July 3: 2 Kings 5-8

July 3, 2 Kings 5-8

2 Kings 5 Elisha continues on in doing miracles for the Lord. We are introduced to Naaman, commander of the Syrian army (kind of a big deal…). He was well respected because by him The Lord gave victory to Syria. The one downside, he was a leper. He had an Israelite girl as a servant and the little girl said that they should really go to the King of Israel and be healed by God. So, the King of Syria sent a lot of gifts to the King (his enemy) and requested healing for his commander. When he heard about it, the King of Israel tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive…?” He also wondered if this was a ploy, because they were enemies. Then Elisha heard about it and said for Naaman to come to him. Naaman came to his place with his servants, and Elisha sent a messenger to him and said, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” Naaman was angry because I think he was thinking that Elisha was just telling him to be ritually clean, not physically. However, his servants heard what he was saying and persuaded Naaman to go and do as instructed. He did, and he was healed! 

Then Naaman returned to Elisha, with all his people, and confessed that “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” Elisha would receive no gifts from him. Instead, Naaman takes some dirt from there to build an altar on it back home for the Lord (that was an ancient near east belief). Naaman went his way, and Elisha’s servant was taken by greed and went after Naaman. Naaman gave Gehazi, Elisha’s servnt, some silver in 2 bags. Gehazi went and stored them in his house. He came back to Elisha and was confronted. Gehazi was punished by getting what Naaman had - he was a leper now as his household. 

2 Kings 6 Elisha performs another miracle… Some prophets were cutting down some trees and one of them had lost an axe head in the river (a borrowed one…). “Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.” Not all miracles need to be resurrection - just know that God wants us to trust Him in all things.

This next section is awesome, and shows just what is going on in the ‘spiritual’ world that most of us are not privy to see, only to experience. The Syrian King wanted to know that he was boss, so he sent a massive army to go after Elisha. They had the town surrounded when Elisha woke up. Elisha’s servants was afraid. “Then Elisha prayed and said, “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.” The battle was real alright, and battles like this continue today - but it is spiritual. Even though God had ‘blinded’ the army (better interpretation is confused them), Elisha refused the King of Israel to kill them all. Instead, they fed them and took care of them so they could return home - and they did not raid Israel again. 

Afterward, Ben-hadad King of Syria got his troops together to battle Syria, where there was a great famine. In that time, people were so hungry they would buy a donkey’s head to eat for a lot of money. It got so bad, that people began to eat their children to stay alive. This infuriated the King of Israel and partially blamed Elisha. 

Elisha was sitting at home, knowing that the King of Israel was coming to get him. Meanwhile, the elders were sitting around with Elisha learning from him. The troops were at his door…

2 Kings 7 Elisha told the men the Lord said to him that tomorrow there will be food and there will be so much it will be cheap. “Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” This prophecy will also be fulfilled. 

There was some lepers who were not allowed in the city that decided to go to the city, because either way they were going to die. When they got to Samaria, there was nobody there, so they started looting it. They felt bad about it, so they went and sent word to the King of Israel. Just as they said, so the Israelites plundered the Samaritans and the captain of the guard (see above) was put in charge of the gate. He was basically trampled over and killed when the people came to get the food, thus the prophecy was fulfilled, “you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” 

2 Kings 8 Do you remember the Shunammite woman that Elisha stayed with and healed her boy (2 Kings 4)? Anyway, he told her to get out of town for a while because there was going to be a famine for the next 7 years. She went to the land of the Philistines and came back after the famine. When she came back, all that was hers from before was restored to her (because of her connection with Elisha).

Elisha came to Damascus and found out that Ben-hadad was sick (King of Syria). Ben-hadad wanted to hear from the Prophet if he was going to live or die, so he sent Hazael to go inquire. We don’t know much about Hazael, except that he was with Ben-hadad. Hazael asked Elisha if the King will recover from the sickness. “And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but[a] the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die.” And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” What a hard life that Prophets have, to have to see the sin before it happens - let alone what God has to endure! “Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.” What a horrific story of the depravity of man (the fallen state of man). Sin really knows no bounds. 

It is assumed that Jehoram reigned with his father Jehoshaphat for 5 years before becoming King of Judah. He was 30 when he began to reign in Judah and “…he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”  Ahaziah, his son reigned for one year and “… he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”  Multiple wars ensued…

To sum it all up:

• Ever lost something? Did you pray that God would show you where it was at? That is not too small for God - He knows where it is at. Next time you misplace or lose something, ask God in faith to show you where it is at!
• Our battles are spiritual! Ephesians 6 says “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” These are the battles!
• Trying to sum this up basically comes down to this: Where are you at with the Lord? Would it be said of you, “… he/she did what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” Or are you a faithful servant of the Lord?