Elisha and blindness
We are about 850 years BC and the Hebrews had split into a northern kingdom based on Samaria and a southern state based on Jerusalem, about a hundred years before Samaria was destroyed. Neither kingdom was very stable as there were neighbours who looked at that land by the sea with jealousy. Jehu was the king of the northern lot and he had a reputation for fast driving as he rushed around quelling infiltrations by those neighbours. Ben Hadad was the king of Syria, a country further North, and he was rather upset that on each occasion he tried to take over a bit of Israel, young Jehu was there ready for him. We read that he had a top level meeting with his officials and asked them who was giving away the military secrets. The answer he got surprised and annoyed him when they said that there was this “prophet” who tells Jehu the “very words you speak in your bedroom”. God knows people’s thoughts.
The threat
Elisha was the prophet then and he lived near a small village called Dothan, about eleven miles north of Samaria. We read that time and again he warned king Jehu of attacks, so the army was on guard in such places. Ben Hadad heard about this and sent a strong force of horses and chariots to capture this prophet. Of course, Elisha had already told Jehu that the Syrians were on their way so they were prepared. One morning Elisha’s servant had got up to cook breakfast when he saw all these Syrian soldiers surrounding the village with Juhu’s little force hopefully on their way and panicked. “Don’t worry”, Elisha tells him, “There are more with us than there are with them”. That was silly because Jehu’s army was very small in comparison. But he prayed that his servant’s eyes would be opened. He then saw what the Syrians had seen - the hills full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. Then we read that Elisha prayed that God would make the invaders blind and walked up to them and explained that they must have lost their way. “Just follow me and I will take you to the man you are looking for”..
The joke
We are not told how this blindness was caused. It may have been a sand storm or lightning strike or an infection. If we pray to a God that is almighty, we don’t need to know the “hows”. Then follows one of those hilarious events which must have caused laughter and relief. Don’t tell me that God does not have a sense of humour. Elisha leads them eleven miles down the road into the main square in Samaria before asking God to restore their sight. I have no evidence for it but I suspect most of them had by now discarded their swords spears and armour while trying to walk. I can imagine most of them were rather surprised and afraid knowing the usual treatment of invading forces who had been disarmed.
The soft answer
Jehu, in common with common practice, proposed to kill them all which would be easy on exhausted and confused soldiers who were without weapons. Elisha is wise and tells the king to prepare a “great feast” for them. When they had finished eating and drinking the king sends them away back to their master. But that was not the end of the small raids on Israel. Elisha’s closeness to God is shown in a number of other incidents.
The harder answer
Some years later the Syrians came down in big force and besieged Samaria. The town ran out of food and people were so starving that some were even cooking children. The town official tells Elisha that only if God opened the floodgates of heaven could they be saved. Elisha says he will see it but not benefit from it. Elisha’s cure this time is by sound, not sight, but only at the last minute. Now there were some men with leprosy in isolation outside the city gate who said to each other one night “we might as well try to beg off the Syrians than die out here” and went into their camp. They found it deserted, so helped themselves before telling the town gate keepers. Scouts went out and found the road strewn with weapons, clothes and other baggage and no Syrians. They had heard the sound of an approaching army and panicked. The town people came out with such a rush that they trampled on the official who had doubted Elisha and he died.
The question
This is just one of a series of extraordinary events that God did through Elisha. In these ones we see that gentle answers can turn away wrath. A lesson not learned by the Syrians and resulted in disaster. Each event gives a different lesson. We will see later that the Syrians ignored these two lessons and suffered a fatal approach. Was God teaching Jehu a lesson, or Elisha, or Ben Hadad or us? We often pray “And lead us not into temptation”, but how else does God teach us? That promise “There are more with us than there are with them” is always encouraging, but we may not always see them.
Bob
We are about 850 years BC and the Hebrews had split into a northern kingdom based on Samaria and a southern state based on Jerusalem, about a hundred years before Samaria was destroyed. Neither kingdom was very stable as there were neighbours who looked at that land by the sea with jealousy. Jehu was the king of the northern lot and he had a reputation for fast driving as he rushed around quelling infiltrations by those neighbours. Ben Hadad was the king of Syria, a country further North, and he was rather upset that on each occasion he tried to take over a bit of Israel, young Jehu was there ready for him. We read that he had a top level meeting with his officials and asked them who was giving away the military secrets. The answer he got surprised and annoyed him when they said that there was this “prophet” who tells Jehu the “very words you speak in your bedroom”. God knows people’s thoughts.
The threat
Elisha was the prophet then and he lived near a small village called Dothan, about eleven miles north of Samaria. We read that time and again he warned king Jehu of attacks, so the army was on guard in such places. Ben Hadad heard about this and sent a strong force of horses and chariots to capture this prophet. Of course, Elisha had already told Jehu that the Syrians were on their way so they were prepared. One morning Elisha’s servant had got up to cook breakfast when he saw all these Syrian soldiers surrounding the village with Juhu’s little force hopefully on their way and panicked. “Don’t worry”, Elisha tells him, “There are more with us than there are with them”. That was silly because Jehu’s army was very small in comparison. But he prayed that his servant’s eyes would be opened. He then saw what the Syrians had seen - the hills full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. Then we read that Elisha prayed that God would make the invaders blind and walked up to them and explained that they must have lost their way. “Just follow me and I will take you to the man you are looking for”..
The joke
We are not told how this blindness was caused. It may have been a sand storm or lightning strike or an infection. If we pray to a God that is almighty, we don’t need to know the “hows”. Then follows one of those hilarious events which must have caused laughter and relief. Don’t tell me that God does not have a sense of humour. Elisha leads them eleven miles down the road into the main square in Samaria before asking God to restore their sight. I have no evidence for it but I suspect most of them had by now discarded their swords spears and armour while trying to walk. I can imagine most of them were rather surprised and afraid knowing the usual treatment of invading forces who had been disarmed.
The soft answer
Jehu, in common with common practice, proposed to kill them all which would be easy on exhausted and confused soldiers who were without weapons. Elisha is wise and tells the king to prepare a “great feast” for them. When they had finished eating and drinking the king sends them away back to their master. But that was not the end of the small raids on Israel. Elisha’s closeness to God is shown in a number of other incidents.
The harder answer
Some years later the Syrians came down in big force and besieged Samaria. The town ran out of food and people were so starving that some were even cooking children. The town official tells Elisha that only if God opened the floodgates of heaven could they be saved. Elisha says he will see it but not benefit from it. Elisha’s cure this time is by sound, not sight, but only at the last minute. Now there were some men with leprosy in isolation outside the city gate who said to each other one night “we might as well try to beg off the Syrians than die out here” and went into their camp. They found it deserted, so helped themselves before telling the town gate keepers. Scouts went out and found the road strewn with weapons, clothes and other baggage and no Syrians. They had heard the sound of an approaching army and panicked. The town people came out with such a rush that they trampled on the official who had doubted Elisha and he died.
The question
This is just one of a series of extraordinary events that God did through Elisha. In these ones we see that gentle answers can turn away wrath. A lesson not learned by the Syrians and resulted in disaster. Each event gives a different lesson. We will see later that the Syrians ignored these two lessons and suffered a fatal approach. Was God teaching Jehu a lesson, or Elisha, or Ben Hadad or us? We often pray “And lead us not into temptation”, but how else does God teach us? That promise “There are more with us than there are with them” is always encouraging, but we may not always see them.
Bob