SERIES M --- PROPHESIES AND MIRACLES --- LESSON 17

UNDER SIEGE

THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA

From 2 Kings 6:24-7:20

As time passed, the Syrians again began to think of waging war against Israel. King Ben-hadad of Syria marched against Samaria, Israel’s capital city and laid siege against it with his entire army. With its food supply cut off, Samaria began to suffer a severe famine. Food became so scarce in the city that a donkey’s head was sold for fifty dollars in silver and a pint of dove’s dung brought three dollars. One day a woman saw the king of Israel as he was walking along the city wall. [Help me! Help me!] she cried out to him. [How can I help you if Adonai Himself has not helped you?] the king replied. [Can I bring food from the threshing floor or the wine press? What help can I give you?] [Help me against this woman,] she answered. [We made a bargain that we would eat my son one day and her son the next. We boiled my son and ate him. But when it was time to eat her son, she hid him.] The king tore his clothes when he heard that. As he was on the wall, people noticed that he was wearing sackcloth, a sign of great mourning, under his cloak. [May YHVH punish me if I do not execute Elisha today, for he is responsible for this famine,] exclaimed the king. Meanwhile, Elisha was sitting in his house with some of the elders of Israel. The king sent a messenger there to order Elisha to appear before him. Before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, [You will see how this murderer, the king, has sent someone to kill me. When he comes, shut the door and keep him outside, for the king is not far behind him.] While Elisha was speaking, the messenger arrived, with the king not far behind him. [Adonai has caused all this trouble,] said the king angrily. [So why should I wait for Adonai to get us out of it?] [Listen to what Adonai has to say!] Elisha replied. [By this time tomorrow a shekel, about a dollar, will buy a peck of flour or two pecks of barley at the gate of Samaria.] The officer who was the king’s personal helper answered, [That couldn’t happen even if Adonai opened the windows of heaven.] [You will see these things with your own eyes,] said Elisha. [But you will not be able to eat any of the food.] About that time four lepers were sitting just outside the gate of Samaria. They began to discuss their situation and came up with a plan. [Why are we sitting here like this, starving to death?] they said. [If we go into the city, we will starve to death with the others or if we just stay here, we will certainly starve to death. Why don’t we go ask the Syrians for help? If they kill us, we haven’t lost anything, for we’ll die anyway. If they help us, then we will have new hope.] At twilight they arose and headed for the Syrian camp, but when they got there, they found it empty; not one Syrian was there! Adonai had caused the Syrians to hear the sound of a mighty army approaching with horses and chariots and they had said to one another, [The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to bring their armies against us.] They fled that same evening before the lepers came, leaving everything behind; tents, horses, donkeys and all their treasure. When the lepers came to the camp, soon after the Syrians fled, they went into one tent and finding no one there, they ate and drank and took silver, gold and garments and hid them. Then they went into another tent and took the things from it and hid them. After a while the lepers said to one another, [We are not doing what is right. This is a day of good news. Even if we remain silent until morning, we may be punished. Let’s go right now and tell the king’s household.] The lepers went to the gate of the city and called for the gatekeepers. [We went to the camp of the Syrians, but no one was there,] they reported. [The Syrians left their horses and mules tied and their tents exactly as they had lived in them.] The gatekeepers shouted the news to the palace, where it soon reached the king. The king got up and discussed the news with his officers. [Perhaps the Syrians have planned a trap for us,] he said. [They know we are starving, so they left the camp to hide nearby in the field. They think we will come out of the city to raid their camp and when we do, they will capture us alive and take the city.] But one of the king’s officers had some advice. [Send some men with five of our remaining horses to see whether that is the case,] he said. [If they are killed by the Syrians, it won’t be much worse than to die of starvation with the rest of us here.] The king sent some men in two chariots with horses to follow the Syrian army and see what had happened. They went as far as the Jordan River, finding clothing and supplies scattered along the path of retreat. They brought this news back to the king. Then the people of Samaria rushed out of the city to plunder the Syrian camp. Elisha’s prophecy came true: a peck of flour or two pecks of barley was sold in Samaria that day for a shekel, one dollar. It happened exactly as Adonai had said through His prophet. The king put his special assistant in charge of the gate, but the people stampeded and trampled him to death in their rush to get the plunder. This was the same officer who was with the king the day before when the king had tried to arrest and kill Elisha. Elisha had told both of them that the flour and grain would sell for a small amount within a day and this officer had said it couldn’t happen even if YHVH opened windows in heaven. Elisha had answered that he would see this happen but would not taste any of the food. The prophecy of Elisha was fulfilled. The man was trampled to death by the rush of people and did not get a chance to eat any of the food.

COMMENTARY

LEPERS AND LEPROSY

Leprosy was one of the most feared diseases of ancient times. People dreaded it because it badly damages and disfigures the body. And among the Israelites, the Law made the leper an outcast from his own community. Leprosy eventually affects the skin, muscles and nerve endings of the body. The first symptoms are whitish patches of skin that may remain unchanged or even disappear. But the patches may spread across the body, thicken and break out in hard swellings. This is its most contagious stage. In the advanced stage, nerve endings are destroyed and the diseased person cannot feel heat or pain; cuts and burns go unnoticed. Gradually muscles in hands and feet waste away and the bones themselves decay. Blindness sometimes occurs. Before modern medicine, which can cure leprosy, lepers often died when other illnesses took hold of their weakened bodies. In ancient times, leprosy usually spread to the family members who lived with the stricken person. Once exposed, they might not show symptoms for ten years before suddenly falling sick. The Law of Moses required a priest to observe every suspected leprosy case, while the person remained isolated from others. If the white patches did not grow, the person could return home. But if they spread, he was declared ritually unclean and had to live by himself outside the city. Such harshness protected the community from the contagious disease. Once found ill, the leper could return only when declared ritually clean. If the patches faded, observation began again. If he seemed healed, he offered special sacrifices and the priest performed a ritual of purification. Then, ritually clean, he was welcomed back to normal life.