2 Kings 3-4

2 Kings 3-4

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 3: The Moabites are Defeated

                Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria. Jehoram did wickedness in the sight of the Lord, but not like his parents... because Jehoram put away Baal and did not worship him. Instead Jehoram held onto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel sin.

                Mesha the king of Moab was a sheepmaster and gave the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams with the wool. But after the death of Ahab, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. Jehoram the now king of Israel goes to the king of Judah (Jehoshaphat) and aks his help in battling against Moab. Jehoshaphat agrees and takes him army with Jehoram through the forest of Edom. As they journey they run out of water and ask for a priest among them. They find Elisha and ask him to help. He tells the kings (Israel and Judah) that they must dig trenches and the water will appear, but not by way of wind or rain... they will just appear.

                The water appears and from the Moab's point of view the water appears blood red. The Moab king makes the assumption that Israel and Judah must have killed each other and that they could now collect on the spoils. But in reality, Israel and Judah were waiting for them at their camp... they smite the Moabs and drive them into their own country where they destroy everything and cause the king of Moab to flee with 700 swordsmen.

Chapter 4: Elisha Raises a Boy from Death

                A woman in the crowd calls out to Elisha and tells him that her husband has died and that he left behind debt, that the creditors would now be coming for he children. Elisha asks the woman what she has that she could use to pay the debt. She tells Elisha that all she has was a small vessel of oil. So he tells her to borrow vessels from all of her neighbors... go into her house and start pouring the oil out from the vessel she had into the new ones. It was a miracle! She managed to fill all of the vessels and have more to come out of her original vessel. But once all the borrowed containers were full her oil ceased. Elisha then told her to take the oil and sell it to satisfy the debt.

                Elisha and his servant kept passing by a "notable woman" who begged for them to come and eat at her house. So every time they passed by her house they would stop and eat. She enjoyed them coming and asked her husband to create a small area in their house, where Elisha and his servant could rest and sleep. So they make a bed for them both. After a while Elisha tells the woman that she has spent a lot of time caring for them and asked her what they could do for her. Elisha tells the lady that she will conceive and have a son and she does have a son!

                This child grew.  When the child grew he died from what appears to be a blow to the head. He dies on the lap of his mother. Elisha however brings the child back to life through the power of the priesthood. The child turned from cold to warm and then sneezed 7 times before opening his eyes.

                Elisha returns to Gilgal, where there is a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets then ask for food and they gather herbs and gourds to create a stew. Which after creating the stew, realize that someone had put a plant that was poisonous, so they end up making something with flour in it, instead.

                Next in the chapter, Elisha does something very similiar to what Jesus did with the loaves of bread and fishes. He manages to feed a lot of people with very little food.