; the woman was only seeking legal assistance and got to testify to a king about the Lord! What was the result of her faithfulness? Not only her land, but all it's profits since she had left! Understand her risk! Joram was known to be an enemy of Elisha! She had NO assurance that the king wouldn't perversely take out his bitterness with Elisha on her! But NO! When asked, she answered! And GOD was glorified; This shows us God's exquisite attention to detail!! He always knows what He is doing and is always perfectly in control; II Kings 8 16-19 "Nevertheless" - how often our lives hang on one of God's precious "Nevertheless's! Not EVEN for the man, but because of DAVID, a distant relative HE never knew and probably despised; how weakly that "lamp" must have flickered in those days and yet for God it was NEVER at risk; How SAD! A Godly father and wicked son! Even a Godly father can FAIL to raise up his son to seek after the Lord - God has NO "grandchildren"; So the only assurance a Godly parent has of having Godly children is to ACTIVELY SEEK after that goal - it won't "happen" by accident - it requires a DECISION to TRAIN them up! II Kings 9 1-13 Jehu was apparently a man respected by his men; men READY to follow him; Alas! to view the prophet of God as merely a madman, and yet, willing to believe his prophecy! 7-10 Beware ALL nations and ALL leaders! but NO one can brag they are beyond His reach or above His judgments! 22 Jehu reveals much of his character with this outcry of accusation - it is a cry worth crying out now in this nation - how can ANY people know peace as a nation as long as they have and endorse leaders besotted with idolatry and witchcraft? 23 In fact, there WAS no treachery! Jehu made NO pretense of meeting in Peace! 32 There comes a time when God's man cries out "Who is with me?!" and you GOT to take a side! 2 Kings 10 1-10 Jehu: finally a man determined to obey God to the MAX, and declaring God as sovereign - making sure the people KNEW it was GOD who was, as always, IN CONTROL and worthy of their worship; a man with a heart for God; 28ff Oh Jehu!! You did SO much and yet still FAILED - YOU MISSED THE POINT! It wasn't specifically Baal that had God upset, it was ALL false worship! Syncretistic worship STILL survived!