God Honors Elisha’s Prophecy

For a time after this, Israel was free from the attacks of the Syrians. But later, under king Hazael, the Syrian armies surrounded Samaria and besieged it. Never had Israel been brought into so great a crisis as during this siege. The horrors of prolonged famine were driving the king of Israel to desperate measures, when Elisha predicted deliverance for the following day.RR 96.7

The next morning, before dawn, the Lord “caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army.” Overcome with fear, “they fled for their lives,” leaving “the camp intact,” with rich stores of food. 2 Kings 7:6, 7.RR 96.8

During the night, four leprous men at the gate of the city, made desperate by hunger, had proposed to visit the Syrian camp and throw themselves on the mercy of the besiegers, hoping to obtain food. To their astonishment, when they entered the camp, they found that “no one was there.” Verse 10. With no one to stop them, “they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, ‘We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent.’” Verses 8, 9. Quickly they returned to the city with the glad news.RR 97.1

The supplies on that day were so abundant that “a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel” (Verse 16, KJV), as foretold by Elisha the day before.RR 97.2