Second Kings 5:20

The Bible says in Second Kings 5:20-27, “But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.[21] So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?[22] And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.[23] And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.[24] And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.[25] But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.[26] And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?[27] The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.” In verse twenty-six Elisha asked an important question, “Is it a time to receive money?....” And of course, the answer is obvious: no, it is not. People need to know the time in which they live. We live in a time when many have abused the taking of money in the name of religion. One way to keep that from happening is to do what Elisha did: do not take money from those whom you help. That means you might have to get a secular job like everyone else. That means Christianity would have to be organized as a volunteer service. That means that many of those volunteers would have to be senior citizens. There is a good idea because older should mean wiser. In the Bible pastors are called elders for a reason. The Apostle Paul worked as a tent maker.

The Bible says in Second Kings 6:1-7, “And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.[2] Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.[3] And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.[4] So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.[5] But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.[6] And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.[7] Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.” Of course, three thousand years ago life was simpler, and people did not have all the material things and the gadgets that we have today. But they still had needs and God provided their needs. They needed a new dwelling place, and so they worked on it with their own strength and their own energy. But when they lost their axe, they needed help from the Lord. Obviously, they did not have many resources. That must have been their only axe. God helped them when they could not help themselves. Do everything that you can, and rely upon the Lord for the things that you cannot do.

The Bible says in Second Kings 6:8-17, “Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.[9] And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.[10] And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.[11] Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?[12] And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.[13] And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.[14] Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.[15] And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?[16] And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.[17] And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” This was a very great incident and a very important incident in the life of Elisha, and this truth is important for our lives too. Of course, the king of Syria was angry when he found out that Elisha was giving information to the king of Israel. When the Syrian soldiers and chariots showed up to kill Elisha, Elisha’s servant was afraid. Why was not Elisha afraid? He saw that their city was surrounded by the Syrian soldiers too. But Elisha saw something else: Elisha saw with spiritual eyes the fact that an army from the Lord was there too. And God’s army not only had chariots, but it had “chariots of fire.” One of God’s names is the Lord of Hosts for a reason. Some believers only see the material and physical things around them. That is easy to do because we ourselves are physical and material creatures in a material world. We need desperately to see the truth. God is always with us and He has all power. He can defeat any foe. Jesus said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”

The Bible says in Second Kings 6:18-23, “And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.[19] And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.[20] And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.[21] And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?[22] And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.[23] And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.” This time the soldiers who came against the prophet of God were not killed. They were blinded temporarily so that Elisha could easily lead them to Samaria and to the King of Israel. Elisha said in effect, “Do not kill them. They are the same as prisoners of war, and they should be treated properly. Take care of them, and send them home.” This event ended the hostilities.

The Bible says in Second Kings 6:24-30, “And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.[25] 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.[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.[27] And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?[28] And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.[29] So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.[30] 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.” This passage is a good example of one reason that you do not want to go away from God. If you do go away from Him, you will be on a downward path that gets worse and worse. The northern kingdom of Israel had turned away from God. This was a low point. They were surrounded by their enemies, and so no new supplies could get to them. They were out of food and were eating animal feces. And they were killing their children and eating them. The message is this: confess your sins. Do not go away from God.

The Bible says in Second Kings 6:31-33, “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.[32] 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?[33] 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?” Once again, the life of a prophet is in danger. It is not uncommon for wicked people to hate the servants of the Lord. Jesus said that Christians should rejoice whenever such hatred comes against them because that puts us on the same plane as the great prophets of God in the Old Testament. One reason that the king of Israel had such hatred is that the prophets told it like it was. They told the truth and they used strong language. For example, in verse thirty-two Elisha called him the “son of a murderer.”

The Bible says in Second Kings 7:1-2, “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.[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.” As we already noticed, they were suffering terribly in the city of Samaria, but God has decided to fix the problem. God can do anything on any day. He can fix any of our problems too with the snap of a finger. The king’s messenger did not think it was possible to fix their problem in one day. But we know that with God anything is possible.

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