And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever. (2 Kings 8:18-19)

These verses describe the reign of King Jehoram of Judah, who reigned over the two southern tribes among the children of Israel. When it says he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, it was not a compliment. While the Southern Kingdom of Judah had a mixture of godly and wicked kings, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had nothing but evil, God-rejecting kings.

If it was bad that he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, in the book of Chronicles it even says that he followed in the ways of the Canaanites whom God cast out of the land. 2 Chronicles 21:11 says that Jehoram made all Judah to sin according to the religion of the Canaanites.

2 Kings 8:18 tells us part of the reason so much wickedness came from King Jehoram: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. The evil influence of the house of Abab was strong in Jehoram’s life. Perhaps this marriage made sense politically or socially, but it was a spiritual disaster for Judah. This daughter of Ahab’s name was Athaliah, and she turned out to be a terrible, evil woman.

When Jehoram came to power he murdered his many brothers and many other leaders (1 Chronicles 21:1-6). According to the Jewish historian Josephus, King Jehoram did this at the prompting of his wife, Athaliah.

Perhaps some people thought that the marriage between the royal families of the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel would lift up the kingdom of Israel spiritually. It didn’t work that way. Instead, it brought the kingdom of Judah down spiritually.

So, the story of Jehoram is bad – really bad. But don’t miss the good news found in 2 Kings 8:19: Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David. The implication is that Jehoram’s evil was great enough to justify such judgment. If God worked only on the basis of cause-and-effect judgment, then God would have destroyed the kingdom of Judah, and King Jehoram along with it.

Though Judah and her king deserved such judgment, God withheld it because of covenant faithfulness to his ancestor David.

Do you realize that our salvation is real based on the same principle? We aren’t rescued from God’s wrath because we suddenly started being good enough, or because God changed His mind about the judgment our sin deserves. We are rescued because of God’s covenant faithfulness to the Son of David – Jesus Christ Himself.

That’s something to be happy about today – God’s faithfulness to you is based in Jesus, not in you.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 8

Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” (2 Kings 7:9)

It’s one of my favorite scenes in the Bible. Four miserable lepers cautiously approached the camp of the mighty Syrian army, who had held the capital city of the northern tribes of Israel under siege and near complete starvation. As the lepers crept towards the camp, they noticed no guard was there to meet them. As they kept walking it became clear that the camp was empty, and all the soldiers had left suddenly.

What the lepers only found out later was that God miraculous sent the sound of a big army approaching into the ears of the Syrian soldiers (2 Kings 7:6-7). Panicked, the soldiers ran for their lives, taking nothing with them, leaving everything in the camp.

The lepers peeked into tents and saw no one, but they saw tables covered in food and drink. They saw trunks and boxes filled with fancy clothing and treasure. They won the lottery of all the spoil of a huge army camp, and it was all theirs (2 Kings 7:8).

The starving men ate and drank until they couldn’t eat more. They tried on the fancy clothes and hid some of the treasure. It was a little piece of salvation, of heaven on earth, for four unlikely lepers.

Suddenly, something came to mind. They said, “we are not doing right.” They remembered there was a starving city, filled with people on the edge of death. They were rescued; the starving city was unaware. They battle was over, the victory won, all was provided, and the king and the people of Samaria didn’t even know it.

So they said, “come, let us go and tell.” The lepers rightly enjoyed God’s miracle. But they also realized that the gift gave them a responsibility to share it with others. They understood that to remain silent and to selfishly enjoy their blessings was a sin. They were responsible to share the good news, and it would be wrong if they did not tell others, “the battle is over, the victory won, and all is provided.”

Yet, make no mistake: they enjoyed the feast first before they told others about it.

Here’s a two-point plan for you: (1) Enjoy the feast of what God has given to you in the good news of who Jesus is and what He did for you. (2) Find a way to tell a starving world about it. Remember, this day is a day of good news.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 7

So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” (2 Kings 7:2)

Samaria, the capital city of the kingdom of Israel, was under siege and near complete starvation. The surrounding Syrian army waited for their surrender.

Then, God’s prophet Elisha proclaimed the promise of God: within 24 hours the starvation situation in Samaria would be completely reversed. Instead of scarcity, there would be such abundance that food prices would radically drop in the city.

That’s when the unnamed officer in Israel’s army said with sneering unbelief, “Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” It’s true that we shouldn’t be quick to believe the big promises people make, but we should always believe God’s promises. Yet the king’s officer doubted the prophecy, and his doubt was faulty in many ways.

He doubted the power of God. If God willed it, He certainly could make windows in heaven and drop food from the sky for the hungry city.

He doubted the creativity of God. In the mind of the king’s officer, the only way food could come to the city was from above – from windows in heaven. He had no idea that God could provide in a completely unexpected way.

He doubted the messenger of God. The promise was big, but the officer should have believed it because it came from a man proved many times to be reliable.

The king’s officer was fluent in the language of unbelief.

– Unbelief says, “God’s promise may not be true.”
– Unbelief says, “This is a new thing and cannot be true.”
– Unbelief says, “This is a sudden thing and will not be true.”
– Unbelief says, “There is no way to accomplish this thing.”
– Unbelief says, “There is only one way God can meet this need.”
– Unbelief says, “Even if God does something, it won’t be enough.”

Through Elisha, God pronounced a harsh judgment upon the officer of unbelief. He would see the promise fulfilled and food supplied, but he would not eat of it.

Unbelief robs us of many things, but one of the worst is that we never enjoy the satisfaction and contentment found in God’s fulfilled promises.

Treat unbelief for the intruder, deceiver, and thief that it really is.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 7

Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.” Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow. (2 Kings 5:25-27)

God healed Naaman from a fatal disease, and they Syrian general was so grateful that he wanted to give Elisha a big reward. Elisha refused, but his servant Gehazi secretly followed Naaman and lied, saying Elisha now wanted to receive the large reward. Gehazi took what Naaman gave, intending to keep it for himself.

When Gehazi returned to Elisha, the prophet knew just what had happened. Elisha said, “Did not my heart go with you?” We don’t know if this was supernatural knowledge or simply gained from observation and knowing Gehazi’s character. One way or another, Elisha knew. All Gehazi’s attempts to cover his sin failed.

Elisha also knew that it was not time to receive money. It seems the prophet had no absolute law against receiving support from those who were touched by his ministry. Yet it was spiritually clear to Elisha, and should have been clear to Gehazi, that it was not appropriate at this time and circumstance.

Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, paid a great price for his greed and deception: Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever. This was a severe judgment, but as a man in ministry Gehazi was under a stricter judgment. When he allowed himself to covet what Naaman had, he thought only in terms of the moneyNaaman possessed. God allowed him to keep the riches, but also gave him the otherthing Naaman had – deadly leprosy.

I like what Adam Clarke wrote about this: “Gehazi is not the last who has got money in an unlawful way, and has got God’s curse with it.”

I suppose that all of us would rather have more than less. But how you gain things is important. If we gain through lies, deception, disobedience to God, or dishonor, we will probably find that what we can with our riches is worse than the wealth itself.

Remember Proverbs 10:22: The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. Gehazi became rich, but with great sorrow. Don’t put yourself in the same place.

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 5

And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me,and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. (2 Kings 5:10-12)

When the great Syrian general Naaman came to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy, he expected to be treated like a great man. He came with all the emblems of influence and power, and a lot of money.

When he knocked at Elisha’s door, the prophet didn’t bother to answer. He sent a messenger to him instead. Naaman took the trouble to come to the home of Elisha, but Elisha refused to meet him personally. He simply sent a messenger. This was humbling to Naaman, who was usually honored.

Elisha’s message was simple. For healing, he told Naaman to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times. As rivers go, the Jordan was a pretty humble river. And, dunking yourself seven times is something so simple a child could do it.

Naaman’s reaction shows how Elisha offended the general’s pride. Naaman was offended that Elisha himself didn’t see him and because they had much nicer rivers in Syria.

Naaman then turned and went away in a rage. Naaman had a certain expectation about how God should work, and when God didn’t work that way, he was angry. Naaman didn’t like how Elisha expected a humble response from the respected and honored general.

What Elisha offended was Naaman’s pride. In one way or another, our pride will always be offended with God’s work. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in three places (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, and Proverbs 3:34): God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

As long as Naaman stayed in his pride, he would not and could not receive what God wanted to give him. God required that Naaman humble himself in order to receive, so God guided Elisha to give humbling conditions to the great general.

Is pride preventing you from receiving something from God? Put your focus on the humble Jesus (Philippians 2:5-8) and let Him guide you into true humility. Who knows what God has to give you that you haven’t received yet?

Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 5