Sermon on 2 Kings 6:1-33
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Now the sons of the prophets said, "Hey, we have a hard time living with you, man, you live too strait. We need to build us a house to live in down by Jericho." And so he said, "Fine, go down to Jericho and build your house." They said, "Well, come down and help us." And so he went down to Jericho with them and they were felling some trees by the Jordan River. And one fellow's ax head flew off and went in the water. And he said, "Oh, no, I borrowed that ax head." Elisha said, "Where did it fall in?" He said, "Over in there." So Elisha took a stick and cast it into the river and the iron floated. And he said, "Grab it." And so he grabbed the ax head.
Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel, and he had a meeting of his generals. Now he said, In such and such a place we will set up camp (2Ki 6:8).
And we will ambush the king of Israel when he comes back. So Elisha said to the king and warned him of the ambush that Benhadad had sent. And he saved Benhadad from the ambush, I mean, he warned the king of Israel, and he saved the king of Israel from the traps that Benhadad had set. More than once, more than twice. And so Benhadad figured that someone of his upper council had to be leaking the secrets. There was a security leak somewhere. And so he called his generals in and he said, "Okay, which of you guys is for my enemy?" And they said, "None of us, but there is a prophet over there in Israel. You can't talk to your wife in your bedroom but what he knows what you're saying to her."
And he said, "Go and bring him back a captive." So they said, "Well he's in Dothan." And so the Syrian army came to the city of Dothan and circled the city of Dothan with their horses, chariots and a great company of men. And they came by night and circled the city. So in the morning when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, got up and went out, he looked and he saw the Syrian army had circled the city of Dothan. And he went running back in. Woke up Elisha and he said, "We've had it! We're surrounded by the Syrian army."
And Elisha said, Don't be afraid: there are more with us than are with them. Then he prayed, O Lord, open up his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha; and he saw the chariots of fire round about Elisha [and about the Syrian army] (2Ki 6:16-17).
Spiritual insight. It sure makes a difference on our whole outlook in life. Lord, open our eyes that we might see the truth. That we might not just see the obvious physical things, but that we might see the spiritual realities. For many times in the physical realm it looks like sure certain defeat. Unless you can see it in the spiritual realm, and you know there is a sure certain victory. If we look only at the flesh and at the physical, we are prone many times to be filled with fear and with despair, hopelessness, because it looks like things are hopeless. That's only because we're looking at the things which are seen. But Paul said, "We look at the things which are not seen: they are the eternal things" (II Corinthians 4:18).
Now it speaks of the men of the Old Testament in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews as it talks about these great men of faith. And in referring to the deeds and the exploits of these great men of faith, it said, "And they endured as seeing the invisible" (Hebrews 11:27). What was the secret of their endurance? What was the secret of their power? What was the secret of their ability to go through all of the things that they had to go through and all of the things that they endured? Because they could see beyond just the obvious physical things. They could see the realm of the Spirit. They endured as seeing the invisible.
Men who have spiritual insight actually see so much more. And that is why their lives are so stable and so secure, even though the world around them may be shaking. Yet because they can see spiritually, they are not shaken.
And then Elijah prayed to the Lord and he said, Smite these people, I pray thee, with blindness. And the Syrian army was smitten with blindness. And Elisha said, This isn't the place you fellows wanted: I'll lead you to the place you want to go. And he led them to the city of Samaria (2Ki 6:18-19).
Into the gates of the city and to the king of Samaria.
And he said, Now Lord, open up their eyes. And when they opened their eyes, they found they were in the center of Samaria [and they were surrounded by the Samaritan army. And the king of Samaria was all excited. He didn't know what to do.] Shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? And Elisha said, No, he said, if you take them as prisoners of war, you'd feed them. So feed them and send them home. So he prepared a great feast for them: fed them, sent them home, and they didn't come for Elisha again. Now it came to pass after this though, that Benhadad the king of Syria gathered together his host, and brought them up to Samaria. And he set up a siege, cutting off Samaria and there was a great famine in Samaria.
So bad that a donkey's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a pint of dove's dung sold for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was walking along the wall, a woman cried unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, What do you want me to do? Sweep up the barnfloor for you, or get the caulks out of the winepress? What ails you? And she said, This woman yesterday said, Give me your son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son tomorrow. And so yesterday we ate my son, and now she's hid her son. Make her produce him so we can eat him. When the king heard this, he tore his clothes; and he said, God help me. If I don't have the head of Elisha the prophet by tomorrow (2Ki 6:20-31).
Now it is interesting, it is because of the fact that this king was leading the people into idolatry that they were having these problems. And yet, he wants to blame God and the servant of God for the problem. How irrational can a person be? But it is interesting how many times when a person has problems, they want to strike out at a servant of God. They want to blame you. They think you've been praying for them or something. And you know, they really get angry with you because of the problems that have come into their lives, when the problems are there because they have forsaken the Lord. But that's just a part of the irrationality of people. And so, he was blaming the prophet of God. "God help me, tomorrow I'm going to have that guy's head."
And so Elisha was sitting in his house, and some of his friends with him; and as they were sitting there talking, he said, How about that? Look what that son of a murderer is going to do now. He's sending a guy down here to get my head. He said, When he gets to the door, [pin him,] hold him fast. For behold, the feet of his master are right behind him (2Ki 6:32).
So this guy came running up on the porch and the guys open the door and held him, pinned him. And the king came up.
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