2 Kings 6:8-23--Horses and Chariots of Fire

2 Kings 6:8-23
English Standard Version

Horses and Chariots of Fire
8 Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.” 9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there.” 10 And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.

11 And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?” 12 And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” 13 And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” It was told him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” 14 So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 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. 18 And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

20 As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. 21 As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?” 22 He answered, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” 23 So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.

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We might think that after the captain of the armies of the king of Syria had been healed of leprosy in Israel by Elisha, the prophet of the LORD, that he might cease hostilities with Israel and might even want to be friends with them again, but it was not so--the two nations continued to war with one another, just as they do to this day.  Now the LORD upset the plans of the Syrians by telling Elisha every strategy and tactic that the king of Syria and his advisors came up in secret so that Elisha could tell the king of Israel and Israel could be prepared ahead of time and not taken by surprise.

The king of Syria was angry about the king of Israel knowing his ever move and he was sure that there was someone among his advisors who was betraying him to the king of Israel, and all the servants of the king of Syria plead their innocence and said that they were sure that it was Elisha whom the LORD revealed everything to and that even what the king spoke in secret was known to Elisha.  If this was the case, the king of Syria had no chance of winning any kind of military campaign until Elisha had been taken captive by Syria.  The king of Syria was told that Elisha was staying in Dothan, so the Syrian army came by night and surrounded the entire city to try to force the city to give Elisha up to them.

Now there is a servant of the man of God in this story who probably is not Gehazi (he's probably somewhere in a leper colony).  That servant who was helping to aide Elisha saw that the city was surrounded and the servant came to Elisha crying in fear, "My master, what shall we do?" (Interpret this as, "Elisha, do something!").  Elisha's answer is not to do anything though, but to rest in what the LORD had already done and was already doing.  Elisha prayed for the eyes of his servant to be opened so that he might see the spiritual realm and not just the physical realm.  When the servant's eyes were opened, he saw an army more numerous than that of the Syrians on the mountains surrounding Elisha.  So it was that Elisha told his servant, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

When the Syrians came against Elisha, Elisha could have prayed for the LORD to destroy all of them, and it probably would have been done for him, but instead he graciously prayed for the LORD to strike them with blindness so that they would not be able to know him by sight, nor by the sound of his voice and he would be able to lead them into the capital city of Samaria where they would be surrounded by the king of Israel and his army when their blindness was taken away.  Then they would see how the LORD's people treat their enemies differently than that world treats their enemies--we pray for them and continue to do good to them, even though the may hate us and despitefully use us.

Elisha ordered the king of Israel not to strike down these soldiers, but instead they were to be fed and given provisions so that they could return to Syria and tell the king of Syria how their plans had been thwarted by the LORD, and how both Elisha and the king of Israel saved their lives when they were certain that they were as good as dead, for they were blind and helpless, yet Israel did not take advantage of them in their helpless state.  After this, the king of Syria stopped its raids into Israel and gave up fighting with them for a while, but we'll see next time that the king of Syria is set on defeating the king of Israel (I would suspect that it was the will of the LORD to use Syria to punish the wicked king of Israel, but that the LORD is allowing the demonic influences of the idols that the king of Syria worshiped to influence him and that the demons are always stirring up people to attack the people of God.  The demons just probably aren't aware that they are doing the LORD's work).