Day 127 · Part 8: Two Kingdoms
The Siege of Samaria
In the Story
In context
Benhadad besieges Samaria until a donkey’s head sells for eighty pieces of silver (2 Kings 6:24–25). It is one of the hardest passages in the Bible, and parents may want to read it first: a woman tells the king that she and another woman ate her son, as Moses had warned could happen in a siege (6:28–29; Deuteronomy 28:53). The king swears to have Elisha’s head (6:31).
Elisha answers that by this time tomorrow a seah of fine flour, nearly two gallons, will sell for a shekel at the gate (7:1). Four men with leprosy outside the gate find the Syrian camp empty: the Lord had made the Syrians hear “the noise of a great army,” and they fled (7:3–7). “Today is a day of good news,” the men say, “and we keep silent” (7:9). The officer who doubted is trampled in the gate (7:17–20).
Elisha weeps as he tells Hazael the harm he will do to Israel. The next day Hazael spreads a wet cloth over the king of Syria’s face, and he dies, and Hazael reigns, as the Lord had told Elijah at Horeb (8:11–15; 1 Kings 19:15). In Judah, Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram, married to Ahab’s daughter, kills all his brothers, yet the Lord keeps his promise to give David “a lamp” (2 Chronicles 21:4–7).
For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalms 30:5 · In a city starving under siege, Elisha promised food by this time tomorrow; the psalm says, “Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
For families
Elisha told the woman of Shunem, whose son he had raised, to take her household away before a seven-year famine. When they came home, the king gave back her house and land and all its harvests since the day she left (2 Kings 8:1–6).
The family from Shunem came home after seven years away. What would you most want to see if you came home after a long time away?
In the Bible
World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).
2 Kings 6:24–33
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2 Kings 7
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2 Kings 8
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2 Chronicles 21
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2 Chronicles 22:1–9
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A hymn for today
Great Is Thy Faithfulness · words by Thomas O. Chisholm
- Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,There is no shadow of turning with Thee;Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.RefrainGreat is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!Morning by morning new mercies I see;All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
- Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,Join with all nature in manifold witnessTo Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.RefrainGreat is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!Morning by morning new mercies I see;All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
- Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!RefrainGreat is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!Morning by morning new mercies I see;All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!