2 Kings 7:12-20 - Daily Devotion - 22 July 2026

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

12 So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and enter the city.’”

13 But one of his servants replied, “Please, have scouts take five of the horses that remain in the city. Their plight will be no worse than all the Israelites who are left here. You can see that all the Israelites here are doomed. So let us send them and find out.”

14 Then the scouts took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.” 15 And they tracked them as far as the Jordan, and indeed, the whole way was littered with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in haste. So the scouts returned and told the king.

16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

17 Now the king had appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king had come to him. 18 It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel.”

19 And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?”

So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”

20 And that is just what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Stephen Shead

“According to the word of the LORD” (v 16). That’s the key to today’s passage. The word from the Lord that Elijah announced back in verse 1 seemed utterly far-fetched and ludicrous. There was no food left, people were starving even to the point of cannibalism – yet Elijah had said that the very next day there would be such an oversupply of food in the city that prices for groceries would plummet to record low levels. The king’s officer had declared this to be impossible, even if the Lord were to “make windows in heaven.” And yet everything happened “according to the word of the LORD”. The narrator goes out of his way to underscore that God’s word was precisely fulfilled down to the last detail.

The best part is that God’s promise was – for everyone except for the unbelieving officer – a promise of restoration, life, abundance, and overflowing fullness.

Jesus promised something similar, but a far more significant type of restoration and life. He said, “I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. … I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness” (John 10:9-10). The fullness of life Jesus promises begins as inner transformation now, like a spring of water which will “well up to eternal life” when he returns (John 4:14).

Do you sometimes struggle to believe that the fullness of life Jesus offers really will live up to his promise? Use today’s passage to confirm your trust that it will all be exactly according to his word.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen is our Senior Minister.