SHORTLY after these events an incident occurred, which brought down upon Ahab and his house an awful doom. Adjoining his palace at Jezreel was a vineyard belonging to a native of the place named Naboth. Eagerly desirous to add the vineyard to his palace grounds and convert it into a garden of herbs, Ahab proposed to its owner to purchase it, or give him in exchange another and even a better piece of ground. This Naboth stoutly refused to do, alleging his unwillingness to part with the inheritance of his fathers (Lev. xxv. 23; Num. xxxvi. 8). Annoyed at this rebuff, the king returned to his palace, and in his vexation flung himself on his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no bread. While in this mood he was visited by Jezebel, to whom he explained the cause of his vexation. She instantly resolved to take the matter into her own hands, and bade her lord trouble himself no more, she would give him the vineyard. Thereupon she wrote a warrant in Ahab’s name, sealed it with his seal, and sent it to the elders of the city, directing that, as if on the occasion of some great calamity, a solemn fast should be proclaimed; that two men should be set up to charge Naboth with blasphemy against God and the king, and that then he should be stoned to death (Exod. xxii. 28; Lev. xxiv. 15, 16). It is a striking proof of the degeneracy of the nation at this period, that the elders of Jezreel never for one moment scrupled about carrying out this inhuman order. Naboth was dragged forth, arraigned, condemned, and stoned together with his sons (See 2 K. ix. 26), and the elders reported to the queen that the guilt of blasphemy against Jehovah and His anointed had been avenged371. The vineyard had now lapsed to the crown, and Jezebel bade her lord go down and take possession of it. But on proceeding thither, the king found himself confronted by no other than the great Elijah, who in words of utmost sternness denounced the late cruel murder, and declared the sentence of the Lord. The king and all his house should share the fate of Jeroboam and of Baasha; his queen should be eaten by the dogs at the wall of Jezreel, and dogs should lick up his own blood on the very spot where they had licked up that of Naboth. Appalled at this awful sentence, Ahab rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, fasted, and displayed all the signs of a sincere repentance. Such as it was, it was accepted, and Elijah was bidden to announce to him that the punishment should not be inflicted during his own lifetime, but in his son’s days it would surely descend upon his house (1 K. xxi. 29).
Meanwhile the relations between the rival kingdoms of Israel and Judah had been more peaceful than at any other period, since they had parted 60 years before at Shechem. Not only were hostilities laid aside, but an alliance between the sovereigns was cemented by the marriage of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, with Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Moreover about the 16th year of his reign, B.C. 898, the king of Judah went on a visit to the court of Israel. He was received with every mark of distinction, and Ahab slew sheep and oxen in abundance for him and his retinue (2 Chr. xviii. 2). During this visit, the king of Israel took occasion to propose to his ally that they should undertake an expedition for the purpose of recovering Ramoth-gilead372, a strong fastness and the key to an important district east of Jordan, which Benhadad I. had wrested from Omri. Jehoshaphat expressed his willingness to take part in the expedition, but proposed that the will of Jehovah should first be ascertained. For this purpose Ahab summoned about 400 of the prophets of his kingdom, who all advised him to go up, and assured him that the Lord would deliver the place into his hands (1 K. xxii. 6).
But this did not satisfy the king of Judah. He enquired if there was not a true prophet of Jehovah, at whose mouth they might seek counsel. Ahab confessed that there was one, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but openly avowed that he hated him, because he never predicted good to him but only evil373. Jehoshaphat, however, overruled the objection, and Micaiah was summoned from his prison, where he had been confined by Ahab, probably for some disagreeable prediction. Meanwhile the two kings, arrayed in their royal robes, sat at the entrance of Samaria, and the 400 prophets standing before them persisted in their predictions of success. One of them, Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, even made him horns of iron, and by this symbolic action assured the kings that they would push the Syrians till they had destroyed them. But Micaiah had the courage to differ from all. At first, indeed, he ironically assured the king of success, but, when Ahab adjured him to speak the truth, he boldly affirmed that the prophets, in whom he trusted, were all filled with lying spirits, and that he was destined to fall in the campaign. This outspoken declaration brought down upon the faithful seer the mockery and scorn of the other prophets, and still greater severity from Ahab, who ordered him to be sent back to the city gaol, and there fed on the scantiest fare (1 K. xxii. 27).
Then the two kings set out on the expedition, and on crossing the Jordan found that Benhadad and his vassal princes were prepared to contest the possession of Ramoth. On this Ahab, the more surely to ward off a fate he too clearly divined, disguised himself, while the king of Judah went into battle in his royal robes. The contest began, and the 32 captains of Benhadad, acting on instructions they had received, bent all their efforts to slay Jehoshaphat, whom they mistook for the king of Israel. But his voice convinced them that he was not the man they sought, and they desisted from the pursuit. In spite, however, of his disguise Ahab could not escape his doom. A certain man drew a bow at a venture, and the arrow pierced the joints of his breast-plate. That the troops might not be discouraged, he was kept up standing in his chariot till the evening, when he died. From the battle-field the corpse was then borne to Samaria, and there interred, while the bloody chariot was washed in the pool374 of the city, beside which Naboth and his sons had been murdered. Without a shepherd and without a master, the people were scattered abroad, and returned home defeated before their enemies, and the words of Elijah (1 K. xxi. 19), and of Micaiah (xxii. 17) were fulfilled.
ON his return from a campaign, in which he had so nearly lost his life, Jehoshaphat was sternly rebuked by one of the prophets (2 Chr. xix. 2) for the guilty alliance he had formed with the court of Israel, and he resolved henceforth to devote himself to the spiritual and temporal welfare of his own subjects. Accordingly he went on a second personal tour through his dominions from Beer-sheba to Mount Ephraim, and strove to reclaim his people to the worship of Jehovah. He also provided for the better administration of justice; placed judges in all the fenced cities, and remodelled the tribunals in his capital. He next turned his attention to foreign commerce, and at Ezion-geber constructed a fleet for the purpose of trading in gold with Ophir. In this project he was aided by Ahaziah, who had succeeded Ahab on the throne of Israel. But the unfortunate issue of the enterprise determined him to decline the proposal of his ally, that the attempt should be renewed (2 Chr. xx. 37; 1 K. xxii. 49, 50).
The remainder of his reign was not, however, destined to be peaceful. A vast host of the people of Moab, Ammon, and Edom invaded his territory, and encamped at Hazazon-tamar or En-gedi375. In his alarm, Jehoshaphat proclaimed a solemn fast throughout his kingdom, assembled all Judah together with their wives and their children, and offered up a pathetic petition for the Divine aid. He had hardly concluded, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel a Levite, and one of the sons of Asaph then in attendance at the Temple, commissioning him to assure the pious king of a victory on the morrow, which he would only need to stand still and see. A Psalm of thanksgiving376 was straightway sung, and on the morrow the army, preceded by choirs of Levites, left the Holy City, and at about 12 hours’ distance from Jerusalem came to “the uneven table-land” of Tekoa, Tekûa, abounding in hidden caverns, clefts, and excavations377, where David and his men had often hidden during the period of his wanderings. It was not a locality adapted to the “sons of the desert,” and the ambushments, for which it afforded so much opportunity, sadly galled their wild hordes, and the children of Ammon and Moab turned their swords against their allies from Mount Seir, and then fell upon one another. On reaching the Watch-tower of Tekoa the warriors of Judah beheld only a mass of dead bodies, and busied themselves for three days in stripping them of their rich ornaments, and gathering up the riches and jewels they had flung away in their hasty flight. Four days afterwards a Psalm of thanksgiving once more ascended to Jehovah from the valley of Berachah (blessing)378, and the army of Jehoshaphat returned in triumph to Jerusalem (2 Chr. xx. 26–28).
Meanwhile Ahaziah, during his short and troubled reign over Israel, began to feel the effects of the late disastrous campaign against Ramoth-Gilead. The Syrians, now masters of the country East of the Jordan, cut off all communication between his realm and his vassal the king of Moab. The latter, therefore, rebelled against Israel, and refused to send his yearly tribute of 100,000 lambs, and 100,000 rams (2 K. iii. 4). Before he could take measures for punishing this revolt, Ahaziah fell through a lattice in his palace at Samaria, and sustained much injury. A devotee to the Phœnician idolatries of his mother, he sent messengers to the Philistine city of Ekron to enquire of the oracle of Baal-Zebub (the lord of flies), whether he should recover. On their road thither the messengers encountered Elijah, who, after reproaching them for consulting a heathen deity instead of Jehovah, announced that their master would never leave his bed alive. Returning, they informed Ahaziah of this occurrence, who enquired what kind of man they had met. Their answer was decisive. In the hairy man, girt with a girdle of leather about his loins, the king recognised all too clearly his father’s enemy, and, ill as he was, this only served to kindle his wrath. Dispatching a captain with 50 men to the recesses of Carmel, where the prophet seems to have taken up his abode, he demanded his instant surrender. The soldier went and found Elijah seated on the mountain. Man of God, said he, the king hath said, Come down. If I be a man of God, replied the other, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty men. With the word the fire descended, and consumed the captain and his fifty. A similar force was then a second time dispatched by the king, and they too met the same fate379. A third captain, in an altered tone, implored the prophet to come down, and Elijah, assured by God of safety, descended and followed him into the presence of the king, and announced in person his approaching end; shortly after which Ahaziah died, and was succeeded by his brother Jehoram (2 K. i. 2–17).
This was the last time Elijah confronted any of the family of Ahab. Once only is he recorded to have expostulated with any of the house of Judah. Hearing that the son of Jehoshaphat, who seems to have been entrusted with a portion of the regal power during his father’s lifetime, was not walking in his father’s ways, but in those of Ahab and the kings of Israel, he sent a letter to him, denounced his idolatries, and threatened him with sore judgments (2 Chr. xxi. 12–15).
Shortly afterwards, though how soon is not certain, he received intimation of his approaching removal from the earth. From Gilgal, probably somewhere on the western edge of the hills of Ephraim, accompanied by Elisha, whom he had vainly tried to persuade to remain behind, he proceeded to Bethel. There the two were met by certain of the sons of the prophets, who also had been warned of what was at hand, and now enquired of Elisha if he knew of the loss he was about to sustain. Elisha replied that he did, but bade them hold their peace. Having again vainly tried to induce his faithful attendant to remain at Bethel, the prophet repaired to Jericho, where another company from the prophetic school warned his companion, and were similarly enjoined to keep silence. From Jericho the two then held on their way towards the Jordan, while 50 of the sons of the prophets ascended the abrupt heights behind the city380, which command a view of the plain below, to watch what would occur. Arrived at the river’s brink, Elijah took off his prophetic mantle, and, wrapping it together, smote the waters, which divided “hither and thither,” and the two went over on dry ground. Once on the other side, the prophet was within the borders of his native land, and he now enquired of his companion, what he should do for him before he was taken away. The other asked for a double portion of his spirit. He had asked a hard thing; but still if he looked steadfastly on his master while he was taken from him, he was told that his request should be granted, but not otherwise. Still conversing the two then walked on, till suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted them asunder, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. With a great and bitter cry Elisha called after him as he ascended, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof! But he was gone, and he saw him no more. In token of grief he thereupon rent his clothes, and taking up the mantle of his master went back, and once more stood by the banks of Jordan. Then wrapping the mantle, even as he had seen the other do, he smote, saying, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and the waters again parted “hither and thither,” and he went over. Meanwhile the sons of the prophets, who had stood watching, saw him coming towards Jericho, and going down to meet him, bowed themselves to the ground before him. Contrary to his advice they then insisted on sending fifty “strong men” to search for Elijah, lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord had taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. For three days the search was continued, but they found him not. The work of the most wonderful character Israel ever produced was over, and he had been summoned to another world (2 K. ii. 11–18).
FOR a time Elisha tarried at the now rebuilt Jericho, and here he performed his second miracle. “Of the two perennial springs which, rising at the base of the steep hills behind the town, send their streams across the plain towards the Jordan, scattering, even at the hottest season, the richest and most grateful vegetation over what would otherwise be a bare tract of sandy soil381,” one at least was at this time noxious and unfit for use. At the urgent request of the inhabitants Elisha put salt into a new cruse, and poured it into the spring at its source, and the waters were healed (2 K. ii. 19–22). Thence he repaired to Bethel, which, though the seat of the school of the prophets, was, it will be remembered, one of the centres of the Calf-worship. As the prophet ascended the defile leading into the town, the youths of the place came forth, and began to revile the gentle successor of the terrible Elijah. Go up, bald head! was their cry, alluding, probably, “to the contrast between his closely-trimmed hair and the shaggy locks of Elijah.” Turning round, the prophet looked upon them, and cursed them in the name of Jehovah, and from a forest hard by the road, and haunted by wild beasts, came forth two she-bears, which tare forty-two of them. Elisha meanwhile passed on to Carmel, the resort of his late master, and thence returned, and eventually took up his abode at Samaria (2 K. ii. 25).
Jehoram, who now reigned in that capital, persisted in his idolatrous courses, but, possibly owing to the late activity of Elijah, had removed the image of Baal, and recurred to the old Calf-worship. He now resolved to take that vengeance on the rebellious Moabites, which the death of his brother Ahaziah had postponed. Accordingly, having obtained the promise of the assistance of Jehoshaphat, he numbered his forces, and set out on the campaign. Instead of crossing the Jordan above the Dead Sea, and invading Moab from the North, it was resolved to pass round the southern end of that sea, and thence push forwards through the northern portion of the territory of Edom, whose king also promised his aid in the expedition. Accordingly a long and tedious circuit of 7 days was made, during which the armies suffered the greatest extremities from the want of water. In this crisis Jehoshaphat proposed that the advice of some prophet of Jehovah should be sought, and, enquiry being made, it was found that Elisha was present with, or in the near neighbourhood of, the armies. The three kings, therefore, went down to consult him. The prophet evinced no willingness to befriend the ruler of Israel, but in consideration of the presence of the pious king of Judah, he relented, and summoned a minstrel before him. The minstrel played, and in the usual prophetic ecstasy Elisha directed that dykes should be dug in the valley, which he foretold would speedily be filled with water sufficient for the host, and he moreover assured the kings of a speedy victory over their enemies.
On the next day at early dawn, the hour of offering the meat-offering at Jerusalem, in consequence probably of a great and sudden fall of rain in the eastern mountains of Edom382, water came down and filled all the dykes, which the armies had dug in the red soil of the valley. To the Moabites, who had mustered all their forces and awaited the attack in the border of their territory, the water, glistening in the rays of the morning sun, appeared to have assumed a red colour like blood. Thereupon concluding that the confederate kings had turned their arms against one another, they hastily marched on to gather up the spoil. But they had no sooner reached their camp, than they were attacked with great fierceness, and put to a complete rout. As they fled to their own cities, the confederate kings pursued them, felled their trees383, stopped up their wells, filled their choice pieces of land with stones, and ravaged all their towns, save the impregnable fortress of Kir-haraseth384 (Kerak), built on a high steep rock and surrounded by a deep and narrow ravine. There the king of Moab made his last stand, and with 700 picked men made a desperate attempt to break through the besieging army. This last hope failing, he ascended the wall with his eldest son, the heir to his throne, and in sight of the allied besiegers, killed and burnt him as a propitiatory sacrifice to his idol Chemosh. This frightful spectacle filled the allied hosts with such horror that they raised the siege and departed to their own land (2 K. iii. 20–27).
During the reign of Jehoram Elisha performed many miracles, the fame of which could not fail to strengthen the cause of true religion.
i. A widow of one of the sons of the prophets was in debt, and her creditor was coming on the morrow to take her two sons and sell them as slaves. In her extremity she applied to the prophet, and told him that the only thing she had in her house was a cruse of oil. This Elisha caused to multiply, till she had filled all the vessels she could borrow, and thus liquidated the debt (2 K. iv. 1–7).
ii. The little village of Shunem, in the tribe of Issachar, was a frequent resort of the Prophet, and a rich woman of the place, at whose house he stayed, on one occasion, persuaded her husband to permit a little chamber to be prepared for him, that he might turn in there, as often as he came that way. One day he came thither attended by Gehazi his servant, and lodged in the little chamber. Grateful for this kindness, Elisha enquired if there was anything he could do for his benefactress; Should he speak for her to the king, or the captain of the guard? Both these offers the woman declined, alleging that she dwelt among her own people. Thereupon Gehazi whispered that she had no son, and her husband was old. Elisha promised that in the ensuing year a son should be born to her. His words were fulfilled, the boy grew, and in the course of time went to join his father in the reaping-field. There struck by the fierce rays of the morning sun, he cried, My head, my head! and was carried home to his mother, on whose knees he died at noon. In this sad crisis she immediately took the dead body into the prophet’s chamber, and laid it on the bed. Then with a single attendant, mounted on an ass, she set out for one of the heights of Carmel, about 15 or 16 miles distant, where Elisha then was. Her familiar form attracted the prophet’s attention as from the eminence he discerned her approaching, and he sent Gehazi to enquire the reason. But her errand was not to be revealed to the servant, and pressing on she drew near the spot where the prophet himself was, and flinging herself before him embraced his feet. The first word about her son revealed the state of the case, and Elisha instantly bade Gehazi gird up his loins, and with his staff in his hand hurry with all speed to Shunem. Gehazi went, and was soon followed by Elisha, and the mother, who would not leave him. As they drew near the town, they met Gehazi returning. He had laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice nor hearing. Arriving at the house, Elisha ascended to the well-known chamber, shut the door, and prayed mightily unto the Lord. Then he stretched himself upon the dead body, and the flesh of the child grew warm; presently he sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Gehazi was thereupon bidden to summon the Shunammite, who received her boy restored to life, and went her way (2 K. iv. 8–37)385.
iii. Elisha is next found at Gilgal, at a time when there was a dearth in the land. The sons of the prophets sat before him, and he bade the great caldron be set on, and pottage be seethed. Into the caldron one of the company shred wild gourds and grapes, and when they found out the contents, all exclaimed, there is death in the pot. Thereupon Elisha bade meal be cast into it, and the pottage was rendered fit for food (2 K. iv. 38–41).
iv. While still at Gilgal, Elisha was visited by a man from Baal-shalisha (See 1 Sam. ix. 4), with 20 barley-loaves, and roasted ears of corn in his scrip or bag386. This moderate supply he ordered to be distributed amongst the people who were present, to the number of one hundred, and in reply to his hesitating “servitor” assured him that there would not only be enough, but that the people would leave thereof, which came to pass; and thus Elisha was enabled to anticipate the works of Christ (2 K. iv. 42–44).
BUT Elisha’s fame was soon to overstep the limits of his own country. The captain of the army of Ben-hadad, king of Syria, at this time was named Naaman (See Lk. iv. 27). He had achieved many victories for his master, and for personal prowess was held in high honour, being in close attendance on his sovereign, but he was a leper. This frightful malady which, had he been an Israelite, would have cut him off from all intercourse with his fellows, does not appear to have laid him under the same disadvantages in Syria, and he still retained his post as commander-in-chief. In his harem, waiting on his wife, was a little Israelitish maid, who had been taken prisoner in one of the forays of the Syrians over the border. She knew what Elisha could do, and assured her mistress that, if only Naaman was with the prophet that was in Samaria, he would certainly be cured of his malady. Her words were told to Naaman, who communicated them to Ben-hadad387. The Syrian king thereupon wrote a letter to Jehoram, king of Israel, and sent his general with it, accompanied by a large retinue bearing 10 talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and 6 of the rich fabrics, for which Damascus had always been famous. On reaching Samaria Naaman presented the letter to Jehoram, who had no sooner read the curt words of the Syrian king, than he rent his clothes, and exclaimed, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? He could only think of one motive for the letter; Consider, said he, how this man seeketh a quarrel against me (2 K. v. 7).
News of Naaman’s arrival, of the purport of his coming, and of the dismay of the king was conveyed to Elisha, who straightway sent to Jehoram and bade him send his visitor to him, that he might know that there was a prophet in Israel. With his horses, his chariots, and entire cavalcade, Naaman thereupon came and stood before the door of the prophet’s dwelling. But instead of coming forth himself, Elisha simply sent his servant to tell him to go down to the rapid waters of the Jordan and wash seven times, promising him a certain cure. The prophet’s independent tone, the neglect to come out to him, above all his command that he, the native of a city watered by such famous streams as the Abana and Pharpar388, should go and wash in Jordan, was unbearable. Naaman turned and went away in a rage. But his retinue, unwilling to throw up the hopes of their long journey, succeeded in persuading him to make trial of the prescribed cure. Naaman accordingly went down and dipped himself seven times in the rushing stream, and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Full of gratitude for so priceless a boon, he then returned with his whole retinue to Samaria, and once more stood before the prophet’s door. This time, however, he not only stood there, but went in and gratefully acknowledged the power of Israel’s God, and urged the prophet to receive the present he had brought. This, the latter absolutely declined, and in spite of Naaman’s urgency, persisted in his refusal. But one thing the grateful soldier was resolved to have. If Elisha would not accept his presents, he could not depart from a land where he had received so great a benefit without two mules’ burden of its hallowed earth, for the construction, probably, of an altar to Jehovah. But here a difficulty occurred to him. If he became a servant of Jehovah, how could he go to the house of Rimmon389, and bow before the Syrian god? Elisha’s simple reply was, Go in peace, and he went his way (2 K. v. 1–20).
The generous conduct, however, of his master had not escaped the notice of Gehazi, the attendant of Elisha, and the Syrian had not gone any great distance when he ran after his chariot. Naaman discerned him hurrying along the road, and alighting enquired if all was well. All was well, the other replied; but already there had come to his master from Mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets, for whom he solicited a talent of silver, and two changes of raiment. The generous Syrian pressed upon him two talents and two changes of raiment, and sent two of his retinue to bear them to a secret place, whence Gehazi removed them into the house, and then presented himself before his master, denying, when questioned, that he had gone anywhere. But the prophet had marked his wickedness. His heart had gone after him the whole while, and with righteous sternness he now pronounced upon him the awful punishment from which Naaman had just been delivered; and he went out of his presence a leper as white as snow (2 K. v. 27).
Elisha is next found at Jericho. Here the habitation of the sons of the prophets had become so small, that they desired to construct a new dwelling near the Jordan. Accompanied by Elisha they proceeded towards the river, and began to fell trees in the wood which lined its banks. As they felled, the head of an axe, which one of them had borrowed, flew off and sank in the water. He appealed to Elisha, who bade a piece of wood be flung into the stream, when the iron re-appeared, and was restored to the borrower (2 K. vi. 1–7).
Shortly after this, in spite of the cure wrought upon their general, the Syrians renewed their marauding incursions, and even encamped in spots which the king of Israel was wont to frequent. Warned by Elisha, Jehoram was on more than one occasion able to escape the ambuscades laid for him, which so annoyed Ben-hadad, that he even suspected treachery among his own retinue. But one of his servants pointed to the true cause. The informer was no other than the healer of his general Naaman, and his power was such that he could tell Jehoram the very words Ben-hadad uttered in his chamber. Thereupon the king of Syria sent horses and chariots, and a considerable force to Dothan390, 6 miles north of Samaria, to capture Elisha. The Syrian forces completely surrounded the village, and the prophet’s servant came running in, crying, Alas! my master, how shall we do? Elisha calmed his fears with the assurance that they which were with them were more than they which were with the foe, and the eyes of the young man being opened he was enabled to discern the hill, on which the village was built, filled with horses and chariots of fire ready to protect his master. At the same moment the Syrian forces were smitten with blindness, and were easily led away to Samaria; nor were their eyes opened till they found themselves in the presence of Jehoram. The first impulse of the king of Israel was to put them to death. But Elisha dissuaded him from such unworthy conduct, and the men were sent back to Ben-hadad, who drew off his army, and for a while desisted from the invasion (2 K. vi. 8–24).
But the Syrian king could not long brook such a humiliating repulse. Mustering, therefore, all his troops, he went up and besieged Samaria, B.C. 892, for a space of 3 years, during which period the inhabitants were reduced to the direst extremities. Two mothers even agreed to boil their children for food (Comp. Deut. xxviii. 53, 57). One actually did so, but the other hid her child lest it should suffer such an awful fate. This story was told Jehoram, as he one day passed by on the city wall, and in token of sorrow he put on sackcloth beneath his armour. But deeming Elisha in some way culpable for the nation’s disasters, he threatened to take away his life, and sent a messenger to the prophet’s house, where he sat surrounded by the elders of the city, to carry it into execution. Before however the messenger’s feet had touched the threshold, Elisha, warned of his danger, had commanded that he should be held fast. At this moment Jehoram himself also entered, leaning on the hand of one of his officers. This evil, he burst forth, is from Jehovah; why should I wait on Jehovah any more? (Comp. Job xxi. 15; Mal. iii. 14). To which the prophet replied, Hear the word of Jehovah; to-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Nay, interposed the royal officer, if Jehovah would make windows in heaven, this could not be. It will, replied Elisha; thou thyself shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat a morsel thereof (2 K. vii. 2).
These marvellous and prophetic words were fully verified. In the twilight of the selfsame evening four lepers who were wont to take their place at the gate of the city, despairing of life, resolved to enter the Syrian camp, and brave their fate. Reaching the edge of the encampment, to their great surprise they found no man there. Alarmed by a mysterious noise of chariots, horses, and a great host, the Syrians had concluded that the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians had come to the aid of the beleaguered city, and had hastily fled, leaving their camp and everything in it just as it was. Amidst the deepening gloom the lepers entered a tent, satiated the pangs of hunger, and then secretly hid a quantity of silver, gold, and raiment. Entering a second they did the same, and then fearing harm if they concealed such joyous news, they hastily returned to Samaria, and announced to the warder at the barred gate (2 K. vii. 10) that they had visited the Syrian camp, and found nothing but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. The warder carried the news to his chief, and he communicated it to the king’s household. Though it was midnight Jehoram was roused, and informed of the strange news. Fearful of a plot to draw the Israelites away from the city, he ordered two horsemen to reconnoitre and discover whether it was really true. They made their way towards the Jordan, and found the road filled with garments and vessels, which the Syrians had flung away in their precipitate flight. Their return with this welcome news roused the whole city. Starving and emaciated, the entire population rushed forth to the gate, and thence made their way to the Syrian camp. To preserve some degree of order, the king entrusted the command of the gate to the officer who had scoffed at the prophecy of Elisha, but so great was the press and confusion that he was trodden to death by the excited crowd, and before evening the words of the prophet had been fulfilled to the letter. Two measures of barley were sold for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, and Samaria was delivered (2 K. vii. 17–20).