2 Kings 6

the second book of the kings

Likely Jeremiah or a Deuteronomistic compiler · c. 560 BC

Chapter the Sixth

And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.

Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.

And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.

So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.

But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.

And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.

Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.

Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.

And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.

Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?

And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.

And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?

And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.

And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.

And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?

And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.

So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.

And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.

Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.

But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?

And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?

Chuck Smith · Sunday Nights, 1979 to 1985 (C2000)

2 Kings 5-8

Tape C2068 · 44:30

Permission granted by The Word For Today

Chuck Smith · Sunday Nights, 1985 to 1999 (C3000)

2 Kings 6-7

Tape C3114 · 57:07

Permission granted by The Word For Today

Chuck Smith · Sunday Mornings, 1979 to 1985 (T2000), Old Testament

Eye to See, 2 Kings 6:17

38:56

Permission granted by The Word For Today

Raul Ries · Through the Bible

2 Kings 5-7

53:27

Permission granted by Pastor Raul Ries

Chuck Smith on 2 Kings 6

Verse by verse, taught on Sunday nights: the C2000 series, 1979 to 1985. Permission granted by The Word For Today.

Chapter introductionNow the sons of the prophets said, "Hey, we have a hard time living with you, man, you live too strait. We need to build us a house to live in down by Jericho." And so he said, "Fine, go down to Jericho and build your house." They said, "Well, come down and help us." And so he went down to Jericho with them and they were felling some trees by the Jordan River. And one fellow's ax head flew off and went in the water. And he said, "Oh, no, I borrowed that ax head." Elisha said, "Where did it fall in?" He said, "Over in there." So Elisha took a stick and cast it into the river and the iron floated. And he said, "Grab it." And so he grabbed the ax head.
Verse 8Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel, and he had a meeting of his generals. Now he said, In such and such a place we will set up camp (6:8).And we will ambush the king of Israel when he comes back. So Elisha said to the king and warned him of the ambush that Benhadad had sent. And he saved Benhadad from the ambush, I mean, he warned the king of Israel, and he saved the king of Israel from the traps that Benhadad had set. More than once, more than twice. And so Benhadad figured that someone of his upper council had to be leaking the secrets. There was a security leak somewhere. And so he called his generals in and he said, "Okay, which of you guys is for my enemy?" And they said, "None of us, but there is a prophet over there in Israel. You can't talk to your wife in your bedroom but what he knows what you're saying to her."
And he said, "Go and bring him back a captive." So they said, "Well he's in Dothan." And so the Syrian army came to the city of Dothan and circled the city of Dothan with their horses, chariots and a great company of men. And they came by night and circled the city. So in the morning when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, got up and went out, he looked and he saw the Syrian army had circled the city of Dothan. And he went running back in. Woke up Elisha and he said, "We've had it! We're surrounded by the Syrian army."
Verses 16–17And Elisha said, Don't be afraid: there are more with us than are with them. Then he prayed, O Lord, open up his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha; and he saw the chariots of fire round about Elisha [and about the Syrian army] (6:16-17).Spiritual insight. It sure makes a difference on our whole outlook in life. Lord, open our eyes that we might see the truth. That we might not just see the obvious physical things, but that we might see the spiritual realities. For many times in the physical realm it looks like sure certain defeat. Unless you can see it in the spiritual realm, and you know there is a sure certain victory. If we look only at the flesh and at the physical, we are prone many times to be filled with fear and with despair, hopelessness, because it looks like things are hopeless. That's only because we're looking at the things which are seen. But Paul said, "We look at the things which are not seen: they are the eternal things" (II Corinthians 4:18).
Now it speaks of the men of the Old Testament in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews as it talks about these great men of faith. And in referring to the deeds and the exploits of these great men of faith, it said, "And they endured as seeing the invisible" (Hebrews 11:27). What was the secret of their endurance? What was the secret of their power? What was the secret of their ability to go through all of the things that they had to go through and all of the things that they endured? Because they could see beyond just the obvious physical things. They could see the realm of the Spirit. They endured as seeing the invisible.
Men who have spiritual insight actually see so much more. And that is why their lives are so stable and so secure, even though the world around them may be shaking. Yet because they can see spiritually, they are not shaken.
Verses 18–19And then Elijah prayed to the Lord and he said, Smite these people, I pray thee, with blindness. And the Syrian army was smitten with blindness. And Elisha said, This isn't the place you fellows wanted: I'll lead you to the place you want to go. And he led them to the city of Samaria (6:18-19).Into the gates of the city and to the king of Samaria.
Verses 20–31And he said, Now Lord, open up their eyes. And when they opened their eyes, they found they were in the center of Samaria [and they were surrounded by the Samaritan army. And the king of Samaria was all excited. He didn't know what to do.] Shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? And Elisha said, No, he said, if you take them as prisoners of war, you'd feed them. So feed them and send them home. So he prepared a great feast for them: fed them, sent them home, and they didn't come for Elisha again. Now it came to pass after this though, that Benhadad the king of Syria gathered together his host, and brought them up to Samaria. And he set up a siege, cutting off Samaria and there was a great famine in Samaria. So bad that a donkey's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a pint of dove's dung sold for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was walking along the wall, a woman cried unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, What do you want me to do? Sweep up the barnfloor for you, or get the caulks out of the winepress? What ails you? And she said, This woman yesterday said, Give me your son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son tomorrow. And so yesterday we ate my son, and now she's hid her son. Make her produce him so we can eat him. When the king heard this, he tore his clothes; and he said, God help me. If I don't have the head of Elisha the prophet by tomorrow (6:20-31).Now it is interesting, it is because of the fact that this king was leading the people into idolatry that they were having these problems. And yet, he wants to blame God and the servant of God for the problem. How irrational can a person be? But it is interesting how many times when a person has problems, they want to strike out at a servant of God. They want to blame you. They think you've been praying for them or something. And you know, they really get angry with you because of the problems that have come into their lives, when the problems are there because they have forsaken the Lord. But that's just a part of the irrationality of people. And so, he was blaming the prophet of God. "God help me, tomorrow I'm going to have that guy's head."
Verse 32And so Elisha was sitting in his house, and some of his friends with him; and as they were sitting there talking, he said, How about that? Look what that son of a murderer is going to do now. He's sending a guy down here to get my head. He said, When he gets to the door, [pin him,] hold him fast. For behold, the feet of his master are right behind him (6:32).So this guy came running up on the porch and the guys open the door and held him, pinned him. And the king came up.