We worked our way through the story of the siege on Samaria. The king of Syria had come down with his entire army and they besieged Samaria. This blockade of the city eventually caused a famine. The writer tells us the famine was so bad the people were willing to pay 80 shekels for a donkeys head. He even reported how the people were resorting to eating their own children. The king of Israel on hearing about these things blamed God for the problems and swore he was going to kill Elisha. He sent his military captain to kill Elisha and Elisha told the elders who were with him to bar the door and not let him in. Elisha proceeded to tell the captain through the door that the Lord was going to provide flour and barley by the next day about this time in abundance. The man scoffed at the word of the Lord and Elisha told him because of his unbelief he would see it but would not get a chance to see it with his own eyes. That evening the Lord caused the Syrian army to believe they were under attack. They fled leaving everything in their tents and cast off things which weighed them down as they fled. This was all discovered by some unnamed lepers who decided since they were bound to die of hunger soon they just might live if they gave themselves up to the Syrians. When they came to the camp they found it deserted so they ate their fill of food and carried off clothing and other goods and returned for more. The conscience of the lepers began to bother them so the went to Samaria and told the guard on the wall the good news which was passed on to the king. The king was suspicious it was a trap, so he sent two men on horseback to check it out. They discovered the camp was empty like the lepers had reported. On top of the camp having horses and chariots they discovered cast off armor and other elements were strewn along the way all the way to the Jordan. To the readers of this story who were in exile it would have been clear that the siege with its famine were a judgment of God on Israel for their idolatry. It is the exact judgement God had declared in Leviticus He would bring on His people if they failed to worship Him and heed His judgments. It is clear from this story they did not heed God’s judgment. But we also see in this story how God’s judgement does not last forever and He ultimately will save His people. So we see in this passage a picture of salvation. The people are rescued from death and destruction not because they deserve it and not because there was something special about the Jews. No, God saves those who He has set His love upon for His own glory and to be faithful to His own promises and no other reason.