2 Kings 7:12-20 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

Bible Comments

the Prophet's Word Fulfilled

2 Kings 7:12-20

The lepers were first in the deserted camp. The abundance was awaiting the starving populace, but only a few outcasts tasted it. So Christ's wealth and unsearchable riches are for all, but often the outcasts gathered by the Salvation Army know more about them than the children of the church. The cottager who early opens his window for his sick child, knows more of the summer morning, than does the millionaire who sleeps within curtained windows. But be sure you tell out what you know, else you sin against God and man. There is enough for all. To scatter is to increase.

Though this plenty had been predicted, it seemed too good to be believed. Send out your scouts, O Church of God! As the result of our Lord's victory at Calvary, the roads-north, south, east, and west-have been trodden by your fleeing foes, and are strewn, with spoil. But beware lest, in the day of the Lord's deliverance, you see with your eyes but are unable, through unbelief, to partake, Luke 13:28. Man's unbelief cannot hinder God's purpose, but it excludes the unbeliever, who perishes amid abundance.

2 Kings 7:12-20

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 leftb 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.