Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

King Jehoram was mad at Elisha. Elisha was in his house with the elders of Israel and they had the door shut tight. Jehoram, his bodyguard, and his messenger were on the other side demanding to be let in so they could get Elisha. This is all because of the famine induced by the siege of the Syrian army – which included fighting men Elisha had previously freed. Things were so bad exorbitant amounts of money were being paid for garbage food. Some had resorted to cannibalism. King Jehoram blamed Elisha, instead of repenting and looking at the YEARS of idolatry and disobedience as the cause of this judgment (I’m again SO thankful we are not in a covenant of judgment like they were.).

Elisha, though, had a word from the Lord. By tomorrow at that time quality flour and barley would be sold at the gate of the city for near pennies. The bodyguard scoffed. He doubted the ability of God to bring this to pass. Elisha told him that it WOULD come to pass, he WOULD see it, and he would NOT partake of the bounty.

Meanwhile, four men who had leprosy were sitting at the gate of the city. They were at the entrance on the outside of the gates. They were lepers, so this unwelcome situation was something they were used to. They were Israelites though. They were suffering along with the people inside the city. This is what they reasoned: if they stayed where they were they would starve and die. If they got into the city, they’d still be under siege and would starve and die. They could go to the Syrian camp where – being Israelites and lepers – they would most likely die, but just maybe they would not. Maybe. Some chance is better than no chance, so at twilight (I guess so that their leprosy wouldn’t be immediately spotted) they went to the camp. Which they found empty. No Syrians. All the Syrians’s stuff was there. Their donkeys and horses were there. But no people.

The Lord had caused the Syrians to hear the sounds of chariots and the noise of horses. A GREAT army. They immediately supposed Jehoram had hired the Hittites and the Egyptians to kill them. So they fled. Dropping everything, they ran for their lives. The camp was FULL of all their plunder from this invasion. Their food. Their clothes, weapons, equipment, chariots, horses, donkeys, everything. They only kept what they had on their backs. Everything else was here. With the four lepers. Who were THRILLED. They took as much gold and silver as they could carry and buried it. They ate until they were stuffed. They made several trips. Then their thoughts turned to the city. It had been suffering too. They knew that if they said nothing, it would be wrong. And also they might get in trouble for not saying anything, so they went to the gates and shouted until somebody listened and told them what they had found – not mentioning the buried treasure (I don’t blame them for that).

King Jehoram heard and didn’t exactly trust it. He assumed it was a trap. He was advised to send five men to investigate, but he was only willing to send two chariots. They went to the camp, and then followed the road toward the Jordan river. The road was full of their clothes and weapons. They had thrown away EVERYTHING that was slowing them down. They returned and told the king. The people heard and everyone went out to plunder the camp of the Syrians. Food was gathered and sold for cheap by the gates. It was pandemonium. The king sent one of his officers (the bodyguard from earlier) to keep order, but the people were rioting and they trampled him to death. He had SEEN the plenty, but had not HAD any of it – just like Elisha had spoken.

“Now the king was speaking to Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please tell me all of the great things which Elisha has done.”” (2 Kings 8:4)

Do you remember the drought that led to a huge famine for three and a half years which Elijah had called down? Well, the Lord told Elisha that He was sending a famine for seven years. That would be harsh, so Elisha travelled to the Shunamite woman who had built him a place to rest and told her to leave Israel because of the famine. She packed up her household and went to stay in the Philistine cities. She stayed there the whole seven years. At the end of that time, she came back and went to make an appeal to the king to get back her rightful property (the home and the land).

The king was talking with Gehazi, the leper, who had been the servant of Elisha. The king wanted to know all the mighty things Elisha had been a part of. Just as Gehazi was getting to the Shunamite woman whose son Elisha raised from the dead, in she came. Gehazi eagerly pointed her out at the mother of the boy. The king asked her to confirm it, and she did. When she had also told him of her mission, Jehoram assigned an officer to her and she got back her house, her land, and all the proceeds that came from the land for the full seven years she had been gone. Talk about favour from the Lord. He arranged it so that this woman who had shown respect and sown into Elisha’s life got a plentiful harvest – the same will still be true today because He and His Character don’t change (2 Corinthians 9:10; Hebrews 13:8).

Either during the famine or just after it (no exact time is given), Elisha went to Damascus in Syria. He stayed there for a time. During that time Benhadad got sick. When he heard Elisha was in town, he sent his man Hazael with a present to ask Elisha if Benhadad would recover or not. Hazael took forty camel-loads (that’s SOME gift). He asked the question. Would Benhadad recover from the disease? Elisha bid him tell the king that he would recover, BUT Elisha also told him that the Lord said the king would die. He stared at Hazael so intently, Hazael got embarrassed. And then Elisha wept. Hazael demanded to know why he was crying. Elisha told him that the Lord had shown him the horrific things Hazael would do to Israel. Hazael was disgusted and asked how HE could do such evil. Elisha simply responded saying the Lord had shown him that Hazael would be king over Syria.

Hazael left and went back to the king. He gave the king the good report. But the next day, he suffocated the king in a way that everyone would be unable to suspect him. And he seized the throne. He may have told Elisha that he was incapable of horrific things, but he began his reign with murder and lies. Not a sign that he had a gentle heart.

In the fifth year of Jehoram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, his brother-in-law Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat started a co-regency with his father. It lasted about three years, and then he reigned alone for five years after his father Jehoshaphat’s death. He was thirty-two years old when he began to rule and reigned a total of eight years in Jerusalem in Judah. His wife was Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Though his father was a godly man, Jehoshaphat also made ties and alliances with Ahab and Jezebel. Consequently, because of the family influence and the influence of his wife, Jehoram of Judah walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He and his wife did evil from God’s point of view. But for the sake of his ancestor David, God did not destroy him.

Edom revolted against Judah’s authority. They made their own king. Jehoram went down to Zair to battle them, but got surrounded. They made a nighttime breakthrough and went back home. Edom remained in revolt. Libnah, one of the cities of the priests of Levi, also revolted. Jehoram did not have a peaceful rule. After he died, his son Ahaziah took the throne – this was in the twelfth year of Jehoram, son of Ahab’s rule. Ahaziah was twenty-two when he took the throne and reigned one year in Jerusalem. He also walked in the ways of Ahab and the kings of Judah – his mother was Ahab’s daughter.

He went with his uncle to battle Hazael, king of Syria, but they didn’t do well. The Syrians wounded uncle Jehoram. He went back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds. Ahaziah went down to see uncle Jehoram, because Jehoram was sick. Family call to cheer him up and all that.

Summary

Key Players: God, Elisha, Gehazi, Jehoram of Israel, Benhadad, Jehoram of Judah, Hazael

Key Themes: Judgment, Mercy, Restoration, Disobedience

Key Verse(s): 2 Kings 7:1-2, 16-20; 8:1-2, 5-6, 10-12, 15, 20-22, 26-27