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2 Kings 7

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1
And Elisha said, Hear ye the word of Jehovah: thus saith Jehovah, 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 the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if Jehovah should make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. ​

The Four Lepers Discover the Empty Camp 3–11

3
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? ​
4
If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. ​
5
And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they were come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no man there.
6
For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. ​
7
Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. ​
8
And when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. ​
9
Then they said one to another, We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, punishment will overtake us; now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household. ​
10
So they came and called unto the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the asses tied, and the tents as they were.
11
And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s household within.

The King Verifies the Report 12–15

12
And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore are they 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. ​
13
And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are consumed); and let us send and see. ​
14
They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.
15
And they went after them unto the Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. ​

Fulfillment of Prophecy and Judgment 16–20

16
And the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Jehovah. ​
17
And the king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. ​
18
And it came to pass, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to-morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria; ​
19
and that captain answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if Jehovah should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? and he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof: ​
20
it came to pass even so unto him; for the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Kings 7

Verse 1

a measure of fine flour — The measure is the seah, a grain measure, and the prices named stand against the siege in which 'an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver' (6:25). Elisha opens with 'Hear ye the word of the LORD', and names the place, 'the gate of Samaria', which v.18 repeats.

Verse 2

windows in heaven — The officer's image is the one of the flood, when 'the windows of heaven were opened' (Gen 7:11), and of Mal 3:10, 'open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing'. He is the 'lord' (shalish, a chief officer, as in Ex 14:7) on whose hand the king leaned. Elisha answers, 'thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof'.

Verse 3

four leprous men — The law set a leper 'without the camp', to 'dwell alone' (Lev 13:46); these sit 'at the entering in of the gate', outside a city under the siege told in 6:24–25. Their question, 'Why sit we here until we die?', starts the events of the chapter.

Verse 4

we shall but die — Their reasoning has three outcomes: death in the city, where the famine is; death where they sit; or the Syrian camp, where they might be saved alive or killed. They put the choice into the Syrians' hands, and the next verses show the camp already empty (v.5).

Verse 6

a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses — The text says that 'the Lord' made the Syrians hear it, and names no army, only a sound, as when David was told to act at 'the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees' (2 Sam 5:24). Chariots and horses were brought out of Egypt 'for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria' (1 Kgs 10:29).

Verse 7

fled in the twilight — They fled at the hour the lepers set out for the camp (v.5), and left 'their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was'. They ran 'for their life' (nephesh). The king of Israel, hearing of it by night, guesses a trap instead (v.12).

Verse 8

silver, and gold, and raiment — These are the same three things Naaman had brought to Israel (5:5). The four lepers eat, drink, carry off and hide what they find in two tents. The verse that follows records what stopped them.

Verse 9

a day of good tidings — Besorah, glad news; the noun occurs only six times, five of them in 2 Samuel (e.g. 18:27). 'Mischief' is avon, the usual word for iniquity or guilt, so they fear that silence will be counted against them. 'Hold our peace' is chashah, to be silent, as in 2:3.

Verse 12

what the Syrians have done to us — The king reads the empty camp as a trap: the Syrians know the city is hungry, and have gone to hide in the field to catch the people alive. This is the king who had said, 'this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?' (6:33).

Verse 13

five of the horses that remain — Only a few horses are left to risk, and the servant says they are 'even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed'. The famine had reached the city's animals as well as its people (6:25). The scouts take 'two chariot horses' (v.14).

Verse 15

all the way was full of garments and vessels — The trail runs to the Jordan, strewn with what the Syrians had 'cast away in their haste'. The messengers sent after the host (v.14) find true the lepers' report, which the porters had carried to the king's house (vv.10–11).

Verse 16

according to the word of the LORD — The people spoil the Syrian tents, and the prices are those of v.1 in the same words. The grain the officer thought impossible (v.2) comes from the camp the lepers found.

Verse 17

the charge of the gate — The king puts the officer who had doubted in charge of the gate. 'The people trode upon him in the gate, and he died', in the place Elisha named (v.1). The word had been spoken 'when the king came down to him' (cf. 6:33).

Verse 18

as the man of God had spoken — The word of v.1 is repeated, with the barley now named first. It is set beside the fate of the officer (vv.19–20), so that both halves of Elisha's word, the prices and the death, are recorded as fulfilled. 'There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken' (Josh 21:45).

Verse 19

windows in heaven — The officer's words are given a second time, a little altered from v.2, and Elisha's answer is word for word the same: 'thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof'. The repetition prepares for v.20, where the answer is shown to have held.

Verse 20

so it fell out unto him — The people 'trode upon him in the gate, and he died'. He saw the prices (v.16) and did not eat. Moses was told likewise of the land, 'I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither' (Deut 34:4).