2Ki 7: "When the king rushed in with his bold and impious
threat (2Ki 6:33), it appeared that he had the upper hand. The city was on the
point of extinction, people were dying on all sides, the most horrible acts were
being committed. In such circumstances, men who remain calm and unruffled
because they possess divine vision become the mark for attack on the part of
those lacking these resources and jealous of their power of immunity. Their
worship of God is mere superstitious convenience. If he exists, demonstrate it
by miracle. Life thus becomes a demand for more and more miracles. They forget
that their repudiation of Yahweh has produced the very conditions they lament.
On this occasion Elisha was able to demonstrate Yahweh's power. To the
astonishment of his hearers, the prophet was able to predict that the corn
market at the gate of Samaria would present an extremely busy scene the
following day. 2Ki 7 reveals: [1] Elisha's incredible prophecy: vv 1,2. [2] The
leper's incredible discovery: vv 3-11. [3] The Syrian's incredible flight: vv
12-15. [4] The incredible fulfilment of the prophecy: vv 16-20" (GEM).
This ch typifies the calling of the disciples, and the
preaching of the gospel.
This very practical ch demonstrates how God knows the future.
We have here a turn of events so dramatic and unlikely that no one could have
predicted it, but by the power of God, Elisha was able to make this proclamation
and so convince those around him of his truth as a prophet. Here was an
immediate fulfilment of the prophecy of the day before -- the test of a
prophet.
Things and circumstances can change, as it were, in a moment,
or as in this case, over night. What may be deemed most important and precious
one day can become trivial the next day.
In these closing days of Gentile times we should be keeping
our eyes, thoughts and actions on "the joy set before us" Or as Heb 10:25 tells
us: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some
is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching."
2Ki 7:2
Scoffers and unbelievers will never be rewarded with a sign
from heaven.
2Ki 7:3
Four men carry a message of salvation to the city: sym the
four writers of the gospels.
2Ki 7:4
LET'S GO OVER TO THE CAMP OF THE ARAMEANS: Thinking
they might be welcomed as spies.
2Ki 7:9
THIS IS A DAY OF GOOD NEWS: "Good news" = the
"gospel"!
AND WE ARE KEEPING IT TO OURSELVES: Lesson for us: we
should not be "silent Christians".
IF WE WAIT UNTIL DAYLIGHT: // 'if we do nothing until
the resurrection!'
"Make sure that you have found the Savior. Eat and drink of
him; enrich yourself with him; and then go and publish the glad tidings. I shall
not object to your going as early as possible; but still, I would prefer that
you should not go to assure others until you are quite certain yourself. I would
have you go with a personal witness, for this will be your chief power with
others. If you run too soon, and do not first taste and see that the Lord is
good, you may say to others, 'There is abundance in the camp'; and they may
reply, 'Why have you not eaten of it yourself?' Thus your testimony will be
weakened, if not destroyed; and you will wish you had held your peace. It is
better that you first of all delight yourself in fatness before you proclaim the
fact of a festival. It is good that your faith should grasp the exceeding great
and precious promises; and then, when you run as a tidings-bearer, you will
testify what you have seen. If any say to you, 'Are you sure that it is true?'
you will answer, 'Ay, that I am, for I have tasted and handled of the good word
of life.' Personal enjoyments of true godliness assist us in our testimony for
truth and grace.
"But the point I desire to bring out is this: if those lepers
had stopped in the camp all night, if they had remained lying on the Syrian
couches, singing, 'Our willing souls would stay in such a place as this'; and if
they had never gone at all to their compatriots, shut up and starving within the
city walls, their conduct would have been brutal and inhuman. I am going to talk
to some at this time... who think that they have found the Savior... who write
themselves down as having truly enjoyed religion, and who imagine that now their
sole business is to enjoy themselves. They delight to feed on the word, and to
this I do not object at all; but then, if it is all feeding and nothing comes of
it, I ask to what end are they fed? If the only result of our religion is the
comfort of our poor little souls, if the beginning and the end of piety is
contained within one's self, why, it is a strange thing to be in connection with
the unselfish Jesus, and to be the fruit of his gracious Spirit. Surely, Jesus
did not come to save us that we might live unto ourselves. He came to save us
from selfishness.
"I am afraid that some... have never yet confessed the work of
God... They feel that, whereas they were once blind, now they see; but they have
never declared what the Lord has done for them. Has all this work been done in a
corner for their personal [enjoyment]? I want to have a drive at them, and at
all others who have not yet considered that the object of their receiving grace
from the Lord is that God may, through them, communicate grace to others. No man
liveth unto himself. No man should attempt so to live" (CHS).
2Ki 7:13
FIVE OF THE HORSES: Cp 5 brethren of rich man = all
Israel (Luk 16:29).
2Ki 7:15
AS FAR AS: Or "toward".
2Ki 7:19
YOU WILL SEE IT WITH YOUR OWN EYES, BUT YOU WILL NOT SEE
ANY OF IT: "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you
yourselves thrown out" (Luk 13:28).