Today's Verse: 2 Kings 7:3-5 (ESV)
The Syrians Flee
3 Now there were four men who were lepers3 iat the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” 5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.
3 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
i [Lev. 13:46]
The scene, of course, is Samaria, where Ben hadad, King of Syria had laid siege to the land. The king of Israel had blamed Elisha the Prophet for the situation, rather than the apostasy of Israel, which had continued after the death of Ahab, through his successors. It was the sin of the continued worship of Baal that had caused the problem, not Elisha. When Elisha was confronted, he promised that the next day the famine would end. Although not believed, God caused the Arameans to panic and leave. In the meantime, the four lepers had decided to surrender to the Syrians, but found that their camp had been abandoned.
Today's Comments: The point of this lesson is that, even in their apostasy, Elisha showed Israel that God was still with them. And, even in our apostasy, God will still be with us. He will look for those, like Elisha, who will believe and do God's will and will work through them. God does not expect our perfection. Instead, he expects our repentance. He loves us enough to forgive us. We just have to ask for it.
The Syrians Flee
3 Now there were four men who were lepers3 iat the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” 5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.
3 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
i [Lev. 13:46]
The scene, of course, is Samaria, where Ben hadad, King of Syria had laid siege to the land. The king of Israel had blamed Elisha the Prophet for the situation, rather than the apostasy of Israel, which had continued after the death of Ahab, through his successors. It was the sin of the continued worship of Baal that had caused the problem, not Elisha. When Elisha was confronted, he promised that the next day the famine would end. Although not believed, God caused the Arameans to panic and leave. In the meantime, the four lepers had decided to surrender to the Syrians, but found that their camp had been abandoned.
Today's Comments: The point of this lesson is that, even in their apostasy, Elisha showed Israel that God was still with them. And, even in our apostasy, God will still be with us. He will look for those, like Elisha, who will believe and do God's will and will work through them. God does not expect our perfection. Instead, he expects our repentance. He loves us enough to forgive us. We just have to ask for it.
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