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A Nation at Risk: 2 Kings 6
As we wrap up 2 Kings 6, Joram, the son of the evil Ahab and Jezebel, is still king in the North. He has had every opportunity to believe in the one true God through all the awesome miracles of Elijah and Elisha.
The most recent miracle was very close to home when Elisha single-handedly led Joram’s enemy, the Arameans, into the capital right in front of him. Despite God’s visible presence, Joram is not faithful and does evil.
In the South, Jehoram is still king in Judah. He is the son of the good king Jehoshaphat. Jehoram is a good king except for the fact that, like his father, he is an ally of Joram’s. He married his son Ahaziah to Joram’s daughter Athaliah, which will hurt the entire nation.
In the East, there is Aram, who is still enemies of Israel. And he is still on the attack.
Joram Misses the Message
Ben-Hadad is just a name for a king in Aram, so there are several Ben-Hadad’s in the Bible. Most likely, in 2 Kings 6:24-25, this is Ben-Hadad II who attacks the city and cuts it off from the outside creating a famine within.
The author is letting us know the famine is severe, noting the people cannot even afford a donkeys’ head to eat. A donkey’s head was a detestable food source, as you can imagine, and even the price for this detestable food is out of sight.
This is a story of desperation. The people are going mad with hunger and are eating their own children in 2 Kings 6:26-31.
In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, God said there would be days of desperation like this. God is sending Joram a message he should recognize as king of Israel.
This famine is not because of a problem with Aram. Israel has a problem with God, and this is God’s divine punishment.
In Leviticus 26:14, God gave a list of things He might do if the Isrealites did not obey. In Leviticus 26:27-29 he warns it will be so terrible they’ll be driven to eat their own children. Deuteronomy 28:53 says the same.
But Joram King of Israel is not reading the Word of God or listening to the prophets. He’s not worshiping the God of Israel. Therefore, Joram is not obeying God.
Joram is distraught by the disturbing news of cannibalism, but he’s not convicted. He responds with grief and tears his clothes.
Then he makes a common mistake. Instead of repentance and turning to God, he chooses to be angry and blame God. And poor Elisha, as God’s representative on earth, must take the heat from Joram’s anger.
Reflection Point
Joram’s anger is a lesson for us because this scene could have been so different had Joram turned to God instead of away in anger.
Anger is a choice. Reacting in anger is not something that happens to us. It is something we allow to happen.
Anger is easy. It’s natural. IT feels right and feels good at the moment. It is instinctive, impulsive.
Humility is also a choice. Reacting in humility and repentance does not happen to us. It is something we consciously choose.
For most of us, humility is not natural. It has to be cultivated, and it doesn’t always feel good to humble yourself. It requires self-awareness and a lot of self control.
Joram had a choice. He could have chosen humility and repented, but he chose anger instead. Despite Joram’s response and lack of repentance, God loves His people and will once again show mercy to Israel.
A Warning for the Doubtful: 2 Kings 7
In 2 Kings 6:32-33, Elisha, like Elijah before him, fears for his life. He knows a messenger, an assassin, has been sent to kill him.
Elisha hears the messenger and the king right behind. He tells his elders to bar the door and doesn’t let them in. When the king asks Elisha why he should wait on the Lord any longer because people are eating their children, Elisha assures him in 2 Kings 7:1-2 that food will be plentiful starting the next day.
The King’s officer doesn’t believe Elisha. He thinks it’s impossible and because of this unbelief Elisha says this officer will see it with his own eyes but not eat any of it. He’s implying because of his lack of faith he will die.
God’s Grace Find the Forgotten
In 2 Kings 7:3-4, the lepers are in a conundrum. They have been ostracized outside the city and need food. They have nowhere to go. There is no food inside the city and no food outside the city. They are desperate and have nothing to lose.
If they stay, they will surely die. If they go to the Aramean camp, they might be killed or they might not. So, in 2 Kings 7:5-8, they decide to take their chances with the Arameans.
Lucky for them, God had created the illusion of a mighty army so loud it caused a panic in the camp and the Arameans fled in fear. When the lepers arrive at the camp, no one is there.
These poor, miserable, sick, hungry, outcast, homeless men get to witness the miracle first. And there for the taking is food, glorious food!
God gives these outcasts the firstfruits of his grace. It must have attested so sweet to these miserable, suffering men.
What others consider useless, God uses. These lepers are suffering from disease. They are most likely in pain and fearful of death.
They live totally dependent on charity. ADded to the physical pain, they are ostracized and humiliated.
They had to yell “unclean, unclean” if anyone approached them. It was humiliating and emotionally devastating.
Think of mothers and fathers who couldn’t hold their children. What happens to the children if they get a rash? Did their parents go with them?
God’s Grace Turns the Tables
Joram, the king of Israel, is useless to God. he is not convicted of the sins he committed that led Israel into sin and ultimately this famine.
Compare Joram to these pitiful lepers, cast out and needy but not useless to God. These humble lepers have hearts and become convicted in 2 Kings 7:9 that they are eating while others inside the walls they were cast out of are starving.
God uses the least of these, the lepers, to share the good news of His deliverance. Lepers were considered unclean because of their disease, but God uses those considered unclean to deliver food of all things.
God put the good news to a starving nation in the unclean hands of lepers. Isn’t that both ironic and beautiful at the same time?
God surely must have a sense of humor and like to keep the angels laughing. And if angles laugh they can also weep. God chose to use the useless outcasts outside the gates to feed the privileged masses inside the gates and that is weep-worthy.
It is a precious message of God’s love for the poor in spirit and for the meek, the merciful, and the pure in heart. In Matthew 5 in the sermon on the mount, Jesus says they will all receive a blessing.
The Gospel in Motion
These lepers could have chosen to be angry like Joram about their situation, but they didn’t. They were convicted of God’s mercy to them by providing food, and they shared it with those who may have not been kind to them.
Because of their heart, they saved others. They are living out Matthew 5:8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
God used people others look upon as useless. And he still does.
We are all called for a purpose despite our age, infirmities, status, or lack of position. Anyone can share good news…the good news of Jesus Christ. And the apostle Paul said the good news is our good work in Romans 10:9-15.
Doubt Gets Trampled
Like the lepers, we have first-hand knowledge of the miracles of Jesus and we are all able to share the good news. We need to! When we do, it’s a beautiful thing that feeds others, and there’s no doubt the angels weep with joy.
In 2 Kings 7:10-13, the lepers tell the gatekeepers their good news. Of course, the king thinks it’s a trap. Even though just the day before Elisha told him they would have food and everything Elisha had ever said had been true.
Fortunately, an officer is awake and offers a test to make sure. In 2 Kings 7:14-16 they send five messengers out to see what’s going on. The soldiers find the Aramean army by following a trail of their stuff discarded on the road.
The messengers report back to the king and voila, Israel has food. It’s a mad rush for food and, unfortunately, an officer assigned to gate duty is trampled by the crowd in 2 Kings 7:17-20. It’s the very officer who did not believe Elisha the day before.
That’s exactly what Elisah said would happen. In just 24 hours Israel has food and the unbelieving officer is dead, ironically trampled by people rushing to get the food he said would not be there.
God delivered King Joram and Israel from starvation. He restored life to the nation.
A Small Story with a Big Message: 2 Kings 8
This next story seems insignificant but read carefully and you might spot the subliminal message. It starts in 2 Kings 8:1-2 as the story casts a spotlight on love, loyalty, and life, three things so important to God.
He loves us so much that He desires for us to have eternal life. What He wants in exchange is loyalty. It’s the first of the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
The story of the relationship between Elisha and the Shunammite woman is a picture of love and loyalty. Elisha loves and cares for the woman and her family. He provides for her and protects their life, even restoring her son’s life.
In return, the woman is loyal to Elisha and God. She welcomes him into her home, trusts him, and turns to him for answers. She also obeys his instructions so when he says go, she goes.
Fascination without Faith
At the end of seven years, the woman comes back from the land of Philistine and goes to appeal to the king for her house. When she returns, Gehazi is having a chat with the king in 2 Kings 8:3-4.
Do you remember Gehazi from our last chapters? He was Elisha’s servant who was cursed with leprosy for taking money from the Aramean officer who was healed from leprosy. Gehazi would not be talking to the king if he had leprosy, so this story is likely not in chronological order.
The king in this story, most likely King Joram, heard about Elisha’s miracles and is curious to hear the stories firsthand from Elisha’s servant.
Just as Gehazi is telling the story of how Elisha restored the life of the Shumannite’s young son, in she walks with her son in 2 Kings 8:5-6. She is providential evidence for the king to feast his unbelieving eyes on.
The king does the right thing by giving her back her land. However, the story has no impact on his life other than to intrigue and entertain him. In the words of the commentator Dale Ralph Davis, “It was a fascination, not faith.”
The divine timing of the woman walking in when she did has a purpose. To witness to the king about the child’s restoration of life so he will believe in God. The king misses it. He is deaf to the message he is being told.
God’s Heart in Six Verses
This seemingly unimportant story has an underlying message of love, loyalty, and life. In these six verses, the message is highlighted with the repetitive use of two words meaning: tell and restore.
Three times a form of the word “saphar” or “tell” is used. Four times a form of the Hebrew word “hayah” or “restore to life” is used. God is in the business of restoration not just to witness to us but because He loves us and wants us to have life.
His plan since the day sin and death entered the world in the fall in Genesis 3 has been to restore us to eternal life, the life we lost when we were cast out of the Garden and lost access to the Tree of Life.
God wants the story of life restored to be told, because it is a story of good news. It is a God story that leads to faith, hope, love, and eternal life. Isn’t it a mystery that stories of lives restored are so miraculous that the good news of them gives eternal life to others through faith?
The Author of Life Still Writes Stories of Restoration
This story of love, loyalty, and life restored is a small foreshadowing of another story, the story of Jesus Christ, which is also a story of love, loyalty, and life restored.
These stories need to be told because they are good news that God, the author of life, desires to restore our life eternally. He loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us. When this good news is told, it can lead to faith, hope, and love for all mankind.
There is a great blessing in the fact that God is the author of life, but there is also a warning. God desired Israel’s loyalty. Without loyalty, life can be lost.
King Joram has had every chance to witness God as the one true God, but he is not loyal. Nor is Israel loyal, and because of that they will fall.
🎧 Ready to dive deeper? Listen to episodes of the Bible Book Club Podcast here.
Themes of this podcast:
Faith is key to restoration. Throughout these chapters, God’s restoration is clear: food during famine, life from death, and hope for outcasts. But the blessings of restoration only come to those with faith and humility.
God uses the least likely to share the good news. From lepers outside the gates to a humble woman returning from a foreign land, God entrusts His message to the unlikely. This highlights a core truth: status doesn’t determine your usefulness in God’s kingdom—faith and obedience do.
Witnessing God’s power isn’t the same as believing it. Joram saw God’s miracles but responded with doubt. He was fascinated but unchanged. This is a warning: proximity to truth doesn’t equal faith—responding in loyalty and repentance does.
