Tag: 2 Kings

Elisha heals Naaman

June 30, 2020

Aram was a perennial enemy of Israel and Naaman was commander of their army according to 2 Kings 5. They had taken captives from the Israelites. The commander’s wife had a slave girl who knew of Elisha and his ability to work miracles by Jehovah’s power. Naaman had leprosy.

The King of Aram sent a letter to Joram in Samaria. Of course, the King does not know who they are talking about. Elisha tells the King to send the man to him and he will prove there is a prophet in Israel. There was no face to face meeting and when the Commander was told to wash seven times in the Jordan river he became angry.

He was accustomed to being treated with more respect. His servants convinced him to follow the instructions and when he did, he was healed. The Aramean recognizes that there is no other God, but Jehovah. Elisha declined the gifts that were offered, but his servant chased them down and took some things for himself. He was rewarded with leprosy for his greed.

More miracles are given in 2 Kings 6. Elisha causes an axe head to float to help one of the prophets. He sends Aramean soldiers away after they are blinded. They came to kidnap him, and Yahweh saved him from that fate. He even had the King of Israel feed them and send them home. Famine comes to Samaria because of the siege by Aram. Even Joram the King threatens Elisha for allowing God to cause this distress. People today still maintain, it is not my fault, even though it is.

The Arameans are defeated in 2 Kings 7 even though the King and majority of Israelites did not follow Jehovah. One of the King’s officers saw the deliverance but died before he could enjoy it. Four Lepers play a significant role in the discovery that the enemy camp had been deserted. How often have you missed a blessing simply because you refused to believe?

Elisha had warned the woman from Shunam to take her family and leave before the famine began. In 2 Kings 8, Joram, the King of Israel is asked to return their property after seven years absence. He had just been told about how Elisha had brought her son back to life.

Elisha travels safely wherever Yahweh leads him. He appears in Damascus and the King of Aram, Ben-Hadad, sends an envoy to have him seek the Lord. The truth is that the King will die, but Hazael is told to tell him he will live. When the Prophet cries, he tells that God has shown him the terrible treatment the Israelites will suffer at Hazael’s had after he kills Ben-Hadad and becomes the King of Aram.

Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat becomes the King of Judah. He marries one of Ahab’s daughters and does not follow Jehovah. When he dies, his son, Ahaziah becomes King of Judah. The King of Judah goes to visit Joram, King of Israel, because Joram has been injured in battle.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger

Elijah’s trip to Heaven

June 29, 2020

The book of 2 Kings begins in chapter 1 with Ahaziah the son of Ahab and Jezebel. He has fallen through a window and been injured. He sends messengers to inquire of the god of Ekron, Baal-zebub. Notice that this is the same chief of demons from the New Testament that Jesus was accused of casting out demons by.

Elijah is sent to intercept the messengers. “Is there no god in Israel?” This is the question he asks of them. He also informs them that the King will not recover from his injuries. When Ahaziah heard that message he wanted to know who the man was. He is given the description and knows it must be Elijah.

This is where the fun begins. First fifty-one soldiers are sent to bring the Prophet to the King of Israel. They are destroyed by Jehovah. A second group is dispatched with the same result. What would you have done if you were the commander of the third platoon? Hopefully, you would do what this commander did. He humbled himself before the Lord and begged for the lives of his men and himself.

Elijah delivers the message of doom directly to Ahaziah. He is the last of Ahab’s heirs to take the leadership of Israel. After his death Joram becomes the King. Remember that Jezebel is still alive.

The story of Elijah being taken to Heaven in 2 Kings chapter 2 is very interesting. Notice that he knows it is his last day on earth. Elisha refuses to leave him despite several attempts. When asked what Elijah can do for Elisha, the younger man asks for twice as much of God’s spirit as the older man has. The chariot of fire separates the two and Elijah is taken away.

The great prophet’s cloak is retrieved, and the miracles of Elisha begin. Fifty men looked for him and did not discover where he had gone. The river is parted, water is made pure, and two bears maul forty-two boys that were teasing him.

Joram is made King of Israel in 2 Kings 3. While he wasn’t as bad as his father Ahab had been, he was not a lot improved over he and Jezebel. When the Moabites rebel he asks Jehoshaphat from Judah and the King of Edom to join them. During the travel to Moab, the run out of water. The Judean King wants to consult Elisha. Jehovah provides water and enables them to be victorious over Moab. Their King offers his son as a sacrifice to his god to stop the attack.

A widow of one of the school of prophets came to Elisha in 2 Kings 4 and explained that since her husband’s death she had bills she could not pay. He did not tell her he would pray for her or take her problem to the benevolence committee.

He asked what she had. All he had to work with was her small jar of olive oil. As today, this is not inexpensive. When you read this, not these things. The jar she poured from was her own. No one gave it to her. The jars she poured the oil into were borrowed. Her faith and neighbors controlled how much oil she had to sell. The jars were returned to the neighbors after they were emptied.

Elisha raised a dead boy for his mother. He did this by direct touch and once again not by just prayer. He saved some of the prophets from food poisoning, and this was done with simple flour. He fed one hundred men with twenty loaves of bread and there were leftovers. Jesus was not the first to miraculously feed others.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger