Those With Us Are More
8 Now the king of Syria was at war against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” 9 The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” 10 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 or twice. 11 The king of Syria’s heart was very troubled about this. He called his servants, and said to them, “Won’t you show me which of us is for the king of Israel?” 12 One of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” 13 He said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” He was told, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” 14 Therefore he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 He answered, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Elisha prayed, and said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see.” Yahweh opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. 18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” He struck them with blindness according to Elisha’s word. 19 Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” He led them to Samaria. 20 When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “Yahweh, open these men’s eyes, that they may see.” Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the middle of Samaria. 21 The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, “My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?” 22 He answered, “You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, then go to their master.” 23 He prepared a great feast for them. After they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.
A prophet who reads a foreign king's bedroom, a servant shown the hills full of fire, and an ambush that ends in dinner.
One of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
The Syrian king suspects a traitor in his war council and is told the truth, which is stranger: the leak is a prophet in another country. Israel's king has been avoiding ambushes not once or twice 2 Kings 6:10 on information that arrives from a man with no army and no spies.
And Ben Hadad's response is the chapter's first joke. Having just been told that Elisha knows what is said in his bedroom, he sends horses, chariots and a great army by night to arrest him — a covert operation against a man who cannot be surprised.
"Alas, my master! What shall we do?" 2 Kings 6:15.
The servant wakes to find Dothan ringed by an army and asks the reasonable question. His fear is not a failure of nerve; it is an accurate report of what is visible.
He answered, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
The arithmetic is nonsense on the evidence available, and Elisha states it as fact. Then the prayer, and it is worth noting exactly what he asks for: not deliverance, not an escape, but Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see 2 Kings 6:17. The problem is not the army; the problem is that one frightened man can only see half of what is there.
Yahweh opened the young man's eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.
The fiery horses and chariots are the same as those that came for Elijah 2 Kings 2:11, and they had been on the hill the whole time. Nothing changed except the servant's sight. This is the one place in Scripture where the invisible is shown to someone simply because his master asked, and it is the standing answer to being outnumbered — the resources are already deployed, and they are not usually visible.
When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” He struck them with blindness according to Elisha’s word.
Then the reversal: one man's eyes opened, an army's closed. The word suggests confusion of sight rather than total darkness — they can walk, follow and hold formation — and Elisha personally leads the force sent to capture him twelve miles to the capital, telling them this is not the way, neither is this the city 2 Kings 6:19, which is true of where they are standing and is designed to be misunderstood.
The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, “My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?”
The king's eagerness is doubled in the asking, and he has a whole enemy army standing blind inside his own walls. The refusal that follows is the point of the entire episode.
He answered, “You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, then go to their master.”
The argument is precise: these are not prisoners of war taken by your weapons, so they are not yours to execute. God delivered them; God's prophet decides the terms, and the terms are dinner. He prepared a great feast for them 2 Kings 6:23 — the enemy fed at the capital's expense and sent home.
So the bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.
And it works, which the narrator reports without underlining. A generosity that no strategist would have advised ends the border war that the ambush intelligence had only been managing. Paul quotes the principle in the same shape — feed your enemy Romans 12:20 — and the peace it buys here lasts until the next chapter, which is longer than most victories in this book manage.
settled What this mark means