7:1 Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah of finely milled flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’ ”
Elisha predicted that the famine would only last one more day. On the next day, inflation would end and the prices would go back to normal. This was a good sign for Israel, because they were beginning to eat their children.
7:2 An officer who was the king’s right-hand man responded to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” Elisha said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”
This officer was responsible for giving Elisha’s message to the royal court. The officer questioned the Lord’s ability to end the famine, so Elisha predicted that the officer would see the food, but not be able to eat it.
7:3 Now four men with a skin disease were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?
Lepers were not allowed to live in Samaria, but they were allowed to live in the cities of other ancient nations. The medical industry of the pagans had not yet figured out that leprosy spread by contact. God is the Great Physician, so he knew of the dangers of contact. Therefore, he established quarantine hundreds of years before the medical industry even thought about it. These lepers were locked outside the gates of Samaria. Samaria was the capital of apostate Israel.
7:4 If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation, and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, we’ll live; if they kill us—well, we were going to die anyway.”
The lepers were in a lose-lose situation. They could not go into the city of Samaria, but if they waited outside of the gates, they would starve to death. Their only solution was to go into the Syrian army camp and hope that they could receive food.
7:5 So they started toward the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there.
When the lepers arrived at the back of the Syrian camp, there was no one there.
7:6 The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egypt to attack us!”
The Lord scared the Syrians away by creating noises which sounded liked approaching armies. Gehazi saw the angelic army. The Syrians could only hear them. The Syrians thought that the Israel nation hired the Hittites to attack on one side with the Egyptians attacking on the other side.
For years, there was no archaeological evidence that the Hittites even existed, although they were mentioned numerous times in the Bible. Skeptics would make fun of the Bible, calling it historically inaccurate. Then, archaeologists dug up forty Hittite cities. Skeptics do not use this argument anymore.
The Egyptians were declining at this time, but they were still a strong military force to be feared.
7:7 So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
The Syrians left their camps at dusk, leaving at a very fast-forced march. During a forced march, only light equipment was allowed. This meant that much of their food and supplies was left in their tents.
7:8 When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal. They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it and went and hid what they had taken.
The lepers entered the Syrian camp and had a feast. They also plundered much of their silver, gold, and clothes. Silver and gold were soft metals that were used to make idols. The pagans believed that these silver and golden idols would protect them and bring them good fortune.
7:9 Then they said to one another, “It’s not right what we’re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven’t told anyone. If we wait until dawn, we’ll be punished. So come on, let’s go and inform the royal palace.”
The Lord would punish the lepers if they did not reveal this information to the royal court of Israel.
7:10 So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city. They told them, “We entered the Syrian camp and there was no one there. We didn’t even hear a man’s voice. But the horses and donkeys are still tied up, and the tents remain up.”
The lepers relayed the information to the gate keepers.
7:11 The gatekeepers relayed the news to the royal palace.
The gatekeepers relayed the information to the guards of the royal palace.
7:12 The king got up in the night and said to his advisers, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’ ”
The royal court feared that this was a trap to lure the Israelite army out into the open.
7:13 One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people—we’re all going to die!) Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.”
These must have been royal horses. It seems that the royal house still had food supply, but the people did not. During the Great Depression, the poor were suffering, but the wealthy still ate their steak dinners.
7:14 So they picked two horsemen and the king sent them out to track the Syrian army. He ordered them, “Go and find out what’s going on.”
Two horseman were sent out to test the waters.
7:15 So they tracked them as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste. The scouts went back and told the king.
The two scouts found out that the Syrians had left in a hurry and left many of their supplies behind.
7:16 Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp. A seah of finely milled flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as the Lord had said they would.
Elisha’s prophecy was fulfilled. The Syrians thought that they had checkmated Israel, but they were the ones who were checkmated by the Master Chessman. The Lord likes to give up all of His pieces before He checkmates His enemy. Anyone who rejects Christ is an enemy of God.
7:17 Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate. This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him.
The officer who ridiculed Elisha’s prophecy was placed at the city gate. When the people heard that there was food in the Syrian camp, they ran out like a mob and trampled the officer to death.
7:18 The prophet told the king, “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of finely milled flour for a shekel; this will happen about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria.”
This was another fulfillment of Elisha’s prophecy.
7:19 But the officer replied to the prophet, “Look, even if the Lord made it rain by opening holes in the sky, could this happen so soon?” Elisha said, “Look, you will see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of the food!”
The author repeated the prophecy for the reader. The Holy Spirit mentioned this prophecy twice for emphasis.
7:20 This is exactly what happened to him. The people trampled him to death in the city gate.
The Lord will not allow skeptics to destroy the faith of His people. Many skeptics today who attempt to deceive the elect are placing themselves as enemies against God Himself.