Leprosy was one of the terrible diseases in the days of the Old Testament. It was much more prevalent then than now, and it spared neither king nor commoner. "To be a leper was to be treated as dead--to be excluded from the city as a corpse: to be spoken to by the best beloved and most loving only at a distance: to dwell with none but lepers; to be utterly unprivileged: to be denied the rites of the temple and the synagogue: to go about with rent garments and covered mouth, except when crying 'Unclean! unclean!' to find home in the wilderness or in abandoned tombs; afraid to die, yet without hope except in death."

--Gen. Lew Wallace in "Ben Hur".

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And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. And the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said to them, "Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?"

And one of his servants said, "Nay, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber."

And he said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and fetch him."

And it was told him, saying, "Behold, he is in Dothan." Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host with horses and chariots was round about the city. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! what shall we do?"

And he answered, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them."

And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see."