Samaria is besieged and starving. Elisha announces that by this time tomorrow food will be cheap in the gate, and the king’s officer says it plainly: not even windows in heaven could do that.
The men who prove him wrong are not soldiers or prophets. They are four lepers sitting outside the gate, shut out of the city, working out that they have nothing left to lose.
The Story of the Four Lepers
Elisha declared the word of the LORD: tomorrow about this time fine flour and barley would sell for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. A lord on whose hand the king leaned scoffed, asking whether such a thing could happen even if the LORD made windows in heaven. Elisha told him he would see it with his eyes but not eat of it.
Four leprous men sat at the entering in of the gate, excluded from the city by their disease. They put their situation to each other with brutal arithmetic. If they went into the city, the famine was there and they would die. If they sat still, they would die. So they would go to the Syrian camp: if the Syrians spared them they would live, and if they killed them, they would only die anyway.
They rose in the twilight and walked to the edge of the camp, and there was no man there. God had made the Syrian army hear a noise of chariots and horses, a great host, and they had decided Israel had hired the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians against them. They had fled at twilight, leaving tents, horses and asses exactly as they were.
The four men did what starving men do. They went into one tent, ate and drank, carried off silver and gold and clothing, and hid it. Then they went into another and did the same.
Then they stopped. They said to one another that they were not doing well: this was a day of good tidings, and they were holding their peace. If they waited until morning light, punishment would find them. So they went back and called to the porter of the city and reported an empty camp with the tents standing and the animals still tied.
The king suspected an ambush and sent scouts, who found the road to the Jordan strewn with the garments and vessels the Syrians had thrown away as they ran. The people went out and spoiled the camp, and flour and barley sold for a shekel in the gate exactly as Elisha had said.
Key Verses
“To morrow about this time … a measure of fine flour … for a shekel … in the gate of Samaria” 2 Kings 7:1
“There were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?” 2 Kings 7:3
“They were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold … no man there” 2 Kings 7:5
“We do not well: this day … a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace” 2 Kings 7:9
“The people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians” 2 Kings 7:16
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), a public-domain translation.
What the Story of the Four Lepers Teaches Us
The relief arrives before anyone knows about it. The Syrians had already fled while Samaria was still starving, which means the city’s problem for most of that night was not the siege but the news. The four men who happened to have nothing were the ones who found out.
Their turning point is a sentence about themselves, not about God. Sitting in a looted tent, they said they were not doing well, because this was a day of good news and they were keeping quiet. Holding on to a rescue that belonged to everyone was the thing they could not justify.
The story also finishes what it started with the officer who scoffed. Elisha had told him he would see it and not eat of it, and the account reports that outcome without comment. The city outside the gate was fed by the men it had shut out.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What was happening in Samaria?
The city was under siege by the Syrians and in severe famine. Elisha announced that within a day food would be plentiful and cheap in the gate, which seemed impossible to everyone who heard it.
Why were the four men outside the gate?
They were leprous, which meant living apart from the community. They sat at the entrance of the gate, shut out of a city that was itself starving.
Why did they decide to go to the enemy camp?
They reasoned that they would die either way. Entering the city meant famine, staying put meant death, so surrendering to the Syrians was the only option with any chance of survival.
Why had the Syrian army fled?
The account says the LORD made them hear the noise of chariots and horses and a great host. They concluded that Israel had hired the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians against them, and fled in the twilight leaving everything behind.
What happened to the officer who scoffed at Elisha?
Elisha told him he would see the promised plenty with his own eyes but would not eat of it. The chapter records that this is how it turned out, when he was trampled in the gate as the people rushed out.