Laudable Lepers
In II Kings chapters 6-7 we read about a terrifying famine, one induced by fear of a marauding army of Syrians, who by attrition were attempting to starve out Samaria, a city of the Israelites. The king of Israel, the one who is supposed to have it “all together,” is leaning on the hand of a captain who speaks on behalf of the king, and questions the words of God’s prophet. He expresses doubt that God will do what the prophet Elisha claimed . . . words he would inevitably regret. The king and the captain are fretting for good reason however; there are women in the city who are fighting over equal share to one another’s children for cannibalistic consumption. This is certainly a situation not a single reader of this article could likely relate to. Elisha, familiar with the workings of a prophet, is having just another crazy day on the job so to speak, another day, another catastrophic apocalyptic uttering, you know…pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. Which sets the unlikely heroes of the story, in a crazy contradistinction from all the rest of this cast; they are four pathetic lepers who leave the “comfort” of their famine prison, with nothing to lose.
These are the weakest of the weak, the rejects of rejects, no-one would be haggling or fighting over their flesh . . . as it was abominable, flagging, and falling off of their wasted bones. As they give up hope in their leaders, having not heard the prophecy of Elisha, they leave the gate of Samaria, which seems to mean certain death by starvation, and place their hands in fate where at least they have a fifty-fifty chance of living. As they leave the city behind them, the distance between this pathetic gaggle and a king who had no clue what to do but moan in sackcloth, grew great.
The distance that grew was more than a linear one; it was a spiritual distance, for these fools saw the awesome hand of God’s power to deliver. They witnessed, first-hand, the salvation of the Lord. For God reveals himself to the foolish things of the world, he does not do so to the proud or arrogant, neither does he to those who exalt themselves above God. We are never further from salvation than when we think we somehow are entitled to it. Sure the whole city had been saved as Elisha portended, however these men, these poor wracked jagged heaps of life saw the mighty hand of God, and they had the fortune to be bearers of the greatest news these denizens of Samaria had probably ever heard.
How did the captain fair? Well as most stories go, the bad guy was trampled by a mob of crazy hungry people in a gate. Why? He doubted the salvation of Yahweh.
God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, all the carnal earthly wisdom of our current day amounts to nothing (I Corinthians 1:26-28). While we in America are not currently enduring such radical travail, our leaders politically are not much different. They always seem to think they can solve the problems of the world by relying on the council of the worldly wise. And the worldly wisdom is always doubting God. Is it not apparent that one of the crowning virtues of our post modern views is doubt?
I pray that God grants his church today, the resolve and determination to become weak that He might be strong, that we may see the salvation of His hand. And that we would not fret because of evil doers and bad leaders, as Psalm 37:1 commands us.
“The wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” –James 3:17
