Sunday Morning Service (II Kings 7)

II Kings 7

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“The Balance Between Life And Death” • 7.2.17 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- Chapter 7 completes the narrative that we have just looked at in highlight form. We find the people of the northern tribes of Israel in desperate straits.

- In such an occasion, we find ourselves where the Holy Spirit has led everyone to congregate. Some have come for peace. Others have come for conflict. All are in Elisha's home.

- He is tasked with giving the assembled ones some incredible news of the pending future. We pick up the story in verse 1.

Text

• II Kings 7:1,2 : "Then Elisha said, 'Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, 'Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?' And he said, 'In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.'" : Elisha is not giving the King a fanciful and hopeful prediction. This is an official proclamation from God! "This is the word of the Lord!"

- Elisha specifically lays out the divine time table. This will take place in 24 hours and it will be an event that only God could bring to pass!

- The economics are difficult to iron out, but follow the comparison. On the date of this proclamation, a kab of dove dung, equal to a few ounces, was selling for 80 shekels of silver.

- Tomorrow, a few gallons of fine flour or barley would be sold for a single shekel!

- That is a profound economic reversal that under normal circumstances, would take months to affect. What Elisha is proclaiming is nothing more than unbelieveable and nothing less than a miracle!

- The elders of the city, the King and his messenger are all listening intently. They are quiet, reserved and pondering the possibility. Based on his previous record, I'm sure they are at least open.

- That is when the officer on whose hand the King leaned, his right hand assistant, chimed in with a not so subtle reply. Imagine him saying this as the rest of the men stood in quiet respect.

- "Even if God opened up the storehouses of heaven, how could this take place?" Talk about a spirit quench! This is more than an expression of doubt, which would have been natural.

- None of us is spiritual enough to immediately take God at His Word when it comes to what seems to be impossible. But that isn't what this man is guilty of.

- What this man is doing is openly scoffing at the suggestion that Elisha's prophecy is even possibility. His statement is quite shortsighted.

- For one, he reveals that he is ignorant of God's power. He is scoffing at the God who claims responsiblity for the creation of the heavens and the earth. This God parted the Red Sea.

- Perhaps he only considered those to be mythical, morality stories which were propogated by a well meaning group of people, but were certainly not meant to be historically accurate!

- "No intelligent person could believe that such things could take place!" These sentiments are championed by Christianity's most liberal elite.

- It amazes me that they can believe anything when they have a hard time believing everything! Often, they are powerless to offer help when the moment requires a miracle.

- His assertion is bad enough, almost as bad as his second flaw: Ignoring Israel's history! God has fed His people in far more desolate places and in far more creative ways!

- Throughout the wilderness wanderings, God fed His people with manna, on one occasion with a flock of migrating quail and when they were thirsty, he brought water out of rocks!

- This man didn't merely have a catalogue of miraculous events that happened to other people in the World. These were the stories that happened to HIS people!

- Along with that comment, let me also mention that his final flaw relates to his limitation of God to what he believes could make this possible!

- "God would have to open the windows of heaven to do this." Really? Could God not simply speak this into existence, as He did the Earth and the Solar System?

- Is He really ever limited to our handful of creative suggestions? In this moment, he not only disbelieves the possibility, he goes so far as to outright deny that God has the capability!

- We should be careful of reading these passages without comprehending that they are historical, literal accounts of God's effective dealings with Men!

- To read as if they were not, opens the door to becoming well informed scoffers!

- This is rarely a good idea! God has a way of quieting His opponents! Elisha looks at him and it's as if he gets another word from the Lord that is meant personally for him.

- "You'll see it, but you won't eat it!" What did Elisha mean? We'll soon find out. Verse 3.

• II Kings 7:3,4 : "Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, 'Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.'" : The scene moves from the King inside Elisha's home to the gate outside of the city. It's interesting that there is little difference between the two contingents.

- The King might be walking freely and with authority within the walls, but he is not far removed from the condition of these four lepers. The lepers are caught between a rock and a hard place!

- Lepers in Israel sustained themselves by dumpster diving. When all that's left to eat is locally sourced donkey head and organic dove droppings, you're not likely to find much good waste!

- These men are starving and they are stuck. They won't find food inside and they are not entirely confident that they will find mercy with the Syrians.

- At some point, their inaction is simply a resignation toward death. They reason among themselves that they might find mercy among the Syrians. They must take a chance!

- Their last 8 words provide the summary: "If they kill us, we shall only die!" They believe that if that is the worst that can happen, that is preferable to their life.

- How many have been at this very juncture? To remain inactive is death! And that moment causes us to seek life, no matter the risk and the cost. Verse 5.

• II Kings 7:5 : "And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there." : We don't look how long it took them to make this decision, but as the sun was going down when they made their way to the Syrian camp.

- I imagine that the cover of darkness was important to keep their identity as lepers hidden for as long as possible. It was their best chance to gain an audience and not be executed outright.

- Can you see them making their way across the divide? I imagine them holding hands, shivering at the prospect of their pending death, encouraging each other along the way.

- "Remember, this is better than just sitting there and dying, right?"

- The lepers went around the camp and came upon it from the rear. They to find expected a group of soldiers, at least a sentry or to be on watch but there wasn't anyone there!

- To not find them where they expected them to be was almost as terrifying as finding them there! What happened to the Syrians? Why are they gone? Verse 6.

• II Kings 7:6,7 : "For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, 'Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!' Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it." : While Israel worried about their pending doom, God began to work on the other side of the equation.

- God caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and horses. Did He create an actual sound or did He just allow them to interpret a sound through their own fear?

- We'll never know until we get to heaven and then, I promise, we won't care. What we do know is what they reasoned when the sound was heard.

- They did not attribute it to God working against them, but that Israel had contracted some rival armies to attack them, specifically the Hittites and the Egyptians.

- The Egyptians remained a powerful political player and the remnants of the Hittite Kingdom had rallied to become a new threat in the region.

- The Syrians were afraid that they were now trapped in between the two factions!

- They left without regard for their valuables. They fled in fear for their lives! Here again is the creativity and power of God!

- He has spoken through Elisha that He would radically reverse the fortune of the people of Israel. He has placed His own reputation upon this.

- The people of Israel, voiced through the King's assistant, could not conceive of how this would be possible given their own resource. They are destitute, but the Syrians were not!

- The Syrians were waiting for the people of Israel to run out of resource while theirs was well supplied! When they left, the left Israel with a great and very well stocked pantry to enjoy!

- God didn't even raise a finger! He worked through their own fear to drive them off!

- How often has that been the case? God uses some other unrelated motion in another person's life to create space for movement in yours!

- God isn't just working on your side to provide an answer. He's working from all sorts of angles! He is never at a loss for an idea of how He will provide for or deliver His people! Verse 8.

• II Kings 7:8-10 : "And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, 'We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.' So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, 'We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.'" : Once the lepers made a thorough investigation, they immediately began to take advantage of the benefits! Wouldn't you!?

- Can you imagine how these starving men ate and drank? Can you see their eyes as they saw the food and then the clothes and then the money that had been left in the first tent?

- After that was over, they went and followed the same procedure in another tent! As they were carrying away their loot, one of them looked back toward the city and began to feel uncomfortable.

- They were starving men that were now full. Within yelling distance, there was a city full of starving men and women! "We are not doing right!"

- Every article of clothing, every shiny shekel weighed upon their minds against the impoverished state of their countrymen, who at that very hour, were dying.

- Why were they not doing right? Because this was a day of good news and they remained silent! Keep that in mind!

- These lepers, who were outcasts, undesireables, perhaps even considered to be cursed by God, knew that despite any person's mistreatment of them, that they were doing wrong in not sharing!

- The longer that they kept this to themselves, the more severe the potential punishment would be, so they came to the gates and let the gatekeeprs know what had occurred.

- They told them the information, but it was their full bellies that probably made the impression! "These well dressed lepers look like they've just had a satisfying meal!" Verse 11.

• II Kings 7:11-13 : "And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside. So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, 'Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have 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.’" : The gatekeepers brought the good news to the King's household with all the enthusiasm and hope of men that would be spared a death sentence.

- The King, despite having heard the Word of the Lord from Elisha, responds with skepticism! God has done a genuine work and the benefits are waiting for him just outside of the city.

- How often have we chosen fear over faith? How much time have we wasted in doubt?

- He can run out right now and receive the benefit of God's work, but will instead delay his reception because of the extra and needless precaution that he took.

- What God has intended for their blessing, they look at with suspicion! They expect an ambush and this motivates their action. Verse 14.

• II Kings 7:14-16 : "Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, 'Go and see.' And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord." : Can you imagine what these two chariot scout teams must have thought about their own expendability?

- If their King's suspicions were correct, they were running headlong into a trap! As they left the relative safety of the city, the clues left behind told an obvious story.

- There was a steady stream of garments and weapons laying out on the road. They had been carelessly jettisoned. This valuable litter led them as far as the Jordan!

- The only thing that they did not find was a single Syrian soldier! They had all been driven back to their own nation in utter terror!

- The riders came back as quickly as they could and confirmed the word of the lepers. When that word spread, the people flew out of the city and gathered as much as they could hold!

- Can you imagine their joy? Can you enter into their joy? These people were as good as dead and now, in a matter of proverbial moments, they are rich beyond their imagination!

- When all the dust settled, a gallon of fine flour and a gallon plus of barley were sold for a single shekel, just as the Lord had said!

- You and I read this and we are somewhat unimpressed. This happened to some remote group of people who are long dead. If you read this this way, please rebuke yourself!

- Add it up. Here is another place where God has kept His Word in spite of the impossibility that seemed to be the rule! He said this would happen and it happened!

- You can take Him at His Word! He didn't fail Israel then and He won't fail you now! Verse 17.

• II Kings 7:17-20 : "Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, 'Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.' Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, 'Now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?' And he had said, 'In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.' And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died." : As much as God won't fail His people, He also won't fail to deal with those that scoff at Him!

- When the people rushed out of the gates, the King assigned his right hand man to secure or control the traffic that traversed the gate.

- He could have asked any member of his cabinet or of his army, but this man had more than a royal commission. He had a divine appointment.

- He went to the gate to be the authority, but he stood between a starving people and their newly abundant supply of food! The starving people literally stamped out his life!

- He lived long enough to see the fulfillment of God's Word. He lived long enough to see God open windows in heaven. He lived long enough to learn that what God says is true!

Conclusion
- A few words as we close. If you are a starving person inside the city or outside as a leper, there is provision for you. Will you just sit there and die?

- Don't setle for death when God offers you life! Don't sit and wait to die. Get up and seek the life He intends to give you!

- If you are in the city, a member of His Church, find your place of service and serve. If you are a leper outside, know that Jesus is the One who heals you!

- If you are a satisfied leper, there are people for you to tell! There is a dying world around you, starving for reality, substance and satisfaction. If you've found it, your wrong not to share it!

- Remember what it was like to be hungry, cold, and poor spiritually and consider your people that are living that right now!

- Finally, if you are a scoffing person, there is a promise for you. God will bless His people by ways that you will never be able to calculate or predict.

- As much as His good promise toward them will be fulfilled, His promise of your doom is just as good! It's far better to hear His Word, believe it and thank Him for it!

- It is the difference between life and death!