Elisha and the Aramean raiders

Sight taken for a time. Sight restored. 2 Kings 6:8-23.

What led up to it

The king of Aram is at war with Israel, and the prophet Elisha keeps warning Israel's king where the Aramean army will be. The king of Aram sends horses, chariots and a great army by night to seize Elisha in the town of Dothan.

What happens

Elisha's servant sees the army and is afraid. Elisha prays that the servant's eyes be opened, and he sees the hills full of horses and chariots of fire. Then Elisha prays that the soldiers be struck with blindness. He leads them to Samaria, the enemy capital, and prays that their eyes be opened. The king of Israel wants to kill them. Elisha has them fed and sent home.

In their shoes

Sight and blindness trade places three times in a few verses. The servant can see and misses what is there. The soldiers cannot see and are led, trusting the very man they came to capture. When their sight returns they find themselves helpless, and they are given a feast. It is one of the few places where being led while blind ends in mercy.

The place and the time

What the old books and the archaeologists can add. Each paragraph names its source.

Dothan, where Elisha was staying, is first mentioned in the story of Joseph. An early Christian writer placed it twelve miles north of Samaria, and the site was found in the 19th century still bearing its ancient name. Samaria, the capital Elisha led the soldiers to, stood on a hill in a wide valley about thirty miles north of Jerusalem.

Source: Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884 edition), entries "Dothan" and "Samaria."

Josephus retells the night: the Syrian king sent a great army with horses and chariots to surround Dothan, and Elisha prayed that God would dim the enemies' eyes and cast a mist before them. In his words they were so darkened in sight and in mind that they followed Elisha diligently all the way to Samaria, where the king of Israel was told to shut the gates behind them.

Source: Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Whiston translation), Book IX, chapter 4.

Josephus gives the sequel in the same chapter. Elisha argued that these men had done the land no harm and had come "without knowing it, by the Divine Power," so the king feasted them splendidly and sent them home. The war between Damascus and Samaria went on, but these raiders did not come back.

Source: Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Whiston translation), Book IX, chapter 4; compare 2 Kings 6:23.

The passage

2 Kings 6:8-23

8 Now the king of Aram was at war against Israel. After consulting with his servants, he said, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”

9 Then the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful not to pass by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.”

10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

11 For this reason the king of Aram became enraged and called his servants to demand of them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

12 But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

13 So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”

14 the king of Aram sent horses, chariots, and a great army. They went there by night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, behold, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”

16 “Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18 As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.

19 And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.

20 When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men that they may see.” Then the LORD opened their eyes, and they looked around and discovered that they were in Samaria.

21 And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

22 “Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and then return to their master.”

23 So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come into the land of Israel again.