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But what did Elisha do when his
enemies came to take him prisoner? Again he asked help of God:
he asked Him to smite his enemies with blindness; and God did so.
The Syrians became blind and helpless; and then they had no power to hurt
Elisha. So Elisha came to them, and said, "Follow me, and I
will bring you to the man you seek." Then he led them into
Samaria. The poor blind men did not know where they were going; but
when they were come to Samaria, Elisha asked God to open their eyes again;
and God gave sight to the Syrians. What did they see? They saw
themselves surrounded by their enemies. The king of Israel was
there, and all his army. Elisha was close to them; but they were
afraid to take him now. Then the king said to Elisha, "Shall I
smite them? Shall I smite them?" But Elisha did not want
revenge; he had used his power only to protect himself from his enemies;
and he did not wish to punish them any more. He was willing to
forgive all their unkindness to him. So he said to the king of
Israel, "No, we must not kill them. God gave them into my power
that I might save myself; but I do not wish to hurt them. Let us
give them bread to eat, and water to drink, and send them home tot their
master." Then Elisha made a great feast for the Syrians; and
when they had finished eating and drinking, he let them go back in peace
to the king of Syria. How kind and generous Elisha was to his
enemies! All God's people ought to be like him. It is very
wrong to be angry, and cruel, and revengeful. We may defend
ourselves, but we must not avenge ourselves. God says,
"Vengeance is mine;" and His command to each of us is, "If
thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink."
Romans 12:19, 20. So the
Syrian army went back to their master, and Elisha was left in
safety. His enemies could not hurt him. Why? Because God
was his friend, and protected him in all dangers. If God is with us,
we need not be afraid of man. Some
time after, King Ben-hadad himself came to Samaria, and besieged it.
A siege is a very dreadful thing. The poor people in a besieged city
cannot come out to get food; and their enemies will not let any be carried
in: so the food in the city is very soon gone, and then famine
begins. The famine in Samaria now was very dreadful. The
people gave much money for very little food, and bad food too. They
gave eighty pieces of silver for an ass's head; and were glad to eat this,
because they were so very hungry. Some of them ate what was
worse. They killed and ate their own little children! One day,
the king of Israel was passing by the wall, and he heard a woman crying,
"Help, my lord, O king!" But the king answered, "If
the Lord do not help thee, how can I help thee? Have I food to give
thee?" Then he turned to the woman, and asked why she
cried. The poor woman pointed to another near her, and said,
"That woman asked me to give my child, yesterday, for food for her
and me; so I took my little son, and we boiled him, and ate him; and she
promised to give her own son for us to eat to-day; but when I asked for
him, she would not let him be killed. She has hid her child, and now
we have no food." The king rent his clothes when he heard this
sad story, and turned away from the woman; for he could not bear to hear
more. The king was very
unhappy, but he was not humbled in all his trouble. He did not
repent of his own sins, and of his people's sins; and he did not ask help
from God. No, the king was angry; angry with Elisha, who, he
thought, had brought this trouble upon them all; and he said, "Elisha
shall be put to death; he shall not live another day." Elisha
was sitting quietly in his house with his friends. They were all
peaceful and happy, because their trust was in God, and they knew he would
take care of them. And so He did; for before Joram sent to take
Elisha, to put him to death, God told the prophet of his danger, and
helped him to prepare for it. Then Elisha said to his friends,
"A messenger is coming from the king to cut off my head. When
you hear him, shut the door, and hold him there; for the king his master
will soon follow him." So the door was locked; and when the
messenger came, he himself was taken; but the prophet was preserved in
safety. God had preserved Elisha many times, and He did not forsake
him now. How happy those people are whom the Lord protects!
They need never fear if He is with them.
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