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March 5: 2 Kings 7-8
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When Syria besieged Samaria, the result was a complete lack of food. Starvation was imminent. Yet, Elijah, speaking for God, promised that food would be plentiful and cheap on the next day.
Once again, God delivered his people with a mighty hand. But this time is was through God’s deceiving the enemy into believing they were being attacked by the Hittites and the kings of Egypt.
Interestingly, the news that the enemy army has fled is left to poor lepers to communicate. These who are the most outcast of society are given the opportunity to bring the good news which, at first is doubted, but in the end God’s protection and provision for his people is once again displayed.
Chapter 8 brings the story back to the Shunammite woman whose son had been brought back to life in chapter 4. Now, with God’s judgment on the horizon via a coming famine, Elisha tells her to leave her home to live where she can find sustenance. When the famine ended, she returned only to find her land had been appropriated to another. Once again, God’s mercy to the woman is seen in the restoration of her property.
The rest of the chapter contrasts the mercy of God to the weak with the abuse of power and position by the strong. Elisha at last fulfills God’s word to Elijah (see: 1 Kings 19:15-17) and is involved in regime change in both Damascus and Samaria. We meet a second Ahaziah (see chapter 1) but this time he is a king in the southern kingdom of Judah. But, being the son-in-law of wicked Ahab of the north, he only did evil in God’s sight.
Prayer: Father, it is evident you have a special love for those whom society looks down on. You are near to the weak and broken, and your mercy never plays favorites. Lord, help me to see this world through your eyes, to turn away from prejudice, and to be a fountain of your gospel grace to all I encounter, by your grace and for your glory, Amen.
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