2 Kings 7

Elisha foretells provision

But Elisha said, “Hear the Existing One’s message: Around this time tomorrow you’ll be able to buy five gallons of flour for one ounce of silver, and 10 gallons barley for an ounce of silver at Samaria’s gate.” Then the captain who’s shoulder had the king’s hand on it said, “Would that even be possible if the Existing One himself opened up heaven’s windows?” Elisha responded, “You’ll see it with your own eyes, but you won’t get to eat it.”

Lepers loot Syria’s camp

Now there were four men with leprosy at the city gate, and they said to each other, “Why are we sitting here just waiting for our deaths? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we’ll just die there. But if we continue to just sit here, we’ll just die here. So we might as well just go to the Syrian’s camp. If they take us in, at least we’ll be alive, but if they kill us, we won’t have lost anything.” So they left at twilight to go to the Syrian’s camp. But when they came to the edge of the camp, strangely, there was no one there. The Lord had made the Syrian army hear the sound of an army of chariots and horses, so that they said to one another, “Oh no, Israel’s king must have hired the Hittites and Egyptians to come fight us.” So at dusk they ran for their lives abandoning their camp just as it was, along with all their tents, horses, donkeys. When these lepers got there, they ate and drank their fill, and they took and hid silver, gold, and clothing for themselves.

Then they said to themselves, “What we’re doing isn’t right. We heard some really good news today, and when the morning comes, we’ll be punished. So come on, let’s go tell the king about this.” So they came and called the city’s gatekeepers telling them, “We went to the Syrian’s camp and, believe it or not, there was no one there to be seen or heard—nothing but horses, donkeys, and tents all abandoned just like they were.” So the gatekeepers sent word to the king. The king got up in the middle of the night and told his servants, “I’ll tell you what the Syrians are doing: They know how hungry we are, so they left their camp and hid, thinking, 'When they come out of the city, we’ll capture them alive and take the city for ourselves.’” One of his servants said, “Let’s take five of our remaining horses and send scouts. If something happens to them, it won’t be any worse than if they stay here and die with the rest of us.” So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them to look for the Syrian army. They tracked them down as far as the Jordan, and sure enough, the entire way was littered with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had lost in their haste. So the scouts returned and told the king.

Prophecy fulfilled

Then the people went out and looted the Syrian camp so that an ounce of silver could buy five gallons of flour or 10 gallons of barley, just like the Existing One’s message had said. Remember that captain whose shoulder the king rested his hand on earlier? The king had placed him in charge of the gate, and the people actually ended up trampling him and killing him, just how the man of God had said. When Elisha had talked about the lower prices, that captain didn’t believe him, and Elisha had said, “You’ll see it with your own eyes but won’t be able to eat it for yourself.” And so it happened to him, because the people trampled him underfoot at the gate and he died.