Sermon Tone Analysis

Elijah and Elisha 27.

Most of you have been coming along each week here; for the past year I have been doing a series on Elisha.

Now it’s test time!

What have I said that every story of Elisha is about?

– Salvation!

[P] And salvation is GOOD NEWS.

[P]We call it the “Gospel” – the good news of how we can be saved from sin and its inevitable consequence: death.

And the passage today is, yet again, a story of salvation.

Salvation from a dire situation.

Turn to 2 Kings 6:24 [P] It is a long passage; so, I will only pick out a few points.

You may recall that last time: the king of Aram sent his army to capture Elisha, but he led the blinded army into Samaria where their eyes were opened and they were fed instead of being slaughtered.

It then said: [2 Kings 6:23 When they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went to their master.

And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.]

But what do we have in the very next verse?!: [2 Kings 6:24–7:20 Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army [P] and went up and besieged Samaria.

(it didn’t take long for his good-will to wear off!) [P] There was a great famine in Samaria; [P] and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, [P] (it depends whether it was a bronze, silver or gold shekel; but it was probably silver and worth about NZ$10, so $800 for a donkey’s head – big, but not the choicest of eating!) and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver ($50 for 250mls of poo!).

[P] As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, [P] saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” (she was crying out for salvation, but to the wrong source: man, and we often do the same) He said, “If יהוה does not help you, from where shall I help you?

From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” (a sarcastic remark) And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?”

And she answered, [P] “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’

[P] “So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

(it was a really severe famine, people had resorted to absolutely desperate measures!)

When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body.

(he was distressed about the situation but he had not turned back to God in repentance) Then he said, [P] “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”

(rather, he wanted to kill God’s messenger) [P] Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him.

[P] And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head?

[P] (He knew exactly what was happening and what the king was intending to do) Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door shut against him.

[P] Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, [P] “Behold, this evil is from יהוה; why should I wait for יהוה any longer?”

Then Elisha said, [P] “Listen to the word of יהוה; (good advice) thus says יהוה, ‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel (4.5 litres for $10), and two measures of barley for a shekel (about $1/litre), in the gate of Samaria.’”

[P] The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, [P] “Behold, if יהוה should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” (mocking, unbelieving, cynical) Then he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.”

[P] Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; [P] and they said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die?

[P] “If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also.

[P] Now therefore come, and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans.

If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die.”

(death was inevitable anyway) [P] They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there!

[P] For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, [P] so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.”

Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, [P] and fled for their life.

When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; [P] and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them.

Then they said to one another, [P] “We are not doing right.

This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us.

Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.”

(Good news has to be told) So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the voice of man, only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.”

(they simply testified to what they had seen and experienced) The gatekeepers called and told it within the king’s household.

[P] Then the king arose in the night and said to his servants, [P] “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us.

They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone from the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’

(cynical, suspicious, unprepared to accept good news, unbelieving of straightforward testimony)” One of his servants said, [P] “Please, let some men take five of the horses which remain, which are left in the city.

Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send and see.” (at least check it out!

For not the first time, we see wisdom coming from a servant’s mouth) They took therefore two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of the Arameans, [P] saying, “Go and see.”

They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste.

Then the messengers returned and told the king.

So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans.

[P] Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, [P] according to the word of יהוה.

Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; [P] but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had said, [P] who spoke when the king came down to him.

It happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, [P] (the word of God is true!), “Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.”

[P] Then the royal officer answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, if יהוה should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?”

And he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.”

And so it happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.

[P] Here we have a dire situation!

[P] The capital of Israel was besieged, no one could go in or out, food supplies were cut off.

And the siege had begun to bite.

The Bible says that it was a “great famine” – and it is not kidding!

Prices had inflated beyond all belief.

Food could not be got!

Things had reached desperation point!

People were killing and eating their own children!

I have read about the siege of Leningrad in WWII; things got to the same stage there; and people resorted to cannibalism.

I find it hard to conceive.

I have also read of similar situations where parents have deliberately starved themselves in order that their children may live.

I guess desperate situations reveal true character.

Whatever, the situation was dire!

It was awful!

A terrible famine!

Now, tell me this: is famine a blessing or curse?

It ain’t no blessing!

King Jehoram himself said: [2 Kings 6:33 “Behold, this evil is from יהוה; why should I wait for יהוה any longer?”]

He recognized that this was judgement, judgement from יהוה.

He knew God was punishing him and his people; yet, he did not turn back to יהוה.

No, he was determined to persist in his rebellion.

He was not going to wait for יהוה, he was going to take action himself, deal with the situation.

What was his solution?

To kill Elisha, the prophet, the man of God.

Now, the judgement was from יהוה.

If it is from יהוה, can you stop it?

Would beheading Elisha solve anything?

Now, tell me: was the judgement deserved?

Jehoram was the son of Ahab, this dynasty had led Israel into the worst and most blatant idolatry thus far.

Now, tell me, did they repent?

Did they seek God?

Did they cry out to Him? Pray?

Beseech Him for mercy?

Why then should יהוה withdraw His punishment?

The king blamed God “This evil is from יהוה”– people do, when things go pear-shaped they blame God.

The insurance companies have a term for it: “acts of God”!!

We assume that God owes us something!

Rather we owe something to God – we are in His debt!

And we cannot pay!

So much for what was going on in the city.

Outside the city were some lepers.

Now, tell me, what does leprosy symbolize?

SIN!

That is our debt that we owe!