Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

A Day of Good Tidings

How the famine was changed to a feast.

“And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his host, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of doves’ dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barn floor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her, What ails thee? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him; and I said to her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she has hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand on him this day. … Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord, To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in Heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall into the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians, and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver and gold and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household. … They took therefore two chariot horses, and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. And they went after them to Jordan; and lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king. And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord” (2 Kings 6:24-31; 2 Kings 7:1-9; and verses 14-16).

Never was there a city in a worse case than this Samaria. The strong foe outside, and the sore famine inside had most surely brought them to the verge of despair. So reduced were they that mothers were boiling and eating their children, and if that seems an incredible thing, my answer is, it was but the fulfilment of the Word of God. These Israelites were great sinners. They had ignored the commandments of their God, and done their own wicked wills, and He had warned them long ago as to what the consequences of such rebellion against Him would be. In Deuteronomy 28 we read: “The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil … toward her young one that comes out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the seige and straightness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this Book.” Now it had turned out as the Word had predicted, undeniable evidence that the Word of God must be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of His Word can fail, and it will be well with those who take heed to those words. But did this great chastisement change the hearts of the people? No, it did not, for we conclude that they were truly represented by their king, and he, when he heard this gruesome tale, did not cry out to God for mercy. He did not say, “O God, we have sinned against Thee, and Thy judgment is just, but now pardon Thy people and deliver them.” No, he swore an oath, saying, “God, do so, and more also, to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand upon him this day.” He set out to murder the only one who could bless them. It was a strange thing, for this surely was the same king who had been delivered in former days by Elisha, yet now his one desire was to murder the man who had been his most faithful friend. But let no one suppose that this king was singular in his wickedness. He is only a sample of what the heart of man is capable, and not the worst sample either.

When Elisha’s Lord came in flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, the great test came to men. What a Friend was Jesus to them! He went about doing good, healing the sick, blessing the children, cleansing the lepers, feeding the hungry, and weeping over them, so greatly did He love them. But they cried, “Away with Him! Crucify Him!” and leading Him out of their city to Golgotha, they murdered Him there. It was not the ignorant and degraded rabble that did it, but “the princes of the world crucified the Lord of Glory” (1 Corinthians 2). It was then and there that the sin of man rose up to Heaven, challenging the very supremacy of God, and crying for an answer of surrender to them on His part, or swift and exterminating judgment. But what was God’s answer? Let us see what His answer to the wickedness of Jehoram by the mouth of Elisha was.

“Hear ye the Word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord, To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.” It was an answer of grace through the very man whom the king would have destroyed; it was God’s intervention on behalf of the afflicted people who had come to their wits’ end. And here is illustrated God’s answer to the challenge of man’s sin at the Cross of Jesus. A feeble illustration, I admit, but there it is, like beams of grace shining in the twilight.

The Cross will be for ever the awful monument of the wickedness of men, yet it was also the great revelation of the love of God. God answered man’s challenge, and declared His supremacy, but it was the supremacy of love, and where sin abounded grace did much more abound.
“The very spear that pierced His side
  Drew forth the Blood to save.”

“Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM.”
“O who would not boast in such love,
 And count all man’s glory but dross.”

It seemed impossible that the word of Elisha could be fulfilled, and the lord on whose hand the king leaned, as godless a man as his master, scoffed at the prophet’s words. He did not believe them. “Behold, if the Lord should make windows in Heaven, might this thing be?” he asked. Can God pour wheat and barley from Heaven? So he poured the scorning of an infidel upon the Word of the Lord, and showed that he knew nothing of the grace of God’s heart, the power of His hand, and the infallibility of His Word.

This Samaria, foe-beleaguered and famine-stricken, is a vivid picture of sinful men in this world, of all, in fact, who have not been saved by grace. I have met people who have been startled by that statement, and who have asked: “What do you mean?” My answer has been, “You are besieged by a great army of enemies, who are seeking the destruction of your soul.” And this is true of you, my unsaved reader. Do you say that you were not aware that you had a single enemy in the world? Well, you must have forgotten your sins, for your sins are your enemies! And death and the Devil, these are foes in whose eyes there is no pity, and who can show no mercy. And beyond all these there is the righteous judgment of God, for He will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, and will render to every man according to his deeds, and there is no respect of persons with God.

There are many, and I am one of them, who are full of gratitude to God that we discovered that we were beset with many enemies. And we had none more terrible than our SINS!

At the gate of the city were four leprous men, their dire condition had sharpened their wits and brought them to their senses and to a wise decision. “Why sit we here until we die?” they ask. We must do something. Shall we go into the city? No, that won’t relieve us, for the famine is in the city, and we shall die there also. There is only one hope, and that is that our foes may be merciful, but if not, well, we had better face the situation courageously and at once, and leave the issue to God. It was on those lines that I reasoned when I awoke to my need, and it is after this manner that I invite my readers who do not yet know the saving grace of God to reason. You must do something, for you cannot save your own soul, nor can you satisfy your own heart’s hunger, and the world cannot save and bless you; if you go to the world for salvation and satisfaction, you will find neither. The world passes away and the lust thereof.
 “Its grand fete days,
  And fashions and ways,
  Are all but perishing things.”

One of its most brilliant and enthusiastic votaries laid bare his empty heart when he wrote:
 “Where is the world? …
   I looked for it — ’tis gone!
   A globe of glass,
   Cracked, shivered, vanished,
   Scarce gazed upon ere a silent power
   Dissolved the glittering mass.”

And how weary of it all he must have been when he wailed:
 “I fly like a bird of the air,
     In search of a home and a rest;
   A balm for the sickness of care,
     A bliss for a bosom unblest.”

There is no hope in the world for sinners; its pleasures cannot satisfy the hungry heart, its religion cannot save the guilty soul.

The one way of blessing is to face the grave questions of sin and death, of Satan’s power, and of judgment to come, to be honest with yourself, and with God, to own the truth of your lost condition, and your need of a Deliverer. It is thus I interpret the story for you, and to take this way will issue in a great blessing, as the way of the leprous men did for them. They arose in the twilight and came to the camp of the Syrians, and did not find a single enemy there, for the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, even the noise of a great host. … Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.”

It was a great deliverance, but only a feeble picture of one that is infinitely greater. The foes of the one who believes have not been scared from the field to which they might return when the scare was past, they have been confronted by the sinner’s Champion and Substitute, and they have been put to utter rout. It was at Calvary that this great fight was fought and this great victory gained, and Jesus was the One Who stood there for us.
 “Alone He bare the Cross,
    Alone its grief sustained;
 His was the shame and loss,
    And He the victory gained.
 The mighty work was all His own,
 Though we shall share His glorious Throne.”

And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver and gold and raiment, and went and hid it. Where they expected foes they found the feast, and were greatly enriched. And this is the experience of all who come to God through Christ. They come full of fear, believing that God is against them, a hard master, reaping where He had never sown, and instead they find that God is for them and against their enemies, that He has Himself secured salvation for them from the foes that threatend their souls, and has spread a feast for their starving souls. So the prodigal found it to be when he returned to his father, and so every soul finds it to be that turns to God.

These men were not content with what they found in the first tent, they went from tent to tent, enriching themselves as they went. In this they were a fine example for Christians of this day. How often do these rest content with their first knowledge of God and His blessing. The forgiveness of sins and the assurance of Heaven seem to be all that they desire to know, when there are the unsearchable riches of Christ for their enjoyment. We must go from tent to tent; we must grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, or we shall not know the extent of our wealth in Him. We must not neglect His grace. How beautifully it is put in that well-known verse, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” But if we are to know this grace that has enriched us in its true blessedness, we must go in for it, we must go from tent to tent.

Then said these men one to another: “THIS IS A DAY OF GOOD TIDINGS, and we do not well to hold our peace. … Come, therefore, now, that we may go and tell the king’s household.” It would have been a selfish and inhuman thing to have kept those good tidings to themselves. The blessing that they had found was for all the famished citizens of Samaria, and they were rightly moved when they said, “COME, THAT WE MAY GO AND TELL.” These were good and evangelical words and should be in the hearts and mouths of all believing souls.
“Go and tell to all the world around,
  What a dear Saviour we have found.”

So they came to the city, and told the porters at the gate of it, and they, convinced by the enthusiasm of the men and the treasures they showed, which witnessed to the truth of their words, aroused His Majesty from his sleep. First he made a confession: “They know that we be hungry.” And that confession, if not on the lips is in the hearts of the multitudes that throng the world’s pleasure haunts: “WE BE HUNGRY.” It is written on their faces, it is heard in their hollow laughter, it shows itself in the frenzied rush for pleasure. Their appetites were never so considered as now, and never catered for with such abundance for the gratification of every lust and sense, and they were never so hungry.

Then the king jumped to a conclusion: “They have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field,” said he; “and when we come out of the city they will catch us alive and get into the city.” Which meant: “It’s too good to be true.” But one of his servants was a wise man, and proposed that at least they might send and see. “Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain in the city, and let us send and see.” No one could question the wisdom of the proposal, and I would take it up and press it upon those who have doubts in their minds as to the blessedness of knowing the Lord. I would take up David’s words and say, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusts in Him.” “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” And those who have tasted say with united voice, “The Lord is gracious.”

The advice was good, and they took therefore two chariot horses, and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see. AND THEY WENT AFTER THEM UNTO JORDAN, and lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.”

The people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. God fulfilled His own promise of deliverance and plenty, and all the famished inhabitants of the city rejoiced that day, but one man, and that man was the unbeliever. “Thou shalt see it with thine eyes,” the prophet had said to him, “but thou shalt not taste thereof.” And so it fell out to him; for the people trod upon him in the gate, AND HE DIED. Twice over in the story do these words occur, as though to emphasise the doom of the unbeliever, and they bring to the mind those words that came from the lips of the Lord Himself: “He that believes not shall be damned.”

The rich man lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus in the place of blessing; he saw it with his eyes, but he could not share in that blessing, for between him and it there was a great and impassable gulf fixed. They are unpopular words, but there they stand in God’s Word, in which warnings are mingled with entreaties, and are all a proof of God’s desire for the blessing of men.