2 Kingschapter 7
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A.Fine flour for a shekel tomorrow: and a captain who scoffsvv. 1-2
Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.’” But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”
2 Kings 7:1-2
Elisha's message sets tomorrow's grain prices to the shekel, spoken into a city that one chapter earlier paid silver for dove's dung and watched a mother boil her own son for food. The lord who leans on the king's hand answers with a scoff at the idea of a downpour of grain, and Elisha answers him with a sentence rather than an argument, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. The chapter repeats that same sentence word for word at verse nineteen, so the reader is told it twice before its execution is reported at verses seventeen through twenty. The pattern echoes the man of God who named Josiah three centuries before his birth at 1 Ki 13:2, a word spoken plainly and then kept to the letter, only here the gap between word and fulfillment is a single day.
The wording quoted in this note is the King James Version.
2 Kings 7:1, 3 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about these verses, in their own words.
2 Kings 7:1
“The division between the chapters is most awkward here. Elisha, in this verse, replies to the king’s challenge in 2Ki 6:33 - that his God, Yahweh, will give deliverance in the space of a day. On the morrow, by the same time in the day, the famine will have ceased, and food will be even cheaper than usual. A measure of fine flour - literally, “a seah of fine flour;” about a peck and a half. For a shekel - About 2 shillings 8 12 d. Two measures of burley - Or, “two seahs of barley;” about three pecks.”
2 Kings 7:1
“Hear ye the word of the Lord--This prediction, though uttered first to the assembled elders, was intimated to the king's messengers, who reported it to Jehoram (2Ki 7:18).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Kings 7:1
“The consequence of that shall be great plenty. This would, in time, follow of course, but that corn should be thus cheap in so short a time was quite beyond what could be thought of. Though the king of Israel had just now threatened Elisha's life, God promises to save his life and the life of his people; for where sin abounded grace doth much more abound.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 7:2, 2 voices
2 Kings 7:2
“Then a lord - שליש shalish. This word, as a name of office, occurs often, and seems to point out one of the highest offices in the state. So unlikely was this prediction to be fulfilled, that he thought God must pour out wheat and barley from heaven before it could have a literal accomplishment. But shalt not eat thereof - This was a mere prediction of his death, but not as a judgment for his unbelief; any person in his circumstances might have spoken as he did.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Kings 7:2
“The murmuring Israelites saw Canaan, but could not enter in because of unbelief. Such (says bishop Patrick) will be the portion of those that believe not the promise of eternal life; they shall see it at a distance--Abraham afar off, but shall never taste of it; for they forfeit the benefit of the promise if they cannot find in their heart to take God's word.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
B.Four lepers find an empty camp and stop hoardingvv. 3-11
Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ we will die there from the famine in the city; but if we sit here, we will also die. So come now, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.” So they arose at twilight and went to the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the outskirts of the camp, there was not a man to be found. For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.” Thus the Arameans had arisen and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents and horses and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had run for their lives. When the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they carried off the silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. On returning, they entered another tent, carried off some items from there, and hid them. Finally, they said to one another, “We are not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will overtake us. Now, therefore, let us go and tell the king’s household.” So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city, saying, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a trace—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.” The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported to the king’s household.
C.The gate is trampled and the word comes truevv. 12-16
So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and enter the city.’” But one of his servants replied, “Please, have scouts take five of the horses that remain in the city. Their plight will be no worse than all the Israelites who are left here. You can see that all the Israelites here are doomed. So let us send them and find out.” Then the scouts took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.” And they tracked them as far as the Jordan, and indeed, the whole way was littered with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in haste. So the scouts returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
D.Thou shalt see it, but shalt not eat thereofvv. 17-20
Now the king had appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king had come to him. It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel.” And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” And that is just what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
2 Kings 7:3-4
Four men with leprosy sit where the law of Moses placed them, outside the gate and outside the camp, and hunger drives them to reason out loud. Their logic admits only three doors: stay and die of famine, enter the starving city and die the same death, or risk the Syrian camp where death is only a possibility instead of a certainty. It is not courage that moves them so much as arithmetic, and the text lets their calculation stand as reasoning any starving man could follow.
2 Kings 7:3, 1 voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about these verses, in their own words.
2 Kings 7:3
“The position of the lepers is in accordance with the Law of Moses (marginal references); and shows that the Law was still observed to some extent in the kingdom of Israel.”
2 Kings 7:5-7
The lepers reach the camp at the same hour they set out, the evening twilight, and find it empty of any watch to surrender to. The text names the cause directly: the Lord made the host of Syria hear a noise of chariots and horses, a great host they could not see, and their own guess turns it into hired armies of the Hittites and of Egypt. One chapter earlier Elisha's servant saw a mountain full of real horses and chariots of fire around Dothan at 6:17; here the enemy hears an army that was never assembled at all, and the same God stands behind both the seen host and the imagined one. They flee, leaving tents, horses, asses, and the camp exactly as it stood, saving nothing but their lives.
The wording quoted in this note is the King James Version.
2 Kings 7:5, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:5
“The twilight - The evening twilight (see 2Ki 7:9). The uttermost part of the camp - The extreme boundary of the camp toward the city, not its furthest or most distant portion. Compare 2Ki 7:8.”
2 Kings 7:7, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:7
“Those that will not fear God he can make to fear at the shaking of a leaf. How the Syrians' flight was discovered by four leprous men. Samaria was delivered, and did not know it.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 7:8-9
The lepers work tent to tent, eating, drinking, and hiding silver, gold and clothing before conscience catches up with them. Their own verdict names the fault precisely, this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace, men with nothing left to lose sitting on news that could save a starving city. Spurgeon preached this verse by name as a debt owed once deliverance has been tasted, that a man who has found good news has no right to keep it to himself. The lepers correct themselves before the night is out and go to tell the king's household.
The wording quoted in this note is the King James Version.
2 Kings 7:10-12
Word passes in three quick steps: the lepers call to the porter of the city, the porter calls the porters, and the king's house hears it from within. The king's first reaction is not faith but calculation, a trap set by starving Syrians hiding in the field to catch Israel outside the walls once hunger drives the people out. Matthew Henry reads the suspicion as the mark of a mind unstable in all its ways, expecting to receive nothing good from God even when the report is true. The same king who tore his robes and blamed Elisha for the famine one chapter earlier still cannot trust deliverance when it is standing at the gate.
The wording quoted in this note is the King James Version.
2 Kings 7:10, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:10
“They called unto the porter ... and told them - The word “porter” is used like our “guard” and the meaning here is, not that the lepers called to any particular individual, but that they roused the body of men who were keeping guard at one of the gates.”
2 Kings 7:12, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:12
“He knew no reason the Syrians had to fly, for it does not appear that he or any of this attendants heard the noise of the chariots which the Syrians were frightened at. Let not those who, like him, are unstable in all their ways, think to receive any thing from God; nay, a guilty conscience fears the worst and makes men suspicious.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 7:13-15
five of the horses that remain: One servant proposes a modest test, send five of the horses that are left, since they will die of the famine soon enough whether they go or stay. Only two chariot horses can be found fit to send, a detail that measures how far the siege has stripped the city's own strength. The riders follow the road toward Jordan and find it strewn the whole way with garments and vessels the Syrians threw off in their haste, proof the king could see for himself before a single soldier was put at risk.
2 Kings 7:13, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:13
“Behold ... - The Septuagint and a large number of the Hebrew MSS. omit the clause, “behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it.” But the text followed by our translators, which is that of the best maunscripts, is intelligible and needs no alteration. It is merely a prolix way of stating that the horsemen will incur no greater danger by going to reconnoitre than the rest of their countrymen by remaining in the city, since the whole multitude is perishing.”
2 Kings 7:14, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:14
“Now the Lord repented himself concerning his servants, when he saw that their strength was gone, Deut. xxxii. The plenty that was in Samaria, from the plunder of the camp of the Syrians,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 7:15, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:15
“The Syrians had fled probably by the great road which led from Samaria to Damascus through Geba, En-gannim, Beth-shean, and Aphek. It crosses the Jordan at the Jisr Mejamia, about thirty-five miles northeast of Samaria.”
2 Kings 7:16
The city empties into the abandoned camp and takes what the four lepers had only sampled, and the market answers Elisha's word to the letter, a measure of fine flour for a shekel, two measures of barley for a shekel, exactly as promised at sundown the day before. The text names its own standard for truth, according to the word of the Lord, the same formula Kings uses whenever a spoken word and its outcome are set side by side for the reader to compare.
The wording quoted in this note is the King James Version.
2 Kings 7:16, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:16
“God's promise may be safely relied on, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. The death of the unbelieving courtier, that questioned the truth of Elisha's word. Divine threatenings will as surely be accomplished as divine promises.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 7:17-20
The king sets the skeptical lord over the gate to keep order, and the same crowd whose hunger emptied the Syrian camp tramples him underfoot on its way to the spoil. Verses eighteen and nineteen repeat the prophecy and the lord's scoffing answer almost word for word from the chapter's opening, so the narrator lets the reader watch the sentence land a second time before reporting the death itself. He sees the plenty with his own eyes exactly as told, and eats none of it, exactly as told. Kings closes the account the way it opened it, as the man of God had said, a small word kept as carefully as any of the covenant promises the rest of the book is built on.
The wording quoted in this note is the King James Version.
2 Kings 7:17, 3 voices
2 Kings 7:17
“And the people trode upon him - This officer being appointed by the king to have the command of the gate, the people rushing out to get spoil, and in to carry it to their houses, he was borne down by the multitude and trodden to death. This also was foreseen by the spirit of prophecy. The literal and exact fulfillment of such predictions must have acquired the prophet a great deal of credit in Israel.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Kings 7:17
“The news spread like lightning through the city, and was followed, as was natural, by a popular rush to the Syrian camp. To keep order at the gate, the king ordered his minister to keep guard; but the impetuosity of the famishing people could not be resisted. The lord was trodden to death, and Elisha's prophecy in all respects accomplished.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Kings 7:17
“When he was about to fill his belly God cast the fury of his wrath upon him ( Job xx. 23 ) and it came between the cup and the lip. Justly are those thus tantalized with the world's promises that think themselves tantalized with the promises of God.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 7:18, 2 voices
2 Kings 7:18
“And it came to pass, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying,.... As in 2Ki 7:1, and what he said to the king there, and to the lord, in 2Ki 7:2, are repeated in this and the next verse, that it might be observed how exactly the prophecies were fulfilled.”
2 Kings 7:18-20
“When Israel said, Can God furnish a table? the Lord heard it and was wroth. Infinite wisdom will not be limited by our folly. God never promises the end without knowing where to provide the means.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Kings 7:20, 1 voice
2 Kings 7:20
“And so it fell out, &c. - See how heinously God resents our distrust of his power, providence and promise! Whenever God promises the end, he knows where to provide the means.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Where the chapter sits
2 Kings 7 falls in Elijah's ascension; Elisha's ministry (chapters 1–13). Elijah taken up by whirlwind; double portion; widow's oil; the Shunammite's son raised; Naaman healed; siege of Samaria broken; Elisha dies and his bones raise a man.
After it: Northern kingdom's fall, chapters 14–17.
The whole shape of 2 Kings→Key words
The Hebrew words this chapter turns on, by how often it uses them. Each one opens its word study.
| Word | What it means | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| אָמַרʼâmar16 times, as וַיֹּ֣אמֶר, אָמַ֣ר, וַיֹּאמַר֒ | to say | 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 more |
| מֶלֶךְmelek12 times, as לַמֶּלֶךְ֩, מֶ֨לֶךְ, מַלְכֵ֧י | to the king | 2, 6, 9, 11 and 5 more |
| בּוֹאbôwʼ11 times, as נָב֨וֹא, לָב֖וֹא, וַיָּבֹ֗אוּ | to come | 4, 5, 6, 8 and 3 more |
| מַחֲנֶהmachăneh10 times, as מַחֲנֵ֣ה, הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖ה, הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֗ה | camp | 4, 5, 6, 7 and 5 more |
| אִישׁʼîysh9 times, as אִ֣ישׁ, אִֽישׁ׃, אִ֨ישׁ | man | 2, 3, 5, 6 and 5 more |
| אֲרָםʼĂrâm9 times, as אֲרָ֔ם, אֲרָ֑ם, אֲרָ֗ם | Aram | 4, 5, 6, 10 and 4 more |
Cross references
The 8 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
2 Kings 63 verses
2 Kings 7:12
2 Kings 6:25So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.2 Kings 7:17, 18
2 Kings 6:32Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”2 Kings 7:13
2 Kings 6:33While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”- Read 2 Kings 6 →
Genesis 182 verses
2 Kings 7:2
Genesis 18:12So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”2 Kings 7:18
Genesis 18:14Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”- Read Genesis 18 →
Isaiah 332 verses
2 Kings 7:16
Isaiah 33:4Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.2 Kings 7:16
Isaiah 33:23Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder.- Read Isaiah 33 →
Jeremiah 141 verse
2 Kings 7:4, 13
Jeremiah 14:18If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”- Read Jeremiah 14 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 4 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- Joshua 31 verse
- Exodus 161 verse
- Ezekiel 371 verse
- Malachi 31 verse
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.
The world behind itThe place, the time and the people around this chapter, for a reader who wants the setting.
The world behind this chapter
2 Kings 7The history
The four men with skin disease sit at the entrance of the gate because the Law required them to live outside the community. In a siege that put them in the worst possible spot, outside the wall with the enemy, and cut off from whatever food was still inside. Their reasoning is stated plainly: staying means starving, going means maybe dying, so they walk toward the enemy camp at dusk.
The gate itself is the setting for both halves of the chapter. City gates were roofed structures with chambers where elders sat, business was done, and grain was measured and priced. The prophecy is given in market terms, a measure of fine flour for a shekel and two of barley for a shekel, which is the language of an ordinary trading day, and that is what makes it unbelievable to men who had just been quoting the price of a donkey's head.
The Arameans hear the sound of chariots and a great army and conclude that Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings. That was a realistic fear: small kingdoms did hire outside powers, and a night alarm in a camp was notoriously hard to control. They leave tents, horses, and donkeys standing and run for the Jordan, and the road is littered with clothing and equipment thrown down in flight, a detail that reads exactly like a rout.
The officer on whose hand the king leaned held a real court post, a personal aide close enough to the king to support his arm in public. His mocking remark about windows in heaven and his death in the crush of the crowd at the gate are told twice, at the start and the end, because the narrator wants the fulfilment matched to the word.
What it meant to them
The four outcasts say the sentence that carries the chapter: this day is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. Men with nothing, holding the only good news in the country, decide it has to be told.
For the first hearers the point beneath it was that God can lift a siege overnight and does not need an army to do it. The city was saved by a sound, and the news was carried by the men it had pushed outside the wall.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 2 Kings 7. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1996, Public Testimony, a Debt to God and Man; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown; John Gill; John Wesley; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry.