2 Kings Chapter 7

At a Glance

  • Chapter 7 turns despair into dazzling deliverance as Samaria faces siege, famine, and ruin.
  • The episode’s structure emphasizes prophetic announcement, human skepticism, and sudden divine intervention that shatters siege economies.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • This chapter sits amid the sustained conflict between Israel and Syria.
  • - Hope amid famine: divine promise interrupts human despair.

Chapter Overview

Chapter 7 turns despair into dazzling deliverance as Samaria faces siege, famine, and ruin. Inside the besieged city, a grim prognosis prevails: scarcity that leads to desperation. The prophetic word comes through Elisha: tomorrow the siege will lift, and basic provisions will flood the gate at a price affordable to the poor. A skeptical leader counters with disbelief, and Elisha’s prediction is deemed impossible. Meanwhile, four leprous men at the city’s edge decide to risk the unknown by moving toward the enemy camp. Their decisive, courageous journey—a perilous twilight trek—breaks the siege as the Syrian army, hearing a decoy of a vast army, flees, abandoning tents, food, and wealth. The result is an abrupt reversal: abundance flows into the city, and the once-starved population experiences a burst of providence, facilitated by the lepers’ faith and the prophetic word. The story captures how God’s grace often comes through seemingly unlikely channels and how a marginalized group can become agents of salvation for a broader community.

The episode’s structure emphasizes prophetic announcement, human skepticism, and sudden divine intervention that shatters siege economies. The lepers’ courageous faith, moving toward the unknown, becomes the vehicle of God’s mercy, reminding readers that God’s deliverance often comes when people take steps of risky trust. The chapter also marks a decisive moment in the narrative arc: the city’s deliverance arises not from martial might alone but from a combination of prophetic certainty and human daring.

Historical & Literary Context

This chapter sits amid the sustained conflict between Israel and Syria. The plot hinges on a prophetic declaration about abundance in a time of famine, contrasting the king’s emphasis on human limits with God’s unlimited supply. The leprous men’s journey captures a motif found in prophetic literature: the marginalized often become instruments of deliverance through acts of faith. The siege narrative also foreshadows the broader theme in the Deuteronomistic History about how God uses unlikely agents to accomplish His purposes.

Key Themes

- Hope amid famine: divine promise interrupts human despair.

- The power of courageous, faithful action: lepers risk everything to seek relief.

- God’s provision through unlikely vessels: the lepers’ intervention leads to a flood of resources.

- Skepticism vs. faith: human doubt confronted by prophetic certainty.

- Reversal and generosity: abundance flows to the city as a result of faithful risk.

Modern Application

The chapter speaks to contemporary communities experiencing scarcity: what does faithful risk look like? It encourages trust in prophetic or trusted leadership when facing collective crises, and it demonstrates how small, marginalized voices can catalyze major breakthroughs. The idea of stepping into the unknown—political, economic, or personal—remains relevant as communities navigate through uncertainty. It also invites believers to reframe “surplus” as communal blessing, worthy of distribution rather than hoarding, reflecting a God-inspired ethic of justice and mercy.

Cross-References

- 1 Kings 17 (miraculous provision through unusual means)

- Luke 15 (parables of lost things recovered through risk and joy)

- Psalm 23 (the Lord prepares a table in the presence of enemies)

- Joel 2:23–26 (restoration and abundance after hardship)

Recommended Personas

- Elisha (for the prophetic word and moral courage)

- The Leprous Men (for bold, faith-driven risk)

- Jehoram (as a foil: leadership under crisis)

- Jesus (as healer and bringer of abundant life)

Chapter Text

1

Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, 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 a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

3

And there were four leprous men at the entering in 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 uttermost part of the camp of Syria, 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 uttermost 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 came again, 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, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may 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 horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.

11

And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within.

12

And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be 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 catch 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, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.

14

They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.

15

And they went after them unto 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.

16

And the people went out, and spoiled the tents 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 the LORD.

17

And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode 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 lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD 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

And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

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