II Kings 6:24-25- And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
Now, have you ever not had food and thought about eating bird poop? It was so bad in Israel that they were selling that for a lot of money!
II Kings 6:26- And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
The king was walking along the wall of his city when a woman came up crying to him for help. The king thought that she was asking for food, but she had a request that shocked him.
She and another lady had become cannibals. They had killed and eaten her child one day, but the other lady had hidden her child. She wanted the king to force the other lady to kill her child so they could eat it.
II Kings 6:30-31- And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
The king was wearing an itchy material that Israelites wore when they were trying to get God's attention. But, this story put the king into a rage! He decided that it was Elisha's fault that this famine was happening, and he was going to kill Elisha!
Could Elisha make a famine happen? No. Elisha only told the people what God said was going to happen.
II Kings 6:32-33- But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
Elisha was warned of God that the king was going to send a man to kill him. Elisha told the people that he was with to grab the man when he came inside. He had a message from God for the king.
II Kings 7:1- Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
Elisha told the messenger that tomorrow there would be food, and it would sell for cheap.
II Kings 7:2- Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
One of the people who served the king and ranked very high in his court asked how this could be possible. Didn't these people know they shouldn't question God? Elisha said that he would see the miracle, but he wouldn't get to enjoy it.
How was God going to feed an entire city, and give them enough food to buy and sell when they were in a stuck inside their city with a mighty army surrounding it?
II Kings 7:3-4- And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
There were four men who had that terrible, deadly disease called leprosy. Because of this disease, they weren't allowed inside the city. They were hanging out by the city gate trying to avoid the army of the Syrians.
They were talking about what to do. If they went into the city, they would starve to death because there was no food. That's a long, painful way to die. If they went to the Syrians, they could be left alone and given food, but if they were killed it would be quick and painless.
They decided to go see how the Syrian army would treat them.
II Kings 7:5-7- And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
When they got to the camp of the Syrian army they found it empty. God had scared off the Syrians. They left in such a hurry that they didn't take anything!
II Kings 7:8-9- And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.
The lepers ate what they could, then took and hid some of it so they had more for later. Then, they thought about all those starving people in the capitol city. They knew that God wouldn't be happy with them if they kept all this for themselves.
II Kings 7:10-10-13- So they came and called unto 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 horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's house within. And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be 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 catch them alive, and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.
The lepers told the man who kept the gate. He went and told the king.
The king thought that it was a trap. He thought that the army was hiding and that they would attack once the city gates were opened.
The kings servants were so hungry that they begged the king to let them send out a few people with the remaining horses that were alive and find out. Everything, including the animals, was dying. They needed to know if this was a trap or not.
II Kings 7:14-15- They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.
The messengers went out, and guess what? It wasn't a trap! They hurried to tell the king.
II Kings 7:16- And the people went out, and spoiled the tents 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 the LORD.
The people got to go out and take all the food and animals and money that the Syrians had left behind.
But, what about the guy who questioned God's ability? Elisha said he would get to see it, but not eat it.
II Kings 7:17-20- And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria: And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.
The king told that man to go stand in the gate of the city and make sure that the people were orderly about going out. He saw that there was going to be a large bounty coming into the city.
But, the people were so hungry that they ran out of the city as fast as they could! And, that man who questioned God got ran over!
God says that He can supply our needs. He asks that we trust Him even when it seems impossible!
Matthew 6:31-32- Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Jesus said that God already knows what you need, and not to worry about how you're going to get it. Why shouldn't we worry?
Philippians 4:19- But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
We shouldn't worry because God will use His riches in Heaven to give us what we need.
Do you know how many riches are in heaven? Well, they walk on streets of gold up there! So, there are a lot of riches! And God will make sure we get what we need, because He's always watching.
