sight / blindness / sight / blindness / sight
2 Kings 6:8-23 Really!! This is a story worth reading!
When I read it, in my imagination, I see men -- old men who are old friends -- surrounded by their neighbors and their now grown sons and their grandchildren. It is late in the evening, after dinner and as they sit around the fire, wine in hand, they are reminiscing about a time they shared -- the retelling is a mix of heads shaken in awe, in wonder -- and loud guffaws, the kind of laughter where you can't quite breathe for a minute, where tears course down your cheeks. The story is punctuated by shouts of "NO!" followed by eruptions of hilarity, then by whispers of "no" exhaled in awe.
This story is so shocking and odd -- it is like God deciding to have a good laugh while he deals with Aram ... AND with Israel.
So the story and my take on it :
OK -- Aram is at war with Israel and sends the army to attack. But ~ EVERY TIME Elisha goes to the king of Israel (Jotham, though he was not named) and tells him in advance where the Arameans will attack and EVERY TIME Israel is there waiting. It doesn't take long and the king of Aram draws a conclusion : as far as the king can see, one of his generals is a spy for Israel. When he calls them together for a confrontation, one of the generals tells him that "there is a prophet in Israel who tells the king in Israel what you whisper in your bedroom." I think that general was Naaman -- the general who had just been healed of leprosy by Elisha. He knew Elisha, right? And the king would have taken him seriously. Now...what I wonder is WHY did the king think that Elisha would know the battle plans again and again, but would NOT know it if the Arameans tried to sneak up and surround Dothan? Right? But...he sends the army to Dothan where Elisha is living ~ anyway.
Elisha's servant Gehazi gets up, goes out to the well for water and -- as far as the eye can see -- there are horses and soldiers and chariots. Terrified he rushes back to tell Elisha, who is calm and blase. Elisha's answer is "Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." I can see Gehazi looking out the window, then back at Elisha, then back out the window thinking, '1, 2 - - -> 100, 000 . . . 1, 2 - - -> 1, 000, 000'. I think Elisha may have been smiling, maybe even chuckling, when he asked God to open Gehazi's eyes so he could see the army of God ~ and he did see: "the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." {So...did Elisha see stuff like that all the time?} Elisha then prays and asks God to strike the entire army with blindness. GREAT battle strategy! Personally I love it.
Elisha walks out into what must have been havoc and confusion. I do not imagine that this army of warriors was simply standing quietly and peacefully when each and every man is suddenly blind. Somehow he gets their attention. He tells them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." and they believe him! Why? Why would they believe him? They had to have had pretty good 'intel' ~ I mean they made it to Dothan while Elisha was actually there, right ~ and we know he traveled around a lot. Then suddenly the entire army is blind -- ALL of them are blind. This person comes out and is willing to lead them to the city they are looking for so they can find the man they are looking for? ? ? Wouldn't you have been a tad suspicious? I am just sure that the wool was not pulled over Naaman's (temporarily) blind eyes. And another thing . . . just how do you lead an entire army of blind men about 20 miles from Dothan to Samaria? "You put your hand on his shoulder, and you put your hand on his shoulder...listen while I tell you where to go, and we will go for a nice 20 mile walk."
They make it to Samaria, and as soon as they are 'safely' inside the city, Elisha prays and God restores their sight. Imagine! The biggest 'gotcha' maybe in all history!! I love the blind/sight/blind/sight juxtaposition. Don't you? Even at the end, it is clear that the king of Israel is blind to the ways of God. The king of Israel reacts with awe and delight -- he sees a chance to kill the entire army of his enemy. Elisha's response, in contrast, sets the heart of a man in juxtaposition to the heart of God.
"Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.
2 Kings 6:22
For a long season there were no more raids from the Arameans...yeah DUH! Would you have wanted to go back to Israel after all that?
When I read it, in my imagination, I see men -- old men who are old friends -- surrounded by their neighbors and their now grown sons and their grandchildren. It is late in the evening, after dinner and as they sit around the fire, wine in hand, they are reminiscing about a time they shared -- the retelling is a mix of heads shaken in awe, in wonder -- and loud guffaws, the kind of laughter where you can't quite breathe for a minute, where tears course down your cheeks. The story is punctuated by shouts of "NO!" followed by eruptions of hilarity, then by whispers of "no" exhaled in awe.
This story is so shocking and odd -- it is like God deciding to have a good laugh while he deals with Aram ... AND with Israel.
So the story and my take on it :
OK -- Aram is at war with Israel and sends the army to attack. But ~ EVERY TIME Elisha goes to the king of Israel (Jotham, though he was not named) and tells him in advance where the Arameans will attack and EVERY TIME Israel is there waiting. It doesn't take long and the king of Aram draws a conclusion : as far as the king can see, one of his generals is a spy for Israel. When he calls them together for a confrontation, one of the generals tells him that "there is a prophet in Israel who tells the king in Israel what you whisper in your bedroom." I think that general was Naaman -- the general who had just been healed of leprosy by Elisha. He knew Elisha, right? And the king would have taken him seriously. Now...what I wonder is WHY did the king think that Elisha would know the battle plans again and again, but would NOT know it if the Arameans tried to sneak up and surround Dothan? Right? But...he sends the army to Dothan where Elisha is living ~ anyway.
Elisha's servant Gehazi gets up, goes out to the well for water and -- as far as the eye can see -- there are horses and soldiers and chariots. Terrified he rushes back to tell Elisha, who is calm and blase. Elisha's answer is "Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." I can see Gehazi looking out the window, then back at Elisha, then back out the window thinking, '1, 2 - - -> 100, 000 . . . 1, 2 - - -> 1, 000, 000'. I think Elisha may have been smiling, maybe even chuckling, when he asked God to open Gehazi's eyes so he could see the army of God ~ and he did see: "the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." {So...did Elisha see stuff like that all the time?} Elisha then prays and asks God to strike the entire army with blindness. GREAT battle strategy! Personally I love it.
Elisha walks out into what must have been havoc and confusion. I do not imagine that this army of warriors was simply standing quietly and peacefully when each and every man is suddenly blind. Somehow he gets their attention. He tells them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." and they believe him! Why? Why would they believe him? They had to have had pretty good 'intel' ~ I mean they made it to Dothan while Elisha was actually there, right ~ and we know he traveled around a lot. Then suddenly the entire army is blind -- ALL of them are blind. This person comes out and is willing to lead them to the city they are looking for so they can find the man they are looking for? ? ? Wouldn't you have been a tad suspicious? I am just sure that the wool was not pulled over Naaman's (temporarily) blind eyes. And another thing . . . just how do you lead an entire army of blind men about 20 miles from Dothan to Samaria? "You put your hand on his shoulder, and you put your hand on his shoulder...listen while I tell you where to go, and we will go for a nice 20 mile walk."
They make it to Samaria, and as soon as they are 'safely' inside the city, Elisha prays and God restores their sight. Imagine! The biggest 'gotcha' maybe in all history!! I love the blind/sight/blind/sight juxtaposition. Don't you? Even at the end, it is clear that the king of Israel is blind to the ways of God. The king of Israel reacts with awe and delight -- he sees a chance to kill the entire army of his enemy. Elisha's response, in contrast, sets the heart of a man in juxtaposition to the heart of God.
"Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.
2 Kings 6:22
For a long season there were no more raids from the Arameans...yeah DUH! Would you have wanted to go back to Israel after all that?
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