801 to 788 B.C.

2 Kings 7)

1 Then Elisha said (the Structure shows vv. 1,2 should be read with 6:33), “Hear you all the word of the Lord; Thus says the Lord (Yahaveh), ‘Tomorrow about this time [shall] a measure (= about 1 peck) of fine flour [be sold] for a shekel (approx. 1/2 oz. Cp. 6:25), 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 (Elohim. Cp. 5:18), and said, “Behold, [if] the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?” And he said, “Behold, you shall see [it] with your eyes (cp. vv.19,20), but shall not eat thereof.”

3-15. Famine. Relieved.

A  r¹  3-11. Discovery by lepers.
   r²  12-15. Confirmation by scouts.

3-11. Discovery by Lepers.

r¹  s¹  t  3,4. Consultation.
         u  5-8. Discovery made.
    s²  t  9. Conclusion.
         u  10,11. Discovery. Reported.

3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate (1 of 9 cases of affliction with leprosy. See Ex. 4:6. Men = ’enõsh, used of men in a bad sense): 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 (cp.6:25), and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall to the camp 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 darkness (homonym, see 1 Sam.30:17), to go to 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, [and a] noise of a great host: and they said one to another, “Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites (the Hittites were divided into several tribes, each with its king or chief. Their empire extended from the Euphrates to Asia Minor. Cp 1 Sam. 26:6. The Assyrian monuments speak of a confederacy of twelve existing at this time.), and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.”
7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the darkness, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it [was], and fled for their soul.
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 from that place silver, and gold, and clothing, and went and hid [it]; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried from that place [also], and went and hid [it].

9 Then they said one to another, “We do not well (the application of this is full of instructions to others in like circumstances, for all time.): this day [is] a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some punishment will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.”

10 So they came and called to 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 humans, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they [were].”
11 And he called the porters (the Sept. and a special reading called the Sevîr, read "the porters called"); and they told [it] to the king's house within.

12 And 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 [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 you, 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:} (these words are repeated by fig. Homœoteleutun [instead of omitted, as is usually the case with this fig. They are not in many codices. This accounts for the parenthesis in the A.V.) 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 trod upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him (see 6:33).
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 tomorrow 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?” (the current Hebrew text reads "could it be according to this word?") And he said, “Behold, you shalt see it with your eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.”
20 And so it fell out to him: for the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.

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