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2 Kings 6-9
God Provides
and Pays Back
Psalm 55:1-11 When You Feel Like Fleeing
1.“Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.2.Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan,3.Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring suffering on me. In anger they hold a grudge against me.4.My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me.5.Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me.6.I said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest.7.Behold, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness." Selah.8."I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm."9.Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.10.Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her.11.Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don’t depart from her streets.Observation
55:1-9.Because of the anger, grudges, and lies (v11) of the wicked hypocrites (see Psalm 50), David is prayerful, (v1) yet fearful (v5), and wants to flee (v6).
Application
1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares for you."
Prayer
God who fights my battles and delivers, You know what's going on. Thanks that I can trust You to sustain me, and cause me to triumph over those who don't wholeheartedly serve You. Amen.
Proverbs 14:24-35 Fear of God is the Fountain of Life
24.The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools crowns them with folly.25.A truthful witness saves souls, but a false witness is deceitful.26.In the fear of Yahweh is a secure fortress, and he will be a refuge for his children.27.The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death.“28.In the multitude of people is the king’s glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.29.He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.30.The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones.
31.He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors Him.32.The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.33.Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, and is even made known in the inward part of fools.
34.Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.35.The king’s favor is toward a servant who deals wisely, but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.“
Observation
14:24-35.The wise get richly blessed, the fools get crowned with folly. The fools don't fear God, and miss out on God's protection, and get ensnared by sin that leads to death. Those who fear displeasing God reign in their natural responses to irritation and calamity. By demonstrating righteousness, they set themselves up for the reward of God's favor, just like an earthly king rewards those who please Him. On the other hand, fools get wrath. The author indicates that a similar fate await nations who please or displease God.
Application
If fear of God isn't turning you from snares of death, your foot is probably already caught.
Prayer
Lord, please help me see clearly the advantages and disadvantages of pleasing or displeasing You, so I'll walk securely in paths of Your blessing. Thanks. Amen.
2Kings 6-9 God Provides and Pays Back
These chapters record how God fulfills His promises to bless, curse and execute justice. He creatively and supernaturally meets the needs of those faithful to them. Elisha opens the eyes of his servant to see the realities of the spiritual world around him. God raises up Hazael and Jehu to execute judgment on Israel. Jezebel bites the dust.
2 Kings 6 The Case of the Open and Shut Eyes
1.The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See now, the place where we dwell before you is too small for us.2.Please let us go to the Jordan, and every man take a beam from there, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell." He answered, "Go!"3.One said, "Please be pleased to go with your servants." He answered, "I will go."4.So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood.5.But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water. Then he cried, and said, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed."6.The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float.7.He said, "Take it." So he put out his hand and took it.8.Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, "My camp will be in such and such a place."9.The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, "Beware that you not pass such a place; for the Syrians are coming down there."10.The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice.11.The heart of the king of Syria was very troubled about this. He called his servants, and said to them, "Won’t you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?"12.One of his servants said, "No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom."13.He said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him." It was told him, saying, "Behold, he is in Dothan."14.Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night, and surrounded the city.15.When the servant of the man of God had risen early, and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?"16.He answered, "Don’t be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."17.Elisha prayed, and said, "Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see." Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.18.When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, "Please strike this people with blindness." He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.19.Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." He led them to Samaria.20.It happened, when they had come into Samaria, that Elisha said, "Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.21.The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, "My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?"22.He answered, "You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master."23.He prepared great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.24.It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.25.There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a measure of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.26.As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!"27.He said, "If Yahweh doesn’t help you, from where could I help you? From of the threshing floor, or from the winepress?"28.The king said to her, "What ails you?" She answered, "This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’29.So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; and she has hidden her son."30.It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his flesh.31.Then he said, "God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stay on him this day."32.But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Then the king sent a man from before him; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, "Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?"33.While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, "Behold, this evil is from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?"Observations
6:1-7.This chapter and the next give examples of how God meets the needs of His people. There are some allegorical interpreters who equate Israel with the ax-head, which God “borrowed” from Egypt to destroy the pagans, but they departed from the hand of God and sunk into sin, yet God raise them up supernaturally through Elisha to accomplish His purpose. Unfortunately, that isn't what happened. Israel gets worse and more severely judged, instead of accomplishing God's purposes. A more accurate interpretation is to understand that God cares about our needs, and can fulfill them, supernaturally if necessary, if we are doing His work.
6:8-23.
Elisha's prediction of enemy troop tactics gets him into a predicament, but God saves him. Surrounded, with no chance of escape, he doesn't fear, as his servant does, because Elisha sees spiritual realities. He prays for his servant to see the host of angels that camp around the servants of the Lord, and then prays for the enemy to not see. He leads them to Samaria, and prays for God to open their eyes. By feeding the enemy, and extending hospitality to them, the king of Israel established a relationship with the enemy which stopped the raiding parties. God again meets the needs of His people creatively.
6:24-33.
A while later the king of Syria lays siege to Samaria because of God's promise to curse disobedience and unfaithfulness. Dt 28:52-57 even predicts the consumption of their own children while under siege. The king of Israel's response to judgment for sin is to try to behead the messenger, Elisha. God protects him with having the elders hold the door shut. But true deliverance comes in the next chapter.
Application
God can meet our needs miraculously if necessary to accomplish His purposes.
Prayer
Father, never let my belief in You be limited by what I can see. Amen.
2 Kings 7 Siege Stopped, Scoffer Stomped
1.Elisha said, "Hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh, ‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’"2.Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, "Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this thing be?" He said, "Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it."3.Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said one to another, "Why do we sit here until we die?4.If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die."5.They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no man there.6.For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great army: and they said one to another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come on us.7.Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.8.When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drink, and carried there silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried there also, and went and hid it.9.Then they said one to another, "We aren’t doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household."10.So they came and called to the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, "We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were."11.He called the porters; and they told it to the king’s household within.12.The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, "I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city.’"13.One of his servants answered...Let us send and see."15.... The messengers returned, and told the king.16.The people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh.17.The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate: and the people trod on him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him...Observations
7:1-3.Although there is no mention of repentance, Elisha prophesies that the siege will end and inflated prices will plummet. A chief officer scoffs at the word of Yahweh from the man of God, not a wise thing to do, and earns a curse for his unbelief.
7:4-11.
Four lepers determine its better to die by the hand of the enemy than die of hunger, and stumble upon God's salvation. It sounds like the host of heaven that surrounded Elisha in the last chapter, rattled the Syrian army by rattling their sabres, and the Syrians fled, leaving food and animals behind. The recipients of unmerited grace share the good news with others.
7:12-17.
Prices plummeted as promised, and the captain who scoffed reaped the consequences of his sin and died.
Application
Scoffing at God's word is suicidal. Sharing God's blessing is smart.
Prayer
Lord, may I be quick to believe all that the prophets have written, and the promises You have made, that I might experience and share Your blessings. Amen.
2 Kings 8 God's Got Great Timing
1.Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for Yahweh has called for a famine. It shall also come on the land seven years."2.The woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the Philistines seven years.3.It happened at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines. Then she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land.4.Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, "Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done."5.It happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, that behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. Gehazi said, "My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life."6.When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, "Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now."7.Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick. It was told him, saying, "The man of God has come here."8.The king said to Hazael, "Take a present in your hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’"9.So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, "Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’"10.Elisha said to him, "Go, tell him, ‘You shall surely recover ’; however Yahweh has shown me that he shall surely die."11.He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept.12.Hazael said, "Why do you weep, my lord?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and will dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child."13.Hazael said, "But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Elisha answered, "Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria."14.Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" He answered, "He told me that you would surely recover."15.It happened on the next day, that he took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died. Then Hazael reigned in his place.16.In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being king of Judah then, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign.17.He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem.18.He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife. He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.19.However Yahweh would not destroy Judah, for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always.20.In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves.21.Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents.22.So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.23.The rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?24.Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.Observations
8:1-6.God protected the Shunammite who had blessed Elisha, and who had been blessed by a son, who was again restored to her after he died. Now God demonstrates His impeccable timing by arranging circumstances so her story is being read to the king when she returns to seek his help in restoring her property. Supernatural timing and natural means brings about additional blessing for her.
8:7-15.
Benhadad II sends his chief of staff, Hazael, to Elisha to get a prognosis (and maybe healing) for an ailment. Had things run their normal course, he would have recovered, as Elisha tells him. However, God has some other plans, and he will die, but not from the sickness. Elijah was told in 1Kg 19:15-17 to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha as His agents to bring destruction upon pagan worshiping Israel. Elisha sees the judgment of Israel when Yahweh delivers them into the hand of Hazael (1Kg 10-13) and weeps. Hazael returns and kills his boss as “predicted.”
8:16-24.
Jehoram the son of good king Jehoshaphat began a co-regency with his father in Judah, then reigned alone for eight years, Jehoram married Ahab's daughter and did evil in the sight of the Lord, including idolatry and killing all his brothers. 1 Chronicles 21 describes the negative consequences, he reaps from his sin, dying diseased and undesired. His subjects won't even bury him in the tomb of kings. It seems evil is more contagious than godliness.
Application
God orchestrates events to fulfill His promises to bless or curse.
Prayer
God, I want to do what is pleasing in Your sight, and reap Your protection and blessing, rather than do my own thing, and reap Your displeasure. Amen.
2 Kings 9 Jehu Executes God's Will
1.Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, "Put your belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.2.When you come there, find Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brothers, and carry him to an inner room.3.Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, "I have anointed you king over Israel."’ Then open the door, flee, and don’t wait."4.So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead.5.When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. Then he said, "I have a message for you, captain." Jehu said, "To which of us all?" He said, "To you, O captain."6.He arose, and went into the house. Then he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of Yahweh, even over Israel.7.You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel.8.For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel.9.I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam and like the house of Baasha10.The dogs will eat Jezebel on the plot of ground of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.’" He opened the door, and fled.11.Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said to him, "Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?" He said to them, "You know the man and what his talk was."12.They said, "That is a lie. Tell us now." He said, "He said to me, ‘Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel.’"15.but king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria)..."16.So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.17.Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu...20.The watchman said...The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously."21.Joram said, "Get ready!" They got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.22.It happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abound?"23.Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, "There is treason, Ahaziah!"24.Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.25.Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, "Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh laid this burden on him:26.Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says Yahweh; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’ says Yahweh. Now therefore take and cast him onto the plot of ground, according to the word of Yahweh."27.But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. Jehu followed after him, and said, "Strike him also in the chariot!" They struck him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo, and died there.28.His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.29.In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.30.When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window.31.As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, "Do you come in peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?"32.He lifted up his face to the window, and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.33.He said, "Throw her down!" So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. Then he trampled her under foot.34.When he had come in, he ate and drink; and he said, "See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter."35.They went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.36.Therefore they came back, and told him. He said, "This is the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘The dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel on the plot of Jezreel,37.and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, "This is Jezebel."’"Observations
9:1-26.God raises up Jehu to judge the house of Ahab and the Israelite worshipers of Baal, just like He raised up Israel to judge the idolatrous nations. Jehu is the only Israelite king to be anointed. He slays Ahab's son Joram who was recovering from his wounds from Hazael. Joram dies in the vineyard where Ahab slew Naboth.
9:27-37.
Jehu kills Ahaziah the king of Judah for his alliance with Israel, at this time an unholy nation. Then he turns his attention to Jezebel according to the prophecy of verse 10 of this chapter. Jezebel calls him Zimri, the king for a week, who assassinated Elah in 1 Kings 16. He calls for three eunuchs to toss her down, and he tramples her underfoot. The dogs do their job, and Jehu turns his attention to the rest of Ahab's house in the next chapter.
Application
God justly avenges sin, particularly the shedding of innocent blood.
Prayer
God may I live righteously in light of Your certain judgment, trusting You to execute vengeance at the proper time. Amen.
Digging Deeper
God in a nutshell: God works not just to fulfill specific promises in His word, but to meet the needs of those who are faithful to Him. He protects and provides, supernaturally when necessary, using His servants to bring about His will. He judges sin, but not always immediately. When His people become like the bad guys, He punishes them as such. He will even raise up enemies of His people to destroy those who have turned from Him.
Us in a nutshell: If we are faithfully serving God, we can call to Him for help and see Him answer. We're usually blind to the spiritual realities around us, seeing only the physical world most of the time. We will reap blessings if we are loyal to God and bless others, and we will reap cursing, destruction, and even death for disloyalty to Him.