2.

1 Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, 2 if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

3. And there were four leprous men 3 at the entering in of the gate and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?

4. If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.

5. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.

6. For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us 5 the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

3 Lev. 13:46. 42 Sam. 5: 24. 2 Kings 19: 7. Job 15:21. 51 Kings 10:29.

was anciently reckoned by weight, for which reason the word "shekel" is at once the name of a weight and of a coin Bush. The coined shekel weighed 240 grains of silver and was worth about 55 cents of our money. Schaff. Two measures of barley. Or "two seahs of barley." About three pecks English. — Cook. These were still high prices, but in comparison with the famine prices then ruling, were incredibly cheap. Keil. In the gate of Samaria. That is, the place where the market was usually held. — Lange. Nearly every public transaction took place at or near the city gates.- Thomson.

2. Then a lord. Rather, the captain (as in 1 Kings 9: 22), or aide-de-camp. — Keil. He was a chief officer of the king. On whose hand the king leaned. When an Eastern king walks, or stands abroad in the open air, he always supports himself on the arm of the highest courtier present. J., F. and B. Answered. The answer contained both mockery and unbelief. Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, etc. An allusion to the story of the flood in Gen. 7: 11 ff. The word here, as there, means "sluices" rather than "windows." The "lord" means to say: "If Jehovah were to open sluices in heaven, and pour down corn as he poured down rain in the time of the Deluge, even then could there be such abundance as thou speakest of?"- Cook. Behold, thou shalt see it, etc. He should be convinced of the truth of Elisha's prophecy, but because of his mocking unbelief he should not enjoy the promised blessing.

V. The Method in which the Prophecy was fulfilled. Vers. 3-11. 3. There were four leprous men. Men with the leprosy. At the entering in of the gate. At the gateway, separated from human society, according to the law in Lev. 13: 46; Num. 5:3, probably in a building erected for the purpose (comp. chap. 15: 5), just as at the present day the lepers at Jerusalem have their huts by the side of the Zion gate. - Keil. Why sit we here until we die? No one any longer brought them food from the city, and they were not permitted to enter it.

4. Let us fall unto the host of the Syrians. That is, let us fall into their power; go over to them. If they save us alive. Giving food for pity's sake. They could not be

worse off than they were, and they had some chance of doing better.

5. They rose up in the twilight. They waited till the sun had gone down, and it was so dark that no one would see their desertion. The evening twilight is intended (see ver. 9). — Cook. The uttermost part of the camp. The extreme boundary of the camp towards the city, not its furthest or most distant portion (comp. ver. 8). — Cook.

6. The Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise.. even the noise of a great host. The besiegers thought they heard the march of hostile armies from the north and south, and were seized with such panic terror that they fled in the greatest haste, leaving behind them their baggage, and their beasts of draught and burden. It is impossible to decide whether the noise which they heard had any objective reality, say a miraculous buzzing in the air, or whether it was merely a deception of the senses produced

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7. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

8. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.

9. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.

10. So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.

1 Ps. 48: 4-6. Prov. 28: 1.

in their ears by God; and this is a matter of no importance, since in either case it was produced miraculously by God. - Keil. The kings of the Hittites. From the north. They derive their name from their ancestor Heth, the second son of Canaan, who was grandson of Noah. The Hittites, who are found in early times far to the south in the country about Hebron (Gen. 23: 7), and who afterwards inhabited the central table-land of Judea (Josh. 11:3), seem to have retired northwards after the occupation of Palestine by the Israelites. In the early Assyrian monuments they appear as the most powerful people of northern Syria, dwelling on both banks of the Euphrates in the country along its course from Bir to Balis. They are in the time of Benhadad and Hazael a powerful people, especially strong in chariots; and generally assist the Syrians against the Assyrians (Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii., pp. 361-363).- Cook. The Egyptians. From the south. The sound seemed to the Syrians to come from both directions.

The rationalists have endeavored to account for it by natural causes, such as unusual sounds, heard on the mountains, or in the depths of the valleys, produced by winds or approaching tempests; but this comes very much to the same thing. The great wonder or miracle is in the spiritual effect produced. We might regard it as an event produced solely by physical causes, were it not for what is expressly told us in ver. 6. It was the supernatural using the natural as its means. The strangeness is in the terrible nature of its results. We may, in truth, reason the other way, and regard as supernatural events of a similar kind many facts which have not been so characterized in history. The scriptural event furnishes one of the cases in which the corner of the curtain is lifted, and we are let into the secret of its ultimate causation. But in how many others this may have been the case we do not know, as we have no right to deny that Deity is often present, baffling the councils of men in a way for which no human philosophy of history can account, and often veryifying the maxim, "Whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad."- Tayler Lewis. 7. And left their tents, and their horses, etc. Darius Hystaspes did the same when he retreated from Scythia (Herod. iv., 165). The object of the Syrians was probably the same that actuated him, namely, "that their noise might be heard," and the flight of the army might consequently not be suspected. And fled for their life. It was a genuine panic. The whole of a great host is thrown into bewildering, unreasoning confusion.

8.

Came to the uttermost part. The verge of the camp nearest the city. They went, etc. When these lepers (these pointing back to vers. 3 et seq.) came into the camp which the Syrians had left, they first of all satisfied their own hunger with the provisions which they found in the tents, and then took different valuables and concealed them. - Keil. 9. We do not well. Their consciences were soon aroused, so that they said: "We are not doing right; for it is the duty of citizens to make known things relating to public safety." Grotius. Some mischief will come upon us. Rather, "Punishment will fall upon us." The lepers began to think that if they kept this important matter secret during the whole night for their own private advantage, when the morning came they would be found out, accused, and punished. - Cook. Or that some divine judgment would fall upon them.

10. They . . . called unto the porter of the city. The guard. The word has a

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II. And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's house within. 12. And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.

13. And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed :) and let us send and see.

14. They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.

15. And they went after them unto Jordan; and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste: and the messengers returned, and told the king.

16. And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

collective force in the singular, like our "guard," and the meaning here is, not that the lepers called to any particular individual, but that they roused the body of men who were keeping guard at one of the gates. Cook. Horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. The uniform arrangement of encampments in the East is to place the tents in the centre, while the cattle are picketed all around, as an outer wall of defence; and hence the lepers describe the cattle as the first objects they saw.-J., F. and B.

VI. The City Relieved; the Famine Ended. Vers. 12-16. 12. And the king arose in the night. He probably had been waking and watching, like Shakespeare's king, Henry IV.-Lewis. I will now shew you what the Syrians have done. Jehoram sees in the deserted camp a stratagem like that by which Cyrus is said to have gained a great victory over the Massagetæ (Herod. i., 211). He supposes that the enemy have only withdrawn a short distance, and are lying in wait in the neighborhood, ready to rise up against the Israelites as soon as they shall enter the camp and fall to eating and drinking, while at the same time they also seize the unprotected city (comp. the taking of Ai, Josh. 8: 3-19). The suspicion was a very natural one, since the Israelites knew of no reason why the Syrians should have raised the siege. - Cook.

13. Behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel. However the expedition may turn out, those (horses and horsemen) who go will be no worse off than those who remain. They can but die of starvation if they remain, or if they are slain by the enemy, it will be no worse than to die of starvation with the rest at home. Or it may be that the phrase refers to the fact that the horses are in a starving condition like the men, and hardly fit for the service.

14. They took therefore two chariot horses. The proper rendering is, "They took two horse-chariots." They dispatched, that is, two war-chariots, with their proper complement of horses and men, to see whether the retreat was a reality or only a feint. The "horses "sent would be either four, five, or six, since chariots were drawn by either two or three horses. Cook. And if but four horses were sent, this would not contradict ver. 13; for that only states what was proposed, and this what was actually done.

15. They went after them unto Jordan. The Syrians had fled, probably, by the great road which led from Samaria to Damascus through Geba, Engannim, Bethshean, Aphek. It crosses the Jordan about thirty-five miles north-east of Samaria. Cook. The way was full of garments. They were in too much of a panic to destroy anything before starting, and that which they had tried to carry with them they threw away as they grew tired in their flight.

16. And the people went out. As soon as they were satisfied by report of the scouts on their return of the reality of the retreat of the Syrians, the whole populace rushed from the gate to plunder the Syrian camp, in consequence of which the cheapness of provisions predicted by Elisha was realized. Keil. And spoiled the tents. That is, gathered the spoil, or booty, out of the tents. So a measure, etc. See under ver. 1. According to

17. And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.

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12 Kings 6:32.

the word of the Lord. Thus again the prophetic words of Elisha were fulfilled in the most public manner, in modes best adapted to fix the attention of the whole people, and to produce the best possible moral impression. It was a divine movement to recall the people of Israel from their Baal and calf-worship to a solid faith in their own Jehovah, and to save the nation from drifting utterly into idolatry and political ruin. Smith.

VII. The Fate of Unbelief. Ver. 17. 17. The king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned. The one who had contemptuously mocked at Elisha's prophecy of relief. To have the charge of the gate. The city gate was the place where customs were paid for everything that was carried into the city; and it was probably to the duty of collecting the tolls that he was appointed. This seems to be the meaning of the statement that the king appointed him to have charge of the gate. It is difficult to see what need there can have been of any particular charge of the gate when the enemy were gone, and it was broad daylight, unless there were government taxes to be collected. Todd. And the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died. This can hardly mean merely that he was accidentally crushed by the crowd. There was naturally a crowd, but there was no occasion for such crowding as to create danger of being crushed; and if there had been, a nobleman and officer of government would have been the last one likely to suffer. The expression seems to indicate intentional violence. Perhaps this lord, whose manner seems to have been haughty and scornful (ver. 2), gave offence by his treatment of the crowd. But the probability is that the people were enraged at him for attempting to collect a revenue on the things brought in from the Syrian camp. As a revenue officer he would be unpopular, and especially at such a time. The people would naturally be indignant at the attempt to tax the food which had come to them when they were starving. Todd. As the man of God said. The greatest sin of man in the eyes of God is want of faith, and this is as strongly set forth in the Old Testament as in the New. The common impression is the other way, namely, that works are the great idea in the old Scriptures, faith in the new. Throughout the Bible, however, the language sounds clear and unmistakable: "Without faith it is impossible to please him "; without it there are no human works that have any value in his sight. Tayler Lewis. For real faith indicates the state of heart, and no deed can be acceptable unless prompted by a right heart.

LIBRARY REFERENCES.

On lepers at the gate, see Thomson's Southern Palestine, pp. 529–535, and Wallace's Ben Hur; on the famine caused by the siege, see Josephus' Jewish Wars, 5: 10; on the Hittites, see Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies, 11:361; Sermons by Spurgeon, vol. 2, "The Sin of Unbelief," and Talmage, vol. 2; The Sunday School Times, May 6, 1877.

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PRACTICAL.

I. God tries the faith of his children, sometimes waiting long before he sends relief. Men complain of the duration of God's judgments, but forget to cease from their sins. The judgments are continued only long enough to bring men into the right state of mind.

3. Bad men would slay the preachers of righteousness, when they should slay their own sins. 4. Ver. 2. Not the doubt that inquires and seeks for the reason of things, but the mocking unbelief that grows out of a bad heart, and a life far from God, brings disaster and death.

5. Providence can, even without any miracle, supply the wants of his people at times and in ways the most unthought of. - Todd.

6. Vers. 6-8. It is only necessary that in the darkness a wind should blow, or that water should splash in free course, or that an echo should resound from the mountains, or that the wind should rustle the dry leaves, to terrify the godless, so that they flee as if pursued by a sword, and fall though no man pursues them; therefore we should cling fast to God in the persecution of our enemies, should trust him and earnestly cry to him for help; he has a thousand ways to help us. - Würtemb. Summary.

7.

Ver. 9.

Even the poorest and most unfortunate have opportunities of doing good. 8. No one can be truly prosperous and happy who enjoys the good things of life alone, and does not help his suffering neighbors.

The wealth of The commerce The investiga

9. Ver. 16. The good often inherit at last the riches of the wicked. worldly men at last often goes to aid the cause of Christ and of education. and inventions of the world are used by God for the spread of his Gospel. tions of scientific men are made to explain and prove the Word of God. 10. Patient waiting upon God finds its reward at last, but unbelief inherits no promise. Todd.

II. It is easy for our Lord and God to bring days of plenty close upon days of famine and want; therefore we should not despair, but trust in God, and await his blessing in hope and patience until he " open the windows of heaven.". Würtemb. Summary.

12. Ver. 17. God's word fails not; not a word of his ever fell upon the earth in vain; every one is fulfilled to the uttermost, both promise and threat. - Starke.

13. How uncertain life is and its enjoyment! Honor and power cannot secure men from sudden and inglorious deaths. He whom the king leaned on, the people trod on; he who fancied himself the stay and support of the government is trampled under foot as the mire in the streets; thus hath the pride of men's glory been often stained. - Henry.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

The INTERVENING HISTORY given in 2 Kings 6: 24-33 is an essential part of this lesson.

NOTE the facts briefly, who were the kings of these nations; the date; the place on the map; the short interval of peace.

SUBJECT,- GOD'S PROMISES FULFILLed.

I. THE FAMINE IN SAMARIA, its cause and its severity.

II. THE TRIAL OF FAITH. The famine was the result of the sins of the people (see Deut. 28: 47-58), and hence, though God had often sent relief before, this continued till the punishment could produce its proper effect. Hence it was a trial of the faith of the king and people. Elisha's faith was tried in two ways: (1) by the long-continued famine, though doubtless he had prayed for its removal, and the king and the people were excited against him for not doing something for their relief. (2) The king threatened him with death.

Illustration.

Parents continuing to punish a child when they desire to cease, but must see signs of repentance. The surgeon continuing to cut off the diseased limb to save the life of the patient, even while he is sorry for the pain he must inflict.

III. THE PROMISE OF RELIEF (vers. 1, 2).

IV. THE PROMISE FULFILLED (vers. 3-16).

Mark especially God's manifold ways of helping our need, often in the most unexpected ways. There is no limit to his resources, - he can see multitudes of ways of helping us when we can see none.

Illustrations. (1) The unseen guardians revealed in our last lesson. (2) The new and unexpected forces and powers men are finding continually in nature. Who would have suspected the powers of steam, of the telegraph, the telephone, an hundred years ago? But every power was there, though unknown.

V. THE FATE OF UNBELIEF (ver. 17). Note the difference between the doubt of the king, which led him to search for the truth of the lepers' report, and the mocking, hardhearted unbelief of the lord. Show why such an unbelief is deadly, and worthy of punishment. The prophecy of Elisha was fulfilled, not by miracle, but by the people, as a natural result of his unbelieving and haughty disposition.

Illustration. This lesson suggests the folly of the sinner who perishes within sight and reach of the Gospel feast. A ship, after long buffetings with the storm, driven hither and thither, and making no port, was without water, and its crew, fainting with thirst, hailed a passing vessel with the cry, "Water, water!" The answer came back, "Let down your buckets; you are surrounded with fresh water." They were off the coast of Brazil, in the outflow of the Amazon, which pushes its tide of living waters away out into the Atlantic a hundred miles. S. S. Times.

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