2 Kings 7:3 - Meaning and Application

We are told here how the siege of Samaria was lifted in the evening, just before nightfall (2 Kings 7:6-7). It was not by human strength, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, who struck fear into the minds of the besiegers. No sword was raised against them, and no blood was shed. They were not struck down by thunder or hail, and no destroying angel killed them as happened to Sennacherib’s army before Jerusalem.

First, the Lord made them hear the sound of chariots and horses. The Syrians who besieged Dothan were misled in what they saw (2 Kings 6:18). These men were misled in what they heard. God knows how to work through every sense to carry out his own purpose, just as he made the hearing ear and the seeing eye, and as he also makes the deaf and the blind (Exodus 4:11). We do not know whether angels really made the sound in the air, or whether it was only in their minds. Either way, it came from God, who brings the wind from his storehouses and shapes the spirit within man.

The sight of horses and chariots had encouraged the prophet’s servant (2 Kings 6:17). The sound of horses and chariots terrified the army of Syria. Messages from the unseen world are either deeply comforting or deeply frightening, depending on whether a person is at peace with God or fighting against him.

Second, after hearing this noise, they decided that the king of Israel must have hired help from some foreign power. They said he had hired against them the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians. As far as we know, there was only one king of Egypt, and no one can really tell how many kings of the Hittites there were. But as they had been misled by the sound in their ears, they also misled themselves with the explanation they invented.

If they had thought the king of Judah was coming with his forces, that would have been more believable. But it was absurd to imagine the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians were on the move. Even if fear first raised the thought in their minds, reason should have quickly dismissed it. How could the king of Israel, who was trapped under siege, have sent word to such far-off rulers? What could he have offered them to hire them with? News of such a huge army would have reached them long before. Yet there they were, terrified where there was no real danger.

Third, they all fled in sudden panic, as if their lives depended on it, and left their camp as it was. They could not even take their horses, which might have helped them escape faster (2 Kings 7:7). None of them had enough sense to send scouts to check for the enemy, much less enough courage to stand and fight, even though they were worn out from a long march. The wicked flee when no one pursues them. When God chooses, he can strip away the courage of the boldest man and make the strongest heart tremble. Those who will not fear God can be made to fear even the rustling of a leaf.

We are also told how four leprous men discovered the Syrians’ flight. Samaria was delivered, and did not even know it. The watchmen on the city walls did not realize the enemy had gone, because the retreat was so quiet. But God used four lepers as messengers. They stayed outside the gate, shut out from the city because they were ceremonially unclean. Jewish tradition says they were Gehazi and his three sons. It may be that Gehazi was one of them, which could be why the king later noticed him (2 Kings 8:4).

These lepers reasoned their way into deciding to go at night to the Syrian camp (2 Kings 7:3-4). They were about to die of hunger, and no one came through the gate to help them. If they went into the city, there was nothing there for them, and they would die in the streets. If they stayed where they were, they would slowly starve in their shelter. So they decided to go to the enemy and throw themselves on their mercy. If the Syrians killed them, they would at least die by the sword instead of by hunger. One death is better than a thousand. But perhaps the Syrians would spare them and show kindness. Common sense will often lead us to the choice that may improve our condition, though it cannot make it worse.

The prodigal son resolved to return to his father, whose anger he had reason to fear, rather than perish with hunger in the far country. These lepers said, “If they kill us, we shall only die.” Happy are those who can say that in another sense, too. We shall only die, that is the worst of it, not die and be condemned, not suffer the second death.

So they went at the beginning of the night, and to their great surprise they found the camp completely empty, with no one to be seen or heard there (2 Kings 7:5). God arranged it so that the lepers arrived just after the Syrians had fled. The Syrians fled at evening twilight (2 Kings 7:7), and the lepers came in the twilight (2 Kings 7:5). In that way, no time was wasted.

Then they reasoned themselves into bringing the news to the city. At first they ate in the first tent they entered (2 Kings 7:8), and then they thought about keeping the spoil for themselves. But they checked themselves and said, “We are not doing right by hiding this good news from the rest of the people, as if we wanted revenge on them for shutting us out of their company. It was the law that excluded us, not they. So let us go and tell them.” Even if the news woke them from sleep, it would be like life from the dead to them.

Their own consciences told them that harm would come if they acted only for themselves. Selfish people with narrow hearts cannot expect to prosper. The most satisfying good is the kind we share with our brothers and sisters. So they returned to the gate and told the guard what they had found (2 Kings 7:10). He quickly reported it to the royal court (2 Kings 7:11), and the news was no less welcome because it had first come from lepers.