Finally, they said to one another, "We are not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will overtake us. Now, therefore, let us go and tell the king's household." Sermons
I. THE RIGHT. "They said one to another, We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace." The silver and the gold which they had discovered they had hidden away; and now, perhaps, conscience told them it was not right. It is not right for us to conceal the good we have discovered, or to appropriate it entirely to our own use; let us communicate it. The distribution of good is right. Every man should be "ready to communicate." The monopoly of material good is a huge wrong, and the crying sin of the age. Legislation will have to deal with this social abomination sooner or later; it is crushing the millions to the dust. Monopolies must be broken up; the wants of society and the claims of eternal justice demand it. What is truly "glad tidings" to us we should proclaim to others. The rays of joy that fall over our own lives we should not retain, but reflect. II. THE PRUDENT. Whether these poor men felt it was right to communicate to others the tidings of the good they had received or not, they certainly felt it was prudent. "If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household." Accordingly they acted. "So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. And he called to the porters; and they told it to the king's house within." Not to do the right thing must cause some "mischief" - mischief not only to the body, but to the soul as well, to the entire man. There is no prudence apart from rectitude. What is wrong in moral principle is mischievous in conduct. He who is in the right, however outvoted by his age, is always in the majority, for he has that vote which carries all material universes and spiritual hierarchies with it. Right is infallible utilitarianism. - D.T.
Then they said one to another, We do not well. You are not surprised to find that, when those four lepers outside the gate of Samaria, had made the great discovery that the Syrian camp was deserted, they first satisfied their own hunger and thirst. .End quite right too. Who would do otherwise? It is true that they were bound to go and tell other hungry ones; but they could do that with all the louder voice, and they were the more sure of the truth they had to tell, when they had first refreshed themselves. It might have been a delusion: they were prudent to test their discovery before they told it. Having refreshed and enriched themselves, they bethought them of going to tell the besieged and starving citizens. I would advise every soul that has found Christ to imitate the lepers in this matter. Make sure that you have found the Saviour. Eat and drink of him; enrich yourself with him; and then go and publish the glad tidings. Personal enjoyments of true godliness assist us in our testimony for truth and grace. But the point I desire to bring out is this: if those lepers had stopped in the camp all night, if they had remained lying on the Syrian couches, singing, "Our willing souls would stay in such a place as this"; and if they had never gone at all to their compatriots, shut up and starving within the city walls, their conduct would have been brutal and inhuman. I am afraid that some of my hearers have never yet confessed the work of God in their souls. It should not be a matter of one solemn occasion, but our whole life should be a witness to the power and grace which we have found in Christ.I. TO HIDE THE DISCOVERY OF DIVINE GRACE WOULD BE WRONG. 1. For, their silence would have been contrary to the Divine purpose in leading them to make the discovery. Why were these four lepers led into the camp that they might ]earn that the Lord of hosts had put the enemy to the rout Why, mainly that they might go back, and tell the rest of their countrymen. 2. Thee people would not only have been false to the Divine purpose, but they would have failed to do well. They said one to another, "We do not well." Did it ever strike some of you that it is a very serious charge to bring against yourselves, "We de not well?" "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 3. Besides this, had those lepers held their tongues, they would actually have been doing evil. Suppose that they had kept their secret for four-and-twenty hours, many hundreds might have died of starvation within the walls of Samaria: had they so perished, would not the lepers have been guilty of their blood? 4. Again, these lepers, if they had held their tongues, would have acted most unseasonably. Note how they put it themselves: they say, "We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace." O, has Jesus washed your sins away, and are you silent about it? 5. One thing more: silence may be dangerous. What said these men? "If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us." That morning light is very close to some of you. If you tarry till to-morrow morning before you have spoken about Christ, some mischief may come upon you. II. If we "have made the blessed discovery of Christ's gracious work in routing our enemies, and providing for our needs, and if we have tasted of the fruit of that glorious victory ourselves, WE OUGHT TO MAKE A VERY EXPLICIT AVOWAL OF THAT DISCOVERY. It ought to be confessed very solemnly, and in the way which the Lord himself has appointed. 1. This ought to be done very decidedly, because our Lord requires it. 2. Next, if you have found Christ, the man who was the means of leading you to Christ has a claim upon you that he should know of it. 3. Next I think the church of God has a claim upon all of you who have discovered the great love of Jesus. Come and tell your fellow-Christians. Tell the good news to the King's household. The church of God is often greatly refreshed by the stories of new converts. 4. Besides that, a testimony decided for Christ is due to the world. If a man is a soldier of the cross, and does not show his colours, all his comrades are losers by his want of decision. III. THIS DECLARATION SHOULD BE CONTINUALLY MADE. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) I. ON GROUNDS OF PRINCIPLE. "We do not well"; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. It is one of the obvious arguments for foreign missions that brotherhood and generosity, and the prodigality of the Great Message itself, all alike demand the widest proclamation of the Gospel. That is true, and can never be otherwise than true. There is a wealth of joy and of moral quickening in the good news of salvation, which it were an everlasting shame to limit by any miserable parochial barriers. Good news of this character is, in its very nature, expansive — universal. "We do not well," which being interpreted means, we are not acting honestly; we are revelling in sudden and incredible wealth. But it does not belong to us. It belongs to all; it is meant for all. There is no monopoly in the Gospel. Judaism is the historic example of the principle of religious monopoly at work, and Judaism measured swords with Christianity only to receive its deathblow. There are diversities of gifts; there are principles of election and selection at work undoubtedly; there are varieties of opportunity; but there is no diversity, no election, no variety, in regard to the destination of the Gospel. When the crass wails of Judaism fell before the outburst of the river of life the whole world was open to the hurrying stream, and thank God. could never more be severed or shut up from it again There is no hint in all the Divine programme that an Englishman should make a better Christian than a Chinaman, or that wisdom might die with Western civilisation. The broad fact which the gospel bears upon its front, the fact to which Christ witnessed in so many suggestions and assertions, is this: that He comes to seek and to save the lost of all nations, that differences of race count nothing before the boundlessness of His compassion and power, and that nobody on earth can predict — only the great day will declare it — which race or language or colour may rise to the noble pre-eminence of revealing most perfectly the bloom and the fruitage of a divine life. Indeed, we do not well in holding our peace. The spirit of our faith demands that we be not silent, and if we are, do we not repeat in a more subtle, but not less deadly, form the sin of which every worldling is guilty? But there are other grounds on which we ought to have a greater zeal for this work, and I mention secondly — II. ON GROUNDS OF POLICY. If we tarry till the morning light, our iniquity will find us out. Of course it will. A fine philanthropy may often be stimulated, and not unworthily, by some stirring of the instinct of self-preservation, when their craven deed of the night came to be known — and the morning would make it known inevitably — they would get but short shrift from those who at last came to their own; their wisdom lay in communicating the secret and sharing in the common lot of enrichment and of joy. And it seems to me that here there lies enshrined a warning of the gravest consequence to Christian people and Christian nations to-day. Expansion with concentration is the condition of a vigorous and worthy life. Concentration without expansion means sterility and death. III. ON GROUNDS OF PERSONAL OBLIGATION TO JESUS CHRIST. The parallel of our text may not carry us quite so far as I would go, yet it carries us a good way. "Let us go now and tell the king's household." There was clearly in the mind of the lepers some thought of loyalty to the king at this great crisis in national history, and for us Christians it is true that supreme above all other considerations, whether principle or policy, it is our personal obligation to Christ to see that His last words are obeyed to the letter. Our King's household is a great company — a multitude that no man can number. They are waiting in every country — among the jungle villages of India, under the sultry southern skies, amid the teeming millions of China among the islands of the sea, waiting to have their heart-hunger appeased by the Word of Life; waiting for the one splendid disclosure that can make the whole world new. And you possess the secret. You do not well nor wisely to hold your peace. Run, cry about for joy in the ear of all nations, Christ is King, and His mercy endureth for ever. Now, when the time comes you will be saved from all mishaps, end from that hand which is worse than any mishap. There will be no sweeter words spoken by the lips of the Master in the great day than these: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did unto Me." (A. Connell, M. A. , D. D.) II. THE EVIL OF SELFISHLY ENJOYING THESE GOSPEL TIMES. "We do not well," these lepers said to one another; we do not well; "this day is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace." "We do not well"; we show a wart of common benevolence if we simply receive the Gospel and make no effort to diffuse it. There is a close tie between man and man. Reason and Scripture both tell us of a bond of brotherhood which unites me to every other individual of my race. I ought to abound in sympathy, to rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep with them that weep. The second commandment is not repealed by the Gospel, it is sanctioned, enforced, confirmed — "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Now just suppose that these lepers had revelled down there at the bottom of the hill among the luxuries of the Syrian camp and sent no tidings into Samaria. Suppose that by some accident one of the Samaritans heard that there were these men revelling, and that there was enough and to spare, and they had sent no tidings into the city: how the selfishness of these men would be cursed! What a howl of indignation would ring through all the streets and homes of Samaria! We do not well, for there is a want of loving obedience in this. We do not well, for we rob ourselves of the highest enjoyment of the Gospel. There is nothing, that appears clearer to those of us who have got into middle age, and are getting on to the end of life, than this. I never can be happy if I simply try to make myself happy. Selfishness always defeats itself. (F. Tucker, B. A.) I. THE TIMES IN WHICH WE LIVE. "This day is a day of good tidings." And is it not a day of good tidings? What are the peculiarities of the day in which we are called to live? There are these four peculiarities in it; the first of which I will now mention: — that Jesus Christ has obtained a complete conquest over all our enemies. And this is the great and especial truth which is published in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Moreover, "this is a day of good tidings," because Jesus Christ has procured an ample provision for all our necessities. The spoil is ours; the glory is his, The conquest was made by Himself, and through that conquest all the benefits of salvation are now amply provided and amply presented to our use. But there is another point connected with this good tidings, and that is this that Jesus Christ has led many of us who are present to participate in the provisions of his love. And this makes it "a day of good tidings" to us. The four leprous men exemplify our condition. Like them we were cast out of the congregation of the saints; like them we were loathsome in our own eyes: like them, we were infectious to our neighbours: like them, we were under the ban and curse of God; but, like these leprous men, He filled us with views of our own misery, made us discontented with the state in which we were, raised a spark of hope in our bosoms, that for us there might be hope, and that we might, as we could not be in a worse condition, be better, by application to His mercy and grace. But there is another point connected with the day in which we live — that Jesus Christ has opened channels for the publication of these good tidings to others. This day may be emphatically called, indeed, "a day of good tidings."I. THE TEXT REPROVES OUR INDIFFERENCE TO THE MISERIES OF OTHERS. "We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings." Certainly, then, "we do not well." 1. For let it be remembered that while this disposition exists in the mind, we dishonour our character. What is our character? If we have believed in Christ, we are the sons of God; we are united to Christ, our Elder Brother, and we are under infinite obligations to his boundless love, inexpressible obligations to His gracious care and love to us. Now, all He asks us, in return for His love to us, is, to love Him in return — not to be ashamed of Him; to establish His kingdom, and to give ourselves up to His service. 2. But we not only dishonour our character, but we disobey Christ's command. Our prayers have been, Lead me into Thy truth, and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" has been our cry. Now this is His instruction: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, beginning at Jerusalem." III. THE TEXT PRONOUNCES OUR PUNISHMENT IF WE DELAY. "If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will befall us." 1. If we delay this work our eyes shall see the destruction of our kindred. When our beloved Lord had used all efforts to evangelise Jerusalem, by preaching, by miracles, by residing amongst them, by various conversations, and yet, after all their misery affected His heart; He could not look upon them without tears. Many times He wept in His prayers; but there are two scenes only recorded where He publicly wept; the one was at the grave of Lazarus, His dear friend; and the other was when He looked over Jerusalem, and saw the people perishing — people who had discarded the prophets that had been sent them. Now what should our grief, beloved, be, to see souls brought every hour to the brink of hell, and know that, if they die, they must fall therein, and to reflect that we have used no adequate means to succour and save their souls! There is however, another point to consider. 2. The evil that shall befall us shall be this — our souls shall want the joys of God's salvation. 3. Again: our conduct shall receive the condemnation of Christ. I refer now to the last day. That is so plainly spoken of, that it needs no illustration: "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me." IV. The text would, in the last place, suggest THE CONDUCT WHICH YOU OUGHT TO ADOPT UNDER PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES. "Let us go," the text says, "and tell the king's household." And, brethren, let us go and carry the Gospel to our poor brethren and sisters in England that are perishing for lack of knowledge. It suggests that we should go and tell of these glad tidings, because success is certain. Success is certain, what though many of your dear missionaries, who toil night and day in the work, have not had extended encouragement of their heart's desire which you could wish — will you give up? Finally, let us furnish, this. gospel to our countrymen, for our opportunities are vanishing. Time is hastening on; health is inconstant; the fashion of the world passeth away. This, this is the only time we can use our strength, and talents, and time, and money. (J. Sherman.) Homilist. I. THE RIGHT. The silver and the gold which they had discovered they had hidden away; and now, perhaps, conscience told them it was not right. It is not right for us to conceal the good we have discovered, or to appropriate it entirely to our own use, let us communicate it. The distribution of good is right. Every man should be ready to communicate. The monopoly of material good is a huge wrong, and the crying sin of the age. Monopolies in trade, in land, in power, political and ecclesiastical, must be broken up, the wants of society and the claims of eternal justice demand it. What is truly "glad tidings" to us we should proclaim to others. The rays of joy that fall over our own lives we should not retain, but reflect.II. THE PRUDENT. If these poor men felt it was right to communicate to others the tidings of the good they had received or not, they certainly felt it was prudent. Not to do the right thing must cause some "mischief," mischief not only to the body, but to the soul as well, to the entire man. There is no true prudence apart from rectitude. What is wrong in moral principle is mischievous in conduct. He who is in the right., however outvoted by his age, is always in the majority, for he has His vote, which carries all material universes and spiritual hierarchies with it. Right is infallible utilitarianism. (Homilist.) Burner, in his History of our own Times, quotes Lord Shaftesbury of the seventeenth century as saying: "People differ in their discourses and professions about theological matters, but men of sense are really of one religion." When asked "What is that religion?" the Earl rejoined, "That, men of sense never tell!" This may be the religion of the worldling and cynic, but the religion of the regenerated man cannot but utter itself. Its light shines-it cannot be hid. Life must out. Divine life is irrepressible.People Aram, Egyptians, Elisha, Hittites, Israelites, SyriansPlaces Egypt, Jordan River, SamariaTopics Aren't, Daylight, Declare, Hold, Household, Iniquity, Keeping, King's, Let's, Mischief, Morning, News, Nothing, Ourselves, Overtake, Palace, Peace, Punishment, Report, Royal, Silent, Tarry, Tidings, Till, Wait, Waited, WaitingOutline 1. Elisha prophesies incredible plenty in Samaria3. four lepers, venturing on the host of the Syrians, bring tidings of their flight 12. The king, finding by spies the news to be true, spoils the tents of the Syrians. 17. The lord who would not believe the prophecy of plenty is trampled in the press Dictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 7:9 5950 silence Library Silent Christians'Then they said one to another, We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us; now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.'--2 KINGS vii. 9. The city of Samaria was closely besieged, and suffering all the horrors of famine. Women were boiling and eating their children, and the most revolting garbage was worth its weight in silver. Four starving lepers, sitting by the gate, plucked … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture 'Impossible, --Only I Saw It' The Sin of Unbelief The Care of the Soul Urged as the one Thing Needful An Address to a Soul So Overwhelmed with a Sense of the Greatness of Its Sins, that it Dares not Apply Itself to Christ with Any The Section Chap. I. -iii. 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