2 Kings chapter 6 and verse 26. No, I'm sorry, verse 24. And
it came to pass after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered
all his host and went up and besieged Sumeria. And there was
a great famine in Sumeria, 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 dove's dung for five pieces of silver. And
as the king of Israel was passing upon the wall, there cried a
woman unto 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
unto her, what aileth thee? And she answered, this woman
said unto me, give thy son that we may eat him today, and we
will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did
eat him. And I said unto her on the next
day, Give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath 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. But Elisha sat in his house,
and the elders sat with him, and the king sent a man from
before him. But ere the messenger came to
him, he said to the elders, see ye how this son of a murderer
hath sent to take away mine head? Look, when the messenger cometh,
shut the door, and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound
of his master's feet behind him? And while he yet talked with
them, behold, the messenger came down unto him. And he said, and
I take these words to be Jehoram's, the king, behold, this evil is
of the Lord. What should I wait for the Lord
any longer? If ever there was a picture painted
of sin and its consequences, then here it is surely. A more desperate scene is hard
to imagine. We were reflecting a little bit
as we were preparing for the start of the service and just
thinking as we are about to spend a little bit of time in the book
of Esther, here we are in the book of Kings. The Lord's people
have experienced harsh, dire things throughout the whole of
the history of this world. Satan has been at work spoiling,
troubling, bringing terrible things upon the people of God
and upon others also. It seems the king of Syria had
forgotten the kindness that Elisha and the people of Samaria had
shown to the troops that had come to arrest Elisha and Elisha
had led them into the city blinded and then caused them to see,
to see the predicament that they were in and rather than be prisoners,
be fed and refreshed and sent back on their way to Syria. they'd forgotten the kindness
of the Lord. And perhaps a number of years
had passed between that passage in verse 23 and the beginning
here in 24, but maybe it wasn't so very long. Men have a desire
to serve their own lusts and their own passions, and so they
pursue those things which are anti-God and opposed to his people. And so there was a great famine.
And Ben Hadad, the king of Syria, brought his army to what appears
to have been a poorly prepared Syria. And the siege begins. Soon, hunger and starvation roams
the streets. And the rich people, they bought
a donkey's head for 80 pieces of silver. and the poor starved to death. And in desperation, terrible
things were done in the city of Samaria. It's a horror to consider. Sin never accomplishes anything
good. it always brings horror. And there may be short-term pleasure
in fulfilling sin, enjoying sin. The Bible calls it the pleasures
of sin, but it is careful to say that it only lasts for a
short time. I suspect many of us here are
aware of just what that means. The Bible speaks of both physical
death and spiritual death, and both of these things are a consequence
of our sin, of our transgression of God's law, and of our evil
nature. There was a horror in Samaria,
but there was a hardness, too. Joram, or Jehoram, the name is
the same, he was the king of Israel at that time, and his
throne and his court was in Samaria, so Ben-Hadad knew what he was
doing when he came to attack Samaria. He was after the king,
and he was after the capital city of Israel. But Joram didn't
repent. Joram didn't pray to God. Joram
didn't take the predicament of his city and his people to the
Lord. On the contrary, Joram blamed God. He blamed God for
the things that were happening in the city. He hardened his
heart against the Lord. He cursed God. He cursed God's
prophet. He threatened. He tried to kill
Elisha. Remember what we have said in
past studies that the prophet is God's representative, God's
ambassador, if you like. The prophet is as if God himself
was there in the midst of his people. The Bible says, touch not mine anointed, do the
prophet no harm. Well Jehoram sought to take the
head of Elisha off his body. Such was the hardness of the
king's heart at this time. Trying to kill the prophet was
the same as trying to get rid of God. And I think the point
that Jehoram here is making is that now he feels is the right
time to blame the true God for this situation. and get another
God in, a God that he would construct
and make in his own image, that they would bow down to and worship,
that they would use as an idol. John chapter five, verse 40 says
this, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. And that is a picture of man's
hard heart. Sin was in Sumeria and it created
horror. But that did not soften men towards
God and cause them to appeal to Him. Rather it hardened their
hearts against Him. And they said, away with this
man. We will not have this man to rule over us. Let us take
Elisha's head. Let's be rid of him and his God. The testimony of Scripture says,
ye will not come to me that ye might have life. There was horror
in Samaria, there was hardness of heart in Samaria, and there
was unbelief in Samaria. Towards the end of the chapter,
when Joram says, Behold, this evil is of the Lord, what should
I wait for the Lord any longer? And then we discover that Elisha
makes a prophecy. And I just want to read the two
verses at the beginning of chapter seven. Then Elisha said, hear
ye the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, tomorrow
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 that
is Elisha said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes,
but shalt not eat thereof. See, Elisha made a prophecy.
He prophesied that God was going to break this siege. Not only
was he going to break this siege, he was going to break that army
that laid the siege. Not only was he going to break
the army, but he was going to provide such nourishment, such
food, such opulence, there's the wrong word
to use, such a whole load of food. that all of these things
were going to be available for next to nothing. The people that
one day had bought a donkey's head to scoop out everything
that they could get from it, the next day were going to be
able to have measures of fine flowers for a few shekels. How
is that possible? How could that conceivably be
the case? The Prophet said, by this time
tomorrow, flour and barley, the essential foodstuffs to keep
people alive would be plentiful and cheap. A complete transformation
was going to take place. And that should have been a cause
for great hope. That should have been a cause
for praise. People should have been comforted with this news
from God, this word from the prophet. God has spoken. Hear the word of the Lord. There
is salvation. It's on its way. There is the
deliverance. It's coming and it's coming soon. Help is on its way. That's good
news. Thank you, Elisha. That's wonderful
news. God were to open the windows
of heaven and pour out the food, it could never happen. Unbelief,
you see. The good news was declared, the
gospel was preached. And in the midst of the horror,
when people had nothing, because of the hardness of their hearts,
all that continued was unbelief. He said, it's only 24 hours away. You know what, I thought about
that. He said, about this time tomorrow, these things are going
to be sold in the gates of Samaria. Well, if that was right, and
we talk about 24 hours, for them to get to Samaria, to be sold
there, would have taken time. It was such a short time. The greatness of the provis was
what stumbled these people. If he had said in six months
time, all you have to do is hold out for six months, maybe they
would have believed it then, but not something as glorious
as this, not something as great as this. How could it possibly
be? And isn't that the reaction of people? You show me what I
need to do to save myself and I'll do it. No, God wants to
give salvation free. No, I can't believe that. In Exodus chapter 14, verse 13,
Moses is speaking to the people of Israel and he says this, fear
ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which
he will show to you today. Now that was a different set
of circumstances in a different time, but the message was the
same. Stand still. Just wait. Fear not. Salvation is coming
and you will see it today. Will you trust? Will you believe? Is God's promise dependable? Is it certain and sure? one of
Joram's right-hand men, the man that he leaned upon, probably
the second or third person most important in the whole kingdom.
He mocked Elisha. He laughed at him. And he said,
that's impossible. That's never going to happen.
Even God couldn't do that. Behold, if the Lord would make
windows in heaven, might this thing be? The hard heart of unbelief. Habakkuk 1 verse 5, the little
verse that says, Behold ye among the heathen and regard, and wonder
marvellously, for I will work a work in your days which ye
will not believe, though it be told you. The prophet or the
preacher brings the news of God's promised salvation to a needy
world and a needy people. Not just bread to be sold in
the gate of the city, but living bread, the bread of life. The Lord Jesus Christ himself,
that one who will give life spiritual and life eternal. And the man
mocked Elisha when he brought his message of hope. And so Elisha
told him, you'll see it, but you won't taste it. You'll die
before you can even get a morsel of that promised blessing into
your mouth. The mouth that mocks God does
not get to enjoy the blessings of His providence. John 6, verse
35 says, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. But
I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. May the Lord give us grace to
believe, enable us to come hungry and thirsty, and be blessed and
to be fed with spiritual food at the hand of God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. And we have this confidence that
all who belong to Christ will come and all who come will be
accepted. God has promised it will be so. Do you believe him? Amen.