Elisha Series

We're gonna take our bibles, and we're gonna read from 2 kings and chapter 6. So we're working our way through the life of Elijah. We were working our way through the life of Elijah, and then followed into Elijah. And we're back at this story in 2 kings, and chapter 6, and it's verse 8. It will come up on the screen, so If you're having a bible, you can follow along there.

2 kings chapter 6 and verse 8. Now, the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, I will set up my camp in such and such a place. The man of God sent word to the king of Israel, beware of passing that place because the Arameans are going down there. So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God.

Time and again, Elijah warned the king so that he was on his God in such places. This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them. Tell me, which of us is on the side of the king of Israel. None of us, my Lord, the King, said 1 of the officers, but Elijah, the prophet, who is in Israel tells the king of Israel, the very words you speak in your bedroom.

Go and find out where he is the king ordered. So that I can send men and capture him. The report came back. He is in Dotham. Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there.

They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out the next morning, an army with horses and chariots that surrounded the city. Oh, my lord. What shall we do the servant ask? Don't be afraid the prophet answered.

Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elijah prayed, open his eyes, Lord, that he may see. Then the Lord opened the servants' eyes. And he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire around Elijah. As the enemy came down towards him, Elijah prayed to the Lord, strike this army with blindness.

So he struck them with blindness as Elijah had asked. Elijah told them this is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you were looking for. And he led them to Semaria. After they entered the city, Elijah said, Lord open their eyes of these men.

So that they can see then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked and there they were inside Samaria. When the King of Israel saw them, he asked Elijah, shall I kill them? My father, shall I kill them? Do not kill them, he answered? Would you kill those you had captured with your sword or bow?

Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master. So he prepared a great feast for them. And after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands of Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory. Tom is gonna come and open that passage in the next passage up for us.

Okay. Good morning. Thanks for reading that, Pete. And as Pete just said there, this is we we we've kind of read that story, which we looked at a couple of ago. We looked at it before the easter break, and we did that just to kind of orientate ourselves again and to remember where we are in the story.

But you remember, we didn't touch on the end of that little story, and so we're gonna do that a bit today, and then we're gonna move on to the rest of chapter 6 and into chapter 7, but that was just something of a of a refresher. There is just 1 other notice that to mention, and it doesn't apply to everyone. But if you are a home group leader or a home group co leader or a leader's wife, then you remember we've got some home group training tomorrow tomorrow evening at 7 30 on Zoom, and we're just gonna be having to think about sort of pastoral care and coming out of lockdown. So Hopefully, you will have got an email about that last week, but some may have forgotten. So just to remind you, that's on to tomorrow night as well.

Half 7. Okay. Let's pray and ask that the Lord would speak to us today. Father, we do thank you for these amazing words, and we think of that moment after the resurrection of Jesus when the disciples were on the road with Jesus and he opened their eyes and he opened their minds to the scriptures so that they were able to see. That all of your words was about Jesus, and we thank you that perhaps they even came to this story.

And they looked at these stories together, and the Lord Jesus was able to show by his spirit how he was at the center and was the fulfillment of even these slightly bizarre stories tucked away in the old testament, and we thank you that all of this word we know and we trust is useful for us. It is able to rebuke us where that is needed, to correct us where we're straying, to encourage us to keep going. And to equip us for serving you. And we just pray that each 1 of us, from the youngest 1 here to the oldest 1 here, would would have a sense that you are speaking to us through your word this morning, that you would put your finger on areas in our lives, which need changing. That where we are weary and in need of encouragement that you would you would speak to us father in those ways.

And just remind us that what we're doing is not something to fill time. This is a dynamic activity as you speak to us through your living word. And so give us ears to hear we pray in Jesus' name. Oh, man. Oh, man.

Alright. I want you to try to imagine a man, an incredibly successful man. A man who has reached the top of his career, a man who has managed to become the most important person really in the known world, a man who is rich, a man who is wealthy, a man who loves to show off his wealth, and to rub it in the noses of other people and to prove what a spectacular person that he is. His name is Bell Shaza, You might remember him, a king from the old testament, from the book of Daniel, and here's what we read about him in Daniel 5. King belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles.

Don't know how many people, the most amount of people you've ever entered obtained at 1 time. He gave a banquet for a thousand of his nobles and they drank wine. While Bell Chazal was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and the silver goblets that nebuchadnezzar, his father had taken from the temple. So you can picture this banquet a thousand of the most important people in the land, drinking wine out of gold and silver. It's about the most luxurious feast you can imagine.

But what he doesn't know at this point is that in a flash and in a heartbeat, his life is gonna change completely. Daniel 5 verse 5, suddenly, while he's eating, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall. The king watched the hand as it wrote, his face turned pale. And his legs became weak and his knees were knocking. And this is what the words meant.

God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. When is that going to happen? Verse 30, Daniel 5, that very night. That very night. Belshazzar, King of the Babylonians, was slain.

Can you imagine a greater shift, hosting a thousand of your nobles, the most important man in the world slain by your enemies. In just a few hours time. Or another man, you might remember, a career man, a man who had his eyes set on becoming the most important in the lands, Hammond the AGergeite. 1 minute, he is feasting with the king. And the next day he is crucified hanging on a pole.

His life changed in a heartbeat, and the bible is full of those kinds of stories. Lives can change, circumstances can change in a flash, in a heartbeat. And we know that's true today, don't we? You imagine the successful investor who's made it in the markets, and then he wakes up 1 morning and discovers something has happened, and all of his shares, and all of his stocks are now worth nothing. Overnight, he's emptied of his cash.

Or you imagine a successful accountant who's worked her way up in her industry. She feels a pain 1 day, goes to the doctor, and her life changes forever with cancer. These things can happen. All it takes is just 1 moment, 1 accident, 1 slip up, 1 virus, and overnight, we can be brought down. And the question is, what should that teach us?

What are we to learn from these stories in the bible? And when it happens to to us, well here's Daniel 4 verse 32. This was about nebuchadnezzar and his humbling. 7 times will pass by you until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign. Over all kingdoms on the earth, and he gives them to anyone he wishes.

This will happen until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over all the kingdoms on earth and he gives them to anyone that he wishes. When these kind of stories take place in the bible, we are to learn from them that the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men. We are to learn from them that we are powerless to right the future, that we are unable to save ourselves, that our lives can change in a moment because they are so fragile. It's true, isn't it? That often, Most of the time, we, you know, we think we're in control.

We think we've got enough to protect us. We think we've been going to be okay. But when a crisis hits, it shows us who is sovereign in our lives. When a crisis hits, it shows us who is sovereign in our lives. And when that happens, we can go 1 of 2 ways.

We can either like nebuchadnezzar respond by realizing that the most highest sovereign, in faith and in repentance, or we can become angry and proud and resist the most high, continue to go our own way and actually hate the messenger, hate the 1 who is telling us this. We can either respond in faith, or we can respond in anger and pride. And with that in mind, we come to 2 kings, chapter 6 and the first part of chapter 7, and God is showing the king of Israel that he sits in the highest place. God is showing the king of Israel that Elijah is boss. And in that first reading we just had, That is really what we saw.

There was nothing that the king could do about his enemies, was there? The enemies were surrounding his city. There was nothing he could do. He could not drive them away. It was Elijah.

The power rested with him. Elijah was the 1 who blinded them, led them into the city, handed them over, and then let them go. That is what he had to learn. It was like his first slice of humble pie. He learned that the power lies with the lord and with Elijah.

That's what the lord is trying to show him. And now, we come to this second bit And the question is, how is he gonna react to this humbling? Is he gonna react in the right way? Faith, repentance, or is he gonna act in the wrong way, pride and anger? God is gonna show him who sits in the highest place?

How's he gonna react? Just 2 points. This morning, and the first is this. We learn in this next bit of the story that the king is powerless to provide for his people. Have a look at 2 kings 6 and verse 24.

2 kings 6 verse 24. So this is after the story we've just read. Sometime later, Ben Hadat, King of Aram, mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. So whatever truce that there had been, is now over, and the King of Syria is back with a vengeance. Okay?

It's coming back for battle. And what we are about to read in these next few verses is pretty horrendous. I mean, it is about as uncomfortable and disturbing as the as the old testament gets. So have a look at verse 25. What is going on in Sumeria?

There was a great famine in the city, The siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for 80 shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for 5 shekels. Now, as we've been learning in this series, There has been a famine, a 7 year famine over the whole land, and so the whole place is in famine generally, And now Sumaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, is having a further famine enforced on them. And as we're seeing, it is pretty awful. Basically, what they would do in these times was that in sometimes, instead of just destroying the city, the army would basically just surround surround the place and they would cut off all the food and produce that was coming into the city, and they would just slowly wait for them to starve to death inside. And so instead of sort of stepping on an insect, this is like the person who takes a pair of tweezers and just pulls off its legs.

1 at a time. It's just it's just waiting and watching for it to die in a very, very cruel way. And that is what is happening here. The army have come, they're laying siege to the city by cutting off its supplies, and so the general famine is now made even worse by what they're doing. And just for context here, early in earlier in 1 kings, we're told that a horse was a hundred and 50 shekels.

That's how much that was the going rate for a horse in 1 kings. And, you know, that that, you know, a horse is a pretty good animal to have, and a hundred and 50 shekels was was a lot of money, but now things have got so bad that just a donkey's head, so not a living donkey, a dead donkey, just its head, is worth 80 shekels, and it's worth knowing that a donkey was also an unclean animal. So this was not something that they could have eaten in normal times. And anyway, I mean, I don't know how many of us are into eating animal heads, but I can't imagine that they are either nutritious or that delicious. And yet 80 shekels for the head of an unclean animal.

That's how bad things have got for them. And then we're told, that this quarter of a cab, which is a hard hard measurement to know, but some people think it's half a liter of seed pods. So not even seed seed pods, of 5 shekels. And according to the ESV study bible, 5 shekels was 6 month salary. So imagine what you earn in 6 months.

Just try to do a little calculation. What do you earn in 6 months? Half a year. Buying you 500 mils of seed pods. And apparently, this sort of food was so bad that it was nicknamed dovesdong.

So, if you look at the little footnote in your bible, if you've got 1, you'll see that it's often called doves dung. It was like a slang. It was so bad. It was slang, dove poo, bird poo. That's how nutritious it was.

And yet 6 months wages are going to buy you that. If you know the story of the prodigal son in the New Testament, you remember that right at the end of the story, no 1 would even give him the pods that the pigs were eating. This was pig food. This was pig food, these seed pods. And it's costing 6 months wages.

So why are we told this? Well, it is strangely detailed, isn't it? And I think that is the point, is to show us that this is a real event, that this really happened that this isn't just made up. This was measurable, that the desperation was measurable in this city. This really happened.

And the other thing that shows us is just how awful things have become here. You might remember, I don't know if it's actually true, but in those early lockdowns, it felt like the price of things was going up, wasn't it? I don't know if you noticed that. Look, like, suddenly you would go to Tesco and something that would have cost you 90 p. It was suddenly like 90 p or 97 p.

You know, it seemed to I don't know if that was actually true, but it felt to us that there was a slight, you know, increase in prices because the demand had increased. But that that is just hardly worth mentioning in the same sentence as this. This is a terrible this is a terrible financial situation. And it and it and it only gets worse. Have a look at what we read next in in the next bit.

As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, help me, my lord, the king. The king replied, if the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor, from the wine press, then he asked her, what is the matter? In other words, the king is saying, even if I wanted to, I cannot help you. There is no point talking to God because he's not going to help us now.

There is no point talking to me I'm I'm powerless. Something where am I gonna go? You want me to go to the threshing floor? Nothing there. You want me to go to the bakery?

Nothing there. Butchers, nothing there. There isn't. What do you expect me to do? There is nothing that he can do.

And it's interesting to compare him at this point with Solomon. You remember Solomon in 1 kings, and that was a more kind of ideal situation there, where God's people were being ruled by a king who actually could bring justice. You know, he actually could do something about his people's problems because he had the Lord's wisdom. This king is completely powerless He cannot help. He has no wisdom.

He doesn't think God is gonna help. There's nothing that he can do. But go on, he says, what's the matter? Verse 28, 29. She answered, the woman said to me, This woman said to me, give up your son so that we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.

So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, give up your son so that we may eat him. But she had hidden him. And this is 1 of those verses that you just wouldn't choose to preach on if you, you know, if you had the choice. You know, it's It's it's it's terrible, isn't it?

You know, the author is saying to us, look what happened to the markets But worse, look what happened to the people. So bad, isn't it? Imagine the desperation and the the hunger. Imagine Imagine the meeting where these women decided this, whether they planned that the only option was to cook both of their children and to eat them 1 day at a time. Imagine the meeting where they decided that they should do that.

This is as this is as desperate as it gets. But more than that, this is a judgment of God upon them. Have a look at this verse from deuteronomy, and, you know, it's incredible the detail that is picked up here. This is deuteronomy 28. If you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, All these curses will come on you and overtake you.

The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land, the lord your God is giving you. Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters, the lord your God has given you.

And it actually gets even more detailed than It says, even the most sensitive man among you, even the most sensitive woman among you, who would not dare to lay the soul of her foot in the dust. Will eat the flesh of her sons and daughters. It's terrible, isn't it? And in some ways, it's hard to know what more to say about it, but that it is a desperate it is a desperate, desperate situation. But the key thing to pick up here is that they are not just victims.

They are not just victims. Have a look at what Isaiah said in 49, Isaiah 49 15. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child that she has born, and the expected answer to that question is no. No. Even if the whole fabric of society falls apart.

Even if everything else around us is collapsing, Even in the worst imaginable situation, could a mother forsake a child she had born? No. That could never happen. That would be the worst thing it would show that society is ripped at the seams. And yet here it is.

And it's not just the act itself. It's it's that this woman thinks she's got a case, which proves how terrible things have become. She's actually in a position now where she thinks she is righteous before the king. King, look, we decided that we were going to cook and eat our children. We ate mine and now she's not going to let me eat hers.

Can you tell her to tell her to let us eat her son? She thinks she's in the right, in that moment, that she's got a case. So not only is the act itself an appalling sign of where they'd become, but even the logic has become twisted. It's like what we read in Romans 1, you know, they were given over to the futility of their mind, even their thinking, their reasoning was darkened by their sin. And so the point here is, as as uncomfortable as this is, just from a humanitarian perspective, they are not just victims.

That they would do this, is both a judgment and a reason for judgment. That they would do this is both a judgment on them and a reason for judgment. 1 author says alas He's talking about this situation. He says, alas what misery's sin has brought upon the world. What miseries sin has brought upon the world.

And it is so important to get this because it it it saves us from from 2 errors that we could fall into when we read stories like this. The first error I think is picked up in the way the king responds. So have a look at how the king responds to this. This is verse 31 and 33. After hearing the story, he says, may God deal with me be it ever so severely, if the head of Elijah's son of Shafat remains on his shoulders today, and then later in the chapter, he says, This disaster is from the Lord.

Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? In other words, this is God's fault. It's God's fault, what's happening here. It's not us. If there was a God who loved us, if there was a God who cared for us, he wouldn't let this happen.

He wouldn't let this happen. It's his fault, but seeing that sin is at work here saves us from that error. Or the other problem we might fall into is that we might kind of sit above this society and we might judge them and think, goodness. What an awful lot of people, they had become. We would never do anything like that.

We could never become so bad. And yet, actually, as incredible as this story is, it's not alone in history. You know, this happened a number of other times. When the when the Assyrians sieged the Babylonians, this exact thing happened, Josephus, the jury the Jewish historian, I think he's Jewish historian. Yeah.

He he comments that when the Romans sieged Jerusalem, this is exactly what happened. In other words, this is what happens when times get desperate, the strong turn on the week for their own sake. And the question that we've got to ask is, is our society any different is our society any different than this? I mean, do we, as a nation, treat the most vulnerable people in our society, children in the most shockingly cruel ways. Do we do that?

Do we value their lives from from the very first days in the womb? Or will we dispose of them if we're needed largely for our own sake? Do we, as a nation, treat the youngest the most precious, the most valuable, with breathtaking cruelty for the sake of wicked adults, we do we do do that. And that is the combination that we need to see here. Despiration, yes, but also judgment because of sin.

And yet, look at this in Isaiah 49. Just look at the way this this picks up here. Second half of the verse. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she is born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. That is amazing, isn't it? Even in the worst world imaginable, a mother would never forsake her own child, but even if she did, I would never forsake you, never because I have written you on the palms of my hand, and that is what we're gonna see now. And guess what? It's not gonna be the king who saves.

The king is powerless to provide. And secondly, the king is powerless to save his city. And so have a look with me at verse 30 to 33. Next couple of points are shorter. Verse 30.

When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked and they saw that under his robes he had sackcloth on his body, he said, may God deal with me be it ever so severely? If the head of Elijah, the son of Shafat remains on his shoulders today. Now Elijah was sitting in his house and the elders were sitting with him. Notice the elders are with Elijah and not with the king.

The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elijah said to the elders, Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him. While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. The king said, this disaster is from the lord, Why should I wait for the lord any longer?

So you see, it looks like Elijah had already had a conversation with this king. And had told him that he needed to wait for the Lord and that he needed to repent. You notice he's wearing sackcloth, underneath his clothes, which was a sign of repentance. So it maybe looks like he had thought about mourning and turning back to the lord. And notice he says, why should I wait for the lord any longer?

So perhaps he he'd been told, you need to repent and wait for the lord. But now he's done he's done with that now. He's not gonna do that anymore. Because in his mind, Elijah and His God are the troubleers of Israel. Do you remember when Ahab said that to Elijah?

It's not me who's the troubleer of Israel. It's you Elijah. Who is the trouble of Israel. That's exactly what this king thinks too. Elijah is the problem.

Elijah is the trouble of Israel. And he has got to a point now where he would rather watch his city eat itself than repent. Just think about that. He would rather watch his city eat itself than repent. And although, in some ways, our nation is very different from from Israel, it is interesting, isn't it, to note that that there is there is so many things we would rather do than repent.

We would rather see ourselves destroyed than turn back to the living God. That is what he's like. And yet, look at God's mercy to him and the city. 2 king 7, 1 to 2, Elisha replied, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says.

About this time tomorrow, a sear of the finest flour will sell for a shekel. And 2 seers of barley for a shekel at the gate of Sumaria. The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, look, Even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen? You will see it with your own eyes answered Elijah, but you will not eat any of it. Now, I mean, that really is just an incredible prophecy, all that I've shown you about the desperation of the situation is going to be reversed in 24 hours time.

It's not that all the prices are gonna go back to normal, but compared to what they're living with today, tomorrow is gonna be worlds apart. And and remember, there wouldn't even have been time in 24 hours to grow this stuff. You couldn't have even have grown all this in 24 hours. And yet God is going to provide the most incredible turnaround. And you can tell by the servants response, how incredible this is.

He's saying, what are you talking about? Even if the Lord was to open the floodgates of heaven, even if you know, there is no way this could happen. And of course, in saying that, he represents their problem, doesn't he? That they've lost touch with the lord and with his power, and yet to the letter this happens. And on Wednesday, if you're a part of our home groups, we'll read the fulfillment of this story.

To the letter, this happens. And so we're seeing here that the king is powerless to provide for his people, he is powerless to save his city, And in that, we are challenged with this question. Whose power are we gonna rely on? The big point I've been trying to show you and, you know, if you just take away 1 thing, is that the power to judge and to destroy, to save, and to bring down, and to raise up rest with the lord. And more than just with the lord rests with the man of God.

And it's interesting, isn't it? That as we compare this king to the greatest king of all the Lord Jesus Christ, he is so different Is the lord Jesus Christ powerless to deliver us from our enemies? No, he did that when he died and rose again. Is the lord Jesus Christ powerless to provide for his people? No, he feeds us with himself and with his word.

Is the lord Jesus Christ powerless to save his people? No, he achieved a wonderful salvation for his worldwide bride when he died for them. And rose again. And so how crazy is it? How crazy must we be?

To trust in anything else. You see, imagine living in a place. Just picture this. Imagine living in a place. Where all your worldly wealth can buy you a donkey's head.

Where all that you have saved for, all that you have stored up can buy you a donkey's head. Would you still believe that riches could save you? If you were in that situation. What will it take to learn that? Or putting all of our hope in politics in politicians, in science, in scientific breakthroughs, to put all our confidence in them to save us, If we don't learn that going forward from the past few months, then God help us.

Really? God help us. The Christian says, our help is in the name of the lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He is the 1 we trust him. Second, brief point of application.

We are called to trust in the Lord's amazing promises. See, it's incredible, isn't it? That the Lord the Lord never asks us to believe at really bizarre things, you know, that that a Ferrari is just gonna appear on my drive when I get home. We're not called to believe bizarre things, strange things, but we are called to believe amazing things that God has said. So, you think about, 1 commentator uses the illustration of Philippians 2.

Where we're told that 1 day every knee is gonna bow and every tongue is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's an amazing promise, isn't it? That 1 day, really 1 day, every knee will bow at the foot of Christ, and every tongue will declare him to be lord. That's an amazing promise. And we are called to trust, not to believe bizarre things, but to believe the things that he has said.

And the flip side of that is that the servant here is a cautionary tale to us. He is a cautionary tale And why is that? Because as we'll see in the next part of this chapter, he saw the fulfillment of this promise with his eyes but he didn't taste it. He saw the fulfillment with his eyes, but he didn't taste it. And that is a warning to all of us because 1 day we will all see the Lord Jesus Christ returning in power and glory And the question is not will we see it with our eyes, but will we taste it with our mouths?

This servant didn't. He saw, but he didn't believe and so he was trampled to death in the judgment. And so this is a call for us to trust in our God the maker of heaven and earth to trust in his amazing promises to deliver and to save. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you for this amazing story we just praise you that you are the 1 here, and that your profit who is ultimately the great lord Jesus Christ.

He is the 1 where power is located. Only he can save. Only he can provide for his people. Only he can bring about a great salvation. And lord, we thank you for showing us how powerless we are to save ourselves.

And we pray that you would help us to hold out this good news gospel. To a world which is desperately sinful. It's so easy for us to read these stories like this and think that we're better than them, or that this could never happen or that they're just victims, but lord, that the the big thing here we see is what sin does to people. And we know that only the great deliverance of Jesus can bring hope and rescue. And so help us to hold out that news we pray in Jesus' name, amen.