2 KINGS 7


1 Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of Yahweh; Thus saith Yahweh, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.

A more apparently impossible deliverance could not have been propounded. It was a natural remark that was made by one of the king's nobles when he heard of it...



2 Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of Elohim, and said, Behold, if Yahweh would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

The scepticism thus evinced was severely rebuked. No marvel. It was an insult to Yahweh who had given so many proofs of His speaking by Elisha. It brought upon the perpetrator a prompt sentence of exclusion from the benefit. v17



16 And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh.

17 And the king appointed the Lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of Elohim had said, who spake when the king came down to him.

The investing army having become the subject of a panic, broke up and fled, leaving all their stores behind them. The inhabitants of the beleaguered city issued forth and found themselves in possession of plenty with the result of bringing down prices to the point predicted in Elisha's statement. And how did the unbelieving nobleman fare? Was he miraculously struck dead? No. This part of the prophecy was fulfilled also in a natural way. Having charge of one of the gates, he was trampled to death by the crowding and excited people who in their hunger could not be restrained from getting out to help themselves. The whole situation was invisibly controlled by the angels who, in a way that appeared natural, did a work that was in reality a work of God.

"Are not they ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Hebrews 1: 14).

They are: and consequently if we are earnest believers of the gospel and faithful performers of the will of God, our affairs which on the surface may be all natural in their evolutions and combinations, will be divinely regulated for our good. It is a matter of promise, knowing that God has not and cannot change. The times of the Gentiles do not interfere with God's love of His own, and His power and willingness to take care of them. He may give them bitterness in the cup, and they may seem forsaken, as in the case both of David (1 Samuel 27: 1) and "great David's greater son" (Matthew 27: 46): but they will find in the progress of time and experience that well-being and joy are the sequel and even the result of all the evil to which God may subject His children in this time of the night.

The Ways of Providence Ch 20

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