The Way God Works

When the Aramean army lays siege to Samaria, the famine grows as severe as it can be. A donkey’s head sells for eighty shekels of silver, and one woman, having boiled and eaten her own son, comes to the king to complain that she has been wronged, because another woman has hidden her son.

The king tears his robes and makes a show of repentance, yet the sackcloth beneath them is mere form, worn to be seen by the people. He does not stop to consider their own disobedience but sets out to kill Elisha, and he speaks words of unbelief: this disaster has come from God, so there is no point in waiting any longer. Even so, Elisha proclaims that by this time tomorrow prices will be back to normal, and he tells the officer who scoffs at this that he will see it with his own eyes but will not share in it.

Lepers cast out beyond the city walls find the Aramean camp deserted and carry the good news into the city. As the people rush out, that officer is trampled to death, and everything happens just as Elisha said. Where there was no hope, God brought salvation through the weakest, and that salvation leads on to the cross of Jesus Christ.