II Kings 7:16
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Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
When the returning messengers reported this, the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians, and this was followed by the consequent cheapness of provisions predicted by Elisha. As the people streamed out, the unbelieving aide-de-camp, whom the king had ordered to take the oversight at the gate (הפקיד, to deliver the oversight) for the purpose of preserving order in the crowding of the starving multitude, was trodden down by the people, so that he died, whereby this prediction of Elisha was fulfilled. The exact fulfilment of this prediction appeared so memorable to the historian, that he repeats this prophecy in Kg2 7:18-20 along with the event which occasioned it, and refers again to its fulfilment.
Open source ↗Relief is here brought to Samaria and her king, when the case is, in a manner, desperate, and the king despairing. I. It is foretold by Elisha, and an unbelieving lord shut out from the benefit of it (Kg2 7:1, Kg2 7:2). II. It is brought about, 1. By an unaccountable fright into which God put the Syrians (Kg2 7:6), which caused them to retire precipitately (Kg2 7:7). 2. By the seasonable discovery which four lepers made of this (Kg2 7:3-5), and the account which they gave of it to the court (Kg2 7:8-11). 3. By the cautious trial which the king made of the truth of it (Kg2 7:12-15). III. The event answered the prediction both in the sudden plenty (Kg2 7:16), and the death of the unbelieving lord (Kg2 7:17-20); for no word of God shall fall to the ground.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.’”
Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder.
Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.
Then Jehoshaphat and his people went to carry off the plunder, and they found on the bodies an abundance of goods and valuables—more than they could carry away. They were gathering the plunder for three days because there was so much.
Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’
“Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.