Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 6:24-33.  Let’s go!

On verses 24-32:  King Ben-Hadad of Aram has laid seige to Samaria, Israel’s capital city.  Without ongoing access to food, Samaria suffers a severe famine.  The Israelites in Samaria are so desperate that in verses 26-29 we read about two Israelite mothers who apparently agreed that they would eat their sons to survive.  Now that one mother’s son has been eaten, the other mother refuses to let her own son suffer the same fate.  So they call out to Joram King of Israel to make a decision.  (This conflict between two mothers recalls a previous conflict in 1 Kings 3 when King Solomon had to judge between two mothers who both claim claim that their own son is the living one while the other’s son is the dead one.)  

What can we learn from this?  These mothers were willing to eat a son in order to survive, yet even their son’s flesh would not sustain them forever.  In contrast, in John 6:53-55 Jesus makes a statement that many would misunderstand:  

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 6:1-23. Let’s go!

2 Kings 6:5-6 (NIV) 
5  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh, my lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!” 
6  The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

On verses 1-6:  The number of prophets Elisha is discipling is growing, so Elisha’s disciples propose that they build a new facility for them to meet near the Jordan River.  They begin to cut down trees in the Jordan.  While one of the young prophets is cutting, his ax head flies off its handle and falls into the water.  The young prophet is distraught because the ax head was not his, but was borrowed.  Elisha asks the young prophet where the ax head fell.  Elisha throws a stick in that vicinity and the ax head floats to the surface, enabling the young prophet to reach out and recover the ax head.  

Hi GAMErs,

There are a number of great lessons we can learn from today’s passage, 2 Kings 5:13-27.  Let’s go!

2 Kings 5:13-14 (NIV) 
13  Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 
14  So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 

On verses 13-14:  Elisha had told Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River and his leprosy would be cleansed. Naaman was outraged at how “unspiritual” Elisha’s advice was, considering Elisha’s advice to be purely practical and natural instead of supernatural (v11-12).  Yet his servants advise Naaman to take Elisha’s advice seriously (v13).  Naaman follows Elisha’s advice.  When he dips himself 7 times in the Jordan River, his leprosy is cleansed and his skin is restored (v14).

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 5:1-12. Let’s go!

On verses 1-12: Naaman was a high-powered commander of Aram’s army, yet he had a disease that his influence, intelligence and experience could not solve. He had leprosy. So with the recommendation of a slave girl in his house, Naaman gets permission from the king of Aram to go to the king of Israel to see if Elisha the prophet can heal him. At first the king of Israel is offended by this request, but Elijah is willing to help. When Elisha tells Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River, Naaman is angry because he expected Elisha to do something far more “spiritual” like praying a prayer or commanding sickness to go away. So Naaman turns off in a rage.

What can we learn from this?

1. Like Naaman, we all have a sickness that our intelligence, influence and experience cannot heal. That is the sickness of sin, which unless cured will kill us.