Ben-Hadad’s Siege of Samaria

II Kings 6:24–33
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Some time after the events just related, Ben-Hadad tried again to defeat Israel. This time he mobilized his entire army and besieged Samaria (v. 24). This kept up until there was nothing to eat in the city (v. 25) It was so severe that one donkey’s head, unclean to the Israelites, became a highly valued commodity. One day as Joram (the king of Israel) was walking along the top of the city wall a woman shouted to him, “your Majesty, can you please help me” (v. 26)? Sarcastically he told the woman that he could not provide  bread or wine; he was not greater than God (v. 27).

The woman then told the king, “Another woman and I were so hungry, that in desperation, we agreed to eat our sons (v. 28). She said that her friend had persuaded her to cook her son first but the next day, when the friend was to cook her son she had hidden him (v. 29). Learning the desperate extent to which the siege had driven his people, the king angrily tore his robes, an expression of deep distress and sorrow (v. 30). But Joram’s repentance seems to have been rather shallow in view of his attitude toward God’s servant Elisha (v. 31). Rather than dealing with the real cause of God’s discipline and his own apostasy, Joram blamed Elisha and swore to put him to death that very day.

Elisha was home and the important leaders of Israel were meeting with him (v.  32).Warned by God, Elisha announced that the king was sending someone to kill him. The prophet’s instruction to the elders was to bar the door against the executioner. The messenger arrived and said, “The king has concluded the Lord has caused all these things to happen, so why should He help us now” (v. 33)?

Application

The king blamed Elisha for the desperate situation instead of assuming any blame himself. Instead of blaming others for situations that come in my life I need to make sure my sins are confessed.