The Cursed Life (2 Kings 6:24 – 7:20)
“The Cursed Life”
2 Kings 6:24 – 7:20 (24-31)
You know that we are presently in a very interesting time
In the nation of Israel.
And we have been looking at
Two very distinct and different types of people.
1 type is the Blessed Life.
It was those who had God ON their side and God AT their side.
It is those who have chosen to choose God
Over this world and to seek Him out.
Poor Widow
Prominent Woman
Prophetic Witnesses
Naaman the Aramean
The other type is the Cursed Life.
We already saw one man, and that was Gehazi.
A man who loved money more than the things of God.
He wanted to attain the world so bad
That he ended up being cursed with leprosy.
And so the distinction has been clearly seen in this portion of 2 Kings.
And carrying on this theme a little, I wanted to take a moment
And show you that this is a very foundational truth.
In fact, when God was about to send His people into the Promised Land,
He first gave them a very pointed book of instruction.
We call it the book of Deuteronomy.
In that book, God outlined the difference between
The Blessed Life and the Cursed Life.
Close to the end of the book, God throws down a very important invitation.
TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 30:15-20
And so you see that God has warned Israel from the beginning
That once she was in her land,
She should seek out God and thus live the blessed life.
But they have overwhelmingly refused that mandate.
And so in Israel we have many who are living “The Cursed Life”.
We are in a section in which Elisha is trying to get through to them.
He is not using miracles, he is using fulfilled prophecy
But you and I know that:
SOME PEOPLE INSIST ON LEARNING IT THE HARD WAY
There have always been those who refuse to learn anything the easy way. They won’t just listen to God, they force God to pound them first.
Israel has commonly found herself in this role.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 1:1-9
TURN TO: AMOS 4:6-13
Jeremiah 5:3 “O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.”
And if we had time we could continue.
• About how Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3 was sent to a stubborn and obstinate people, and so God promised to make his forehead as hard as their foreheads.
• We could read Isaiah 28 as God tells them not to be like ground that refuses to be plowed or like seed that refuses to be crushed.
• We could hear Jesus in Matthew 23 weeping over Jerusalem saying, ”How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”
• We could go and see Paul in Acts 18 in the Corinthian synagogue frustrated with the unbelief of the Jews finally saying, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
And so the list goes on and on.
The Bible is full of people who prove to be tough nuts to crack.
And certainly that is the type of people that Elisha is dealing with here.
So allow me this morning to reveal to you a host of different characters to help you better see, “The Cursed Life”
There are 5 main personalities I want us to see.
#1 A CURSED PEOPLE
2 Kings 6:24-29
Let’s examine this disturbing passage just a little closer.
First we recognize that Aram and Ben-Hadad are back.
The marauding bands have truly stopped raiding the border,
But now we find Israel in all out war.
By this time, Ben-Hadad has made his way all the way to Samaria,
Has surrounded the city, and has cut off all supplies from it.
Believe me when I tell you this did not happen overnight,
But we are allowed to see the story at the height of despair.
And now the result of this city under siege is that of severe famine.
And to see the severity, we go to the local market.
(25) “a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.”
“A donkey’s head” was the least nutritious part of a filthy unclean animal, and yet it was fetching a high price.
“dove’s dung” may have either been literal dung, or a slain name for seed pods that were commonly fed to animals, but either way, it was also fetching a high price.
And one could say they were at rock bottom.
Certainly the king thought so,
Until he decided to take a stroll on the wall.
And while walking on the wall a woman cries out to him for justice.
Please notice his sarcasm when he says:
(27) “If the LORD does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”
Obviously both of those places were empty,
He was speaking sarcastically
And unfortunately he was blaming the situation on God.
It is amazing how the wicked can live in sin, spurn God,
Disobey His commands and yet somehow find a way
To pin the blame for all their adversity on God.
But that is precisely what Jehoram does.
And then we read one of the most horrifying accounts in Scripture
(28-29) “And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ “So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”
Now obviously we have to pause a moment
And deal with the absolute horror of cannibalism.
This is a level of depravity that literally blows the mind.
But that isn’t even the most shocking part of the story.
The most shocking part is the woman’s indifference.
This woman obviously sees nothing wrong
With that course of action for she openly reveals it to the king.
In fact she is upset because she has can’t eat another baby.
They are not just starving
They are completely and totally depraved in their thinking.
COULD YOU EVER IMAGINE SUCH A SITUATION OCCURRING?
God could.
In fact God prophesied it.
TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 28:47-57
(curses start in 28:15)
God knew this day was coming.
It was a consequence of being under the curse.
They are literally a cursed people in need of God.
First, A Cursed People
#2 A CONFUSED KING
2 Kings 6:30-33
And so you see the immediate response of the king.
The account horrified him so much so that he tore his clothes.
Tearing clothes was a sign of horror and ultimate frustration.
Those on the ground below the wall, were able to see that
“he had sackcloth beneath on his body.”
“sackcloth” was a black fabric woven from goats hair.
It was almost always associated with repentance for it was uncomfortable to wear and seen almost as a sort of self-abasement.
And so the King is wearing “sackcloth”
And so immediately some would read this and say,
“Well why is God allowing this, the king is repenting?”
Scripture doesn’t say he repented.
“Scripture says he wore sackcloth,
And wearing sackcloth does not make you right with God”
In fact there is no religious exercise that will do that.
There is no emotional display that can make it happen.
Perhaps you remember Esau, the man who sold despised his own birth right.
Hebrews 12:15-17 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
Emotional response and religious displays mean nothing to God
If not accompanied by the heart.
God wants a change of behavior, not a change of underwear.
TURN TO: JOEL 2:12-20
This king is clearly confused about how to entreat the favor of the Lord.
And if there was any doubt as to his hypocritical repentance,
He wipes it away with his statement.
(31) “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”
Here we have an idolatrous, murdering, son of a Baal worshiper
Blaming the plight of the country on Elisha.
No doubt Jehoram is angry because Elisha counseled him to let Aram go
When he had the army under his thumb earlier on.
But it was not Elisha who let Ben-Hadad escape.
(In fact, those that Elisha dealt with did not return to Israel)
1 Kings 20:34 “Ben-hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore, and you shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.” Ahab said, “And I will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.”
It was Ahab who defeated Ben-Hadad, and Ahab who let him escape.
Later the prophet approached Ahab and said:
1 Kings 20:42 “He said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'”
It was Jehoram’s daddy who let Ben-Hadad go, not Elisha,
But Elisha is still the enemy.
Jehoram is confused.
If that is not enough, look at his next step.
Verses 32-33
So Jehoram is going to capture Elisha and behead him.
Apparently he learned nothing from the last king
Who tried to capture Elisha.
He is clearly a confused man
And look at what he says to Elisha:
(33) “Behold, this evil is from the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
Now we see the other reason Jehoram is angry.
Obviously Elisha has counseled him to “wait for the LORD”
And now that deliverance has not come, Jehoram is angry at Elisha.
But you understand when Scripture says to “wait on the LORD”
It does not mean continue in sin until God delivers.
• Aside from waiting Jehoram should have been tearing down those two golden calves of Jeroboam that he was clinging to.
• Aside from waiting Jehoram should have been doing something about that wicked queen mother Jezebel who was killing the prophets.
• Aside from waiting Jehoram should have been punishing the gross immorality of the nation such as cannibalism.
The true idea of waiting is that of trusting God
With faithful obedience until He delivers.
You can’t live in sin and expect God to change His mind about your plight.
This is one confused king.
First – A Cursed People Second – A Confused King
#3 A CONFIDENT PROPHET
2 Kings 7:1-2
There is Elisha, that rock of a man.
He isn’t the least bit concerned about the wrath of Jehoram,
For he still has that unmovable faith that seems to carry him.
And even after he is scorned for his belief by an arrogant officer,
Elisha still holds his ground.
And it is then that he makes a very confident prophecy.
(2) “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you not eat of it.”
There is not even a hesitation if Elisha’s voice.
He is a confident man.
A Cursed People – A Confused King – A Confident Prophet
#4 A CURIOUS LEPER
2 Kings 7:3-14
Now we have God doing an amazing thing.
It is one that is brought to light by four leprous men.
(Let us remember that Jesus said that Elisha purposely did not heal a single leper in Israel, only Naaman the Aramean – that is because none of these lepers would seek God.)
They reason that they are as good as dead either way,
And so they determine to take their chances with Aram
And see if they can’t get some food.
When they enter the camp, they find it deserted.
We know why.
(6) “For the LORD had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us.”
Earlier God affected their sight, here God affects their hearing.
God delivered according to the word of Elisha.
And these lepers find it.
They return and take word to the King,
And even after the word of Elisha he is still skeptical.
But God has given a great deliverance.
#5 A CRUSHED OFFICER
2 Kings 7:15-20
There you find that God has indeed delivered
And the people are enjoying what God has done.
The interesting part is that arrogant officer who doubted Elisha
Has been stationed at the gate to oversee the distribution.
And as a casualty of his placement he is trampled
By the rushing of people to get food.
And then the writer repeats the prophecy of Elisha.
Verses 18-19 “It happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.” Then the royal officer answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.”
The reason the writer repeats it again is because
He wants you to understand that this is the point of the story.
• He doesn’t want you to leave this morning thinking about the horrors of cannibalism…
• He doesn’t want you to leave this morning thinking about the free for all in the Aramean camp…
HE WANTS YOU TO READ THIS STORY AND UNDERSTAND THAT GOD’S WORD CAN BE TRUSTED.
Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Psalms 19:7-11 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”
This is what faithless Israel should have learned
And it is also what we should learn.
In addition to that, we must understand how crucial it is then
To be obedient to this perfect word of God.
You cannot disobey God and expect to live a life of blessing.
You cannot reject His word and expect to have a life of fulfillment.
We should certainly learn this in a nation
That seems to try and remove God’s word from everything.
And I am not just talking about schools
That take the 10 Commandments off the wall,
I’m talking about PULPITS that omit the word of God,
CHURCHES that disregard the word of God
And HOMES that neglect the word of God.
You cannot reject God’s word and expect to live a blessed life.
And if this morning you realize
That you have neglected God’s word
And you have decided you want to return to God.
Then learn also that repentance is from the heart.
Returning to God is far more than just returning to church.
“Rend your hearts and not your garments”
BUT THE POINT IS THAT GOD’S WORD IS TRUSTWORTHY.
Israel should have learned this back in the desert
When Moses was preaching, but they didn’t.
And because of that, they are having to learn the HARD WAY.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
