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The Lord Will Take Care of Us Elisha and the Army Made Blind And the LORD
opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw:
Samuel Stalder Elisha (which means “My God is salvation”) was
one of the greatest prophets the Lord ever sent to the house of Israel. As
successor of Elijah, he is known to Bible Students as a type or picture of
classes during the end times. He was the one who accompanied Elijah when the
chariot of fire came down from heaven. He saw Elijah taken up by that whirlwind
and because of that he received the double portion of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kings
2:9,10,
ASV). After Elisha received
the mantle of Elijah, the Lord showed him through miracles, such as dividing
the waters of Jordan (2 Kings 2:9-15), that he was with him and accepted him as
his prophet. Many greater and smaller miracles which Elisha accomplished during
his service as a prophet of the Lord to Israel can be reported. Among those
miracles is the army made blind (2 Kings 6:14-23), to which we will take a
close look. We won’t be looking at these events from either a prophetical or
historical point of view. We will try to understand the lessons we can apply to
our everyday life. The Event Israel and her neighbor Syria were almost
constantly at war with each other. During the reign of king Joram of Israel,
Syria planned an attack against Israel: “Now the king of Syria was warring
against Israel; and he 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 coming down. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man
of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor
twice” (2 Kings 6:8-10, ASV). Through Elisha’s
warning the king of Israel avoided being ambushed by the Syrian army. This was
a miracle by itself. There is no report about how Elisha received this
information, but it is clear he got it from the Lord and not
by guessing. This, of course, was not clear to the Syrian king. He
felt after a certain time that something was wrong, probably betrayal.
Someone among his servants must surely have passed on the information. But who? “And 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 show me which of us is for the king of Israel?
And one of his servants said, Nay, 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 see where he is, that I may send and fetch
him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan” (2 Kings 6:11-13,
ASV). It seems that the king
of Syria believed what the servant said. Another possibility is that
he wanted to get hold of Elisha to see if he had been the one
informing the Israelites. The army went to Dothan, which was a small city on a
hill between Samaria and Mount Carmel. This is probably where Joseph and his
brothers took care of his father’s flocks (Genesis 37:16, 17), and therefore
the place Joseph was sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites. When the Syrians arrived
at Dothan, three miracles took place. With each miracle, the prayer of Elisha
was first. Then things began to change, as the record explains. Elisha’s First Prayer: His Servant Sees and
Overcomes His Fear “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, a host with horses
and chariots was round about the city. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master!
how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not; for they that are with us are more
than they that are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray
thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah 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.”—2 Kings 6:14-17, ASV The servant of Elisha began to fear when he saw an army
surrounding the city. What a natural reaction! The situation seemed hopeless.
But it wasn’t hopeless at all since the Lord was with them. The servant perhaps suffered mental or spiritual blindness. That
can be a danger for us, since many of the Lord’s provisions and precious
promises can be seen only with spiritual sight. Spiritual blindness is a danger
even for consecrated Christians, and in some cases the blind ones might not be
aware of their state, believing they are doing well. For Christians living in the time of the Lord’s second presence,
we are reminded of the message to the church of Laodicea: “Because thou
sayest,
I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not
that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked: I
counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become
rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and [that] the shame
of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that
thou mayest see” (Revelation 3:17,18,
ASV). In the time of Elisha, the Lord sent his army to protect Elisha
and his servants. Elisha himself saw these protective forces with his spiritual
eyes. The Lord did not use this force to strike the Syrians. However, the
Lord’s army was there: angels, horses, and chariots of fire ready for battle.
But there was no need to fight. Sometimes in our everyday life we are in similar situations as
Elisha’s servant. Things suddenly occur and they seem huge. In dramatic
situations those things look even larger, and lead us to be fearful, and feel
hopeless. We can see Elisha’s first prayer as an indication or even a
warning, that sometimes in difficult situations we do not see at first the
spiritual things God has for us. But Elisha was under divine protection by
horses and chariots of fire, which at first the servant could not see. The lesson is simply
that when sometimes in our life we feel surrounded and fearful, we should pray
that the Lord reveal his ways of protecting us. Only spiritual eyes can see the
divine power and protection. It is not that the Lord will make miracles for us
and let us see visions, but he assures us of his protection at all times. When
we do not see or feel his protection and care, we can continue in prayer and
trust the Lord to show them to us at the right time. Elisha's Second Prayer, An Army Smitten with Blindness Elisha next prayed for protection by making the
army blind. Obviously it was a special kind of blindness: they didn’t know
where they were and did not recognize the city to which they were led.
Furthermore, they didn’t even recognize Elisha who talked to them. We assume
this was a “blindness” with open eyes. Their minds and brain had been somewhat
manipulated. “And when they came
down to him, Elisha prayed unto Jehovah, 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. And he led them
to Samaria.”—2 Kings 6:18,19, ASV Blindness, in the
Scriptures, is sometimes a symbol for helplessness (Isaiah 59:10). It
seems that this was the case for the Syrians. Notice that the Lord
did not use his army with the fiery horses for some great battle. And notice
too that Elisha did not pray for the destruction of the Syrians. Most would
have expected both. But in Elisha’s second prayer he asked the Lord to smite
the Syrians, not with the sword, but with blindness. When they arrived at his
place he told them that this was not the way and not the city. Perhaps they
asked him, not recognizing through their blindness where they were and who he
was. “Blindness is the
condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or psychological
factors” (Wikipedia). As a result, the army believed Elisha as the account
shows. The Lord answered Elisha’s second prayer. Then the prophet led them to
Samaria where the king was. Elisha’s Third Prayer: A Blind Army Sees Again Immediately after they arrived in Samaria, Elisha prayed a third
time: “And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said,
Jehovah, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And Jehovah 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. And the bands of Syria
came no more into the land of Israel.”—2 Kings 6:20-23, ASV Elisha’s advice to the king of Israel to treat these enemies
kindly is surprising since in wartime one tries to destroy enemies. But the
king of Israel did as Elisha instructed. He gave the Syrians food and made a
feast; then he let them go. Under normal conditions this would have been a risk for him since
those warriors could have come back and taken revenge. But the king trusted the
counsel of the prophet and did even more than the prophet advised. He had faith
in the word of Elisha and did not doubt at all. And the Lord honored this faith.
The Syrians were impressed, perhaps even thankful, and did not come back to
Israel. This is a good lesson for us in how to deal with enemies. It is
not good for Christians to give place to revenge; rather they should trust God
for guidance and providence. Often enemies are impressed by behavior that is
clearly different from what is usual in the world. In many cases it is wise to
treat enemies well and give them a chance to change their conduct (Romans
12:20,21). Someone once said “the best
victories are the bloodless ones, where the spirit of righteousness, mercy and
benevolence are victorious over the spirit of rivalry, ambition and
selfishness.” This is a good lesson for our spiritual attitude since our fight
isn’t against flesh and blood. Why did the Lord not want the Syrians killed as he usually did
with Israel’s enemies? He even punished Ahab for not having destroyed
Benhadad:
“Thus saith Jehovah, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand the man whom I
had devoted to destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy
people for his people” (1 Kings 20:42). So why should the Lord in the time of
Joram not want the Syrians killed? One possible explanation might be found in the experience of Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army. He had leprosy, but because of his
obedience to the prophet’s words, he had been healed. His thankfulness to the
Lord, the God of Israel and our God, was so overwhelming that he recognized he
was the only God. From that time on he wanted to praise only the God of Israel.
His faith was so great that he dared ask for forgiveness, when he would be
kneeling in the house of Rimmon, the God of his king: “And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and
came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no
God in all the earth, but in Israel … And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I
pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth; for thy servant
will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but
unto the LORD. In this thing the
LORD pardon thy servant, that
when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth
on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in
the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon
thy servant in this thing.”—2 Kings 5:15,17,18 What a lesson for us, showing how we should be thankful and
confident that the Lord is ready to take care of us, to heal us from our sins,
and to accept us when we ask for forgiveness for things we really cannot
change. Let us do everything we can to stay faithful to the Lord,
searching for spiritual sight, and longing for spiritual protection. Prayer out
of a trustful heart is a powerful tool to reach our goal, and help us make our
calling and election sure. |