Welcome! Today we continue our series on the prophet Elisha. As we have been going through this series over the past two months or so, we have seen that there is benefit in looking at the events of Elisha’s life on many levels. On one level are the accounts themselves, looking at them in the historical and cultural contexts of the Israelites in that period of history around 800 years before Christ. As we have talked about before, this was a turbulent and troubled time in Israel’s history. The nation built from 12 tribes had for some time been split into two, called Israel and Judah, a split that went back to the times of the generation after Solomon. The land of Judah, which included Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, oscillated back and forth between following God and giving themselves to the false gods worshiped by the people around them. The land of Israel, however, pretty much uniformly worshiped false gods and adopted many of the detestable practices of the peoples who were around them. Pretty much every king of Israel was described in negative terms; in contrast, at least a few of the kings of Judah had good things said about them. In Israel, because of the people’s wickedness, God basically removed His protection over the land, and there were frequent conflicts with their neighbors. Eventually this led to the complete overtaking of the land by their enemies. The passage we will look at today focuses on one of these conflicts with their neighbors.
Another way we can interpret Elisha, and indeed, much of the Old Testament narrative, is as shadows or hints of things to come in Jesus. We see this in the words of the prophets who predicted things that only were fully fulfilled in Jesus, for example, Isaiah 53, that speaks of one who was despised and rejected by men, who bore our suffering, who was pierced for our transgressions, through whose wounds we somehow received healing. This person in Isaiah 53 was described as deserving no punishment of his own, yet was punished for our sins. It says He was cut off from the land of the living, that is, he died, and was assigned a rich person’s grave, and yet it says that after He died, He would be given a portion among the great; that is He would live. This and other Old Testament prophecies truly only find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. It was largely through examining these prophecies, words indisputably written centuries before Jesus Christ came on the scene, that I came to have faith in Christ.
In addition to the prophecies, God has used history itself to foreshadow and hint at the events of Christ. One example of this struck me freshly this week: the parallels between Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and John the Baptist and Jesus. Recall that Moses did not actually lead the Israelites into the Promised Land; it was Joshua, who led the people after Moses, who did that. Interestingly, Joshua’s very name means “Savior.” Moses was the “water man”; perhaps the miracle most remembered that God did through him was the parting of the Red Sea. There are parallels here with John the Baptist and Jesus: John the Baptist was the “water man”; he is best known for the baptisms he performed, calling on people to repent; yet it was Jesus, who followed him, who actually was the only one who could save us. Jesus’ name too, which is almost identical to Joshua in Hebrew, means “Savior.” And in the same light we can look at Elijah and Elisha: it was in a different way that he was “water man,” but the name fits him nevertheless. He prayed that God would stop the rain, and God did this for years. Then God used Him to burn up the altar in the great showdown with the false prophets, an altar that was soaked with water, surrounded with water, and God even burnt up that water. Following that, God made it finally rain. Once again, the water man was followed with another, in this case Elisha, whose name means “God His salvation” or “God is salvation.” In each of the three cases, the first man proclaims the name of God; the second man shows/works God’s plan of salvation.
But before time runs away from us, let’s dig into today’s passage.
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 Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places. – 2 Kings 6:8-10
This warfare with Aram was a kind of guerilla warfare. They would set up at various places hoping to ambush the king of Israel. From elsewhere in Scripture we also know they would set up raiding parties and would sometimes capture Israelites as slaves. One such person is mentioned in 2 Kings 5:2, a servant girl of an Aramean military man named Naaman. Anyway, what was happening is that the king of Aram would set up camp at a certain place with his soldiers, and immediately, Israel would find out and avoid the place. The king of Aram did not yet know how it happened, but it certainly happened. As we will see, he suspected that he had spies for Israel among his own people. From a naturalistic point of view, how else could one explain it? (Of course, with the recent news in America about our super-spying programs, maybe they were just logging on to the king of Aram’s computer.)
Anyway, as we have seen throughout our series on Elisha, as God’s prophet, God would reveal things to Elisha. And it was apparently a regular occurrence, because Elisha was surprised when the Shunamite’s son had died with God revealing this to him. Here, God was protecting Israel through Elisha by revealing to him every secret plan of Aram.
And maybe it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: there are no secrets you can keep from God. It’s not that God is really into spying so that He has the ultimate PRISM program (PRISM is supposedly the name of the NSA surveillance program), but that it is in His nature – He knows all. He sees all. I know it’s a little sad, but you cannot give God a surprise party! It’s interesting to me that God encourages us to do acts of goodness in secret; He is not fundamentally opposed to privacy between people. But of course He sees those acts, and even tells us that we will receive rewards for them, not here and now on Earth, but in Heaven.
But, back to the king of Aram, who similarly is unable to spring a trap on Israel:
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 one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. – 2 Kings 6:11-14
I hate to say this, but I don’t think the king of Aram was particularly strong in the area of logic. For if the prophet Elisha of Israel is able to hear the very words the king speaks in his bedroom, does it not follow that he would also hear the very words and plans the king has just made? If it were me, I might try writing down my instructions to the officers instead of saying them; maybe Elisha’s spy program provides audio only! This would of course turn out to be equally futile, but at least you would get a few points for logical coherence. Anyway, the army did go out and they found that he was in a village called Dothan. Dothan is only mentioned in one other verse: if it is indeed the same Dothan, it was near Dothan that Joseph’s brothers threw Joseph into a cistern and then sold him as a slave to Egyptians. Anyway, the king of Aram surrounded this place with a large army so that nobody could escape. It seemed that the capture (and probable killing) of this pesky prophet would be certain. With him out of the way, maybe the king of Aram could finally be successful in attacking the king of Israel.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. – 2 Kings 6:15
The man of God here is Elisha. His servant got up early, perhaps to get water, and saw the huge army surrounding them. Looking at the circumstances, he responded as we tend to respond when we too simply look at our circumstances and they are dire or difficult: he panicked. I like how in Hebrew the “Oh no” is actually pronounced “Ah! Ah!”
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. – 2 Kings 6:16-17
How do you respond to suddenly dire situations? Is it “Ah! Ah!” or is it by praying in faith? We have no assurances in this life that things will go as we wish; indeed, Jesus made it clear that “in this world we will have trouble.” But then He said, “Take heart! I have overcome the world!” We are told to “take heart.” I think of what Paul wrote in Philippians 1: To live is Christ and to die is gain; that is, there is nothing in this world that can really destroy us; if you are a Christian – if you believe in Him, have put your trust in Him to save you – then nothing can change your eternity which will be with Him. I wouldn’t say that for a Christian to panic is a great sin; I would say it means you have forgotten these things. Part of becoming a mature Christian is learning to remember them, to walk moment by moment in faith and trust in Him as opposed to living as a “practical atheist,” fearing the future.
And so Elisha prayed – not for himself, for he had faith, but for his servant. This is another one of these little pictures where we see Elisha as a type of Christ figure. What is happening here is a hint or shadow of greater things to come. I think of how Jesus prayed for His disciples, for example in John 17. I also think of the transfiguration, in which Jesus’ closest disciples also saw something that was normally invisible, in their case, seeing the true glory of the Son of God. Here, as Elisha prayed, his servant saw the angelic host.
As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. – 2 Kings 6:18
Many of you have heard before my four-word summary of the book of Acts: Pray and show up. That is really what is happening here, too. Actually, here, Elisha didn’t even have to show up; they all came to him! But he does pray. And God does all the work. The entire army is struck with some kind of blindness. A lot of commentators think it was some kind of brain fog or confusion, as opposed to a total blindness, but I am not so sure. There is only one other instance when the Hebrew word that is translated as blindness is used in the Old Testament, and it definitely refers to total blindness. This other instance is in Gen. 19:11, in the account of Sodom and Gomorrah, where the people trying to attack the angelic visitors were struck with such a blindness that they could not find a door a few feet in front of them.
This is also not the only instance of someone hostile to God being struck with a total blindness. I think of Saul (who became known as the Apostle Paul), who was struck with blindness as the Lord spoke to him, asking why he was persecuting Him.
I want you to imagine the situation. What would it have been like to be in this army, where, instantaneously, not only are you blind, but so is your entire regiment, the entire collection of soldiers who were there? You would know that this was not a natural event. You would know that you were helpless.
Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria. After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria. – 2 Kings 6:19-20
Am I the only one who reads this and cannot help thinking of the Star Wars line, “These are not the droids you are looking for”? Seriously, though, these men, whether frightened because of their physical blindness, or because they were having some kind of brain fog, follow Elisha what likely was several miles to the city of Samaria. If they were truly blinded, you can imagine them, perhaps hand in hand, being led to this other (unknown) location. Again this reminds me of Saul/Paul being led to the man of God that God used to restore his sight. And just as Saul had a complete change of heart after witnessing what God could do, it is reasonable to assume that the men of this army also moved from being proud men ready to attack Elisha to frightened men, eager to have their sight restored, no longer seeking the prophet to attack him, but to have him help them.
If instead it really was more a brain fog, it would have looked something like the pied piper story, as these men, perhaps with childlike smiles on their faces follow every suggestion of the prophet. Actually it reminds me of when our son Isaac had his wisdom teeth removed a year or two ago. While he was still on the drugs they gave him after the operation, it was as if he reverted back to a 3 or 4-year old child. He was quite docile and compliant, almost like someone who has been hypnotized. What I especially remember was that when we got home and it was time for him to come out of the car, he offered me his hand much like a toddler does. And so, hand in hand, we went up the stairs to his bedroom where he rested until the drugs wore off. Imagine the entire army like this! In either case, whether total blindness or brain fog, the journey would be one the men would never forget.
When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?” – 2 Kings 6:21
Why did the king of Israel call Elisha “my father”? It was a cultural expression of extreme respect; it is used in this way again in 2 Kings 13:14. And why was there extreme respect? Because Elisha has delivered this entire army “singlehandedly” straight into the king’s hands! Was it really singlehandedly? No, actually it was God who did it, no-handedly!
The repetition of the “shall I kill them” phrase reveals that the king is eager to do it. In Hebrew it takes a lot less syllables: “Hakeh, akeh, avi?” “Kill, kill, Master?”
“Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own 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 from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory. – 2 Kings 6:22-23
Why would the raids stop? There are a couple of reasons. One is that the army has been completely humbled. They have seen the power of the God of Israel. They know they are no match for this power. The God who blinded them could just as easily given them heart attacks. And they now owe their lives to this king of Israel, who has spared them. It would go against all cultural principles of that time to consider attacking one to whom you owe your life. And third, they ate together. Culturally, from the times of the early nomads to even quite modern times, to share a meal with someone was to enter into a relationship with them. It is not exaggerating to say that having a meal with a former enemy was to enter into a covenant with them. At the time of Jesus, Pharisees would never eat with non-Jews for this reason.
There is New Testament symbolism here as well. There were two specific activities that Jesus told His followers to do. One of these was baptism. We are actually going to have a number of baptisms today at the twelve-mile picnic after church. If you have not been baptized as a believer in Christ, it is not too late to consider doing it today. One thing that people don’t always get about baptism is that in the culture at the time of Jesus, slaves were often baptized after they changed from one owner to another. This was a public way for displaying that the slave now had a new master. When a believer becomes baptized, in a way, they are declaring the same thing: that they no longer belong to themselves or to any idols or addictions that had previously had a hold of them, but that they are declaring that they are now doulos, servants, or even willing slaves, to Christ. I know this sounds strange to our ears because we have become so used to thinking of all slavery as extremely evil; but the type of slavery we are talking about here is quite different than what Americans typically think of. In fact, we are not just slaves, but also sons (and daughters) of Christ. But we owe our lives to Christ, and this reminds me of how that army could say the same thing of Elisha. It was Elisha who spoke up for them, and because of this, their lives were spared. They did not go through a baptism ceremony, but they nevertheless viewed their very lives as in Elisha’s debt.
The other activity Jesus has instructed His followers to do is to remember Him through what we call communion. What is communion? It is sharing bread (reminding us of His body, given for us), and wine/juice (reminding us of His blood, shed for us). It is a meal. It was at the event we call the Last Supper that Jesus told His followers to do this forever in remembrance of Him. Again, it was a meal. This sharing of this meal is a symbol of our relationship, our covenant with Him. Again this brings me back to our passage, in which the sharing of that banquet in a sense covenanted that army with Elisha and his people.
Now I encourage you to “stand back” as it were for a moment and look at the big picture of the events of this passage. From the point when the army had surrounded Elisha, could you have imagined an outcome in which either Elisha would not die or a large number of the army of Aram would not die? I could not. And not only does nobody die, the bigger underlying problem, the hostilities between Aram and Israel have ended (at least for some significant period of time). To me this is a greater victory that I could have ever even begun to hope for.
I think it is good to reflect on this. There are times when we face difficult trials, so rough that, looking at things with human eyes, we see no possibility of a good outcome. Now God does not promise to solve our every problem in this world; in fact, He says the opposite – He says, “In this world you will have trouble.” But He also says, “Take heart; I have overcome the world!” He means that quite literally. He has overcome – the world. It is good for us to remember this.
To put the message of this passage another way, what the Israelite army could not have achieved without terrible fighting and much loss of life (most likely on both sides), God did peacefully through one man. Again this is a foreshadowing of Christ. In much the same way, God reconciled the world to Him through the work of one man, Jesus Christ; His death on the cross made available to all who would trust in Him eternal reconciliation between themselves and God.
There is one additional way to gain a big picture view here, and that is to think about the chapters that have led up to this chapter. In particular, if you have been here the past few weeks, I encourage you to think about Naaman. For those who weren’t here, Naaman was a military man of Aram who came down with leprosy, and through a series of events, ended up going to Elisha and asked for healing. Elisha ultimately healed this man, who, realizing what God had done for him, told Elisha that he would always, from then on, worship the true God of Israel rather than the false gods of his people. Now, think what it was like for Naaman as hostilities between Israel and Aram grew to the point of this confrontation in today’s passage. Assuming Naaman kept his promise, I am sure he would have prayed for God to bring peace between his people and Israel. Given the long and rather bloody history between these peoples, it seems like almost too much to pray for, doesn’t it? Almost like today, where praying for peace in the Middle East seems almost futile. I would encourage you that it is not futile. Praying for peace in the Middle East (and especially Jerusalem) is very Biblical, and, before you give up hope, I encourage you to remember what God did in this regard at the time of Elisha. If Naaman did indeed pray for peace, look at how completely God answered his prayers! The same goes for any seemingly impossible situation in your life: a longstanding family conflict, a long-term conflict with a boss or co-worker, an unsaved friend or family member – nothing is impossible with God.
I want to mention one final thought, an additional practical application of this passage: we can be like Elisha. I don’t mean we can strike armies with blindness, although I suppose you never know until you try it. Seriously, though, we can be like Elisha in how we help others who enter into trials that cause them to be like Elisha’s servant and panic. If you look carefully at how Elisha responded, you will see that there are two components to his response. First was a personal word of encouragement backed up with Biblically-based wisdom. Elisha told his servant that he didn’t need to fear the situation and he told him why he didn’t need to fear – he reminded him of God’s power. Second was prayer; Elisha prayed for his servant. I think this is a terrific model for us – God calls us to be Elishas to one another; first of all, when we are feeling that panic, we shouldn’t tough it out alone, but we should make contact with another believer. And then, that believer can encourage the one who is panicking and also pray for them. Over time, as we do this for one another, not only will we be comforted, we will also grow in wisdom and maturity; we will all learn to be more like Elisha and less like his servant. We will see situations with the eyes of faith instead of the eyes of fear.
In my life, the one person who has helped me more than any other in this area is Fred Custer. For years before I became a pastor, we met together week after week, sharing our lives, and as Fred could tell you, I was one who was quick to fear. But Fred’s example, Fred’s compassion, and Fred’s prayers have had their effect. Not that I have arrived in this area, but I have grown. And that is what God can do for and through each of us as we are a body that shares life together – not just experiences, but shares Christ to one another. I encourage you to reach out to someone this week.
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