Introduction: This lesson shows the Lord to be in charge even against unthinkable odds and in the most difficult of circumstance. Whether it be an army surrounding you or a horrible famine, God’s grace is sufficient.

1. THE RECOVERY OF THE AX HEAD (2 Kings 6:1-7)
1. The Decision to Build a New Place (2 Kings 6:1-3)
1. The need (2 Kings 6:1)
1. The place of dwelling was too strait
2. The word strait means narrow or restricted (Job 36:16; Isaiah 49:20; Matthew 7:13-14)
2. The solution (2 Kings 6:2)
1. To get wood
1. Every man to go to Jordan
2. Every man to get a beam
2. To build a place sufficient to dwell
3. The plan approved by Elisha
3. The guarantee (2 Kings 6:3)
1. One of them requested the presence of Elisha
2. Note: Only one of them had to foresight to ask the man of God to come along. Evidently, the rest of the men thought they were up to the task. (see Exodus 33:15; John 15:5)
3. Elisha agreed to go
2. The Loss of the Ax Head (2 Kings 6:4-5)
1. Their work (2 Kings 6:4)
1. They took Elisha
2. They went to Jordan
3. They cut wood
4. Note: Everything was working according to plan
2. Their emergency (2 Kings 6:5)
1. The loss of the ax head
1. While felling a beam
2. Into the water
2. The cry of the man
1. Unto Elisha
2. It was borrowed (Exodus 22:14)
3. The Recovery of the Ax Head (2 Kings 6:6-7)
1. Elisha went to where the ax head was lost (2 Kings 6:6)
1. He asked, Where fell it?
2. The man showed him the place
2. Elisha threw a stick into the water (2 Kings 6:6)
1. He cut down the stick
2. The iron did swim
3. Elisha had the man take the ax head (2 Kings 6:7)
1. Elisha commanded him
2. The man obeyed
2. THE FRUSTRATION OF THE SYRIANS (2 Kings 6:8-12)
1. Elisha Revealed the Syrian Movements (2 Kings 6:8-10)
1. The king of Syria warred against Israel (2 Kings 6:8)
2. The king of Syria planned the attack (2 Kings 6:8)
1. Taking counsel of his servants
2. Planning the place of his camp
3. Elisha warned the king of Israel of the location of the Syrians (2 Kings 6:9)
4. Elisha’s warning saved the Israelites (2 Kings 6:10)
1. The king of Israel heeded the warning
2. The Israelites were delivered several times
2. Elisha was Revealed as a Major Syrian Problem (2 Kings 6:11-12)
1. The plea of the king of Syria (2 Kings 6:11)
1. His heart was sore troubled
2. He called his servants together
3. He inquired who was informing the king of Israel
2. One of his servants answered (2 Kings 6:12)
1. None of your servants are informants
2. The prophet Elisha informs the king of Israel
3. He tells the words that you speak in your bedchamber (Ecclesiastes 10:20; Psalm 139:1-4)
3. THE PROTECTION OF ELISHA (2 Kings 6:13-17)
1. The King of Syria Sent to Fetch Elisha (2 Kings 6:13-14)
1. The king of Syria sent to locate Elisha (2 Kings 6:13)
1. They went to spy him out
2. They found him in Dothan
1. Located on the south side of Jezreel about 12 miles north of Samaria
2. The place where Joseph found his brethren and was sold into slavery (Genesis 37:17)
2. The king of Syria sent to fetch Elisha (2 Kings 6:14)
1. He sent an army
1. Horses
2. Chariots
3. A great host
2. They came by night
3. They surrounded the city
2. Elisha Revealed the Army of God (2 Kings 6:15-17)
1. The discovery of the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 6:15)
1. He rose early in the morning
2. He saw the army with horses and chariots
3. He cried in despair to Elisha
2. The assurance given to the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 6:16)
1. Fear not
2. Our army is larger than theirs
3. The revelation given to the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 6:17)
1. Elisha prayed for the opening of his eyes
2. The Lord opened the eyes of the servant
3. He saw the mountain filled with horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 2:11; Isaiah 66:15)
4. THE BLINDING OF THE SYRIANS (2 Kings 6:18-23)
1. Elisha Led the Syrians to Samaria (2 Kings 6:18-20)
1. Elisha’s prayer for the Syrian army (2 Kings 6:18)
1. That they be smitten with blindness
2. The Lord answered according to the word of Elisha
2. The kind of blindness they suffered (2 Kings 6:19)
1. To not know where they were
2. To follow Elisha into Samaria [about 12 miles]
3. Compare the blindness of the Sodomites (Genesis 19:11)
4. Compare the blindness of the Jews (Luke 4:29-30; John 8:59)
3. The opening of their eyes in Samaria (2 Kings 6:20)
1. According to the prayer of Elisha
2. In the midst of great confusion
2. Elisha Sent the Syrians Home (2 Kings 6:21-23)
1. The confusion of the king of Israel (2 Kings 6:21); shall I smite them?
2. The treatment of the soldiers of Syria (2 Kings 6:22-23)
1. To be treated as captives taken in war
2. To be given bread and water
3. To be allowed to go home
3. The response of the Syrian army (2 Kings 6:23)
1. They ate and drank their fill
2. They went home
3. They came no more into the land of Syria
5. THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA (2 Kings 6:24-30)
1. The Crippling of Samaria (2 Kings 6:24-25)
1. The siege of Samaria (2 Kings 6:24)
1. After the preceding events
2. By Benhadad king of Samaria
2. The famine of the city of Samaria (2 Kings 6:25)
1. A great famine in the city
2. As indicated by the prices
1. An ass’s head for 80 pieces of silver
2. A quarter of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver
1. A cab was a dry measure equal to about two quarts
2. Modern scholars try to change this passage to refer to something else, but there is no need. This was a time of extreme famine when mothers were eating their own children to stay alive. Only a scholar would think that people in such a state would not eat dung in order to stay alive. See another description of famine in Lamentations 4:5 where those “brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.”
2. The Woman Who Cried to the King (2 Kings 6:26-29)
1. She cried unto the king for help (2 Kings 6:26)
2. He stated his inability to help (2 Kings 6:27)
1. If the Lord do not help
2. Then the king cannot help
3. She told her story (2 Kings 6:28-29)
1. At the request of the king (2 Kings 6:28)
2. She told of her agreement with another mother (2 Kings 6:28)
1. To eat her son one day
2. To eat the other son the next day
3. They ate the first mother’s son (2 Kings 6:29)
4. But the second mother hid her son (2 Kings 6:29)
3. The Response of the King (2 Kings 6:30)
1. He heard the words of the woman
2. He rent his clothes
3. He revealed the sackcloth under his clothes
6. THE DECISION TO KILL ELISHA (2 Kings 6:31-33)
1. The King’s Determination to Kill Elisha (2 Kings 6:31)
1. The king blamed Elisha for the problems he had caused
2. The king determined to kill Elisha
2. Elisha’s Anticipation of the King’s Messenger (2 Kings 6:32-33)
1. Elisha sat in his house with the elders (2 Kings 6:32)
2. The king sent a messenger to call for Elisha (2 Kings 6:32)
3. Elisha prophesied of the King’s intent (2 Kings 6:32)
1. This son of a murderer
2. Has sent to take Elisha’s head
4. Elisha planned a response to the king (2 Kings 6:32)
1. Shut the door behind the messenger
2. His master will not be far behind
5. Elisha made a proclamation (2 Kings 6:33)
1. This evil is of the Lord
2. There is no need to wait any longer