2 Kings 7

اقرأ هذا الفصل بقصد

2 Kings 7 is the end of the siege of Samaria. With the city starving, Elisha announces that by the same time tomorrow flour and barley will sell cheaply at the gate; the king's officer scoffs that it could not happen even if the LORD opened windows in heaven, and is told he will see it but not eat it. Four lepers outside the gate walk to the Aramean camp and find it empty: the LORD had made the army hear chariots and it fled. The lepers eat and hide plunder, then stop themselves: this is a day of good news and we are keeping silent. They tell the city, the people plunder the camp, prices fall as Elisha said, and the scoffing officer is trampled to death in the gate.

فتح تفسير الإصحاح

2 Kings 7 begins in a city where mothers have eaten their children, and the prophet Elisha says that by this time tomorrow a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel at the gate. The king's right-hand man laughs; even if the LORD opened windows in the sky, he says, it could not happen. You will see it, Elisha answers, and you will not eat any of it. Then the story leaves the palace for the gate, where four lepers sit in the place lepers were allowed to sit, and they do the arithmetic of the desperate. If we go into the city we starve. If we sit here we starve. If we walk over to the Arameans they may kill us, or they may not. They walk. At dusk they reach the edge of the enemy camp and there is no one there, because in the night God had let the whole army hear the thunder of chariots and horses and they had run for their lives, leaving tents, horses, donkeys, food, and silver. The lepers eat, drink, and start hiding treasure, and then one of them says the sentence the chapter is remembered for: we are not doing right; this is a day of good news, and we are keeping it to ourselves. They go and shout it to the gatekeepers. The king suspects a trap, a servant points out that the men they would send are as good as dead anyway, the scouts follow a road strewn with thrown-away armor all the way to the Jordan, and by morning the people are pouring out of the gate to plunder the camp and flour is selling for a shekel, exactly as promised. The officer who laughed is in charge of that gate, and the crowd tramples him to death.

مقاطع رئيسية

2 Kings 7:1-2 2 Kings 7:3-9 2 Kings 7:10-16 2 Kings 7:17-20 2 Kings 6:24-33 Judges 7:19-22

Historical and literary context

The chapter belongs to the Elisha cycle in the ninth century BC, during the wars between Israel and Aram-Damascus under Ben-hadad. Chapter 6 describes the siege's horror: a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels and a mother had eaten her child. A seah was about seven liters, and the prices Elisha predicts are those of normal times, so the prophecy is that the famine will end overnight. Lepers were excluded from the city and lived at the gate, dependent on charity. The Hittites and Egyptians the Arameans feared were the great powers to the north and south, and a hired coalition was a plausible terror. The officer "on whose arm the king leaned" held a position of trust known from Egyptian and Assyrian courts.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 and 2 give Elisha's prophecy and the officer's scoffing, with the sentence on him. Verses 3 to 5 follow the four lepers' reasoning and their discovery of the empty camp. Verses 6 and 7 explain the flight: the LORD's sound of an army in the night. Verses 8 and 9 show the lepers feasting and hiding loot, then their change of heart. Verses 10 to 15 carry the news into the city, the king's suspicion of a trap, a servant's proposal, and the scouts' confirmation as far as the Jordan. Verses 16 to 20 record the plunder, the fulfilled prices, and the officer's death in the gate, told twice to underline the word of the LORD.

Why this chapter matters

"This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent" has been the text of countless sermons on the duty to share the gospel, with the four lepers as the unlikely evangelists who could not keep salvation to themselves. The officer who saw the miracle and did not eat of it is the Bible's picture of unbelief that witnesses the truth too late. The story also belongs with Gideon's three hundred and Jehoshaphat's singers among the accounts of victories won without a battle, by a sound God made, and it has been read as a lesson that deliverance often comes through the people nobody counted.

Interpretive tension to watch

The chapter presents the Aramean flight as God's direct act, a sound and nothing more, which sits alongside the more ordinary explanation of a panic in a besieging army; the text is content to attribute the panic to the LORD. The officer's fate, trampled for a sarcastic remark, strikes modern readers as harsh, and the narrator's double telling of it shows how seriously the story takes the prophetic word. The lepers' first instinct to hide silver and gold is reported without comment, and their repentance seems driven as much by fear of being found out as by conscience, which is part of the story's realism.

أسئلة لهذا الفصل

The lepers had nothing to lose, and that freed them to walk toward the enemy. What does having nothing to lose make possible?
"This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent." What good news are you sitting on, and why?
The officer saw the prophecy fulfilled and did not eat of it. What is the difference between seeing God's goodness and receiving it?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

أضف للملاحظات

1 以利沙说：「你们要听耶和华的话，耶和华如此说：明日约到这时候，在撒马利亚城门口，一细亚细面要[卖]银一舍客勒，二细亚大麦也要[卖]银一舍客勒。」 2 有一个搀扶王的军长对神人说：「即便耶和华使天开了窗户，也不能有这事。」以利沙说：「你必亲眼看见，却不得吃。」 3 在城门那里有四个长大麻风的人，他们彼此说：「我们为何坐在这里等死呢？ 4 我们若说，进城去吧！城里有饥荒，必死在那里；若在这里坐着不动，也必是死。来吧，我们去投降亚兰人的军队，他们若留我们的活命，就活着；若杀我们，就死了吧！」 5 黄昏的时候，他们起来往亚兰人的营盘去；到了营边，不见一人在那里。 6 因为主使亚兰人的军队听见车马的声音，是大军的声音；他们就彼此说：「这必是以色列王贿买赫人的诸王和埃及人的诸王来攻击我们。」 7 所以，在黄昏的时候他们起来逃跑，撇下帐棚、马、驴，营盘照旧，只顾逃命。 8 那些长大麻风的到了营边，进了帐棚，吃了喝了，且从其中拿出金银和衣服来，去收藏了；回来又进了一座帐棚，从其中拿出财物来去收藏了。 9 那时，他们彼此说：「我们所做的不好！今日是有好信息的日子，我们竟不作声！若等到天亮，罪必临到我们。来吧，我们与王家报信去！」 10 他们就去叫守城门的，告诉他们说：「我们到了亚兰人的营，不见一人在那里，也无人声，只有拴着的马和驴，帐棚都照旧。」 11 守城门的叫了众守门的人来，他们就进去与王家报信。 12 王夜间起来，对臣仆说：「我告诉你们亚兰人向我们如何行。他们知道我们饥饿，所以离营，埋伏在田野，说：『以色列人出城的时候，我们就活捉他们，得以进城。』」 13 有一个臣仆对王说：「我们不如用城里剩下之马中的五匹马（马和城里剩下的以色列人都是一样，快要灭绝），打发人去窥探。」 14 于是取了两辆车和马，王差人去追寻亚兰军，说：「你们去窥探窥探。」 15 他们就追寻到约旦河，看见满道上都是亚兰人急跑时丢弃的衣服器具，使者就回来报告王。 16 众人就出去，掳掠亚兰人的营盘。于是一细亚细面[卖]银一舍客勒，二细亚大麦也[卖]银一舍客勒，正如耶和华所说的。 17 王派搀扶他的那军长在城门口弹压，众人在那里将他践踏，他就死了，正如神人在王下来见他的时候所说的。 18 神人曾对王说：「明日约到这时候，在撒马利亚城门口，二细亚大麦要[卖]银一舍客勒，一细亚细面也要[卖]银一舍客勒。」 19 那军长对神人说：「即便耶和华使天开了窗户，也不能有这事。」神人说：「你必亲眼看见，却不得吃。」 20 这话果然应验在他身上；因为众人在城门口将他践踏，他就死了。