2 Kings 7:1-6

Aram Defeated

1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: 'About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, six quarts[a] of fine meal [will sell] for a shekel[b] and 12 quarts[c] of barley [will sell] for a shekel.' "[d]
2 Then the captain, the king's right-hand man, responded to the man of God, "Look, [even if] the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?" Elisha announced, "You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it."
3 Four men with skin diseases were at the entrance to the gate. They said to each other, "Why just sit here until we die?
4 If we say, 'Let's go into the city,' we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let's go to the Arameans' camp. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die."
5 So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans' camp. When they came to the camp's edge, they discovered that there was not a [single] man there,
6 for the Lord [e] had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army.[f] The Arameans had said to each other, "The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us."

2 Kings 7:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 7

This chapter begins with a prophecy of great plenty in Samaria on the morrow, and of the death of an unbelieving lord, 2Ki 7:1,2, relates the case of four lepers, who that night went into the Syrian camp, which was deserted, occasioned by the noise of chariots, horses, and a host, which they fancied they heard, 2Ki 7:3-9, the report which the lepers made to the king's household of this affair, and the method the king's servants took to know the truth of it, 2Ki 7:10-15 which, when confirmed, the people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians, whereby the prophecy of plenty was fulfilled, 2Ki 7:16, and the unbelieving lord having post at the gate of the city assigned him, was trod to death, and so the prediction concerning him had its accomplishment also, 2Ki 7:17-20.

Footnotes 6

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