2 Kings 7:3-8 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?… The story of four leprous men inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel: is it not singular? No; it is not singular for the Bible. Ii you were to take out of the Scriptures all the stories that have to do with poor, afflicted men and women, what a very small book the Bible would become, especially if together with the stories you removed all the psalms of the sorrowful, all the promises for the distressed, and all the passages which belong to the children of grief! This Book, indeed, for the most part is made up of the annals of the poor and despised. I. A great work of god, which was entirely unknown. 1. The siege was raised from around Samaria. Armed men had stood in their places and kept the way, so that none could go in or out; but they are all gone, not one of them is left. Yet in the city of Samaria they thought themselves cooped up, and set their warders on the wall because of fear in the night. They were as free as the harts of the wilderness had they known it: but their ignorance held them in durance vile. 2. The Lord had also defeated all their enemies. They had run for their lives; they had fled because of a noise in their ears as of horses and of chariots. He that could first get across the Jordan, and interpose that stream between him and his supposed pursuers was the happiest man. Without aid from Hittite or Ethiopian, the God of Israel had driven the whole host of Syria like chaff before the wind. 3. God has provided plenty for them. The wretched Samaritans drew the hungerbelt more closely about them, and each man hoped that he might sleep for many an hour, and for-act his bitter pangs; yet within a stone's throw there was more fine flour and barley than they could possibly consume. Was not that a strange thing? A city besieged, and not besieged; girt with enemies, as they thought, and yet not an enemy left; starving, and yet near to a feast! See, what unbelief ,can do. They had been promised plenty right speedily, by God's own prophet; but they did not believe the promise, nor look out for its fulfilment. Had they been upon the watch, they might have seen the unusual movement in the Syrian camp, and noticed the absolute stillness which succeeded it. I know a sad parallel to this. The Lord Jesus Christ has come into the world, and has put away the sin of His people; and yet many of them are complaining that their sin can never be put away. The Lord Jesus Christ has routed all the enemies of His people, and yet they are afraid of innumerable evils. It is said that drowning men catch at straws: would you not have thought that famishing men might have caught at the word of Elisha? I grant you the promise did seem too great to be true: that lord who scoffed at it was not the only one who judged it to be impossible of fulfilment; and yet when men are brought so very low, they are apt to catch at any hope. How hardened was the unbelief which refused Jehovah's word! II. When you have realised the picture of the city abiding in sorrow. though its deliverance had already come, I want to remark upon A VERY SINGULAR BAND OF DISCOVERERS. A choice quaternion at last found out what the Lord had done, proved it for themselves, and made it known to their fellow-townsmen. Is it not remarkable that these discoverers were lepers? Ah, grace! it is thy wont to dwell in most unlikely places! You would have supposed that surely the king would have gone forth to see, or that yonder great lord who had ridiculed the prophet might have relented, and gone forth to observe. But no; there are last that shall be first, and the Lord in His providence and grace pitched upon lepers to be the discoverers of His marvellous miracle. Even thus the keenest observers of grace are those who have the deepest sense of sin. These men could not hope for a welcome from the Syrians, poor objects that they were, they would be hated as Israelites, and abhorred as lepers; yet they went, and in that camp they found all that they wanted, and much more than they expected. Am I not speaking to some who are saying, "For me to go to Christ would be all in vain: I can suppose His blessing my brother, or my friend, but He never will receive one so altogether unworthy as I am"? I speak to those of you who feel that you have no right to mercy: you are the very men who may come boldly for it; since it is not of right, but altogether of favour. You that have no claim to the mercy of God, you are the very people to come to Him through Jesus Christ; for where there is the least of anything that is good .and meritorious, there there is the most room for generous gifts and gracious pardons. 1. These discoverers of the Lord's work were a people who dared not have joined themselves to God's people. They were not allowed inside the city walls: their wretched hospital was without the gate. How often does it happen that those who are rejected of men are accepted of God! 2. To describe these discoverers yet more fully, they were men who at last were driven to give themselves up. They said, "We will fall unto the Syrians; and if they kill us we shall but die. Blessed m that man who has given himself up, not to the Syrians, but to the Lord! 3. These discoverers I would liken to Columbus, four times repeated; for they found out a new world for Samaria. These four lepers went to the Syrian camp, and saw for themselves: lepers as they were, they came, they saw, they conquered. I think I can see them in the dim twilight, stealing along until they come to the first tent, expecting to be challenged by a picket, and wondering that they are not. They heard no sound of human voice. The horses and mules were heard to stamp, and draw their chains up and down, but their riders were gone, and no noise of human foot was heard. "There are no men about," cried one of them, "nor signs of men! Let us go into this tent." They stepped in. A supper was ready. He who had spread that table will never taste it again. The hungry men needed no persuasion, but immediately began to carve for themselves. They took possession of the spoils of war left on the field. After they had feasted they said, "To whom does this gold and silver belong? The prey belongs to us, for our enemies have left the treasure behind them." They took as many of the valuables as they could carry, then went into another tent: still no living soul was seen. Where lately a host had rioted, not a soldier remained. There was no sound of revelry that night, nor tramp of guard, nor talk around the watch-fire. The lepers tasted more of the forsaken dainties, drained other goblets, and took more gold and silver. "There is more than we shall know what to do with," they said; so they dug a hole, and banked their gains after the Oriental fashion. Who can conceive the delirious joy of those four lepers in the midst of such abundance? Do you see what these men did? First, they went and saw for themselves, and then they took possession for themselves. The whole four of them did not own a penny before, and now they are rich beyond a miser's dream. They have enjoyed the feast, and they are filled to the full. They are fully qualified to go and tell the starving city of their discovery, because they are clear that they have made no mistake. They have satisfied their own hunger, gratified their own desire, and tasted and handled for themselves, and so they can speak as men who know and are sure. He knows the grace of God best who, in all his leprosy and defilement, in all his hunger, and faintness, and weariness, has come to Christ, and fed on the bread of heaven, and drank the water of life, and taken the blessings of the covenants, and made himself rich with hidden treasure. Such a man will speak convincingly, because he will bear a personal witness. The leper, fed and enriched, stands outside the city gate, and calls to the porter, and wakes him up at the dead of night, for he has news worth telling. The experienced believer speaks with the accent of conviction, and therein imitates his Master, who spake with authority. "Why," says the porter, "I used to speak to you over the city wall; are you the leper to whom I said that there was no more food for you? I have thrown you nothing for a week, and thought you were dead — are you the man?" He answers, "I am: I do want your wretched rations now; I am filled, and where I have fed there is enough for you all. Come out, and feast yourselves." "I should not know you!" says the porter. All four join in saying, "No, you would not know us; we are new men since we have been to the camp. Believe the story, and tell it to all in the city, for it is true. There is enough and to spare, if they will but come out and have it." III. HOW THEY CAME TO MAKE THIS DISCOVERY. These four lepers, how did they come to find out the flight of Syria? First, I suppose, they made the discovery rather than anybody else because the famine was sorest with them. Let but some men feel the burden of sin, and they will never rest till they come to Jesus. John Bunyan says that he once thought hardly of Christ, but at last he came to such a pitch of misery that he felt he must come to Jesus anyhow; and he says that he verily believed that, if the Lord Jesus had stood before him with a drawn sword in His hand, he would have rushed upon the point of His sword rather than stay away from Him. These lepers were driven to go to make the discovery because they felt that they could not be any worse than they were. They said, "If we sit here we shall die; and if the Syrians kill us, we shall but die." That feeling has often driven souls to Christ. 1. These people saw that there was no reason why they should not go, for they said one to the other — "Why sit we here until we die?" They could not find a justification for inaction. They could not say, "We sit here because the king commands us to stop where we are." He promises that He will receive you, and therefore He cries, "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?" 2. These lepers went to the camp of the Syrians because they were shut up to that one course — "If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also." Only one road was open. I am always glad when I am in that condition. If many courses are open to me I may make a mistake; but when I see only one road I know which way to go. It is a blessed thing to be shut up to faith in Christ — to be compelled to look to grace alone. IV. MAY NOT SOME SAD HEARTS IMITATE THESE LEPERS, and make the same discovery? "I am afraid to believe in Christ," says one, "for my sins, my many sins, prevent me." Look at the lepers, and see how much better the Lord was to them than their fears. It is twilight, and they steal into the camp trembling. One cries, "Softly there, Simeon! Your heavy tread will bring the guard upon us." Eleazar gently whispers to the other, Make no noise. If they sleep, let us not arouse them. They might tread as heavily as they pleased, and talk as loudly as they wished, for there was no man there. Do you know it? If you believe in the Lord Jesus, your sins, which are many, are all forgiven — there is no sin left to accuse you. You are afraid they will ruin you? They have ceased to be: the depths have covered them; there is not one of them left. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Your sins were numbered on the scape-goat's head of old. Jesus bore your sins in His own body on the tree. If you come to Christ, confessing and believing, no sin shall destroy you, for it is blotted out. Perhaps these men feared when they were going into the tent — "A Syrian will meet us at the tent door, and cry, 'Back, what business have you here? Lepers, begone! Back to your dens and die!'" They entered into tent after tent: nobody forbade them: they had the entry of every pavilion. They were also possessors of all they saw. When I came to Christ, I could not believe that I might take the promises; but I did, and nobody said me nay. Perhaps the leper felt some little question when he saw a golden cup, or a silver flagon, or a wellfashioned cruet. What have lepers to do with golden cups? But he overcame his scruples. No law could hinder his sharing the leavings of a runaway enemy. Nobody was there to stop him, and the valuables were set before him, and therefore he took what was provided for him. The lepers grew more and more bold, till they carried off as much of the booty as they were able to hide away. I take up my parable, and without scruple invite you to deal thus with salvation. When I came to Jesus, I hardly dared to appropriate a promise; it looked like stealing. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? |
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