Elisha
said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About
this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs
of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." The officer on whose
arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD
should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You
will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat
any of it!"
//Here’s the story of today’s verse. The Syrian army had surrounded the
city of Samaria, and its inhabitants were starving. But Elisha the
prophet encouraged the king, promising that tomorrow food would become
so plentiful that it would be sold at cheap prices.
At
this, the king’s officer scoffed, saying the only way that could happen
is if food rained down from heaven! To which Elisha retorted, you’ll
see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any!
If the officer’s stomach weren’t rumbling, I’m sure his eyes would be rolling. Why wouldn’t he eat any if there was plenty?
The
next day, some mysterious loud noises startled the Assyrian army, and
they scuttled off, afraid for their lives. A few adventurous lepers
wandered into the now-empty Assyrian camp, and after eating their fill,
they came back to the city to report what they found. So the king
stationed his officer, the scoffing one, at the gate of the camp to
supervise. At which point, the starving city-dwellers stampeded toward
the food, trampling and killing the officer.
Elisha was right. Moral: don’t mock God’s prophet.
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