121. WARS OF JEHORAM, AND ELISHA'S HELP.

[2 KINGS VI. 8 sqq.]

The king of Syria, Benhadad, was during all this time attacking and harassing the Israelites; his plan was to surprise them where they least expected it; but Elisha always knew his intentions, warned Jehoram of the danger, and thus saved him repeatedly from falling into the power of the enemy. The king of Syria supposed that there were traitors among his own subjects, but he was soon convinced that it was Elisha, the great prophet, who always frustrated his designs. He, therefore, bade his servants bring Elisha into his presence. A great number of men went out with horses and chariots, and surrounded by night the city of Dothan, where the prophet was dwelling. In the morning, his servant, as he looked out, beheld this large host, and he exclaimed, 'Alas! my master, what shall we do?' But Elisha told him to give up all fear, as the number of his own warriors was even larger than that of his enemies; and then he prayed to the Lord to open his servant's eyes, that he might see. The young man looked, and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.' When the Syrians were encompassing his house, he entreated the Lord to smite them with blindness, and his supplication was answered. This is not the way,' he said to them, 'neither is this the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.' And he led them to Samaria. Then Elisha prayed to the Lord to open the eyes of the men, that they might see, and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. When the king of Israel became aware that his enemies were in his hands, he said, 'My father, shall I smite them?' But the gentle-hearted prophet advised the king to spare their lives, to set bread and water before them, and send them back to their master. So Jehoram prepared a great feast for

the Syrians and allowed them to depart in peace to Benhadad.

But the Syrian king, still intent upon the conquest of Samaria, assembled his whole army and besieged the capital of Israel. Added to the horrors of the war were the horrors of a seven years' famine, which had been predicted by Elisha. The prospects of the inhabitants were indeed gloomy. An ass's head was sold for eight shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of pigeon dung for five shekels. When the king was one day walking on the walls, and looked down upon the bare and parched country without, and upon the starved and wretched city within, the plaintive wail of a woman suddenly struck his ear. Help, my lord O king,' she cried. The king's answer came from the very depth of his despair: If the Lord does not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barn floor, or out of the wine press? What ails thee?' He could not have anticipated her horrible answer. 'This woman said to me,' she replied, pointing to her companion in misery, ""Give thy son that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow; so we boiled my son, and did eat him; and I said to her on the next day, "Give thy son that we may eat him ;" and now she has hid her son.' When the king heard these words, he rent his clothes; and as he passed along the wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth. But, in spite of this sight of humiliation, his heart was fast hardening against Elisha, to whom he attributed the evils of the war and the famine; he swore an oath that he would have the prophet's life that very day, and he at once sent out a man to seize him. Elisha knew of the approach of the king's messenger, who was followed by the king himself; he bade his attendants tightly close the door, for the son of the murderer' had sent to take his life. Yet he admitted the messenger, who, more pious than his master, said, 'Behold, this evil is of the

Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?' Then Elisha said to the king: Hear ye the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord, To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.' One of Jehoram's officers, the charioteer upon whose hand he leaned, derided the prophecy, and said, 'Indeed, the Lord will make windows in heaven!' Elisha replied, 'Behold, thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.'

At the gate of Samaria sat four leprous men excluded from the town and shunned by their Hebrew brethren. Tormented by hunger, they resolved to throw themselves upon the mercy of the Syrian army; for whether they ventured into the city or stayed without, they had no hope of escaping the fearful death of starvation. They rose early in the twilight, and crept to the Syrian camp. When they came close up to it, they were astonished to find that it was deserted. The vast host of Syria had fled, alarmed by a sudden panic; for they believed that they were about to be attacked by the united troops of Canaan and Egypt, with whom they supposed the Israelites had made an alliance. They had fled, but they had left behind them all their wealth-their flocks and herds, and their tents filled with vessels of silver and gold, and with those numberless objects usually accompanying so large and so splendid an army. The lepers entered one tent and then another, feasted upon the food and wine, and commenced hiding for themselves the valuable articles which they found in abundance. But partly prudence and partly pity made them think of their starving brethren in Samaria, and they hastened back to the gates, where they made a report of all they had seen to the soldiers who kept the watch. The king's household was aroused; the king himself heard the strange tale distrustfully, for he argued that it must be a snare of the Syrians

to tempt the hungry people out of their city to the rich provisions of the camp, and then to seize them and their town as an easy prey. He sent out some of his servants upon the few horses that were left to him, and bid them examine the ground carefully. The account of the flight of the Syrians proved true, and the way which they had taken was strewn with heavy vessels and with garments, which they had thrown from them in their haste. Then the whole town rushed forth joyously, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians, and plenty and ease were suddenly restored, so that the words of Elisha were literally fulfilled. But Jehoram's charioteer who had mocked the prophecy stood in the gate and was trodden to death by the people.

Before the beginning of the famine Elisha had advised the Shunamite woman who had so hospitably received him, and whose son he had restored to life, to leave Samaria with her household, and to take up her abode in some other place until the return of better times. She had followed his advice, and had gone to dwell in the land of the Philistines. When she came back after seven years, she learnt with dismay that her house and her fields had in her absence been seized by the king's officers. She went to the king to lay before him her complaint. Jehoram was then just speaking with Gehazi, who was relating to him all the miraculous deeds of his master, and especially how he had saved the Shunamite's son. Thus she arrived opportunely, and the king at once ordered that all her property should be given back to her, together with the value of the produce of her lands from the time of her departure.

Elisha did not confine his prophecies to his own people, but we hear of him in the land of Syria, in the city of Damascus, where the king Benhadad lay ill. The monarch, informed of the prophet's presence, commanded Hazael, one of his officers, to take large presents, and to go to Elisha to enquire of him, whether he would recover from

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his disease. With a train of forty laden camels, Hazael came to Elisha and gave his master's message. The prophet answered firmly, 'Go say to him, Thou wilt certainly recover: yet the Lord has shown me that he shall surely die.' Having uttered these strange words, he wept. Why weeps my lord?' asked Hazael, surprised. Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel,' answered Elisha; 'their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children to pieces.' Hazael cunningly asked, in apparent amazement, But what is thy servant, a dog, that he should do these great things?' Then Elisha answered, 'The Lord has shown me that thou shalt be king of Syria.' Hazael returned to his master, told him that he would surely recover, and suffocated him the next day with a wet cloth. The murderer then seized the crown and became king of Syria.

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122. JEHU MADE KING OVER ISRAEL.
[2 KINGS IX.]

Hazael at once commenced warfare both against Judah and Israel. He advanced to besiege Ramoth in Gilead. The two kings Ahaziah and Jehoram had united their forces to oppose the invader; but Jehoram was wounded during the siege, and was compelled to return to Jezreel, leaving the leadership of the war in the hands of his generals. Among these captains was a valiant and impetuous man of the name of Jehu, celebrated for his swift and furious driving, and to him the prophet Elisha sent one of his disciples with important tidings. When the messenger arrived in Ramoth, the captains of the Hebrew host were all seated together in the camp; he appeared suddenly among them and said, 'I have an errand to thee, O captain!' Jehu asked, 'To which of all of us?' And he said, 'To thee, O captain.' Then the two retired