2Kings
6:1 ¶ And the sons of the prophets said
unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for
us. 2 Let us go, we pray thee, unto
Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there,
where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. 3
And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he
answered, I will go. 4 So he went with
them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. 5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head
fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.
6 And the man of God said, Where fell
it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in
thither; and the iron did swim. 7 Therefore said he, Take it up to thee.
And he put out his hand, and took it.
Notice two
things that stand out to me here. One is the honesty of this poor disciple of
Elisha, concerned about the axe head he feared was lost because it did not
belong to him. Secondly, notice how again Elisha uses a non-miraculous object
with no power in itself to perform a miracle. We have seen this before in
Elijah’s ministry. Think of how he used a dousing in the Jordan to heal Naaman
when the river had no magical power of its own. God did these things through
Elijah as we understand it.
2Kings
6:8 ¶ Then the king of Syria warred
against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a
place shall be my camp. 9 And the
man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such
a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. 10 And the king of Israel sent to the place
which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not
once nor twice. 11 Therefore the heart
of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his
servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the
king of Israel? 12 And one of his
servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in
Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy
bedchamber.
The King
of Israel keeps escaping confrontations set in place by the King of Syria. The
King of Syria is worried that he has a traitor in his midst but his counselors
tell him that Elisha knows all of his secrets and nothing the Syrian king does
is hid from him, even his most secret thoughts expressed in his very bedchamber.
2Kings
6:13 ¶ And he said, Go and spy where he is,
that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is
in Dothan. 14 Therefore sent he thither
horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed
the city about. 15 And when the servant
of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed
the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my
master! how shall we do? 16 And he
answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they
that be with them. 17 And Elisha
prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the
LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed
unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he
smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said unto them, This is not
the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to
the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. 20 And it came to pass, when they were come into
Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they
may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they
were in the midst of Samaria. 21 And
the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite
them? shall I smite them? 22
And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite
those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread
and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.
23 And he prepared great provision for them:
and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their
master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
There are
several things to note here that are amazing. All around us are spiritual
beings, too numerous to mention, in my mind probably as many as the stars in
the universe, maybe even seventy sextillion as theoretical scientists calculate
the number of stars. Who can say? Including in this number of spiritual beings,
invisible to us, are animals, in this case, horses. Our finite flesh and blood
bodies are the only thing in the way of our experiencing this spiritual world
and although suicide is forbidden to us, it is fascinating to think, to
imagine, what existing in that world must be like.
Yes, there
are animal beings in heavenly realms. I suspect that the sweet savour of the
animal sacrifices we’ve been told about lead us to consider that these
creatures’ souls and spirits go on existing in this unseen world. Again,
though, we must remember that self-murder, suicide, is forbidden to us as much
as killing another. We should just consider the possibilities the Bible
presents to us.
Animals are not mere biological machines whose death meant
absolutely nothing and were of no consequence. Let us remember God’s view of
them rather than our sin-corrupted historical-cultural bias. Many times animal
sacrifices are called a sweet savour to
God.
Numbers 29:36 But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a
sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock, one ram,
seven lambs of the first year without blemish:
The heavenly prototypes for all animals play a prominent role in
the spiritual world.
Ezekiel 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four
had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four
had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle…
10:14 And every one had four faces: the
first face was the face of a
cherub, and the second face was
the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of
an eagle. 15 And the cherubims were
lifted up. This is the living
creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
Animals exist in the heavenly realm, the world of the spirit as
here 2Kings reveals.
At least some types of them have souls and spirits, as tripartite
beings like man.
Numbers 31:28 And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men
of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the
beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep…
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all
mankind.
Ecclesiastes 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth
upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
They can have potential abilities of speech that are restrained,
obviously for a reason, perhaps because of the judgment on the earth because of
man. They also have memory of past things.
Numbers 22:28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and
she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me
these three times? 29 And Balaam said unto
the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand,
for now would I kill thee. 30 And the
ass said unto Balaam, Am not I
thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?
And he said, Nay.
And although they are allowed to be sacrificed and even killed and
eaten by man abuse of them is condemned…
Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of
the wicked are cruel.
An army is
blinded and does not know where they are. The prophet, when he delivers them to
a place where they could be slaughtered in their defenseless condition, forbids
it. I was blind to the truth of the Gospel and was led to it through the
strange land of my ignorant youth. My eyes were opened and although, I deserved
to be killed on many occasions for my sin, I was delivered alive and blessed by
nourishment from my Creator. There are many great sermon possibilities from
this passage and I cannot even scratch the surface.
The King
of Syria will stop trying to ambush the King of Israel or kidnap the prophet.
There will be no more half measures but a full scale invasion now.
2Kings
6:24 ¶ And it came to pass after this,
that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged
Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine
in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold
for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s
dung for five pieces of silver. 26
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a
woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 27 And he said, If the LORD do not help thee,
whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
28 And the king said unto her, What
aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we
may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I
said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath
hid her son. 30 And it came to pass,
when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he
passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had
sackcloth within upon his flesh. 31 Then
he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of
Shaphat shall stand on him this day. 32
But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the
king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said
to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine
head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the
door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him? 33 And while he yet talked with them, behold,
the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of
the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
The King of
Syria has his forces lay siege to Samaria. The result is a great famine where
women will eat their own children in desperation. As in many sieges in history
it is a hideous and depraved time of desperation and pain. Elisha is blamed and
targeted for execution. Elisha acknowledges that like all reality, evil or
good, only God is in control. Elisha declares there is no hope since this is
God’s doing.
This was predicted
in the prophecy in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy
28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of
thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy
God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine
enemies shall distress thee:
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