4-я Царств 7:8

When these lepers (these, pointing back to Kg2 7:3.) came into the camp which the Syrians had left, they first of all satisfied their own hunger with the provisions which they found in the tents, and then took different valuables and concealed them. But their consciences were soon aroused, so that they said: We are not doing right; this day is a day of joyful tidings: if we are silent and wait till the morning light, guilt will overtake us; "for it is the duty of citizens to make known things relating to public safety" (Grotius). They then resolved to announce the joyful event in the king's palace, and reported it to the watchman at the city gate. העיר שׁער stands as a generic term in a collective sense for the persons who watched at the gate; hence the following plural להם, and in Kg2 7:11 השּׁערים. "And the gate-keepers cried out (what they had heard) and reported it in the king's palace."

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.

7:8-9 The men realized that they needed to share their good fortune with the people in Samaria.