Introduction
Today’s passage contains four true stories. There’s the story of the axe-head which was recovered from the river. There’s the story of the Aramean soldiers who were blinded when they came to capture Elisha, the Lord’s prophet. There’s the story of the famine in Samaria, which was brought to an end in a miraculous way. And there’s the little story at the end about the Shunammite woman. Do you remember her from chapter 4? She had been childless for years and her husband was old and it looked as if she would never have a child. But Elisha announced that she would have a child of her own. And she did. But when her child was older, he took ill suddenly and died. But Elisha brought him back to life. And at the end of today’s passage, that same woman and her child came before the king to ask him to return her land to her. And she came into the king’s presence, just as Gehazi was telling the king about the things Elisha had done. It seemed a wonderful coincidence. But it wasn’t a coincidence, was it? It wasn’t a coincidence because each of these stories are here in order to make clear to us that our God is in control of all things. He is the great and mighty King who rules over all things in heaven and on earth. And nothing is too hard for him.
And it’s important that we know this, because throughout the ages there have been many people who believe in other gods. And they say that those other gods are in control. In the days of Elisha, for instance, the other nations believed in Baal. They looked to him for help, because they believed he was in control. And you’ll know from Old Testament history that God’s people were taken away into exile by the Babylonians. And the Babylonians believed in Marduk. He was their God and they believed that he was in control. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, the nation of Israel was under the power of the Romans. And the Romans believed in lots of gods and thought that their gods were in control. When Paul the Apostle went to Athens, he was amazed by all the altars and objects of worship which he saw there. The people of Athens believed in many gods. Nowadays lots of people don’t believe in any god and it seems to them that the world is ruled by chance. And if the world is ruled by chance, then anything can happen; and no-one is in control. And then, from the Bible we know that there’s the Devil and it sometimes seems that he’s in control and that the whole world is under his evil influence.
So, who is in control? Is it a god like Baal? It is the Devil? It is chance? Luck? Fate? Who is in control? Well, the things we read in today’s passage make clear to us that the one who is in control is the Lord. And nothing is too hard for him.
The axe-head
And so, let’s turn to the passage; and we begin with the story of the axe-head. Our narrator refers in verse 1 of chapter 6 to a company of prophets. We’ve seen before that Elisha was not the only prophet and that there were groups of prophets in those days. And this group tell Elisha that the place where they meet is too small. They need to build a bigger room. And they decide to build this bigger room close to the River Jordan. And Elisha goes with them.
And while they were cutting down trees to build their new room, an axe-head came off one of their axes and fell into the river. And presumably there was no ordinary way for them to retrieve it and it seemed to the man who was using the ax that he wasn’t getting it back. And he was distraught, because not only had he lost a perfectly good ax-head, but it was borrowed. He’s have to repay the person from whom he borrowed it. And no doubt iron ax-head weren’t cheap in those days.
Fortunately Elisha was there. He asked where the ax-head fell; and he cut a stick and threw it into the water where the ax-head had fallen in. And remarkably, miraculously, the iron ax-head floated to the surface.
It’s a small story, isn’t it? This wasn’t a miracle affecting hundreds or thousands of people. It was a miracle which affected one man. And yet it was a miracle which makes clear God’s power.
The miracle of the widow’s oil in chapter 4 was similar. Remember that one? A poor widow woman was in debt and her oil was running out. Elisha told her to collect as many empty jars as possible. And then he told her to pour the oil into the jars. And when she did so, she was able to fill every single jar with oil. And she was able to sell all the oil to pay off her debt. It was a small story about a miracle that affected just one widow and her family. But like the miracle of the ax-head it makes clear that God is in control.
He’s in control of big things like the sun and moon and stars and the changing of the seasons. But he’s also in control of little things like this ax-head and what happened to it and whether it could be recovered.
Years later, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus spoke about how God feeds the birds of the air and how he clothes the grass with lilies to make it beautiful. And at another time he said that a sparrow does not fall to the ground apart from the will of God. And he said that the number of hairs on our head are numbered by God. God knows all about the world. He knows the big things; and he knows the little things like what the birds are doing and how many hairs we have on our head. He knows these things and he controls these things. Our God is in control.
The Arameans
Let’s turn to the next story. Our narrator tells us in verse 8 that the king of Aram was at war with the king of Israel. Notice that the narrator doesn’t tell us the name of either king. It’s as if their names don’t matter. It doesn’t matter who they are, because the story is not about the kings; the story is about the Lord.
And the king of Aram was at war with the king of Israel. And he and his officers come up with a plan to set up camp at a certain place. But ‘the man of God’ — i.e. Elisha — warned the king of Israel not to pass by that place, because he knew that’s where the Arameans were going. And it seems from what is said in verse 10 that this happened more than once. Again and again Elisha was able to warn the king of Israel about what the king of Aram was planning.
This obviously angered the king of Aram. It seemed to him that there was a spy among his men and the spy must be telling the king of Israel his plans. How else could the king of Israel know what the king was planning in secret? However, the king’s men assure him that none of them are spies, but they’re aware that Elisha seems to know what the king says in private. The text doesn’t tell us, but presumably the Lord was revealing to Elisha what the king of Aram was planning.
And so, the king decided to capture Elisha in order to silence him. Once he found out where Elisha was, he sent horses and chariots and a strong force to capture him. That’s in verse 14 of chapter 6. And so, he sent a large army to capture this one man. And when Elisha’s servant got up one morning and stepped outside, he was amazed to see that a whole army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city where they were staying. When I read that, I always think of the movie Zulu and all the Zulu warriors standing up on the hill overlooking the British camp. And Elisha’s servant is terrified. ‘On, my lord’, he said to Elisha, ‘what shall we do?’
But Elisha is not afraid, because he can see what his servant cannot yet see. What can Elisha see that his servant cannot yet see? Well, when Elisha prayed to the Lord to open his servant’s eyes, his servant was able to see that the hills around them were full of horses and chariots of fire. This was the army of the Lord, an army of angels, sent by the Lord, to protect Elisha from the Aramean army. Elisha was not afraid, because he knew that the Lord his God was in control.
And when the Arameans came forward to capture Elisha, Elisha prayed to the Lord to strike them with blindness. And it seems that they not only became blind, but they became confused as well, because Elisha was able to lead them down the road and all the way to Samaria, which was the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. Elisha walked them right into the city, where their eyes were opened and they could now see that they had walked right into the hands of their enemies.
When the king of Israel saw them, he wondered whether the Israelites should kill the Arameans. But Elisha told him to show them kindness instead. Set food and water before them. Let them eat and drink before letting them go. And right at the end of the story, in verse 23, we’re told that the Arameans stopped raiding Israelites territory after that.
What’s the point of this story? It’s to show us that the Lord is in control. He’s in charge. The king of Aram sent a mighty and powerful army to capture Elisha. But the Lord was with Elisha to protect him and to confuse his enemies. He surrounded his servant with angels and he blinded his enemies. There’s nothing our God cannot do and nothing is too hard for him.
The famine
Let’s turn to the third story which begins in verse 24 of chapter 7. This time the narrator names the king of Aram for us. However, he still doesn’t name the king of Israel. The focus is not on the kings, but on the Lord and on what he can do for his people.
Some time has passed and this king of Aram has decided to send an army to lay siege to Samaria. And that meant there was no way to bring new supplies of food into the city. And so, their food ran out and there was a famine in the city. The narrator tells us that the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, which was a lot of money. And who wants donkey head for dinner? But that’s how desperate they were. The narrator also says that a cab of seed pods sold for five shekels. If you’ve got the NIV, you’ll see a little footnote beside the words ‘seed pods’ which gives an alternative translation which is ‘dove’s dung’. It’s not clear what this means. Perhaps it means they were prepared to eat dove’s dung. That’s how desperate they were. However, it’s also possible that the words refer to something that may have looked like dove’s dung. Hence the translation ‘seed pods’. The point is they were desperately hungry.
We then read in verse 26 about this woman who saw the king passing by and she cried out to him for help. He thinks she’s asking him for food and so he replies that he’s not able to help her. He has no food to give. But that’s not the sort of help she wants. She wants justice from the king. And she tells the harrowing story of how she and a neighbour agreed to kill and eat their sons. The first day they killed and ate her son. But the next day, the other woman hid her son to protect him. And it seems this woman wants the king to intervene and to make the other woman give up her son as they agreed.
When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his robes. He’s distraught because of what was happening and because of how desperate the people had become. And it seems from what he says in verse 31 that he blames Elisha for what has happened and he sent someone to get him. But before the king’s messenger arrived, Elisha was made aware that he was coming. Presumably the Lord revealed it to him once again. And so, he was able to shut the door and keep out the king’s messenger.
So, the people of the city are in desperation. But in chapter 7 we see that God is in control. And he’s able to save his people. So, Elisha announced the word of the Lord that the famine would end the following day. And then our narrator takes us outside the city to meet these four lepers. Since they were lepers, they weren’t allowed inside the city. And so, they’re at the city gate. But they say to themselves that there’s no point staying at the city gate, because there’s no food for them. Let’s surrender to the Arameans. Yes, they might kill us. But so what? We’re going to die anyway because of the famine. But who knows? Maybe the Arameans will spare us and let us live.
But when the lepers reached the Aramean camp they discovered that the whole army had fled. God has caused them to hear the sound of horses and chariots and a great army. And they thought to themselves that a great army was coming to attack them. And so, they ran away, leaving all their possessions behind, including all their food.
At first the lepers were tempted to help themselves, but then their consciences got their better of them and they went to tell their fellow Israelites the good news. The king was immediately suspicious, but his officers persuaded him to let them check it out. And they discovered that it was just as the lepers said: the Arameans had gone and left all their food behind. And so, the famine was over, just as the Lord said it would be.
Who is in control? The Lord is in control. He’s the one who controls all things and he was the one who decided when the famine would end. And he was one who caused the Arameans to hear the sound of horses and chariots and a great army when there were no horses or chariots or a great army.
The Shunammite woman
And now we turn to chapter 8 and the story of the Shunammite woman. Let me remind you of what we read in chapter 4 and how she was childless. But Elisha announced that she would have a child. And she did. When her child was older, he suddenly died, but Elisha brought him back to life. And in verse 1 of chapter 8 we read that Elisha had advised her some time before to leave the land of Israel because the Lord was going to send a famine on the land. And so, she and her family moved to the land of the Philistines for seven years.
When she came back to the land, she went to the king to beg for her house and land. Presumably someone had taken over her property. And she just happened to visit the king when the king was talking to Gehazi about the great miracles Elisha had performed. Gehazi used to be Elisha’s servant. And at that exact moment when Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had once raised a child from the dead, the woman appeared with her son. ‘This is the woman’ Gehazi said. ‘This is her son’. It may have seemed to some like a chance occurrence, but nothing happens by chance, because everything happens according to the most holy and perfect will of our Father in heaven. And I think we’re to take it that because the woman came in at that exact moment, then the king was willing to grant her request and to give her back her house and land.
Conclusion
Who is in control? Who is in charge? The Lord is in control of all things. He’s the one who rules over all things in heaven and on earth. He rules over small events, like what happens to a lost axe-head. And he rules over big events, like what happens to a whole city that is under siege. He cares for little people like the Shunammite woman and her son. And he cares about what happens to his kings and prophets. And the Lord rules over the nations as well and the whole earth and the sun and moon and the planets and stars. He made all of these things and he rules as King over all that he has made.
And the good news is that we can expect good things from the Lord who rules over all things. We can expect good things from him, not because we deserve it. We do not deserve any good thing from him, because all of us are sinners who sin against him continually. We disobey him in thought and word and deed every day. What we deserve from him is to be condemned and punished eternally for all that we have done wrong. So, we don’t deserve any good thing from him. However, we can expect good things from him, because Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Saviour, gave up his life on the cross to pay for all that we have done wrong. He body was broken. His blood was shed. He suffered and died in our place in order to make peace for us with God. And since we have peace with God through faith in his Son who died for sinners, then we can expect good things from the Lord. We can look to him and trust in him to use his great power and mighty strength for our benefit. And there’s nothing that is too hard for him.
And this is why we go to him in prayer. We go to him in prayer because we’re aware of our own weakness and inability; and we’re aware of his greatness and power. And so, we go to him in prayer to confess how much we need him and depend on him; and we go to him in prayer to ask for his help.
And we can ask for his help for all kinds of things, because he has taught us to pray for daily necessities such as food and clothing and health and healing. And he’s taught us to pray for spiritual things like the forgiveness of our sins and for the extension of Christ’s kingdom. And he’s made clear in his word that he cares about our home life and our work life. And he’s made clear in his word that he cares about important people like the leaders of the nations and he cares about little people like you and me. In fact, he’s made clear in his word that he cares about the whole world, because this is his world. He made it. And he loved the world so much that he gave up his Only-Begotten Son for our salvation. And so, there’s nothing we can’t go to him about in prayer. And we can seek his help for all kinds of things.
And we don’t need to be afraid of anything about the coming year, because we know that whatever we face in this coming year is under the power and authority of our God, who is working out all things for our good. And we can look to him for the help and strength we need everyday. All we have to do is trust him. And I wonder? Did you notice the one person who did not benefit from the end of the famine in today’s passage? In verse 2 of chapter 7 we read about the officer who heard what Elisha said about how the famine would end the very next day. But that officer did not believe it was possible. He doubted the word of the Lord which had come through Elisha the prophet. He did not believe.
And the very next day, the famine ended, just as Elisha said it would. But the officer who did not believe did not get to benefit from the end of the famine, but he was trampled to death by the people in their rush to get to the food. And our narrator tells us in verses 18 to 20 that it happened just as Elisha had said, because Elisha had said that while he will see the end of the famine, he will not eat any of the food.
And so, the one person who did not benefit from the end of the famine was that officer. And he did not benefit from it because he did not believe. And that’s always the way with God, isn’t it? Today we have the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to remember the death of our Saviour, who gave up his life on the cross for us and for our salvation. And yet, you cannot receive his salvation or benefit from his death on the cross unless you believe in him. You need to trust in him for forgiveness and eternal life.
And God has promised to be our rock and refuge and our ever-present help. He has promised to care for us and to provide for us. But we need to trust in him. We need to look to him. We need to pray to him and confess our own weakness and our dependence on him and to seek his help.
God has given us a passage like today’s passage to remind us that he is in control. The Devil is not in control. Chance is not in control. Luck is not in control. Whatever gods people believe in are not in control. And the people or things that make you afraid are not in control. The Lord God Almighty is in control. And because of Christ, the Lord God Almighty has become your Heavenly Father who loves you and cares for you. And so, you should look to him for the help you need each and every day.
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