Religious persecution seems to be an old theme. Like Elijah before him, whose life was in constant danger, Elisha became equally targeted for his prophetic prowess. Syria attacked Israel several times but was always defeated. When it finally came to the attention of the king of Syria that his soldiers were losing because of the prophet Elisha, he sent a large army to destroy him (2 Kings 6:11,12).
The Syrian army located Elisha in Dotham where they surrounded the city so that he could not escape (2 Kings 6:13). The next morning Elisha's servant panicked when he saw the vastness of the army that had come to destroy his master. Elisha, unperturbed, comforted his servant by saying: "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings 6:16). He then called upon the Lord to open the servant's eyes so that he could see the heavenly hosts that were there to protect them for "behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17). The faith to see the ‘unseen’ is of next level….
Elisha then prayed that the army would be smitten with blindness and the Lord complied following which Elisha led them into Samaria and into the hands of the king of Israel instructing him not to kill them but feed them and send them back to their master (2 Kings 6:22).
Another mesmerizing story involving Elisha and the Syrians was recited by Elder Orson Hyde. So afflicted was the northern kingdom of Israel with a famine that people were selling and eating mules' heads and dove's dung. The famine became so severe that some resorted to cannibalism. We even read of an account of two women who ate one of their sons (2 Kings 6:28-29). Elisha's prophecy regarding the famine is as follows:
"Once there was a great famine in Samaria and so sore was that famine that a mule's head sold for four score pieces of silver in the market and a cab of dove's dung sold for food in the market, I cannot recollect for how much. We should consider it pretty much of a task or penalty to be compelled to use an article like that for food, but the people of Samaria were sorely distressed with famine, and which way to turn to save themselves they knew not.
“About this time, the King of Syria, with a large army, came to besiege the city and there was a mighty host of them, and they brought everything in the shape of food that was necessary for the comfort and happiness of man; and although the famine was so sore among the Samaritans, the old Prophet, Elisha..., told them that on the next day meal should be sold in the gate of their city at very low figures, lower than it had ever been known to be sold before. A certain nobleman, who heard the prophecy of Elisha expressed his doubt of its truth, and he said that if the windows of heaven were opened and meal poured down from above, it could not fall to such low figures.
“Now see what he got by doubting the words of the Prophet - said Elisha to him - 'Your eyes shall see it, but you shall not taste it'. That night the Lord sent forth the angels of his presence and they made a rustling in the trees, and sounds like horses' hoofs and chariots, as if the whole country had combined to go out to battle against the Syrians, and they did not know what to make of it, and they were frightened and fled, leaving almost everything they had brought with them in the borders of the town; and as they went, the rustling of the trees and the noise of the horses and chariots seemed to pursue them, and in order to make their burdens as light as possible, they threw away everything they had with them, and their track was strewed with everything good and desirable.
“The next morning the people of Samaria went out and brought the spoils into the market, and it was overstocked with provisions and the word of the Lord through the Prophet was fulfilled. Now you see, the Lord knew they had eaten mules' heads long enough and that they had need of something more palatable; he had had the matter under advisement, no doubt, when the crusade was inaugurated against the people of Samaria, and he, in all probability, inspired them to take abundant supplies, that they might feel all the more confident on account of their great numbers being so well provided for.
“They no doubt calculated that they had the sure thing, little thinking that God was making them pack animals to take to his people what they needed. Their Father in heaven knew that they had need of them, and he sent them, and the people of Samaria brought them into market, and behold and lo the multitude rushed together just as hungry people will, and this nobleman came out also, and he was trodden down under foot and stamped to death - he saw it but he never tasted it.
“That is the reward
of those who disbelieve the Prophets of God; it was so then, and if the same
thing does not occur in every instance something of a similar character is sure
to take place. There was no living faith in that man, he could not believe the
testimony of the Prophets, and in this he was like some of our - what shall I
say, great men, whose faith is weak and sickly, and they think they know it
all, and can chalk out right and left that which would be best for building up
the kingdom of God." (Journal of Discourses, 17:6-7)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Chariots of Fire by Slavujac 2013)
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