Day #185

Sermon - Audio
2 Kings 5-8 - Audio
2 Kings 5-8 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

Daily Reading 2 Kings 5-8

While you read today, fight the urge to read these stories moralistically. We can do ourselves a disservice if we read them with an eye for “what's right” and “what's not.” The emphasis of our passages are that YHWH is king not only Israel, but over all nations and all creation.

2 Kings 5

5.1 If you read this verse too quickly, you may have missed this part: “through him [Namaan] the Lord had given victory to Aram.”

5.2 We now find who God had given Aram victory over. God had given victory to Aram over Israel. Recall the emphasis on God's sovereignty over all. It was common for pagans to assert that in military victory, it was their own God who had victory over the other nations gods. In this case, it would be Aram's gods being victorious over Israel's God. But we see that victory did not come from Aram's gods, but from the one, true God. Namaan himself will acknowledge this by the end of the chapter.

5.5 Interesting that “The king of Israel” is not mentioned by name here. In fact, Joram hasn't been mentioned by name since chapter 3 and won't be again till chapter 8. The thrust of these chapters is not on the politics of Israel, but on what God is doing for the glory of his name through Elisha in the world more broadly.

5.7 The faith of the king of Israel is contrasted to the simple faith of the young Israelite girl back in Aram.

5.9-12 “stood at the door. Naaman clearly expects personal and immediate attention from Elisha, but Elisha addresses him only through a messenger and sends him to wash in the Jordan; moreover, Naaman was looking for a cure, and Elisha apparently offers only ritual cleansing (wash... be clean; cf. the cleansing ritual of Leviticus 13–14 with its use of the same Hb. verbs [Lev. 14:8–9 and in 13:7, 35; 14:2, 23, 32]). This he could have had at home, by bathing in the rivers of Damascus (ESV Study Bible).” He is upset that he came all this way for something symbolic, he wanted real healing! God does exactly that for him after Namaan humbles himself to do the simple task.

5.14-15 When Namaan's skin becomes “like a little child's” there is a connection back to the faith of the little Israelite girl from the beginning of the story. “The “great man” (from verse 1) had a problem, to which the “little girl” had the solution; but the solution involved Naaman's becoming, like her, “a little child”—someone under prophetic authority, humbly acknowledging his new faith (ESV Study Bible).” Here we have a gentile from outside of Israel showing greater faith than the “king of Israel” (who had freaked out when Namaan came with the request. His words “There is no God in all the world except the one in Israel” is the sort of thing you should be hearing from the people of Israel, and yet they are still committing the sins of Jeroboam.

5.16 The reason Elisha does not take the gift simply shows that it was not by his power that Namaan was healed, but by the power of God.

5.17 This verse is a bit elusive. The dirt would've been the amount needed to build an altar to the LORD. Exodus 20.24 brings this point home for us, “An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.”

5.19-26 Elisha's servant sees the opportunity to get rich off God's healing of Namaan. Gehazi's greed gets the better of him. Gehazi ultimately gets what's coming to him when he is punished for his greed with Namaan's leprosy. I am reminded of televangelists who promise healing if you pledge money to their ministries.

2 Kings 6

6.1-7 A strange little story here (not unlike the short scene with poison in the stew). This scene shows that Elisha is a special prophet, whom God works through to manipulate nature. The story is probably symbolic of death and resurrection. Death is often symbolized by sinking into water. We use the same symbolism in our baptism. We are united with Christ in our baptism. The early church would fully submerge new Christians (and perhaps their entire households) to symbolize the death of their old self, and then coming out of the water represented the resurrection which we also share with Christ. God is creator and sustainer of the entire universe. He is able to reverse the laws of gravity (as we see in this passage) but more importantly reverse decay and death (as we see in Jesus resurrection and look forward to in our own).

6.8-12 The story is a bit clunky here. In case you miss it, Elisha is able to know where the King of Syria sets up camp (by supernatural means). This gives Israel the tactical advantage as they are able to avoid all of Syria's ambushes. Essentially, they are getting strategic satellite images from God. The king of Syria assumes that there is a spy, but his advisers tell him about Elisha.

6.13-17 THIS IS ONE OF THE COOLEST PASSAGES IN KINGS! Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of it. The force from Syria surrounds Elisha, which freaks out his servant. But Elisha calmly informs his servant of much stronger protection. God had surrounds Elisha with an army of angels, which the servant could not yet see. But just because he couldn't see them doesn't mean they're not there.

This is encouraging to us in our weekly struggles. Even though we can't always see it, God surrounds us with his protection and love.

6.18-23 While you might expect an epic battle between a human force and an unslayable force ala Lord of the Rings, the outcome is quite different. Instead of perpetuating violence, God (through Elisha) acts in such a way to stop the cycle of violence. “In the ancient Near East eating together under one’s roof constituted making a covenant of peace. The Arameans were now bound by social custom not to attack the friend who had extended his gift of hospitality and protection. For these reasons the Arameans stopped raiding Israel’s territory for a time (Bible Knowledge Commentary).”

6.24-7.2 Even after this show of supernatural power by YHWH, Israel still does not repent and turn to the LORD. The King of Aram surrounds Samaria, creating a severe food shortage in the land. This causes the people to be so desperate that they are willing to pay 2 pounds of silver for a donkey's head—the most repulsive source of food imaginable....alas, they are even willing to resort to cannibalism. The report of prices Elisha gives in 7.1 is a hopeful one. Essentially: tomorrow, you'll be able to buy a double cheesburger off the dollar menu again.

2 Kings 7

“Entering the camp of the Arameans (apparently at night; cf. dusk, v. 7, ”daylight,“ v. 9, and ”night,“ v. 12) the lepers found that the enemy soldiers had fled. The writer explained the reason for the soldiers’ departure. The Lord had caused them to hear noises from the north and the south that made them think the armies of the Hittites (who earlier had lived in the area now called Turkey but were now living in enclaves in Aram) and the Egyptians were descending on them. They supposed these were reinforcements hired by the Israelites. So at dusk they retreated eastward toward their homeland. So great was their haste that they left many of their animals and supplies behind (Bible Knowledge Commentary).”

2 Kings 8

8.1-6 “The Shunammite's Land is Restored. After the long narrative about the siege of Samaria, the Shunammite woman of 4:8–37 reappears. The key to understanding this new story is found in 4:13, where the woman declines Elisha's offer of help because she has a home among her own people. In 8:1–6, however, she no longer has such a home, for she has followed Elisha's advice and avoided famine by sojourning in Philistia (ESV Study Bible).”

OK.......you've had plenty to read already. It's time to cut off the notes.