God seems to be forgotten by his own people, and remembered by foreigners in today’s chapters.
The Syrians’s defeat
2 Kings 6:8-23
Ahaziah
2 Kings 9:29, 8:25
Siege of Samaria
2 Kings 6:24-33, 7:1-20
Shunammite land restored
2 Kings 8:3-6
Ahaziah’s evil reign
2 Kings 8:26-27, 2 Chronicles 22:2-4
Ben-Hadad’s death
2 Kings 8:7-15
God is still fighting for the Israelites, despite their desperate situation. Besieged by the Syrian army, starving and on the point of defeat, God fills their enemies with fear, scatters them and lifts the siege. What is missing is any sign of thankfulness to God. I can imagine David calling a national day of rejoicing if something like this had happened, and dancing with reckless abandon to the praise of God. Solomon would have sacrificed a million bulls on the altar to the Lord. But the current occupier of the throne of Israel does nothing. It’s not even recorded whether he’s grateful to God. There is no faith among the people that they will be rescued, and it falls to a motley group of lepers to discover that the enemy camp is deserted.
Meanwhile Elisha’s reputation in Aram is such that he is a kingmaker. He intervenes in affairs in such a way that Ben-Hadad is killed and Hazael seizes the throne. There seems to be more faith in God in this foreign country than there is in Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment