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One-sentence summary: A leprous man is healed after Elisha tells him to wash in the Jordan seven times, and a famine ends after Elisha's word.
It says that the commander of Syria's army, Naaman, was great in the eyes of his master but a leper. The Syrians had brought back a young captive girl from Israel who waited on the commander's wife, and she tells her about Elisha, that he is able to heal her husband. The man tells the king of Syria, and he says he will send a letter to the king of Israel. The letter is brought to the king which says that the king of king of Syria is sending Naaman to be healed of leprosy. Reading it, the king tears his clothes and says, "Am I God, that I should heal and make alive?" and he thinks the Syrian king is picking a fight with him. Elisha hears this and sends to the king and says for Naaman to come to him. Naaman comes to Elisha's house, and a messenger tells him to go and wash in the Jordan seven times and that his flesh will be restored, but he goes away angry, saying that he must come out to him and wave his hand over the place to heal the leprosy, that he could wash in any old river. He goes away "in a rage," and his servants try to talk to him. They say that if the prophet asked him to do something great, he would have done it, and that this is an easy thing he is being told to do. So he does it, and his flesh is restored "like the flesh of a little child." He returns to Elisha and says he knows there is only one God, the God of Israel, and he urges him to take a gift, but he refuses. The servant of Elisha says that he is going to run after from Naaman and take something from him. Naaman sees him running and gets down from his chariot to meet him. He says his masters asks for silver and garments for two prophets who are coming to meet him, and he give it to him. He returns to Elisha, who asks him where he went, but he lies and says nowhere. Elisha says his heart was with him, and he knows what happened, and he says the leprosy of Naaman will cling to him and his descendants forever because he was seeking after riches and also lied.
The sons of the prophets say to Elisha that the place they dwell with him is too small, and they ask if they can go to the Jordan with him to make places for them to dwell. As one is cutting a tree, he loses part of the tool and cries out, because it was borrowed, so Elisha cuts off a stick and throws it and makes the iron float so the man can take it. Syria is making war against Israel, and the king is consulting with his servants. Elisha warns the king and tells him not to pass a certain place, so the king sends someone to the place to watch. The heart of the king of Syria is troubled, and he calls his servants to see who is the traitor, and they say that Elisha tells the king "the words he speaks in his bedroom." He tells them to find him, and they surround his city. Early that morning, an army is surrounding the city. His servant asks him what to do, and Elisha says, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." He asks the Lord to open the man's eyes so he may see. The Lord opens his eyes, and he looks around and sees horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the Syrians come down, Elisha asks the Lord to strike them with blindness, and he does. Elisha says to them, "This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." But he leads them to Samaria, and he asks the Lord to open their eyes, and they see they are in Samaria. When the king of Israel sees them, he asks Elisha if he should kill them. Elisha says to take them captive that they may eat and drink and go back to their master, and he prepares a great feast, then he sends them back to their masters. And it says after that, the bands of Syrian raiders came no more to the land of Israel. After this, the king of Syria gathers his army and besieges Samaria, and there is a great famine, and "a donkey's head is sold for 80 shekels of silver, and 1/4 of a cab of dove droppings for 5 shekels." As the king of Israel is passing by on the wall, a woman cries out to him for help, but he replies that if God can't help her, how can he. He asks what is troubling her, and she says that a woman said to offer her son to eat that day and then she would offer hers the next. The woman says they ate her son, but the next day, the other woman would not give her son to eat but hid him. When the king hears it, he tears his clothes, and the people look and see he has sackcloth on, and he declares he will behead Elisha. Meanwhile, Elisha is in his house with the elders. A king sends a messenger, but he tells the elders "a son of a murderer" has come to take his head and to capture him at the door and that his master is right behind him. The kings says the calamity is from the Lord and why should he wait for the Lord any longer.
Elisha says the Lord declares that the next day, flour and barley will be sold for cheap at the gate of Samaria. An officer on whose hand the king leaned answered him that if the Lord could even make windows in heaven, could this this happen (he doubts.) Elisha answer that the man will see it with his eyes but not eat of it. Four leprous men at the gate are dying of starvation, so they decide to surrender to the Syrian army, because they figure death will not be much worse. The next morning, they go, but no one is at the camp, because the Lord had caused the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots, horses, and a great army, and they think the kings of the Hittities and Egyptians are with Israel, so they had fled at twilight leaving the camp intact, with their tents, horses, and donkeys behind. The lepers eat and drink in one tent and gather silver and clothing, carrying it off and hiding it. Then, they do the same with another tent. They decide it is not right that they are not telling Israel, so they decide to tell the king's household. They yell out to the gatekeepers, who tell the king, and the king arises by night and tells his servants that the Syrians are luring them with food. One of his servants asks if someone can take five horses to see, so two chariots with horseman are sent to the Jordan, and they see the weapons and clothing the Syrians had thrown away in their haste lying on the ground. They return and tell the king, and the people plunder the tents. After that, food is able to be bought for cheap as Elisha had said it would. And the officer on whom the king leaned was given charge of the gate, and the people trampled him, just as Elisha had spoken that he would see all this but not eat it (because he doubted what God could do.)
Elisha speaks to the woman whose son he had restored to life, and he tells her and her family to go because God has ordained a famine for seven years, and they dwell in the land of the Philistines during that time. Then, she returns and goes to make an appeal to the king for her house and land. He talks with Elisha's servant Gehazi, asking him to tell him what Elisha had done. As Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha restored a boy to life, the same woman appears, and Gehazi shows the king, and she confirms the story. So he appoints an officer to restore all that was hers. Then, Elisha goes to Damascus, and the king of Syria is sick, and he is told the man of God has come. The king orders his officer to meet Elisha with a present and ask the Lord if the king will recover. So the man, Hazael, goes to meet him, bearing gifts, and Elisha tells him to tell the king that he will recover. However, he says the Lord has actually shown him that the king will die. Then, it says he "sets his countenance in a stare until he is ashamed," and then Elisha starts weeping. Hazael asks why, and he says it is because he knows the evil he will do to the children of Israel, setting their strongholds on fire, killing their young men by the sword, dashing their children, and ripping open the women who are with child. Hazael answers, "What is your servant, a dog, that he should do this gross thing?" But Elisha says the Lord has shown him that he will become king over Syria. Hazael leaves and returns to his master, who asks what Elisha said, and he says that he will surely recover. However, the next day, he takes a thick cloth dipped in water and covers the king's face so that he dies, and then Hazael reigns in his place.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Oftentimes, God asks us to do something simple in order to be healed, whether physically or emotionally. We need to be humble enough to listen and obey, whatever that is.