Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 8:16-29.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 8:16-18 (NIV) 
16  In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. 
17  He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 
18  He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. 

On verses 16-18:  Jehoram succeeds his father Jehoshaphat as the king of Judah.  But instead of being a humble, wise, God-fearing king like his father Jehoshaphat was, Jehoram is said to have “walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done” (v18). 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 8:1-15.  Let’s go!

2 Kings 8:6 (NIV) 
6  The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.” 

On verses 1-6:  Elisha the prophet tells the woman whose son he had raised back to life to move away from Israel for a time due to a severe famine that would hit Israel.  After being away from Israel for 7 years, the woan returns to Israel, but by this time the government has taken over her land.  Now the woman is at the mercy of the king, who has power to decide whether or not to give the land back to her.  It just so happens that on the same day that the woman appears before the king to request that her land be restored to her, Gehazi the servant of Elisha had been telling the king about what Elisha had done for this woman.  On this basis, the king speaks the word to restore the land to this woman, including all the income that her land had generated during her seven year absence.

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.