The gift of seeing right and how to get it
2 Kings 6:8-23
One time my husband and I were travelling in New Zealand, and we got to a bridge over a deep gully with a river flowing way down underneath. As we came closer, however, we noticed that the bridge had a crosshatch of bars, but no planks and the light was shining through the gaps. These were much too big to drive over, and we stopped and wondered what to do. Then, as my husband inched the car slightly forward, he must have got a different perspective because he said, ‘It’s fine’, and drove over the bridge. I was bracing myself for a fall, but the bridge turned out to be solid under the tyres and we made it across. It must have been a trick of the light that made us see a fearful illusion instead of the solid reality.
The blind king of Aram
This next incident in Elisha’s story is similarly about the question of seeing and what we do in the light of what we see. In a comic sequence of events, the king of Aram (Syria) keeps manoeuvring his troops to attack Israel (2 Kings 6:8), but the enemy eludes him. What he does not see, is that Elisha is privy to his every plan and relays each to the king of Israel who can take evasive action (2 Kings 6:9-10). Ludicrously, the king of Aram accuses his servants of treason and proves to be blinder than they (2 Kings 6:11). The latter at least know Israel’s real source of information (2 Kings 6:12). Determined to get rid of the troublemaker, the king of Aram instructs the servants to find Elisha and when he is located, the king surrounds the city (2 Kings 6:13-14). He is too blind to realise that he is fighting against God’s will and cannot prevail.
Opening eyes and striking blind
Even Elisha’s servant is blind to God’s reality and despairs when he sees the Aramean chariots encircling the city (2 Kings 6:15).[1] It takes the eyes of faith and Elisha’s prayer to see that there are indeed more on Israel’s side (2 Kings 6:16-17). While the servant’s eyes are opened, the Arameans are struck blind in another comic turn (2 Kings 6:18). The word is not the usual one for blindness but refers to a blinding or dazzling light. The men were likely dazed and disorientated so they could neither recognise Elisha, nor realise that they were being led into the enemy camp in Samaria (some 20 km south of Dothan). While the king of Israel wants a bloodbath, Elisha appeals to fair treatment for prisoners of war (2 Kings 6:21-22). It is enough that they have been utterly humiliated and made a fool of. Imagine having to explain to their king how they were taken! Feeding and sending them home (2 Kings 6:23) is a scornful gesture as if to say, ‘See, king, your troops are so ineffectual, they are not even worth killing or keeping!’.
The gift of seeing right and how to get it
No matter if we are a glass half-full or a glass half-empty kind of people, seeing God’s reality is possible and it is different from mere optimism. We all know those times when our problems seem insurmountable and we feel overwhelmed. Wherever we turn, all we see are difficulties and no way out of them. Hearing this incident from the Book of Kings was a reminder for the exiles in Babylon that no enemy is too great for God and no empire invincible. Their own captivity looked like an unchangeable reality, but God’s promise through Jeremiah (Jer 29:10) would come true and the impossible – the return to the land from exile – become possible. This comic episode about the Arameans was meant to make God’s people laugh at their foes as the Lord Himself does (Ps 2:2, 4). Their enemies were mere specks of dust on God’s horizon and no match for Him! How do we gain the right viewpoint in our situation as Christians? Our passage teaches us that sight and true perspective come from God and they are given in response to prayer. Next time we feel discouraged, may we look to the Lord and keep praying until we have eyes to see that ‘those who are with us are more than those who are with them’ (2 Kings 6:16)!
[1] It is unclear if this servant is Gehazi, as he is never mentioned in the story. Since Elisha’s miracles are grouped together thematically and not necessarily chronologically, we also cannot know if this event happened before or after Gehazi was struck with leprosy.
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