2 Kings 6:24 – 33 “Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.
So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, (80 shekels is approximately 2 pounds or 907.2 grams of silver) and a quarter cab of dove’s dung (or a quarter cab of seed pods; that is, approximately 0.28 dry quarts or 0.31 liters) sold for five shekels of silver. (5 shekels is approximately 2 ounces or 57 grams of silver.)
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”
He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?” Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?”
And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’ So we boiled my son and ate him, and the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.”
When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin. He announced, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders through this day!” Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
Things have become horrific in Samaria! Ben – hadad, king of Syria, has surrounded Samaria with his army and is systematically starving the city. With practically no food left, people are paying enormous sums of money for donkey’s heads and even eating dove manure. One woman has even killed her son and has shared his flesh with her neighbor, anticipating that the neighbor will reciprocate; however, the neighbor has hidden her son.
The king of Israel is distraught, but his responses are totally wrong. The king of Israel recognizes that this problem is from the Lord and is wearing sackcloth under his clothes; however, there is no evidence that he is actually repenting. Rather than humble himself and seek the Lord’s face, the king of Israel chooses to blame the Lord and tries to behead Elisha, the Lord’s representative. The king sends a messenger ahead to Elisha; however, Elisha already anticipates the king’s schemes and orders the door to be shut and barred to keep the messenger out.
The king’s response is fascinating. “Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?” Why indeed? What will the king accomplish by murdering Elisha? If the king believes that this catastrophe is from the Lord, he should be doing everything he can to propitiate the Lord, rather than killing the Lord’s prophet. The king is too short – sighted to realize that Elisha is really the best hope in this situation. God has used Elisha to raise the dead and to multiply resources. Without Elisha, Israel truly will be lost.
APPLICATION: We read this story and wonder how the king of Israel can be so short – sighted. But how many times have we been ready to give up on God? For many of us, our faith is a fair – weather affair. As long as everything is going well, we believe God is loving and blessing us. But as soon as something goes wrong, we begin doing just what the king of Israel did; we begin to blame God.
What was wrong in Israel? The Syrians were able to attack Israel because the country’s spiritual covering was largely gone. Israelites were no longer worshiping the One True Living God who had delivered them from Egypt and who had brought them into the Promised Land. When Jeroboam led the split of the Northern Kingdom from the Southern Kingdom, he immediately established idolatry, erecting enormous altars with golden calves at Bethel and Dan. Given this lead, the Israelites plunged themselves into full – bore paganism, including Baal worship, erecting Asherah poles, and all the other practices God had already forbidden. The king of Israel was correct when he said that this calamity was from the Lord; however, he refused to realize that God was trying to get his attention.
Today there are climate disasters in many parts of the world. Vicious insects such as murder hornets are appearing in places where they have never been seen before. Dengue fever and other hemorrhagic fevers are popping up in new places. While many people are trying to make political capital of these disasters, they are actually making the same mistake made by the king of Israel. God is trying to get our attention. It is time for us to repent individually and collectively for the sins of our societies and our nations.
“But I am only one person,” you may protest. “What can I do?” We need to adopt the prophet Daniel as our role model. Daniel was a prisoner of war in Babylon. Despite the generally degenerate society in which Daniel found himself, Daniel continued to pray five times a day, interceding for himself and for his people. In Daniel 9 we read the prayer that Daniel prayed for his people. Daniel began by acknowledging God and His greatness and then continued by describing in detail the failings of the Israelites.
Finally, Daniel concludes this way: “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” (Daniel 9:17 – 19)
It is time for us to stop blaming God and to confess our sins, individually and collectively. May we draw near to God so that He will hear us and answer our prayers!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we confess that we have sinned individually and collectively. We have not honored You. We have not worshiped You. We have stood by as our various societies have deteriorated and we have done little or nothing to stop it. Lord, we do not deserve anything, but we pray that for Your Name’s sake, You will turn our societies around. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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