2 Kings 6-7 "Opening Eyes, Closing Hearts" What lies do you believe? Any time you sin, you first fell prey to that sin by believing a lie. Because if you believed the truth, and walked according to the truth, you wouldn't sin. When you get angry and speak harshly, is it not because you think either that your harshness will be more effective? or that you are fully justified in your anger? In other words, you believed a lie! Sin is always counter-productive. It never really works. In the end it always results in death. Introduction (6:1-7) When you compare this story about the floating axe head to the rest of Elisha's miracles, it seems rather trivial. So the poor fellow lost a borrowed axe head? Is that something worthy of the attention of the great prophet who cures lepers and raises the dead? So maybe this is written down to tell us that even the trivial things of life are important to God? That is true. But there is more to this story. First, the sons of the prophets are growing in number. "The place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us." It would appear that the sons of the prophets are something like a group of disciples. The followers of Elisha are growing. They need a bigger house. So they ask Elisha to go with them, recognizing that God's blessing goes with him, so if he is with them, they will be blessed. The lesson is not merely that God cares for the little things of life. The lesson is that if you want God's blessing, you need the presence of the LORD's prophet. Elisha's name means "God saves" (just as Jesus' name means "Yahweh saves"). The community will be blessed so long as Elisha is with them so also the church will be blessed so long as Jesus is with us. But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, 'Alas, my master! It was borrowed.' According to the law, the borrower was responsible for the property he borrowed. Iron was rare and precious in ancient Israel, so the loss of an axe head would be costly indeed, based on his response, it seems likely that the man would have to sell himself into slavery to pay the debt. So this is not as trivial as it sounds. He delivers this man from slavery, even as he delivered the children of another son of the prophets from slavery in ch 4. Deliverance from slavery at the Jordan River. This story is more significant than it appears! God had redeemed his people from slavery in Egypt and brought them through the Jordan River into the Promised Land, by the hand of Joshua. Just as Moses and spoken with God at Mt Sinai, and delivered his people from Egypt, and anointed Joshua as the one who would finish the job, so now a new Joshua has arisen. Elijah spoke with God at Mt Sinai, receiving his call to proclaim judgment against the house of Ahab and rescue the remnant, and on the way home from Sinai, he anointed Elisha as the one who would finish this job. Elisha is the new Joshua who leads the conquest of the land but this time, not a conquest of the Canaanites, but a conquest of the apostate house of Omri. When you remember that Elisha's call has two parts: judgment against the house of Omri, and rescuing the remnant of Israel, you can better understand the following two sections. In both stories the king blames Elisha for his problems: the king of Syria in the first story, the king of Israel in the second. In both stories Elisha provides food first for the Syrian army, and then for the Israelites. In both stories, seeing plays an important role. 1. Opening and Closing Eyes (6:8-23) But at first, Elisha appears to be helping the house of Omri. Whenever the king of Syria sets his battle plans, Elisha (the man of God) warned the king of Israel, and so he escaped the snares of the king of Syria. Notice that the only person named in this story is Elisha. It really doesn't matter who the kings are. They do not control the story. If you listen to Elisha, you will live. If you don't, you will die. Sight plays a key role in the story. The king of Syria tells his men to "Go and see where he is." (6:13) Then Elisha prays that Yahweh would open the eyes of his servant (6:17), then that he would blind the Syrians literally "dazzle" them (6:18), and then that he would open their eyes (6:20). It is not a blind "darkness" but a dazzling light that blinds them. Back in 5:2 we were told that the Syrians were continuing to conduct raids against Israel. But now God is revealing to Elisha where the raids are headed, and so Syria is not getting much out of it. The king of Syria thinks that he has a traitor in his ranks, but his servants know what is happening. Elisha the prophet is listening in on his bedroom conversations. So the king of Syria demonstrates his conviction that Israel is a puny foe by ordering his troops to go to Dothan and seize Elisha. He sends a great army to capture the prophet (apparently he had some respect for Elisha's powers just not enough respect!) At least not yet! They came by night under cover of darkness and surrounded the city. The powers of darkness have descended upon the man of God. We saw a few weeks ago in Luke that they came in at night to seize Jesus. Some things never change. When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. He comes running to Elisha and says, Alas, my master! What shall we do? But Elisha hasn't the slightest concern? What shall we do? We aren't the ones who should be afraid! Elisha is teaching us to see with the eyes of faith. By sight we see our enemies prevailing. By sight we see a host of our foes around us. But do you see by faith? For those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And so Elisha prays, O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see. So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Joshua had seen the commander of the LORD's army (Joshua 5), but Elisha is the commander of the LORD's army. Elisha speaks, and the hosts of heaven obey. And so when the Syrians began to move against him, Elisha prayed again, Please strike this people with blindness. (Literally, "smite this people with a dazzling light") It is used in only two places in the Hebrew Bible. The other place is when the angels strike the men of Sodom with blindness in Genesis 19. But in both cases this blinding by the light is in the context of angels. The Bible doesn't talk about angels all the time, but occasionally it reveals that angels are very active servants of God. We need to remember that angels are quite active in our lives. Perhaps you are familiar with the Frank Peretti books (This Present Darkness, etc.), --a rather fanciful portrayal of the angelic and the demonic. The main problem with his books is that the angels and demons are too central to the story. A better portrayal of the importance of the angelic realm is C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). Lewis insists on keeping humans at the center of the story, but (like the scriptures) occasionally pulls back the veil and reveals the important role that angels and demons play. Think about the various things that angels do in scripture: God sent his angel before Israel when they entered the land (Gen 24; Ex 23); the Psalmist promises that God sets His angels as guardians around us, lest we dash our foot against a stone (Ps 91). Angels mediated the law (Galatians 3:19, cf. the angelic role in Zechariah and Daniel) join in our worship in the heavenly Zion (Hebrews 12, cf Ps 103:20; 148:2) and are observers of our witness (1 Tim 5:21), and are God's reapers of the harvest (Mt 13, 24) They ministered to Jesus after His temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4), one rescued Peter from prison (Acts 12) And in the end, the righteous are destined to judge angels (1 Cor 6). In short, angels are God's servants who put into effect the word of their master. Some people have wondered why God uses angels. After all, his word is powerful enough to accomplish his purposes without them so why bother? Of course, that is true of us as well! He doesn't need us, either! But God is pleased to work through the creatures that he has made. How often are we like Elisha's sidekick? All we see are those who are against us. We do not see the hosts of heaven arrayed around our Lord Jesus Christ, the commander of the Lord's armies? O LORD, open our eyes that we may see! Help us to walk by faith, not by sight! So that we might see with the eyes of faith and therefore walk with confidence because our great Elisha, Jeshua himself, stands in our midst! Having struck the Syrian army with a blinding light, Elisha now says to them, This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Samaria. First of all, we need to acknowledge that this is deceptive. They are seeking Elisha in the city of Dothan. Elisha is speaking deceptively in order to show them who they should be seeking. And he takes them to the king of Israel in Samaria. Elisha is demonstrating that he is the commander of the LORD's armies, and as such he may command any army even the Syrian army and they will obey! (If you think about it, why would the Syrians obey a strange Israelite who says, follow me? It makes no sense! unless you recognize that they have been blinded by the light. They will follow Elisha's word because he speaks with the authority of God himself.) And notice that while he leads them into a trap he does so mercifully! He forbids the king of Israel to kill them, insisting instead that he feed them and send them on their way. There are two messages in chapter 6. The first is to Israel: If you acknowledge the prophet as "father," all will go well (v. 21). Follow Elisha and you will live. And the second message is to Syria: Stay away from Elisha if his prayer is sufficient to blind your whole army, then it could also do worse things! 2. But Faith Comes by Hearing (6:24-7:20) 1. The Siege: the King and the Cannibals (6:24-31) Obviously Ben-Hadad did not learn his lesson! Because he thought that the solution was simply to send more men! And at first things are going well. Samaria is besieged, and succumbs to famine. A donkey's head is sold for 80 shekels of silver (about 2 pounds). Dove's dung is considered a delicacy! And the king of Israel is in a foul mood. When a woman calls to him for help, he answers: If Yahweh will not help you, how shall I help you? Remember that Jehoram, the second son of Ahab to reign as king of Israel, is also the best king of the house of Omri. He worships only Yahweh he put away the Baals though he continues in the sin of Jeroboam, in worshiping Yahweh at the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. And he is portrayed more sympathetically than Ahab. While he has lost his temper, he is suitably appalled at the story of the woman she cannibalized her own son and is now trying to do the same to her friend's son. This was one of the promised judgments of Deuteronomy 28 women would eat their own children in their desperation! She calls out to him, "Save, my lord, O king!" It is important that you not hear simply "help!" But "Save me!" Because Elisha's name means "God saves." Jehoram does not get the point. And he tears his clothing, and all the people see that he has sackcloth on beneath his clothes. In other words, he is in mourning pleading with God to save Israel. In our last story he called Elisha "father" and trusted his word, but now all he can see is Elisha sitting on his duff in his house, doing nothing, so he declares, May God do so to me and more also if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today. [of course, if you remember 2 Kings 2, it is too late to remove Elisha's head; his head, Elijah, sits in the heavens raised up in glory by the chariots of fire!] 2. Why Wait? Elisha and the Messenger (6:32-33) Elisha was sitting in his house in Samaria, and the elders were sitting with him. They are not sitting with the king but with the prophet. They know where their true hope lies! But even before the king's messenger arrives, Elisha says, Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take off my head. While the Hebrew "son of a murderer" is equivalent to the English "murderer" I could not leave out the fuller translation, because the reference to Ahab and Jezebel is not accidental. Jehoram is a true son of a murderer, and he now has murder in his heart. Elisha not only hears what the king of Syria says in his bedroom, but also what the king of Israel says under his breath! But Jehoram understands the problem: This trouble is from Yahweh! Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer? If he has brought this upon us, why are we waiting for him? Jehoram has not learned the lesson of Job: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." The image of sight continues to stay at the heart of our second story as well. The word "ra'a" (to see) is used seven times: In 6:30 "the people looked" and saw the king wearing sackcloth. In 6:32 Elisha asks "Do you see" how this son of a murderer is trying to kill me? and again says, "Look" don't let the messenger in. In 7:2 Elisha prophesies that the captain will see the answer, but not eat of it. In 7:13 the servants of the king say let us go see whether the Syrians have left. In 7:14 the king assents and says "go and see." After all this, you might think that "Seeing" is believing. But we are reminded in the last usage, in 7:19, that the captain "saw" but did not eat. It is not enough to see with your eyes. Faith does not come by seeing. Faith comes by hearing. Because while the passage is loaded with sight words, the central events are events of hearing: In 7:1 Elisha says "Hear the word of the LORD." And in 7:6 the Lord had made the army of the Syrians "hear the sound...of a great army." 3. The Promise: Elisha and the Captain (7:1-2) But Elisha said, Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria. While in verse 33 it was a messenger who asked the question, we discover in 7:2 that now the captain on whose hand the king leaned is standing before Elisha. Probably the king sent the captain as his messenger, and the description "on whose hand the king leaned" is not a reference to a present action, but the Hebrew equivalent of our phrase "right hand man." But the king's right hand man responds: If Yahweh himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And to such unbelief, Elisha replies: You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it. 2. Why Wait? The Lepers and the Flight of the Syrians (7:3-15) The king at the top of the hierarchy of Israel is wondering why he should wait for the LORD. Outside the city there are four lepers who are wondering why they should wait as well. Why are we sitting here until we die? So they decided to go throw themselves upon the mercies of the Syrians. Perhaps captain Naaman will remember his own leprosy and show mercy. But when they got to the camp, all they find is tents, food, clothing, and silver and gold plunder and spoil! The Syrians had fled because the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and horses. Paul says that God puts to shame the wise by the foolish, the things that are, by things that are not. That is exactly what God does here to the armies of the Syrians. There is also a pun here: In chapter 6 Elisha's servant sees the horses and chariots of fire. In chapter 7 the Syrian army hears them and think that the Egyptians are coming. In Hebrew the word for Egypt is "Mitzraim" the word for leper is "Metzoraim." They hear an army of Mitzraim, but what actually comes is a handful of Metzoraim scrounging for food! And so the Syrian camp is plundered by a handful of lepers! While the king tries to sleep through the rumbling of his empty stomach, these lepers are gorging themselves on the plunder from the Syrians! But that's not surprising! The Kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom! Lepers are feasting while the high and mighty starve. (Isn't that what Jesus said about the feast of the Kingdom of God?) But then they realize that they are not doing right. There is a city of starving people only a few yards away! So they went to the city and told the gatekeepers, and in the middle of the night, they summoned the king and his servants. Jehoram is suspicious. It sounds like a trap. It does not occur to him to trust the word of Elisha! So one of his servants suggests sending out horsemen to find out where the Syrians are. "Let us send and see." Seeing is believing. At least that is what the servants of Jehoram think! And Jehoram agrees, "Go and see." And so they went and they saw the garments and equipment that the Syrians had left behind. 1. The Fulfillment: the People and the Captain (7:16-20) Our story began with a famine in which donkey heads and dove dung were expensive delicacies. Our story ends with a seah of fine flour for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel just as Elisha had said, according to the word of the LORD. But our story is not quite over. Our captain, the king's right hand man, was appointed to have charge of the gate. After all, once word got out that the Syrians were no longer out there, the people would get unruly, so you'd want your best man at the gate to keep the peace. Kings reminds us who the captain is, retelling verse 2 in full. This shows us (if we had any doubt before) that verses 1-2 are truly the center of the story, as they are now recapitulated at the end. And whereas we began with the women of Samaria eating their young, we end with the people of Samaria trampling the captain underfoot as they race out to get the food that he would see, but never eat. You need to believe the Word of the LORD. Where are you tempted to believe the lie? When you face temptation, ask yourself, what lie am I facing? And then ask yourself, what is the truth of the Word of God that I need to believe in this hour?