Commentary On 2 Kings 7 By Matthew Henry

When people want to use their little well they should be disciplined in the right use of the little they know already. If the fancies of any of them raised this spectre, yet their reasons might soon have laid it: how could the king of Israel, who was closely besieged, hold intelligence with those distant princes? These guys called up and they said, "Hey man, the Syrian camp is empty and there's plenty of food for everybody. 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. " "Now you perceive that there are just two courses open to you; you can sit still, but then you know that you must perish; or you can go to Christ, and your fear is that you will perish then.

What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7 1 15 sermons
What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7.8
What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7.5
What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7 kjv
What is the purpose of four lepers 2 kings 7 nlt

What Is The Purpose Of Four Lepers 2 Kings 7 1 15 Sermons

Rather than just direct prayers, I'm telling God how to do His business. Bible Review 7 (Feb. 1991), 18. And so the guard ran to the king and he said, "I've just received a report. The watchmen on the walls were not aware of the retreat of the enemy, so silently did they steal away. All the world might have done it in vain. Here God has provided, just like He promised He would, but unbelief keeps them from even partaking of God's glorious provision. "Her soul is vexed within her, " said he most surely, "and Jehovah hath hid it from me" even the one that was the witness of grace none the less. Though the promise was admittedly hard to believe, the king's officer could have and should have believed it because it came from a man with an established track record of reliability. But the king of Israel's own powerlessness comes out, for he knew right well that it was not in man to cure leprosy; it was one of the things that God kept in His own power. He did what He promised He'd do. The ancient Israelite society was a three-tiered patrimonial and patriarchal structure based on a series of nested households and kin groups organized around agrarian activities. And he showed him the place. C. When they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there: This huge army surrounded the city of Samaria for many months, and the camp was the home and supply center for thousands of men.

What Is The Purpose Of Four Lepers 2 Kings 7.8

These four guys sitting there starving to death], one of them looked with at the others and he said, [Fellows, ] why just sit here 'til we die? The king is very despondent, telling Elisha in 2 Kings 6:33 "Behold, this evil is from the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer? But the heart must prove its own utter ignorance and folly; it is only so that the full blessing may come. The king didn't want the people to see his repentance. He was a courtier whom the king had an affection for, as the man of his right hand, on whom he leaned, that is, on whose prudence he much relied, and in whom he reposed much confidence. Samaria was delivered, and did not know it.

What Is The Purpose Of Four Lepers 2 Kings 7.5

But God doesn't always follow my directions. I will not fault them for being a little greedy when the opportunity came their way. 19 Focusing on the king's refusal to believe Yahweh's action to protect the Israelite nation, a commentator also points out that this narrative (7:3-16) demonstrates that the king and indeed the entire Omride line is unfit to rule Israel. Should they go into the city, there was nothing to be had there, they must die in the streets; should they sit still, they must pine to death in their cottage: they therefore determine to go over to the enemy, and throw themselves upon their mercy; for death seemed unavoidable every other way. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. So one guy opened up the tent flap, he says, "Wow, look at that. " The return of peace is thus expressed (Jdg. She went and lived elsewhere during the famine, but by God's control of events she received back all her property when she returned to Israel (8:1-6). Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; or indeed, I say, they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed; so let us send them and see. " He said again, Give the people that they may eat, for thus saith Jehovah, They shall eat and shall leave thereof. This approach of the lepers to the camp "… may provide the occasion for the miracle itself; perhaps the Lord had in some way magnified the stumbling footsteps of the men as they made their way around the camp's opposite end. " Their situation was too difficult for God to handle. The plundering of the camp of the Syrians. And she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. "

What Is The Purpose Of Four Lepers 2 Kings 7 Kjv

What was God's objective? But let's go back to the scoffing royal captain. 10 From this, it is clear that Israel represented one of the major military powers of Syria-Palestine during the latter days of Ahab's reign. The king of Israel, the son of Ahab, was more angry at Elisha for this turn of events than he was at Aram. For deep thoughts passed in the prophet's mind as he looked upon the face of the murderer the murderer in prospect. But many people have not partaken of that glorious work of God through unbelief. Concerning the contrast between the king and the lepers, an exegete points out that the king's actions are solitary and destructive; by contrast, the lepers' actions are co-operative and constructive. Gehazi was afflicted with leprosy because of his greed toward Naaman (2 Kings 5:27).

What Is The Purpose Of Four Lepers 2 Kings 7 Nlt

No wonder that the king rent his clothes, and wore sackcloth; but there was no fear of God on the contrary, there was a murderous intent against the prophet of God. Jehoshaphat knew better. No doubt there was carelessness, but it is the grace that can meet every need, the little just as much as the great. But Providence employed four lepers to be the intelligencers, who had their lodging without the gate, being excluded from the city, as ceremonially unclean: the Jews say they were Gehazi and his three sons; perhaps Gehazi might be one of them, which might cause him to be taken notice of afterwards by the king, 2 Kings 8:4; 2 Kings 8:4. And so the king said to this guy that leaned, that he leaned upon, sort of his prime minister, who the day before said to the prophet of God, "If God would open the windows in heaven, could such thing be? " He advised to send five horsemen, but, it should seem, there were only two horses fit to be sent, and those chariot-horses, v. 14. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. The blame was laid upon him. God says, "My ways are not your ways. For thus saith Jehovah, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle and your beasts. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of Jehovah came upon him.

Is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing? Whether the noise was really made in the air by the ministry of angels, or whether it was only a sound in their ears, is not certain; which soever it was, it was from God, who both brings the wind out of his treasures, and forms the spirit of man within him. Now what does Elisha say? They therefore drew off from the city at nightfall, and made for the Syrian camp. It was impossible but some notice would come, before, of the motions of so great a host; but there were they in great fear where no fear was. "Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. " Instead of scarcity, there would be such abundance that food prices would radically drop in the city. Perhaps God did this by putting the noise into the air; perhaps He simply created the perception of the noise in the minds of the Syrian soldiers.

So these four fellows were taking a venture, sort of, in faith. 2 They bore the social stigma of marginalized and ostracized persons. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay; for Jehovah hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. " D. In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it: Through Elisha, God pronounced a harsh judgment upon the king's doubting officer. The young man went and anointed him for his work. This Book, indeed, for the most part is made up of the annals of the poor and despised. " 23 On the contrary to his habitual omission of prayer in dealing with the problems of his acquaintances, Elisha appeals to Yahweh three times for supernatural miracles to deliver him from his own crisis, the threats of the Arameans in 6:8-23. "And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.

These had their hearing imposed upon. Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. " Lepers were forbidden by the Law to reside within cities (Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:3).