"This day is a day of good tidings.—2 Kings 7:9.
IF King Joram had been good he would have had no troubles; but he would let his mother Jezebel worship her false gods, so God sent the Syrians against him again. And they came all round Samaria, and shut it in so close that nobody could get out; and all the food was eaten up, so that even such food as a donkey's head was so dear that hardly anybody could buy it, and everyone was getting starved. Joram was so angry, that he said at last, in his wickedness, he would cut off Elisha's head the next day.
But Elisha said quietly that to-morrow there would be quantities of food in the city, so that it would cost almost nothing. One of the king's lords laughed, and said, "If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be?" "Thou shalt see it with thine eyes," said Elisha, "but shalt not eat thereof."
Now, that night the Lord made the Syrians hear a great noise, as if an army was coming up to help the Israelites. And they were so frightened, that they all fled away in the night, and left all their tents standing, and their armor in them, and their stores of food.
In the early morning, three poor leprous men, who could not get any food in Samaria, crept down to see if the Syrians would give them anything, or they thought if the Syrians should kill them, that would be better than being starved. But when they came to the camp there was nobody there—no soldiers, no horses, only tents full of rich dresses, and fine armour, and, best of all, plenty of food. The hungry lepers went and ate, and then they thought they ought to go and tell the people in the town that all the Syrians were gone.
So the king sent out to see, two men upon lean, starved horses. They found it was all true, and everybody went rushing out to get food. The king sent the lord who had laughed at Elisha, to stand in the gate to keep order; but the people were so very hungry that they did not mind him, and he was knocked down and trodden upon, and trampled to death: and so it came to pass that he saw the plenty, but did not eat of it, because he had mocked at the word of the Lord.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who was king of Israel? 2. Who was prophet? 3. What was the chief town in Israel? 4. Who tried to take it? 5. What was the sad distress in Samaria? 6. What had they to eat? 7. Whose fault was it? 8. But whom did Joram want to punish? 9. What did Elisha promise? 10. Who laughed at him? 11. What did Elisha say? 12. What happened in the night? 13. What became of the Syrians? 14. Who found it out? 15. What did the lepers see? 16. Whom did they tell? 17. What did all the people do? 18. What became of the man who laughed at Elisha? 19. What is it that makes God angry?
