Pattern all your calculating to: Christ will come again - Day 3

2 Kings 6:18-23

8 When the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, please, with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. 19 Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

20 As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men so that they may see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. 21 When the king of Israel saw them he said to Elisha, “Father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” 22 He answered, “No! Did you capture with your sword and your bow those whom you want to kill? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink; and let them go to their master.” 23 So he prepared for them a great feast; after they ate and drank, he sent them on their way, and they went to their master. And the Arameans no longer came raiding into the land of Israel.

The Arameans (present day Syria and Iraq) were a perennial problem for the people of Israel frequently sending raiding parties against Israel. God told Elisha where the raids would be taking place and king of Israel was able to warn towns of the coming raids. Finally, the king of Aram had had enough and decided to capture Elisha. That is the background behind vs. 18, and why the Aramean army is out to capture Elisha.

Elisha led the blinded Aramean army into the center of the Samaria, the capital city of the northern 10 tribes of Israel. Then their blindness was lifted and they saw that they were surrounded by the army of Israel. The Arameans knew that they were doomed. The king of Israel knew the Arameans were doomed. But the king of Israel decided that since the army had been captured by Elisha, Elisha should be consulted on what should be done with the surrounded/captured Aramean army – kill them? That would be the human thing to do, paying back the enemy for all the terrible things they had done to Israel. Elisha says, “No.” Instead, the instruction is to feed the Arameans and send them home. So, the Israelites prepared a great banquet and fed their enemies.

Elisha’s call to treat enemies with hospitality and kindness fits the pattern of asking what will happen in the coming reign of God? Not what is the human thing to do, but what is the God thing? Note the Arameans stopped raiding the land of Israel for a significant period of time. How different would the story have been if the king of Israel had done what he wanted to do? It seems likely that the king of Aram would have sought revenge for the killing of his men, and the bloodshed would have continued.  

PRAYER:

Lord God, we are human and we make human plans. Stop us from making foolish mistakes in our human planning. Show us your plans that we may follow your way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.