See God As Provider & Protector | 2Kings 6-8

2 Kings chapter 6. We’re continuing on in a series we’ve been in for a little while, working our way through the book of Kings. We are in 2 Kings, chapter 6. If you don’t have a Bible here, grab one from the chair in front of you, and you’ll find our reading today in 2 Kings on page 312. We have a lot of Bible to read this morning, so let’s just jump right in.

Here’s the central claim we’ll be making today: God is your provider and protector, who is more able and far more willing to meet your needs in the fulfillment of His purposes than you could have ever imagined. God is your provider and your protector, and He is more able and far more willing to meet your needs in the fulfillment of His purposes than you could have ever imagined. And may the Lord give us eyes to see that reality from the text before us this morning. Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, many are the enemies of these Your people, and many are their needs. And they are Your people, and because they are Yours, they have overcome them — these needs — for greater is He who is in them than he who is in the world. May this text before us this morning teach that to us all. Spirit of the Lord, will You please give eyes to Your people, ears to Your people, that they may see the glories of Your Son and hear of His magnificence. Would You grant them faith to trust You in time of great danger and in time of great need. For the grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Amen.

A Provider and a Protector

During the ministry of the Lord Jesus, some people came to the apostle Peter and asked him for money to pay the mandatory temple tax — money which he didn’t have. And the Lord Jesus told him to cast a line into the sea, and the first fish he catches, to look in its mouth. And when Peter did, he found enough money to pay the temple tax, and then some. God is a good provider.

Later in his life, the apostle Peter was arrested for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. An angel in the middle of the night woke him. The doors of the prison opened, and he went free. And later in his ministry, the same thing happened again. He was arrested for preaching Christ, this time sentenced to be killed, and an angel woke him in the middle of the night. His chains fell off, and he went free. The Lord is a good protector.

PBC, I intend, the Lord enabling, this morning to convince you of one thing: that God is your provider and God is your protector, and that He is more able and far more willing than you can imagine to meet your every need in the fulfillment of His purposes. Some of you came here today with great confidence that God was your provider, great confidence that God is your protector, and I mean to show you through this text that your confidence ought to be much, much greater than it is. And some of you came here with little confidence that God is your provider and your protector, and I mean to show you from this text that you are far better supplied and far safer than you would ever dare imagine.

There are six — we’ll call them segments — that we’ll consider in 2 Kings 6–8 this morning. These six segments seem unrelated at times, a little strange perhaps, even disturbing, as we’ll see in a minute. But through every one of these segments, the author of Kings is showing the audience, and us, that God is their provider, and God is the protector of all who turn to Him in faith.

I. A Small Need and a Great One — and the God Who Meets Them Both (2 Kings 6:1–23)

Let’s consider the first two segments. 2 Kings chapter 6. This is the word of the Lord.

Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place there for us to dwell.” And he answered, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Be pleased to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.” So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.” But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there.” And the king of Israel sent word to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.

And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?” And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.” And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” It was told him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?” He answered, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians came no more on raids into the land of Israel.

The Floating Axe Head

Our first segment is set in the context of a building project. The prophet Elisha is running some sort of school of the prophets — a seminary, perhaps, in the old days, or like a Jedi training center, something cool like that. They’re out of room, and so they call for an expansion. While felling timber for this new building, one of the guys chopping down a tree has the axe head fly off his axe and land in the drink — it sinks to the bottom of the Jordan River. He calls for the prophet and says, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed. It’s not mine.”

Now, this is the Iron Age. It’s not like he can just run down to Ace Hardware and replace the axe head. This fellow is on the hook for paying back the man whose axe it was. And he does the right thing: he turns to the man of God. And Elisha cuts off a stick and throws it in the water, and the iron floats, and the guy just takes it out of the water and puts it back on the axe. Job done. And you’re thinking, what in the world does this have to do with anything?

But this kind of thing happens throughout the book of Kings. There are these big, massive displays of God’s glorious power shown to many people, and then there are these small, minor needs where God shows His glorious power to few. Big need, small need — God’s power meets them all.

The Army of Fire

The axe head is a small need compared to the need that comes next. The prophet of God is being hunted by the enemy of Israel, the king of Syria. Here’s how it happened. The king of Syria — we’ve met him many times in this passage already, and we’re going to meet him again a few more times — his name is Ben-hadad. He’s warring against Israel.

Now, this should cause us to pause for a second. If you were with us last Lord’s Day, you remember we read the account of Yahweh healing Naaman, the general of the Syrian army and servant of Ben-hadad. He had leprosy, and God healed him of leprosy. He became a follower of Yahweh, and then he returned to Syria. Well, shouldn’t Naaman’s faith have had at least some effect on the king — to let the king know that maybe you don’t mess with whatever god exists in Israel? Well, Naaman’s faith had little effect on the king. And so the king of Syria is running raids into Israel again, stealing goods and making slaves.

Oh, but poor Ben-hadad — business is slow, because wherever he goes, Israel seems to be able to predict that he’s going to be there and then avoid him. Consequently, the same exact thing happens to me when I go deer hunting. And the king smells a rat: One of our guys is telling the king of Israel where I’m going. But then one of his servants tells him, “No, no, no — it’s not us. It’s that meddling Elisha. He knows every word you speak in your bedroom, and he’s telling the king so they can get away.” And so Ben-hadad puts a hit out on the prophet. They gather up an army and go against the city in which Elisha is staying.

Elisha’s servant gets up early one morning, and he goes out, perhaps to have his morning coffee, and he sees an entire army has surrounded the city — horses and chariots — and he freaks out. What are we going to do? I mean, he’s staring death in the face. These men will spare no one. But the servant does the exact same thing as the seminarian did: he goes right to the man of God. In fact, he uses the exact same Hebrew phrase: “Alas, my master!”

And Elisha tells his servant something I think all of us should memorize. I think this should be etched upon our very souls. Verse 16: “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

The servant can’t see it. Not yet. But he’s about to. Elisha prays, the Lord opens his servant’s eyes, and he sees that they are not just surrounded by Syrian horses and Syrian chariots, but by horses and chariots of fire all around — angel armies guarding them against the enemy of God. It’s two men against this great army, and the enemy is outnumbered. Because greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.

The reformer Martin Luther put it like this in a hymn, which happens to be my favorite hymn of all time:

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.

Many of us are thoroughgoing materialists. We would never admit to such a thing, but we go throughout our days thinking very little, if at all, about the great cosmic battle that is taking place around us. Your struggle, dear Christian, is against cosmic powers in an unseen realm. And it is no small skirmish here or there — the enemy is playing for keeps. And your enemy has become quite adept at convincing you that he doesn’t exist. But we need not fear such an enemy, because if God is for us, who can be against us? Luther goes on in his hymn and writes:

Though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.

With the right Man of God on our side, we are never outgunned. We are never outmanned. Let that devil rage, because one single word from the risen Christ will fell him.

Elisha knows this. He is totally unfazed by this Syrian threat. And this is not some kind of stoic resignation — come what may, it is what it is. No, this is soaring confidence in God, who is his protector. He prays, because, Christian, this is how we fight: not with guns, not with swords, but with prayer. We pray, and we preach. The weapons of our warfare are not flesh and bone — they’re words. Our weapons are words: words spoken to God, and words spoken about God.

And the Lord strikes these attackers with blindness. And this is my favorite part of the story. Elisha comes right out of the city and meets the enemy. And he tells them, “This is not the way. This is not the city. You guys have the wrong address. I’ll show you where Elisha is — follow me.” And then he leads a blind army. All right, guys. Reach out. Take the hand of the person in front of you. Be very careful. Walk slowly — we don’t want anyone falling on their sword. Listen to my voice, and follow me. And he takes them to the capital city of Israel.

Now imagine being the king of Israel, and you’re in your courtroom, and some watchman runs in and says, “King, king, you’re not going to believe this — come here.” And you go up on the city walls, and you look out, and what do you see? Strings of armored soldiers holding each other’s hands, cresting over the horizon, stumbling because they’re afraid of tripping over rocks. And the prophet Elisha, whom you don’t really like all that much, leading them, encouraging them: “Come on, guys. Come on. We’re almost there. Just be careful. Come on.” And he leads them into the city.

And then Elisha prays, and God opens their eyes. And guess what? They see the man they seek. Elisha, the man of God, stands unarmed in front of them, and the entire army of Israel behind him. Now the Syrians are surrounded by their enemy, and they are staring death in the face. The king of Israel sees the situation, wants to seize upon it, and is calling for blood: “Shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?” The dude is eager — he asks twice. And Elisha says, “No, no — don’t strike them down. Feed them.” Proverbs 25:21: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.”

And so the king of Israel, at the word of the prophet, throws a feast for the army of his enemy. Because which shows the greater power: to slaughter a captive army, or to feed them and send them home empty-handed? I can’t think of a better way to aggravate an already frustrated enemy than by sending his special forces operators back home unsuccessful, empty-handed, and well fed.

A couple of days ago, Sarah and I were reading through the Gospel of John together, and we came across that passage where the Pharisees send officers to go arrest the Lord Jesus, and then the officers come back empty-handed, saying, “No one ever spoke like this man!” One thinks of the apostle Paul, arrested by the Romans and stuck in a Roman prison. They arrested him for preaching the gospel, and guess what he does in the prison? He preaches the gospel. And the jailer becomes a Christian, and he tells his friends, who tell their friends, and Caesar’s own household starts becoming Christians. It has to be so frustrating to be an enemy of Almighty God in the advance of His gospel.

This, by the way, is the second message the prophet Elisha has sent to this Syrian king, this pagan king. The first one, we looked at last week: his own general, healed of leprosy, sent back as a follower of Yahweh. And here he sends his own army home, fat and sassy, picking food from their teeth. The message is clear: there is no God but Yahweh. And does the king of Syria hear the message and heed the message? Well, let’s have a look at the next two segments.

II. Famine, Siege, and Four Lepers (2 Kings 6:24–7:20)

Verse 24. 2 Kings 6:24.

Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria.

Now, I just want to pause here for a second. I hate slowing us down — I know we have a lot to cover — but I need to slow down so you have time to brace yourself for what you’re about to read. The king of Syria is embarrassed, and so he musters his army to besiege Samaria. And siege warfare creates horrors unlike anything anyone in this room has ever seen.

Here’s how it works. You’re going against a fortified city, and you want to destroy it. You want to get in. You could send a bunch of soldiers against the wall, against the gates — and you would lose men in doing this, because the defenders are just going to stand on the wall, shoot, pour stuff on you, and whatnot. Or you could send a well-supplied army, surround the city, and cut off all entrances and exits. And then you wait, because if they can’t bring people in or send people out, they can’t replenish their food stores. And eventually they run out of food, and eventually their people starve, and hungry people resort to horrible things. It’s psychological warfare, and that happens here, and it is gruesome. Brace yourself. Verse 25.

And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?”

The man is of no help whatsoever, saying, “There’s nothing in the threshing floor. There’s nothing in the winepress. What do you want me to do?” Verse 28.

And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.” 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—and he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”

Here the king of Israel shows his true colors. A woman in his kingdom comes to him for help, and he effectively mocks her: If your God can’t help you, then how can I help you? And he blames Elisha and vows to kill him. You see how different he is from everyone else so far in this story? The man with the axe said, “Alas, my master.” The servant said, “Alas, my master.” The king should have come and said, “Alas — pray for me, Elisha. Pray for us. Pray that God would deliver us.” But instead, he blames Elisha.

But this is what the Lord Jesus promised, wasn’t it? That if they persecuted Him, they would persecute His followers. Unbelievers will be unbelievers, after all. The Jews blamed Paul for starting riots. The Romans blamed Christians for the sacking of Rome. It’s been like this forever: unbelievers are going to blame Christians for the problems in their lives. It’s just how it is. And the king of Israel is no different. The king of Israel here actually finds himself in a very strange position, where the very army that’s against him, he’s now on their side. They’re both trying to kill the man of God.

Let’s pick up reading, verse 32.

Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

In other words, all of the economic problems — because they had no food — will be completely reversed in a matter of one day, so that it won’t cost hardly anything for a ton of food. Apparently, the king of Israel had forgotten what happened when his own dad sent assassins after Elijah. Do you remember, a few weeks ago, when Pastor Matt preached that passage? He kept on sending these waves of special forces guys up to take Elijah by force, and what kept happening? God kept striking them down. Well, he’s not learned anything. So he’s sending a messenger — he’s sending an assassin to go kill Elisha, and he’s going to follow this assassin and get there whenever the job is done.

Elisha is sitting in his house with the elders of the city, and in the Spirit he knows this assassin is coming, and he’s unbothered, again, because he knows who provides for him. He knows who’s protecting him. And he tells them that by this time tomorrow everything in this city will be reversed, and the transformation will be dramatic. Today you spend 80 shekels of silver to eat the head of a donkey. Tomorrow one single shekel will buy you eight pounds of flour. Today it costs five shekels for a teaspoon of dove poo, and tomorrow you’ll buy sixteen pounds of barley for one shekel.

And the king’s staff is incredulous. The captain says, “If the Lord Himself should make windows in heaven — ain’t no way.” And Elisha says, “Well, you’ll see it, but you won’t taste it.” The captain has no faith in Yahweh. But Elisha knows that God can change the circumstances of an entire nation before breakfast.

Now the narrative shifts from the house of the prophet, sitting with the elders, to the gate of the city, and four lepers who are talking about death. Chapter 7, verse 3.

Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die.”

I mean, it’s understandable logic, really. They’re lepers; they’re going to die anyway. If they sit there, they’re going to die. If they go into the city, there’s no food in there — they’ll starve. If they go out to the Syrians, who are the enemies, they might kill them, but they’re going to die anyway. No food in the city; food in the Syrian camp. Let’s just roll the dice. What if they have mercy on us? Which is what they do. Verse 5.

So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, 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 Egypt to come against us.” So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.

And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.

The Lord made the Syrian army hear the sound of an approaching army, and it filled them with fear, and they bugged out. That’s all it took. And the lepers find the Syrian camp empty of all the bad guys and filled with all the bad guys’ stuff. They can’t believe their luck. They throw themselves a feast and plunder the enemy, and suddenly these four lepers are the richest people in all the land. Yahweh delivered His people without them ever even having to raise a fist. And no one knows it but four lepers, fat and sassy, hiding in a tent. And probably Elisha — he probably knows, too. Let’s keep reading. Verse 9.

Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.” Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king’s household.

And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have prepared against us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.'” And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left in the city will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.” So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.” So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him.

The lepers knew that what they were doing wasn’t right. They were engorging themselves on the spoils of God’s victory while God’s own people starved in the city. And they said, “This is a day of good news.” Well, Christian, you ought to recognize that phrase, shouldn’t you? Good news. The gospel is good news. The word gospel means good news that makes a change in the life of the person who hears it. The lepers have good news to preach. And these men — outcasts from their own society — might have allowed their sorrow and grief for their own circumstance to create bitterness in them. They might have just taken what they could from the Syrian army, stuffed it away, gone to a foreign land, and lived happily ever after until their leprosy took their lives. No one would have known. But they recognize: it’s not a good thing that we do, sitting here enjoying the spoils of this good news that God has done, without sharing it with others. One thinks of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9: “Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

So they go to the gate. They tell the gate people. The gate people tell the king. And the king is apprehensive — and that makes sense to me. What if it is a trap to lure the people out of the city so that then they can attack and get inside? So he sends out scouts, and they report back: it’s true.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed it so far — I’ve tried to emphasize it the way I’ve read it — but there’s this see, go and see, come and see, go and tell all throughout this passage. Once again, those who are blind see. Verse 13: “Let us send and see.” And the king sends. Verse 14: “Go and see.” And they come back and report the truth, and God’s people are saved.

Well, not all of God’s people. Remember the captain? The captain who was with Elisha when they were trying to kill him, and Elisha said, “Everything’s going to change overnight,” and he’s like, “Ain’t no way God could make windows in heaven. It’s not happening.” And Elisha said, “You’ll see it, but you won’t taste it.” Well, the same thing happened, just as Elisha had said. The king appoints the captain to stand watch at the gate of the city, but these starving people are just rushing to get food for themselves and for their kids, and they trample the man to death, and he dies. He saw the victory, but he did not taste it. This captain in this story becomes a warning. His unbelief becomes disastrous.

My non-Christian guest, listen to the message the Lord is saying to you this morning through the example of this captain. You have heard the good news of Jesus Christ today. An enemy has besieged your life, and you, like the people of Israel, are starving spiritually. Your disobedience to God’s commandments has wreaked havoc on your life, and without someone to deliver you, you will be under the judgment of God for your sins forever. But God the Son, Jesus Christ, took on flesh, and He took the penalty of sin. He died and rose victorious over sin. He defeated the enemy. And the gates of the city are now wide open, and all who turn to Him in faith are forgiven of their sins and reconciled to their Savior. Friend, see the victory and the glory of this God, and rush out of the prison of your unbelief and feast upon the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Repent and believe today. Talk with someone after the service — we’ll tell you more about the love of God who would save sinners such as yourself.

God is provider. God is protector. And that brings us to the last two segments, where we’ll close our time together.

III. Another Small Need, Another Big One (2 Kings 8:1–15)

Another small need, and another big problem — and the same God who meets them both. Let’s pick up reading in chapter 8, verse 1.

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.” So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land.

Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”

We’ve met this woman before. A couple of weeks ago, she showed hospitality to Elisha; God blessed her with a son who died, and Elisha raised him from the dead. In the meantime, she and Elisha have kept up correspondence, and Elisha tells her that the Lord is bringing judgment upon Israel for their sins of idolatry, and a famine is coming — but the Lord would spare her. So if she sojourns in another land, then when the famine is over, she can come back. She obeys the word of the prophet. After seven years, the Lord lifts the famine, and she returns. And in her absence, her land and her house have been taken over by others. Her husband must have died at some point, which only complicated the task of getting her things back.

So she goes to the king — and it just so happens that on the very day she returns to appeal to the king, the servant of Elisha, Gehazi, is in the presence of the king, having a conversation, and her name came up. And Gehazi looks up and sees, There she is — this is the very woman I’ve just been telling you about. God’s timing is perfect. The king hears her request and restores everything. It’s a small need, and God provides. Once again: small need — God provides.

And now we get to the last segment of our section: a big need. Chapter 8, verse 7.

Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, “The man of God has come here,” the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?'” So Hazael went to meet him, taking a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camel loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?'” And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover’; but the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die.”

And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was ashamed. And the man of God wept. And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

So we’re back with the king of Syria — same guy, and he’s sick. Elisha is on his way to Damascus, the capital of Syria, to make a hospital visit. And the king sends his servant Hazael to ask the Lord, “Am I going to recover?” And they have this strange interaction. In verse 11, the prophet stares at Hazael for so long that Hazael becomes uncomfortable. And then the prophet just starts crying. And you have to think, what in the world is Hazael thinking? This poor guy needs a vacation or something. Maybe he’s the sick one.

But the reason is that Elisha sees what Hazael will do. He says, “I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel.” And Hazael is confused by this, because he’s just a servant — how in the world is he going to do these things? He’s no king. He’s just a servant. And then Elisha tells him, “You’re going to be king.” Hazael goes back to his king, and the king is obviously interested in the answer: Am I going to recover? And Hazael says, “Yahweh said you’re going to recover.” And then the next day, he takes out a wet towel and smothers the king to death. And Hazael becomes king in Syria.

Our passage today ends with a succession of kings in Judah and in Israel that, Lord willing, we’ll consider next week.

Application

This passage — with all these six segments and the strange things that take place in this section — is a helpful reminder that God is our protector, and God is our provider. We just sang it: Behold your God, seated on the throne. And in moments of real need, be they big or small, Christian, turn to the Lord and say to your Savior, “Alas, my master!” Because many are your foes. Many are those who rise up against you. Many are those who say, “Where is your God?” But You, O Lord, are a shield for me — the prophet says — the glory and the lifter of my head.

In your fear, in your anxiety, in uncertainty, in affliction, Christian, remember: greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. So whatever your need is, big or small — as in the case of Peter, taxes for the temple tax, or getting sprung out of jail; whatever the need, maybe it’s medical bills, maybe it’s deliverance from an addiction, maybe it’s infertility, maybe it’s taking the gospel to the unreached — know this: your God is more able and far more willing to meet your every need than you could possibly imagine. And you are safer and better supplied than you could possibly imagine. So you can walk tall, dear Christian. You can let your confidence in the Lord soar above your every circumstance, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. May the Lord give us all eyes to see that this is true.

Let’s pray. O Lord, please receive our praise and thanks for Your kindness, and reveal to us this reality: You are our protector and provider. In Jesus’s name. Amen.