Elisha – The Lowedown

2 Kings 6

⁸Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”

⁹The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” ¹⁰So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

¹¹This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

¹²“None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³“Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” ¹⁴Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.

¹⁶“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

¹⁷And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Strike these people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

¹⁹Elisha told 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 he led them to Samaria.

²⁰After they entered the city, Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria. (2 Kings 6:8-20, NIV)

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In the blockbuster movie “Aliens”, Bill Paxton plays Private Hudson, a brash loudmouth whose main contribution to the movie seems to be one of comic relief.

With typical military bravado, private Hudson talks tough and acts macho, but when things go sideways, he panics.

At a critical juncture in the movie, Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, and her rescue crew seem out of options. It’s at this point that private Hudson provides the above meme-worthy response that has been repeated millions of times by movie-lovers in countless scenarios over the years.

When I read this account in 2 Kings, I imagine Elisha’s assistant acting like the Private Hudson character.

The context is simple: the king of Aram was at war with Israel, and yet, whenever he mobilized his troops for an offensive, Elisha would warn the king of Israel of their exact location and plans.

After several iterations of this scenario, the king of Aram, embarrassed and enraged at being made to look like a fool, brings together his inner circle, hoping to sniff out what he thinks must be a mole.

Amazingly, when one of his officers tells him that there is no mole, but that Elisha knows his plans as if he is right there in his bedroom when he speaks, the king takes him at his word.

The first thing I find interesting is that the king of Aram believes his officer. In our modern culture, we are so desensitized to the possibility of the supernatural that we wouldn’t even entertain this option. Certainly, there must be a traitor in our midst! That is the only logical conclusion.

But the king of Aram believes that Elisha certainly must be the problem, so he orders that he be found and captured. The text doesn’t give any indication of what he intends to do with Elisha when he’s captured but it’s certainly not a dinner invitation.

It’s at this point that we reach our “Game over” scenario. Elisha’s assistant gets up early and discovers that the entire city has been surrounded by the armies of the king of Aram.

The text doesn’t indicate the tone or exact disposition of the servant, but clearly there was panic. I imagine Elisha’s assistant channeling his inner Private Hudson when he says, “Oh my Lord, what should we do?”

Game over man.

Those guys are out there.. They’re going to get us.

We’re going to bite it here on this rock.

While Elisha’s assistant is melting down in full-Private Hudson mode, Elisha is the perfect picture of calm, cool and collected. The reason is simple: he knows something that his assistant doesn’t – that there’s an unseen world at work that changes the equation and reverses the odds.

Elisha tells his servant not to worry. “There are more with us than with them.”

He then asks the Lord to open his servant’s eyes to see the reality of the spiritual realm.

The text doesn’t tell us how Elisha’s servant responded when he saw the hills filled with horses and chariots, the literal armies of heaven ready to do battle on Elisha’s behalf. But I suspect there was a sigh of relief.

“Game not over man!”

“THAT’S what I’m talking about!”

Interestingly, Elisha doesn’t call on the armies of heaven to vanquish the Aramean army. He doesn’t need to. Instead, he asks the Lord to blind his enemies, at which point Elisha tells the invading army commanders, essentially, “These are not the droids you are looking for.”

Elisha then leads them to Samaria, a safe distance away, where they no longer pose a viable threat.

Elisha was God’s prophet, endowed with supernatural abilities that are not normative. We may not be able to blind our foes as he did, but that is not the point of the story. The big idea is that there is a spiritual realm that exists. We are either unaware of it, like Elisha’s assistant, or we acknowledge it, as Elijah did.

There is yet a third option. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) used to say that most Christians are practical atheists, those who say they believe in the supernatural, but live as though it doesn’t exist.

Sadly, I believe Bill Bright’s statement is still true of many Christians today.

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Reflection

When it comes to the supernatural realm, are you more like Elisha’s assistant, unaware of and unconnected to the spiritual realm, or are you more like Elisha, aware and connected?

Bill Bright described many Christians as practical atheists – those who claim to believe in the supernatural but live their lives as if it doesn’t exist. Why do you think many Christians live as if the spiritual realm doesn’t exist or has little impact?

Describe a time when your eyes were open to the reality of the spiritual realm.

What are some things you can do to avoid reacting like Private Hudson when you’re faced with a situation that seems bleak and out of control?

Rod Serling narrates The Twilight Zone – Season 2, Episode 2 – “The Man in the Bottle”

2 Kings 8

⁷Now Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram, where King Ben-hadad lay sick. Someone told the king that the man of God had come. ⁸When the king heard the news, he said to Hazael, “Take a gift to the man of God. Then tell him to ask the LORD if I will get well again.”

⁹So Hazael loaded down forty camels with the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He went in to him and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask you if he will recover.”

¹⁰And Elisha replied, “Go and tell him, ‘You will recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that he will actually die!” ¹¹Elisha stared at Hazael* with a fixed gaze until Hazael became uneasy. Then the man of God started weeping.

¹²“What’s the matter, my lord?” Hazael asked him.

Elisha replied, “I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn their fortified cities, kill their young men, dash their children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!”

¹³Then Hazael replied, “How could a nobody like me ever accomplish such a great feat?”

But Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram.”

¹⁴When Hazael went back, the king asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?”

And Hazael replied, “He told me that you will surely recover.”

¹⁵But the next day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and held it over the king’s face until he died. Then Hazael became the next king of Aram. (2 Kings 8:7-15)

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I grew up watching reruns of the classic TV series “The Twilight Zone”. Every black and white episode was introduced by series creator and narrator Rod Serling, who, in his classic opening line of “Imagine if you will…” posed a seemingly normal scenario that ultimately ended with an ironic twist of fate that often left the audience wondering if the next installment might be as paradoxical as the last.

This section of scripture from 2 Kings reads like an old Twilight Zone TV script.

Elisha goes to the King of Syria who lays in bed sick and is wondering if he’ll get better. The king tells his servant Hazael to take a gift to Elisha so that they might consult him regarding God’s outcome for his illness.

As Elisha interacts with Hazael, there is an awkward exchange where Elisha breaks down in tears. When asked about the reason for his sadness, Elisha reveals to Hazael that he’s weeping because he foresees the future, and in this future he sees all the evil things Hazael is going to do to the people of Israel.

Hazael doesn’t think too highly of himself as he refers to himself as a “nobody” but he seems to express some excitement at the prospect that he might actually accomplish these “great feats.” Still, he wonders how it’s possible.

Elisha tells him that God has informed him that he will become the king of Aram.

This revelation seems to set forces in motion for Hazael as he tells the king that he WILL recover from his illness but then promptly murders him the next day, replacing him as king of Aram and thus fulfilling Elisha’s prophetic vision.

The question is: did God simply foresee events that would happen and then tell Hazael what He saw, or was this revelation the seed that CAUSED Hazael to take the action that he did?

In the Twilight Zone, the viewer is often left to ponder for himself this very question. One could make an argument either way, which is one of the reasons there was wide appeal for the show, which, even more than 50 years later, are still running daily on local TV stations.

So which is it? Is it divine foreknowledge? Or did God cause the events? It’s the age-old debate: does Hazael freely choose his path or did God fore-ordain it?

It’s both. Clearly God sees everything. And clearly God is sovereign over everything and is able to orchestrate people and circumstances to accomplish His purposes.

What is interesting to know is that back in 1 Kings 19:15, Elijah was told by God that he was to anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram and anoint Elisha to be his successor.

Immediately after that passage, we see Elijah calling Elisha to be his successor, but we are not told what happened with Jehu and Hazael.

Now in 2 Kings 8, we see the rest of the story unfold. God’s plan was always for Hazael to be king; we just weren’t informed how and when it would come about.

From the story, it appears that Elisha’s revelation to Hazael plants the seed in Hazael’s mind that he can be someone of greater significance than he previously had imagined.

God, in His sovereignty is able to orchestrate events to fulfill His ultimate purposes, but at the same time, Hazael acted of his own free will when he decided to murder the king and take his place.

Like the Twilight Zone ending, we are left to ponder exactly how these two separate but equally true realities intersect: God knows all and yet is able to accomplish His purposes through people who are completely and fully responsible for their own actions which are made of their own free will.

Reflection

When is a time when you saw God orchestrate circumstances to accomplish a purpose? What are some examples in your own life of events unfolding that seem to coincidental to be anything other than God’s intervention?

God first told Elijah to anoint Hazael king in 1 Kings 19 but we don’t actually see him do it. We see the fulfillment of Hazael becoming king of Aram eleven chapters later. Why do you think there is a such a gap in this story?

Most people do not have the luxury of having a prophet of God tell them their future. What are the voices you are listening to regarding your future and your destiny? Short of having a prophet visit you, what are some ways you can get God’s perspective on your life and future?

What do you think we can learn from studying the lives and decisions of these kings who lived over 2500 years ago? How can we apply these stories to our own lives and our own culture?

Screenshot from Dave Lowe