Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord shall supply our needs
2 King 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.”
Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord shall supply our needs, the king of Aram was at war with Israel and he conferred with his officers to raid Israel territories. However, the king of Israel received counsel from the man of God Elisa on continual basis and he warned the King of Israel to be on guard on specific events. The king of Aram was enraged the King of Israel was privy to his strategic plans so he summed his officers’ and demanded them to tell him, which one of them is an informer to the King of Israel. The officers to the King surprisingly told him “ None of us, my Lord the King …but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tell the King of Israel the words you speak in your bedroom” Parallel to how the Holy Spirit conveyed to Elizabeth Mary would give birth our Lord.- For there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. He reveals deeps and secret things, he knows what is in the darkness and light dwells in Him.
The king of Aram sent with his horses and chariots and strong force to capture the Elisha in Dothan. When the servant of Elisha saw the Aram army with horse and chariots has surrounded the city, he was frighten and said “Oh no my Lord! What shall we do? Elisha responded with kingdom salutation: “Do not be afraid,” Elisha told his servant those who are with us are more than those whose are with them. Elisha prayed and asked the Lord to opened his servant eyes to see the full horse and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the enemy attacked them, Elisha prayed to the Lord and asked Him to strike the Aram army with blindness and the Lord struck them with blindness. Elisha lead the blind Aram army to Samaria, He asked the Lord to open their eyes upon entering the city and the Lord open their eyes and Elisha took the Aram army to meet the King of Israel, whom he counsel to feed the army instead of killing them. The king of Israel Jehu, adhered to Elisha wise counsel, prepared a great feast for the army and after they had finished eating and drinking he sent them away to their king. So the band from Aram stopped raiding Israel terrorist.” The way of wisdom are pleasantness and all her path are peace “
Sometime later, Ben hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. There was great famine in the city, the siege lasted so long that a donkey head was sold for eighty shekels of sliver and a quarter of cab seed of pods for five shekels. The king of Israel blamed Elisha the son of Shaphat for famine in Israel. The king sent his messenger to meet Elisha in his house, Elisha told the elders “don’t you see this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head” and he told the elders to shut door and hold it shut against the king’s servant and the King who was behind his messenger discerned the disaster was from the Lord and said to himself why should I wait for the Lord any longer.
Upon hearing the King’s response, Elisha said to the King of Israel “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for seahs at the gate of Samaria. To put this in perspective, Samaria exchanged thirty -four ounces of sliver for a donkey head and two ounces of silver for a cup of dove dung. One of the reliable official to the King of Israel spoke in doubt to Elisha and said ”Look even if the Lord should open the flood gates of heaven, could this happen? Elisha said to the official you will see it with your own eyes but you will not eat of it. Relative to Zacharias doubtful response to Gabriel’s good news about the birth of his son, so the Lord caused Zachariah to remain silent until good news was fulfilled at its appointed time. “ Without Faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. The King of Israel and his official sought the Lord but not in faith, unlike Elisha who had faith God who owns every animal in the forest, cattle on a thousand hills, every bird in the mountains, insect in the fields and all that is in the world. Elisha believed Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord would supply their needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
The Syrians Flee
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.” 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. 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.
Four lepers at the entrance of Samaria gate were caught between a rock and hard place. The lepers were not privy to God’s promise to turn the famine around in twenty-four hours, through prophetic words of Elisa. As results, these lepers weighed their option whether to stayed at the gate of Samaria and die of starvation or go into Samaria and die of famine or go to the Syrian army in Samaria who had siege the city to be kept alive or killed. So these courageous lepers took bold and risky steps like a lion to face the Syrian fearlessly with hope of preserving their lives. “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled.” The Lord saw the leper’s mustered seed steps of faith were in agreement with what He intended to do in Samaria and so He intervened.
The Lord caused the Syrian to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army so they said to one another “Look the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptians Kings to attack us!” So the Syrian army abandoned the camp and ran for the lives. “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered and those who hate Him flees from His presence “ Upon the lepers’ arrival at the edge of the camp, no one was there. In awe, the lepers entered one of the tents and ate and drank. They took sliver, gold and clothes and went off and hid them. They did the same in another tent, took something from it and hid them. Parallel to Jesus seeing the faith of the men who brought their paralyzed friend to him be forgiven and healed.Jesus saw despite the obstacle these men faced; they remained undeterred and accomplished their mission of bringing their friend in His presence. It’s only the acts of faith that moves the hands of God. The coupling of the paralytic faith with his friend’s acts of faith brought him healing and salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
2 KING 7:9-11
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.” And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.
The lepers had generous eyes to see the spoil they had gained from the Syrian camp had to be share with others, who were in dire need of food. They reasoned, if they wait until the next morning some punishment would come upon them for not sharing the goods with others, particularly with famine in the land, so they repented and hastily went to share the good news to the gatekeepers of the city. “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. These courageous outcast lepers recounted their experience at the Syrian camp and told the gate keepers there were no one at the camp, not a human sound, but only horse and donkeys tied, and in tents. The gatekeeper expediently went and share the good news to the king household. “The base things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.” Similar to command, Jesus has given to disciples to share the gospel with others, for it is the power of God that brings salvation to every one who believed. This is exemplified in the dissemination of the good news from the lepers to the gatekeepers and then the king, who eventually believed, and took steps of faith which resulted in Samaria being saved from famine.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believe; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.”
2 King 7:12-15-16
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.’ ”And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. 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.” 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.
The king of Israel was apprehensive when he heard the lepers’ good news. He thought the Syrian army had setup an ambush in the field to catch Israel alive when they entered the city. With skepticism, he listened to his counselors, one of which told him to test and verify the accuracy of the good news. The king listened to his servant and dispatched two chariot with horses and commanded the driver to “Go and See” They went as far as the Jordan and saw the whole place littered with clothes and equipment the Syrian had left in haste. They returned and reported to the king what they had seen. Then the people went and plundered the Syrian camp, so the seah of the fine flour sold for a shekel and two seah of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said. “He send His word and healed them and delivered them from destruction.
Parallel to Jesus having compassion on the hungry multitude who was with Him several days. The Lord instructed His disciples to gave the multitude something to eat. When the disciples question Jesus how this was feasible, Jesus told his disciples to “Go and see” (Mark 6:44) So Andrew went and saw a lad and said there are five loaves and two fish available. (John 6:9) The Lord took the five loaves and two fish, looked up the heaven, blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to His disciples to set before the multitude; and the two fish He divided among them. Five thousand men were saved from hunger: Jesus said: I am the bread of life, He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Do you believe this?
Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus said: “Go into all the world. Preach the good news to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who does not believe will be punished. Here are the miraculous signs that those who believe will do. In my name they will drive out demons. They will speak in languages they had not known before. They will pick up snakes with their hands. And when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all. They will place their hands on sick people. And the people will get well.”When the Lord Jesus finished speaking to them, he was taken up into heaven. He sat down at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere. The Lord worked with them. And he backed up his word by the signs that went with it.
It’s expedient we share the good new of the gospel of peace with others, for now is the day of salvation, as Elisha and lepers did in sharing the good news with Samaria, for man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
What a beautiful sight it is to see messengers coming with good news! How beautiful to see them coming down from the mountains with a message about peace! How wonderful it is when they bring the good news that we are saved. How wonderful when they say to Zion :“Your God rules!”