Saving the City

There’s a hideous story in 2 Kings 6. The king of Aram had set siege on Samaria and things inside the city walls were getting desperate.

So desperate that two mothers made a sickening pact, “We’re starving to death!” exclaimed one of them. “Let’s cook and eat your son today and tomorrow we’ll cook and eat my son.” They agreed and feasted. The next day a woman stopped the King and begged for justice. “We ate my son and now she has hidden her son away. Make her keep her promise!” The king went mad and threatened the life of God’s prophet—his way of blaming God.

A message came from Elisha stating that the next day food would be as cheap as chips. The king’s officer replied, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” (2 Kings 7:2). People were selling everything for a bite to eat. It couldn’t happen!

There was one place worse to be than in the city; it was outside the city wall where the lepers lived—excluded because of their sickness. The only way to get food was to hope some charitable person would throw some down over the wall. Imagine how often that happened when people were paying 80 shekels for a donkey’s head—to eat the eyes, tongue and brain. To say the least, the lepers were hungry. But four of them hatched a plan, “We can’t go in the city because the people will kill us. We can’t stay here because we’ll starve. Let’s walk to the enemy’s camp, shouting ‘Unclean! Lepers! Unclean!’ and take our chances!”

Their plan would bring a quick end to their hunger one way or another—either the Arameans would throw food to keep them away or they would shoot them with arrows—a quick death or a quick feed.
Imagine the absolute confusion on the lepers faces as they approached the enemy camp and nothing happened. No food came flying at them. No arrows either. Just silence. As they got closer they were amazed to find the Arameans had fled. They found out later that as they approached the camp, the Arameans heard, not the shouts of “Unclean!” but the sound of pounding hooves and chariots rushing toward them! They fled for fear of their lives. They left their tents, personal belongings and food, lots of food! The lepers began gorging themselves on the food and running from tent to tent collecting the spoils.

Then, a deeply touching thing happened. The lepers remembered their starving families and friends in the city. “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves” (2 Kings 7:9). So, they went back and told those in the city, and soon the food from the enemy’s camp was being sold in the city for small change.

You and I are like those lepers. Now—right now—we’re standing in the enemy’s camp. What will we do with the message of freedom we hold in our hearts? What will we do with the plentiful blessings of God held in our hands?

These are two questions ADRA answers with their action on a daily basis. Blessed with freedom from the enemy, ADRA shares God’s love through service to others. Blessed with earthly riches they share knowledge, skills and finances with those who are still in the city—starving, dying and destitute.

Jesus calls us to go back to the city and share all that we have found, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, . . . I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me. . . . I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” (Matthew 25:35, 36, 40)

Bible quotations are
from the NIV.