- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Apr 16, 2016 14:44:23 GMT -8
Haftara for Par'shah Metzora, 2 Kings 7:3-30
Once again we must understand what is happening before we delve into the lessons of the haftarah:
2 Kings 6:24-31 (ESV) 24 Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five shekels of silver. 26 Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” 27 And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” 28 And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” 30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body— 31 and he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”
The king in this account is not named. Most likely it was Ahaziah or Jehoram. But this is speculation based on the apparent time of the story, which is not firmly fixed either.
The king let the people see he was wearing sackcloth, but his heart still hardened. The oath he swore against Elisha showed that he blamed the prophet, and by extension God for the circumstances he now found himself in. Possibly it was that Elisha had failed to warn him as he had so many times before. Perhaps the king thought the siege had gone on too long now and he thought the prophet could get God to provide relief. This would show the characteristic dual mindedness of the unbeliever:
** God does not exist, or He cannot provide
** And yet they so often ask “Why does God allow these things?”
2 Kings 6:33 (ESV) And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
The king was asking why he should trust God. This statement was made in the presence of the prophet of God. The wicked often fall into a rage in their desperation when they do not get sudden relief from whatever worries them. I know; I've been there. This accusation, spoken in presence of the prophet, is indicative of his state of mind.
2 Kings 7:1 (ESV) But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah [about 7 quarts or 7.3 liters] of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, [about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams] and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”
In those circumstances this kind of abundance would have seemed impossible, implying the need of a miracle. Only absolute trust in YHVH could credit the words of prophet as true. It is the same with us whenever real needs come up against trust in the promises of God. In our weakness we rationalize the promises and fail to lay hold of them. The past never seems a sufficient basis for present trust, as trust must reach forward from the past. It is a present act with present consequences, the spectre of which can be terrifying.
One cynic there voiced his disbelief:
2 Kings 7:2 (ESV) Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
There are two types of people: those who trust God and take Him at His word, and those who jeer at the hope of believers. Meshiachim must suffer the accusations and unbelief of both the church and the world. But where is our faith? In whom is our trust?
Now we come to our haftarah and the flight of the Syrians:
The means of their deliverance as well as those through whom it was realized were both unexpected and unlikely. God most often sends the weak to accomplish His deliverance; in this way He prevents our glorying in ourselves. Four lepers, who by law were kept outside the city, were used to discover the victory.
2 Kings 7:3-4 (ESV) Now there were four men who were lepers [a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13] at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.”
In present circumstances these men could not expect even the smallest charity or even success at scavenging. They faced certain starvation where they were; their only viable hope of survival seemed to be with the Syrians with their plenty. So they went to the camp of the enemy:
2 Kings 7:5-7 (ESV) So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.
Going back to chapter six for a moment:
2 Kings 6:16-17 (ESV) He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
The Syrians thought they heard great armies coming to relieve the Israelites- Hittites from north and Egyptians from south about to catch them in a pinchers movement, possibly encircling them and then attacking from two directions at once. Panicked, they fled, taking nothing to slow them down. Could it have been the army of the Lord they were hearing? The same army which had been with Elisha previously when the enemy had come for him? Like a similar invisible army at another time:
2 Samuel 5:24 (ESV) And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”
2 Kings 7:8 (ESV) And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.
To men who had nothing, this was a true windfall! Food and drink instead of starvation; wealth to provide for their future. And all there for the taking!
2 Kings 7:9 (ESV) Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household.”
The realization they were doing wrong and fear of punishment forced them to stop their plunder and go tell the king. Whenever God blesses you or delivers you, do not keep it to yourself lest you incur punishment. Give to Him the glory He is due; share what He has done.
2 Kings 7:10-12 (ESV) So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.” Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king's household. And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’”
All the commentators I read, Jewish and Christian alike, were very severe on the king of Israel here. It is true he did not seem to even recall the prophecy. If he did, he did not give credence to it. However prophecy notwithstanding, God doesn’t want us to act foolishly. I think he did right to send scouts, and he was wise to suspect a Syrian trick to lure them out. I say he was wise; he acted wisely, whether out of fear and mistrust of God or out of wisdom, or both; he did right.
Thus far we see the wealth and abundance YHVH has provided, yet only a few of the lowliest of God’s people have seen and tasted of it. So it is with the besorah of Yeshua today; only a few of us now are tasting of it. Many in churches are skeptical, disbelieving, while others scoff at the idea of God. So like these beleaguered Israelites in our reading they wait, starving, while relief and abundance are just over the rise.
2 Kings 7:13-15 (ESV) And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.” So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.” So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.
Five horsemen: half of ten, the number of completeness. Halfhearted? Half hoping? Half trusting? Yet deliverance was there for the taking.
2 Kings 7:16-20 (ESV) Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” the captain had answered the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.
And so all the prophecy, unlikely as it seemed at the time, came to be. The captain was probably sent to the gate to keep order. There, as prophesied, he saw the deliverance but was trampled by the hungry mob. This event showed the faithfulness of God as He fulfilled His promises. It also shows us the certain punishment for those who do not trust, and especially those who would influence others in their disbelief. This does not mean we suspend discernment for everyone who wants attention for themselves. But if God said it, believe it. Trust He will do exactly as He said he would. Our unbelief cannot stop God nor slow His purpose. However the unbeliever is excluded from participation, and so perishes in the midst of His great abundance.
In hard times, people typically will respond in one or more of four ways:
1.) They place blame, especially tending to blame God:
2 Kings 6:33 (ESV) And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
Just as his father had with Eljah before him;
1 Kings 18:17 (ESV) When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”
2.) They doubt:
2 Kings 7:2 (ESV) Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
God will open the windows of heaven if we are obedient and patient in our trust
Malachi 3:10 (ESV) Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Tithing is an act of faith. It is the only time I know where God says we are to test Him is this, to see if we can out-give Him.
3.) Sometimes men reason:
2 Kings 7:3-4 (ESV) Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.”
These four leprous men were very deliberate in reasoning out their own circumstances. They acted not out of faith, but out of logical concerns; yet they were still used by God as messengers of His salvation.
4.) And some, despite all logic and reason, resort to sharing. Now true in our example here these men shared after sating themselves, and out of fear of punishment. However consider the example of the widow of Zeraphet with Elisha’s mentor, Elijah:
1 Kings 17:12-15 (ESV) And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.
This woman and her son were starving. She had no logical reason to help the prophet, yet she did. She trusted God and her faith was rewarded.
It is how we respond in times of trouble that shows our character. These are the times which define us; that take the measure of our trust in God. Being Messianic so often feels like we are besieged, too many of us starved of the company of other like believers. But if our trust and hope is in Him we must then look to His deliverance. I have to believe that there is plenty just over the hill. Meanwhile, I am sustained both here and at home; I have enough to keep me going. The alternative is to give in to spiritual starvation with the church, or to go over to the enemy and feed from the scraps of his camp. Neither of those seem attractive to me.
Dan C
Sources: Edersheim, Meyer, Wiersbe, JPS Study TNK, my father and others.
