2 Kings 7:3

The siege is broken

3 Now there were four men with skin disease at the entrance to the city. They said to each other, "What are we doing sitting here until we die?

2 Kings 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 7:3

And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate,
&c.] Of the city of Samaria; lepers, according to the law, being obliged to be without the city and camp, ( Leviticus 13:46 ) these might have a dwelling assigned them near the gate; or they might get as near to it as they could, partly to obtain relief from the city, and partly for fear of the Syrians; these, the Jews say ^F24, were Gehazi and his three sons, see ( 2 Kings 5:27 )

and they said one to another, why sit we here until we die?
being ready to perish with hunger.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 47. 1. & Sanhedrin, fol. 107. 2.

2 Kings 7:3 In-Context

1 Elisha said, "Hear the LORD's word! This is what the LORD says: At this time tomorrow a seah of wheat flour will sell for a shekel at Samaria's gate, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel."

2 Then the officer, the one the king leaned on for support, spoke to the man of God: "Come on! Even if the LORD should make windows in the sky, how could that happen?" Elisha said, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you won't eat from it."

3 Now there were four men with skin disease at the entrance to the city. They said to each other, "What are we doing sitting here until we die?

4 If we decide, ‘Let's go into the city,' the famine is there, and we'll die in the city. But if we stay here, we'll die just the same. So let's go and surrender to the Aramean camp. If they let us live, we'll live. If they kill us, we'll die."

5 So they set out in the evening to the Aramean camp, and they came to the edge of the camp. But there was no one there because

Footnotes

• [a]. Traditionally leprosy, a term used for several different skin diseases