Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 247
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SAMUEL–KINGS
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another. So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents,
horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.
When the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of the camp, they went
into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried
off silver and gold and clothing and hid it. Finally, they said to each other,
“This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with
anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon
us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was
there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in
order, but there wasn’t a single person around!” Then the gatekeepers
shouted the news to the people in the palace.
The king got out of bed in the middle of the night and told his officers,
“I know what has happened. The Arameans know we are starving, so they
have left their camp and have hidden in the fields. They are expecting us to
leave the city, and then they will take us alive and capture the city.”
One of his officers replied, “We had better send out scouts to check into
this. Let them take five of the remaining horses. If something happens to
them, it will be no worse than if they stay here and die with the rest of us.”
So two chariots with horses were prepared, and the king sent scouts to
see what had happened to the Aramean army. They went all the way to
the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and equipment that the Ara
means had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The scouts returned
and told the king about it. Then the people of Samaria rushed out and
plundered the Aramean camp. So it was true that six quarts of choice flour
were sold that day for one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain
were sold for one piece of silver, just as the Lord had promised. The king
appointed his officer to control the traffic at the gate, but he was knocked
down and trampled to death as the people rushed out.
So everything happened exactly as the man of God had predicted when
the king came to his house. The man of God had said to the king, “By this
time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will
cost one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost one
piece of silver.”
The king’s officer had replied, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord
opened the windows of heaven!” And the man of God had said, “You will
see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!”
And so it was, for the people trampled him to death at the gate!
Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Take
your family and move to some other place, for the Lord has called for a