WWUTT 514 According to the Word of the Lord?

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Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation, but take heart,

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I have overcome the world. In this life we will go through difficult things, but God has said

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He will deliver us when we understand the text. This is

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When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature

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New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

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Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. So in our study of the book of 2 Kings, I believe we'll get to cover two chapters today, chapters 6 and 7.

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What we've read up to this point, we've seen Elisha performing a series of miracles among the children of Israel, specifically the sons of the prophets, those who had not bowed their knee to Baal.

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So because they had been faithful to the Lord, God is showing His faithfulness to them and that He is with them by these miracles that Elisha has been performing.

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And we read about another one of these miracles here at the start of chapter 6.

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Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us.

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Let us go to the Jordan, and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.

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And Elisha answered, Go. And then one of them said, We'll be pleased to go with your servants. And Elisha said,

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I will go. So he went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.

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But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water. And he cried out,

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Alas, my master, it was borrowed. Then Elisha said, Where did it fall?

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And when he showed him the place, Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in the water and made the iron float.

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And he said, Take it up. So the man reached out his hand, and he took it. Now iron was very valuable at this time.

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It was rare for a person to have tools made of iron. So somebody who had a little bit more money was able to invest in owning an axe, and as the sons of the prophets were cutting down trees to make homes for themselves, he lost his axe head.

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But Elisha was showing that God's favor was still among these men, and that even what they were doing there by the

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Jordan River was blessed by God, so that when he lost the head of this axe,

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Elisha threw a stick in the water and made the iron float to the surface. It's another miracle that's being performed here.

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So God is still with these men, even seen in this miracle.

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He is still providing for his children. So now on to verse 8.

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Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, At such and such a place shall be my camp.

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But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, Beware that you do not pass this place, for the

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Syrians are going down there. And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him.

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Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.

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The man of God, of course, is Elisha, and the king is Jehoram, who is the son of Ahab.

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We still have not yet seen the judgment that is going to come upon Jehoram, which was talked about in chapter 3.

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Now even though God is going to ultimately destroy Jehoram, Elisha is still helping him.

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Why is that? Well, because the culmination of Jehoram's evil has not yet come to pass.

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And so there's a reason why he's still alive. So Elisha is going to help him as long as God is still keeping him on the throne.

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Plus, who knows, but that God might relent in his anger and that Jehoram's heart would become repentant.

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So Elisha is just going to remain obedient to the Lord in these things. And as it is his place to spare the king's life, so he will continue to provide this guidance that will save him from the wrath of the king of Syria.

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Elisha certainly isn't on the king of Syria's side. So verse 11, the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of these things.

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And he called to his servants and said, will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?

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So in other words, how does the king of Israel just know where I'm at, that he's able to avoid me? Surely somebody from my own camp is informing the king of Israel as to where I am.

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But one of his servants said, none of us, my lord, O king, none of us are on the side of the king of Israel.

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But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, he tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.

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Remember that Naaman, who we read about last week in chapter five, was a commander in the king of Syria's army.

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And he had servants who had witnessed what it is that Elisha had done for Naaman.

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So it may have been among these servants or may have been because of the story that was shared among among the servants of the king, what it was that Elisha did for Naaman, that they were able to say, hey,

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Elisha, the prophet, he's the one that is telling the king of Israel what it is that you are up to.

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He even knows the thoughts that you think in your own bedroom. So in verse 13, the king said, go and see where he is that I may send and seize him.

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It was told him, behold, Elisha is in Dothan. So he sent their horses and chariots and a great army and they came by night and surrounded the city, an entire army surrounding the city just to seize one man.

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That's how threatened the king of Syria felt by under or hearing that Elisha could discern his thoughts even from his own bedroom.

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And of course, we know it wasn't Elisha. It's not like he had some sort of magical power, but that the

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Lord would reveal these things to him. So in verse 15, when the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and he went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city.

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And the servant said, alas, my master, what shall we do? And Elisha, very calmly, doesn't say that, but we know he was calm in the midst of this situation.

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He said, do not be afraid for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

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Then Elisha prayed and said, oh Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. So the

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Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

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This is the same chariots of fire that separated Elisha from Elijah when

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Elijah was taken up into heaven. It is the same army of God that is there protecting

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Elisha and his servants. And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the

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Lord and said, please strike this people with blindness. So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.

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And Elisha said to them, this is not the way and this is not the city. Follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.

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And he led them to Samaria. So the blindness that the Syrian army was struck with was probably not that their eyes were unable to see.

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It was kind of like some sort of dumbness or a cloudiness that they were befuddled in and followed after Elisha when he said, come on,

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I'll take you to the person that you were looking for. Verse 20. As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, oh

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Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

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As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, my father, shall I strike them down?

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Shall I strike them down? And Elisha answered, you shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow, set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master.

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So he prepared for them a great feast. And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away and they went to their master.

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And the Syrians did not come again on raids to the land of Israel. So even if Jehoram had taken them captive by his own sword and bow, he wouldn't have struck them down.

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They would have been living captives. He would have made them his slaves. So Elisha said, as you wouldn't have struck them down with your own sword or bow, do not strike them down here.

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Instead, they needed to be treated as though they were guests in a foreign land.

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They fed them and then sent them away. And those men never joined raids against Samaria again.

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We read in Romans chapter 12, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.

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For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

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If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.

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Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And it's that very same principle that was being followed here by the prophet

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Elisha when he said, feed them and send them on their way. And so that is the way that we should be as well.

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Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you have heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

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But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. So it is the

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Lord who will avenge and we need to leave it to him and his judgment. But rather, when we encounter those who revile us, we should not revile them in return.

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Peter talks about this. When Christ was reviled, he did not revile in return, but submitted himself to the one who judges justly.

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That was Christ submitting himself to his father. And so that's what we need to do, submitting ourselves to God and letting

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God take care of the rest. He has called us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

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And so that's exactly what we should do. Elisha understood this principle even before Christ taught this, because he entrusted himself to the same

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God whom we worship. Verse 24. Afterward, Ben -Hadad, king of Syria, mustered his entire army and went up and besieged

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Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria as they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver and the fourth part of a cob of dove's dung for five shekels of silver.

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This is showing here that the siege was so serious that they were paying a crazy amount for things that people ordinarily wouldn't eat.

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Who would eat the head of a donkey? In fact, a donkey was a very valuable animal and the head wasn't even considered the edible part.

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But the siege was so serious that they would even kill an animal that otherwise had great value to them and eat parts of that animal that ordinarily wouldn't be made for food.

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And dove's dung. Who would eat dove's dung? But half a liter of dove's dung would go for a great amount of money.

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In fact, about half a year of wages. That's how serious the siege was upon Samaria.

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So then in verse 26, now, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying, help my

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Lord, O king. And he said, if the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you from the threshing floor or from the wine press?

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And the king asked her, what is your trouble? And she said, this woman said to me, give your son that we may eat him today and we will eat my son tomorrow.

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So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, give your son that we may eat him.

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But she has hidden her son. When the king heard the words of this woman, he tore his clothes.

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Now he was passing by on the wall and the people looked and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body.

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And he said, may God do so to me and more also if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.

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So hearing what it is that this woman had said to him, he held Elisha responsible.

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The siege was so serious that the people of Israel had now resulted to cannibalism.

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And this isn't the only place we read that in Ezekiel chapter five, when Jerusalem was besieged.

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It's talked about there that the siege was so serious that even the Jews resulted to cannibalism.

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And so that's what's happened here in Samaria. And Jehoram thinks if Elisha dies, then this siege will be over.

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So in verse 32, Elisha was sitting in his house and the elders were sitting with him.

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Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence. But before the messenger arrived,

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Elisha said to the elders, do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him is not the sound of his master's feet behind him.

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And when he was still speaking with him, the messenger came to him and said, the trouble is from the

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Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? Now chapter seven, but Elisha said, hear the word of the

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Lord. Thus says the Lord tomorrow about this time, a seah of fine flower shall be sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.

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So Elisha is saying by this time tomorrow, the Lord is going to relieve the siege and it will be the people will be able to buy food and good food and a lot of food for affordable prices again.

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And then in verse two, the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, if the

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Lord himself should make windows of heaven, could this thing be? But Elisha said, you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.

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In other words, this guy said, even if the windows of heaven were to open up and this stuff would to be poured out, could this be possible?

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And Elisha said to him, you'll see it happen, but you won't be able to touch it because he did not have faith.

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He did not believe that God was going to do this. So verse three, now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another, why are we sitting here until we die?

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If we say, let us enter the city, the famine is in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also.

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So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives, we shall live.

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And if they kill us, we shall, but die. So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the

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Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there for the

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Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army so that they said to one another, behold, the king of Israel is hired against us, the kings of the

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Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us. So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, their donkeys leaving the camp as it was and fled for their lives.

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And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them.

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Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.

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Then they said to one another, we are not doing right. This day is a day of good news.

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If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household.

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So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, we came to the camp of the Syrians and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.

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Then the gatekeepers called out and it was told within the king's household and the king rose in the night and said to his servants,

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I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry, therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country thinking when they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and then get into the city.

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And one of his servants said, let some of the men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished.

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Let us send and see. So they took two horsemen and the king sent them after the army of the

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Syrian saying, go and see. So they went after them as far as the Jordan and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the

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Syrians had thrown away in their haste and the messengers returned and told the king.

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So remember, the Syrians fled because they heard they heard the hooves of an approaching army of horsemen.

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This was likely the heavenly army of chariots of fire that Elisha had seen.

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So verse 16, then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a say of fine flour was sold as a shekel and to say as of barley for a shekel, just as Elijah said, according to the word of the

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Lord. Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate and the people trampled him in the gate so that he died.

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As the man of God had said, when the king came down to him for, when the man of God had said to the king to say as of barley shall be sold for a shekel and a say of fine flour for a shekel about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, the captain had answered the man of God.

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If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, such a thing would not be. And he said, you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.

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And so it happened to him for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

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So those are the two chapters that we have read today. Second Kings chapters six and seven.

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If the Lord has said a thing will be, we need to obey the Lord and have faith and know that what he has declared will happen.

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We worship a sovereign God who has all things in his hands. Nothing is too far for him.

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And so he has promised us in his word that he will deliver us from a time of trouble. Even when we go through difficult circumstances, our

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God is there. We are not going through anything that he has not seen or is out of his control.

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So let us entrust ourselves to him who judges justly. And we are promised in the scriptures.

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He will deliver us in Romans chapter eight. It says there is nothing in heaven and on earth that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord, Jesus said, John 1633, I have said these things to you that in me, you may have peace in the world.

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You will have tribulation. We will go through difficult things, but take heart.

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Jesus said, I have overcome the world. So entrust yourself to him who will deliver you from death, who will raise you up out of the grave and deliver you into his eternal kingdom.

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For God is with you. This has been when we understand the text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes for all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.