88 - Grace: Divine Illumination [A]

Grace: Divine Illumination. 2 Kings 6:8-23

We have seen that some of these episodes seem rather odd when we first go through them because there is no specific statement at the end of them that really focus us on why they are in the Scriptures. So that forces us to stop and think a little more deeply about why it is that God is including these events in the narrative of 2 Kings. Why is it important to learn these things? Why was it important for Israel to have these types of things happen in their history? What is it that God is trying to communicate to Israel at that time in their history? If we don't really understand that then when it comes to taking these episodes and applying them over to the church age and to our spiritual life we can run agro8und on all sorts of various problems. So it is important o focus on how these string together, and the beautifying element in each of these episodes is the grace of God towards a rebellious people. God is extending His grace to the northern kingdom of Israel because they are out of fellowship as a nation, disobedient to God and have rejected Him. They have gone into idolatry and this has been going on now for some seventy years or so, ever since the split of the northern kingdom from the southern kingdom and the idolatry that was first introduced by Jeroboam 1^st.

As a background for understanding what happens in 2 Kings 6, starting in v. 8, we are to be reminded of what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Fundamentally the Sermon on the Mount was Jesus confronting the Pharisees with their pseudo righteousness based on a legalistic, superficial interpretation of the Mosaic Law: that if people just did certain overt activities it would make them righteous. Jesus is challenging their whole concept of righteousness and the central passage, we might say, of the Sermon on the Mount was, "If your righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees then you will not see the kingdom of heaven." The point is that in their culture they thought the perfect example of a righteous person was a Pharisee. We look at the Pharisee through the lens of Jesus' teaching, so we look at them as being superficial and hypocrites. But in their culture there was nobody more moral, no one more involved in the worship of the temple and what appeared to be the worship of God than a Pharisee. So if someone came along and said that their righteousness wasn't good enough for God, and that you have to have greater righteousness, then how in the world could any of us ever be approved by God? So the Sermon on the Mount of when Jesus gave His correct interpretation of the Mosaic Law and the righteousness required by the Mosaic Law in contrast to the interpretation of the Pharisees.

In Matthew 5:43ff Jesus said, ^NASB "Matt 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…'" Jesus' point here is to illustrate grace; that in the life of the believer grace should be a characteristic, and as the individual believer is dealing with people who may spitefully use you, abuse us, not have respect for us as an individuals, who may antagonize us, that we are to love our enemies as we love those who are our friends and those who support us. That is grace, and it is ultimately depicted at the cross because God loved those who were hostile to Him so much that he sent His Son to die on the cross for them. As believers we are to emulate the love of God to those who are hostile to us. That is grace orientation. That is the background theme that is being illustrated in a number of these episodes in 2 Kings.

The next episode starting in 2 Kings 6:8 has to do with a military conflict that is taking place between the Arameans to the north (roughly the area of modern Syria and Lebanon) and the northern kingdom of Israel. Since the time of Solomon there had existed a state of hostility between the Aramaen nation to the north that had its capital in Damascus and the Jews to the south. Following the division of Israel that hostility intensified so that by the time of Elijah, but specifically Elisha, military hostilities with the northern kingdom had become a regular factor in the life of the citizens in the northern kingdom of Israel. To understand way God is allowing this constant attacking by the Syrians we need top put this within the framework of the Mosaic Law. In 1 Kings chapter eleven we see the description of Solomon's fall into idolatry. As he succumbed to the influence of all of his foreign wives he began to compromise on his love for Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He allowed to construction of temples to the false gods to the point where he became involved himself in idolatry.

We have to understand the significance of idolatry in Israel in light of the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law has a prelude to it that summarizes the underlying principles of the Law, and that is known as the Ten Commandments. At the beginning of these commandments are these six verses that focus on the mandate that God gave the nation: to have exclusive loyalty and allegiance to Him. Exodus 20:2 ^NASB "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Notice how He defines Himself again and again as the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt. [4] "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. [5] You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, [6] but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." The foundational mandate of the Mosaic Law is complete, total, unadulterated allegiance to God. So when idolatry occurred this was not just an act of spiritual infidelity, it was an act of treason against the true King of Israel who was God. So it has political as well as religious significance. As God gave them the Law he also identified in the Law that if there was a violation by the nation then God would bring certain devastating consequences on that nation. That included military conquest, as we see in Leviticus chapter twenty-six—five stages of increasing intensity of divine discipline on the nation for their disobedience, and this is the framework for understanding what is happening in all of these books that follow the Mosaic Law. We can't understand the rest of the Old Testament if we don't understand Leviticus 26. The rest of the Old Testament is either the outworking of the blessing or the cursing (judgments on Israel) depending on whether they were obedient or disobedient to God.

When Solomon succumbed to idolatry God finally announced a judgment on him in 1 Kings 11:12 and he told Solomon that He would take the kingdom from him—not in his lifetime but from his son—and it would be torn in two. The northern ten tribes would be one nation and the southern two tribes would remain as one nation, not because of Solomon but because of the covenant that God had made with Solomon's father, David. There would always be a descendant of king David on the throne of Judah. So with that Solomon began to experience the collapse of his great empire, the time of great peace and prosperity that God had given him because of his obedience to God when he was young. What we read in the rest of 1 Kings 11 is that God began to raise up various external enemies as well as internal opposition. One of those external enemies that God raised up at that time involved the rise of this new entity if Aramea in the north that would be centered in Damascus.

As the northern kingdom was in violation of the Mosaic Law God began to discipline that nation, and they had a history of political instability, one dynasty following upon another dynasty, numerous wars and consequences. One of those consequences involved a war with the southern kingdom during the time when Asa was the king of Judah in the south and Ba'asha was the king in Israel. Ba'asha began to fortify the border with Judah in preparation for an attack. This obviously disturbed Asa and he wanted to something to distract Ba'asha so he bribed Ben-hadad I in Syria to invade from the north. That would cause Ba'asha to turn around and put all of his forces back in order to protect the nation and get his focus off of Judah.

Following the initial attack by Ben-hadad when he took the northern part of the kingdom (around 880 BC), from that point down through the time of Ahab, Syria had dominance in that part of the northern kingdom. Even during the time of Ahab there were conflicts, but then there were two instances when the Syrians attacked (1 Kings 20, 21) and were defeated. But a strange twist occurred in 853 (not recorded in Scripture) when Ahab and Ben-hadad entered into an alliance against the Assyrians who were coming in from the north east, and they were able to defeat Shalmaneser III. We know about that because it is commemorated on a monolith that Shalmaneser erected and he mentioned both Ben-hadad and Ahab on it. But following that there was a falling out between Ben-hadad and Ahab, and Ahab went to Jehoshaphat, the king of the south, to see if he would join him in an attack against the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead. That is when Ahab was killed. Ever since that defeat by the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead there had been these consistent hit-and-run raids by the Syrians in to the northern kingdom of Israel and that had led to tremendous instability. All of that is God bringing judgment t and discipline on the northern kingdom in light of these promises in the cycles of discipline.

To summarize this, what we see is that Israel was in disobedience to God. They had violated the Mosaic Law, they were worshipping false gods which was an act of treason as well as religious apostasy, and so as a nation they were out of fellowship and in rebellion towards God. Individually there were very few who were even saved, but nationally there was a corporate representation there. They are in covenant with God which pictures them as being redeemed by God as a nation, so that has an analogy with us as individuals—as a nation they were saved but they are out of fellowship and under discipline. Nevertheless we see that God is continuing to initiate and to be kind to them so that they would return to Him. He continued to send His messengers, Elijah and Elisha, to the northern kingdom even though they had completely rejected Him. This is a demonstration of God's grace, a demonstration of loving your enemies. Israel is at enmity with God and is a spiritual enemy of God, and yet God is demonstrating His love to them by sending Elijah and Elisha.

This has two applications for us. First, it has an application in relation to salvation. Romans 5:8 ^NASB "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." There is an analogy between Israel as being an enemy of God and God continuing to send a message of grace through the prophets to them and our salvation. Every human being is born spiritually dead and at enmity with God, hostile to God. Nevertheless, God in showing His unconditional love sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the earth to die for our sins and to pay the penalty for our sins. Second, it helps to understand God's grace toward us in our spiritual life. We often go through times in our spiritual life when we are in rebellion against God, when we are like the northern kingdom of Israel and have succumbed to the idols in our lives—not of metal or wood but the idols of our circumstances, the idols of the details of our life where the details of our life are more important than our relationship to God. But God constantly works in us as believers by the Holy Spirit in order to bring us back to Himself. That includes divine discipline and punishment. Hebrews 12:5, 6. Even though we are out of fellowship and under divine discipline we are still the recipients of God's grace. At the same time He is always working to pull us back, to cause us to turn back to Him, to confess our sins and to return in fellowship. 1 John 1:9. That is what is being pictured here in terms of Israel's relationship to God. As we go through this episode what we should think of is that God's treatment of the enemies of Israel, the Syrians, is to teach something to Israel about God's grace towards them. Just as the Aramaens or Syrians were the enemies of the northern kingdom, so Israel had become the enemy of God. And what God is doing in His grace by showing His grace in this episode to the Syrians in being kind to them at the end, and treating them the way He does, is to illustrate to the northern kingdom that if they would return to Him then He would also treat them in love and grace and kindness.

The problem that is faced here initially by Beh-hadad is that as he is making war with Israel and he sits in the private council chambers with his chief generals to make the secret plans to attack Israel, by the time they get ready to carry them out the Israelites already know what is going to happen and they have marshaled their troops to that particular area and are prepared for the attack. So the king of Syria begins to suspect that there is someone within his inner circle who is a spy. So the first three verses, 8-10, describe the fact that God is still working in the southern kingdom and even though He is allowing the Syrians to attack He is still dealing with the northern kingdom in grace. He sent Elisha to them and He tells Elisha what the plans of the enemy are so that he can then inform the king of Israel so that they can be prepared to resist the attacks from Syria. That teaches us the principle that even while we are under divine discipline God is still extending His grace to us. It also teaches us that God is our real protector, the one who is the solution to all of the problems and issues in our life, not whatever it is that we are putting in front of Him. Life is not going to be a success because we have mastered certain psychological techniques of life or because we have managed to develop certain psychological orientations. Life is a success only if we have submitted to the authority of God and we are living according to His Word. We have to learn to trust Him above everything else. God is working to teach that principle in the northern kingdom. They have to learn to trust God and not their own resources. That is why it is the prophet of God who is the one who provides their solution.    

Psalm 40:4 ^NASB "How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood." That is, trusting in God and not those who put forth alternative solutions, alternative paths to happiness and meaning and success in life.

Psalm 118:8, 9 ^NASB "It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in princes."

Psalm 146:3 ^NASB "Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation."

Jeremiah 17:5-8 ^NASB "Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit."

Two principles we see here. First, no matter what our circumstances may be our only hope is in the Lord. Do not put your hope in education, in success, in working for a strong company with the expectation that God is going to protect you in times of economic crisis, in politicians, political parties or political agendas. Our hope, our confidence is in the Lord and Him alone. The second is to recognize that God is always going to deal with you as a believer in grace, even when we are in rebellion towards Him. God is always reaching out to us in grace, giving us the opportunity to recover, the be restored to fellowship and to move forward in our spiritual life. This is what he is doing in all of these episodes related to the northern kingdom of Israel.

Now we come to one of those interesting little episodes. The king is informed that it is not some spy that is telling the king of Israel what is going on but it is the prophet of God, Elisha. So he is going to send one of his divisions into the northern kingdom in order to capture Elisha in order to prevent him from giving away his secret plans.

2 Kin 6:8-13 ^NASB "Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel; and he counseled with his servants saying, 'In such and such a place shall be my camp.' The man of God sent {word} to the king of Israel saying, 'Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there.' The king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God had told him; thus he warned him, so that he guarded himself there, more than once or twice. Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, 'Will you tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?'  One of his servants said, 'No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.' So he said, 'Go and see where he is, that I may send and take him.' And it was told him, saying, 'Behold, he is in Dothan.'"

Dothan was a place where Joseph had had some dealings in his lifetime so it has a historical background in Israel. It is located in the Jezreel Valley about 12 miles north of the capital of the northern kingdom which is Samaria.

2 Kings 6:14 ^NASB "He sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. [15] Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, 'Alas, my master! What shall we do?'" He is filled with fear and runs to Elisha. [16] "So he answered, 'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.'" Elisha shows how any believer focused on the Lord should respond. He does not panic. The problem we have as believers living in this modern or postmodern era is that we do not think in terms of the spiritual arena that surrounds us. We are not always aware that as we are moving through life we are shoving our way through crowds of angels. We are surrounded by angels who are witnessing and observing everything that we do. On one level we walk by faith and not by sight, but we let our thinking be dominated so much by the empirical—what we see is that which is real, so we are functional empiricists and we don't think in terms of the reality of the angelic conflict that surrounds us. Too often we are like the servant of Elisha and we don't have our eyes opened by the truth of Scripture.

Elisha is going to pray for his servant's eyes to be opened and then he is going to pray for the Syrians' eyes to be closed, and we see this enlightenment that comes from spiritual truth. 2 Kings 6:17 ^NASB "Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." Suddenly he realizes that he is not outnumbered but those poor Syrians are outnumbered by the forces of God. That reality wasn't something that was true for Elisha at that time in history, that is a reality that is true just as much for each of us today. Remember that in the New Testament Paul said we are to walk by faith and not by sight. We have to understand that reality is what God's Word says it is, not what we perceive with our senses. Though we cannot perceive the armies of angels that surround us it does not mean that it is any less true.

Then Elisha prays that the Syrians' eyes be closed. 2 Kings 6:18 ^NASB "When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, 'Strike this people with blindness, I pray.' So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha." Now Elisha has to take care of them. They were sent to capture Elisha but he ends up turning the tables on them. [19] "Then Elisha said to them, 'This is not the way, nor is this the city; follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.' And he brought them to Samaria. [20] When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, 'O LORD, open the eyes of these {men,} that they may see.' So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. [21] Then the king of Israel when he saw them, said to Elisha, 'My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?'" The king Israel's reaction was pure human viewpoint, flesh-oriented sin nature response. Notice how pagan and barbaric he is. They can't even defend themselves and he just wants to kill them. Elisha is going to treat these enemies of the state in grace. [22] "He answered, 'You shall not kill {them.} Would you kill those you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.'" Love your enemies; be gracious to them. [23] "So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel."

What are we to learn from this? The message for the northern kingdom to learn from God is that in the same way that these Syrian raiders were enemies of the northern kingdom Israel was the enemy of God. Just as Elisha demonstrated grace and kindness to these enemies of the nation so God was constantly reaching out in grace and kindness to the rebellious apostates Jews in the northern kingdom, God was constantly offering them the opportunity to return to Him and He would fully bless them. It is again a message of grace. God reaches out to us, not on the basis of who we are and what we do but on the basis of who He is and what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.  

Illustrations