“A Hard to Believe Story” Pt 3:
The assassination attempts by King Ben-Hadad (of Aram) on Elisha’s life was not successful. This story is told in 2 Kings 6:33 and the beginning of chapter 7. For years there was conflict between the kings of Israel and the prophets of God. The prophets often predicted doom because of the kings’ evil. Kings saw them as troublemakers.
People were doing desperate things to stay alive as mentioned yesterday. The king was extremely angry and said to Elisha, “This disaster is from the Lord, why should I wait for him any longer?” (6:33). Elisha responded with, “Hear the word of the Lord, about this time tomorrow flour and barley grain will be plentiful and available at discount prices at the gate of Samaria” The officer assisting the king asked, “How can this possibly happen?” Elisha said, “You’ll see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it” (7:1-2 paraphrased).
Another dynamic to this story is four lepers camping outside the city gate entrance. According to the law, lepers were not allowed in the city but were to depend on charity outside the walls (Leviticus 13:45,46; Numbers 5:1-4). Because of the famine and the presence of the Aramean army, their situation was desperate.
One never knows what they will do (or become) should they ever become desperate. The four lepers make a fascinating story that stretches our wildest imagination. The story concludes with four unlikely individuals who were lonely, frightened, starving, and simply waiting to die.
These lepers were most likely thrown out of the city because of their disease. I suspect they were not a pretty sight. It was common for a leper to have an ear missing, an entire cheek, several fingers, or an entire hand. According to society in that day, they were “unclean.” They weren’t allowed to drink from a public drinking fountain, enter a restaurant, or even come near a non-leprous.
As these four individuals talked, one of them said, “Why do we sit here until we die?” (7:3). Tomorrow this series will come to an end with seven things, we as followers of Christ, can learn from what they decided to do.
Pastor Carnes
