2 Kings 6

Elisha floats metal axehead

Now the prophets guild said to Elisha,

“We’ve outgrown this place where we live under your leadership. Is it okay if we go to the Jordan and use the logs to build us another building there?”

Elisha gave them permission, then one of them said,

“We’d love for you to join us.”

So Elisha agreed to join them.

Then they all went to the Jordan and started cutting down trees, but as one of them was chopping, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out,

“Ug! Master, that axe was borrowed.”

Then the man of God asked, him where it fell, and when he showed him the place, Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in the water, and the iron floated to the top. He said, “Pick it up,” so the man reached out and grabbed it.

Elisha warns military

There was a time when Syria’s king was at war with Israel, and he and his advisors agreed,

“We’ll set up camp at such and such a place.”

But the man of God sent a message to Israel’s king saying,

“Make sure not to pass through this place, because the Syrians will be there.”

Then Israel’s king would then alert his people in that place. Elisha would often warn him like that, saving them more than just once or twice.

This perplexed Syria’s king, so he called his servants together and asked them,

“Which one of you is spying for Israel’s king?”

And one of his servants said,

“None of us, your majesty, oh king. Israel’s prophet Elisha is the one warning their king of your secret plans.”

And he said,

“Go find him so I can take him hostage.”

Someone told him, the Elisha was in Dothan, so he sent a large squadron there with horses and chariots to surround the city at night.

Elisha induces Blindness

When the man of God’s servant got up early in the morning, sure enough, an army of horses and chariots had surrounded the city. The servant said,

“Yikes! Master, what should we do?”

He said,

“Don’t be scared, because we outnumber them.”

Then Elisha prayed,

“Oh Existing One, please open his eyes so he can see.”

So the Existing One opened the eyes of the young man so he could see, and sure enough, the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the Syrians descended upon him, Elisha prayed to the Existing One,

“Please strike these people with blindness.”

So he struck them with blindness just like Elisha had prayed. And Elisha told them,

“This isn’t the way, and this isn’t the right city. Follow me, and I’ll bring you to the man you want.”

And he led them to Samaria.

As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said,

“Oh Existing One, open the eyes of these men, enabling them to see.”

So the Existing One opened their eyes so they could see, and sure enough, they were in the middle of Samaria. As soon as Israel’s king saw them, he asked Elisha,

“Father, can I kill them? Can I kill them?”

He answered,

“Don’t kill them. Would you kill hostages with weapons? Give them bread and water so they can eat and return to their leader.”

So he prepared a huge feast for them, and after they had eaten, he sent them back to their leader. And after that, the Syrians stopped raiding the land of Israel.

Woman eats son

Afterwards Syria’s King Ben-hadad gathered his entire army and took them to besiege Samaria. At that time there was such an intense famine in Samaria that a donkey’s head sold for 2 pounds of silver, and a cup of dove feces sold for 2 ounces of silver. One day as Israel’s king was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him,

“Help, your majesty, oh king!”

And he said,

“If the Existing One won’t help you, then how am I gonna help you? From the grain factory, or from the winepress?”

The king asked her,

“What are you struggling with?”

She answered,

“This woman said to me, ‘Hand over your son so we can eat him today, and we’ll eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Hand over your son so we can eat him’ But she has hidden her son.”

When the king heard what she said, he tore his clothes—up high on the wall where everyone could see him—and he said,

“May God punish me and even kill me if I don’t behead Elisha son of Shaphat today.”

Elisha was sitting in his house with the government representatives when the king sent someone to find him, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders,

“Do you see how this murderer has sent to behead me? When the messenger comes, shut the door and don’t let him in. Won’t his boss be on his way not too far behind him?”

While he was still talking to them, the messenger showed up and said,

“This famine is from the Existing One! Why should I wait for the Existing one any longer?”