World English Bible
- Elisha said, “Hear the LORD’s word. The LORD says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’”
- Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if the LORD made windows in heaven, could this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”
- Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die?
- If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we will die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let’s surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.”
- They rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. When they had come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, no man was there.
- For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, 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 in the twilight, and left their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
- When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent and carried things from there also, and went and hid them.
- Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.”
- So they came and called to the city gatekeepers; and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, not even a man’s voice, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.”
- Then the gatekeepers called out and told it to the king’s household within.
- The king arose in the night, and said to his servants, “I will now show 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 take them alive, and get into the city.’”
- One of his servants answered, “Please let some people take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it. Behold, they are like all the multitude of Israel who are consumed. Let’s send and see.”
- Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them out to the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.”
- They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the path was full of garments and equipment which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.
- The people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the LORD’s word.
- The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; and the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.
- It happened 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 tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria;”
- and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Now, behold, if the LORD made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”
- It happened like that to him, for the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died.
2 Kings 7 — “The Sound of Deliverance”
(Read 2 Kings 7:1–2)
Within a starving, besieged Samaria, Elisha announces:
“About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a
shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of
Samaria.”
(New International Version)
The promise is audacious: in twenty-four hours the black-market price
of donkey heads (6:25) will collapse into abundance.
• KEY THEME — Reversal. God overturns desperate
economies (cf. Exodus 16:13-18; Luke 1:52-53).
• CULTURAL NOTE — A seah is c. 7 liters; a shekel
about two weeks’ wage. Elisha speaks of a full pantry for the price of
bread crumbs.
• HEBREW SNAPSHOT — “Tomorrow” (machar) often signals divine
intervention (e.g., Joshua 3:5). The word hangs hope on the next
dawn.
• HISTORICAL VOICES — Augustine saw in this prophecy an image of
Christ’s sudden grace: “From famine of truth to banquet of mercy in but
a moment.”
The officer who scoffs (“even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens…”) embodies skeptical realism—the sin of measuring God by visible data. Calvin warns: “Unbelief is a closed window; miracles may rise like dawn, yet the scoffer sits in his midnight.”
Cross-references: Malachi 3:10; John 6:5-13
(Read 2 Kings 7:3–11)
Outside the city sit four men with leprosy—ritually unclean, socially
discarded (Leviticus 13:45-46). Their logic is blunt:
• Stay here → die.
• Enter the city → die.
• Surrender to Aram → maybe live.
Stepping into the enemy camp, they find empty tents, hot stew, and silenced horses. The Hebrew says God “caused them to hear” (hishmi‘a, hiphil of shama‘) “the sound of chariots.” The noise exists only in frightened minds, yet achieves real deliverance.
Literary device: Irony. The powerful army flees from a phantom, while powerless lepers inherit its spoils (1 Corinthians 1:27).
Archaeology: Excavations at ancient Samaria reveal storage rooms along the city wall—plausible places for the plunder that soon fills the market.
Spurgeon preached “The Gospel by Four Beggars,” noting: “Heaven chose the unlikeliest missionaries.” Their midnight evangelism models our own: taste first, then tell (Psalm 34:8; 2 Kings 7:9).
(Read 2 Kings 7:12–20)
Dawn breaks; crowds surge. The doubting officer, posted at the gate, is crushed—receiving sight of the miracle but no share in it. The narrative closes with a refrain: “just as the man of God had said.” Scripture hammers the point: the Word governs history.
Key theme — Faith versus Unbelief. Both witness the same facts; only faith enters the feast (Hebrews 4:2).
Patristic reading: Chrysostom saw the gate as symbol of Christ—the place where judgment and mercy meet (John 10:9). The officer’s fate warns of hearing the gospel without trusting it.
Providence and Human Agency
God clears the battlefield; lepers walk it. Divine sovereignty invites
human response (Philippians 2:12-13).
Good News for Outsiders
The story anticipates Acts 8:5-8 (Samaria again!) and Luke 17:11-19 (ten
lepers). The marginalized become heralds of salvation.
Economics of the Kingdom
Heaven’s arithmetic defies scarcity (Isaiah 55:1-2; Revelation 22:17).
Grace is not priced by famine but given freely.
• Siege Psychology
Ancient sieges lasted months; famine weaponized fear. Modern readers
seldom feel that slow terror. 2 Kings 6-7 records starvation so severe
that parents contemplated cannibalism. Against that backdrop Elisha’s
promise glows brighter.
• City Gate as Marketplace & Court
Gates were stock exchange, courtroom, and newspaper stand. Prophecy made
there guaranteed witnesses; judgment there (the officer’s death) was
public.
• Leprosy beyond Disease
The Hebrew term tzara‘at covers various skin conditions, not
necessarily Hansen’s disease. Social isolation, not medical prognosis,
defines the lepers’ agony.
“God Moves in a Mysterious Way” — William Cowper, 1774
Its themes of unseen providence and surprising deliverance echo the
thunderous-but-invisible chariots of this chapter.
Lord of tomorrow,
You hear the hunger we scarcely dare to name.
Break the sieges around our hearts.
Teach us to trust Your word before our eyes confirm it,
to walk into enemy camps with holy courage,
and to share good news quickly, humbly, and gladly.
May no cynicism trample us at the gate,
but faith usher us into Your abundance.
For Jesus’ sake,
Amen.