When Samaria was besieged by the Syrian army, the residents of the city were starving to death behind their locked gates.
Outside the city walls, “there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate”
(2 Kings 7:3, ESV). They too were starving, so they wondered aloud, “Why just sit here until we die? If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s surrender to the (Syrians’) camp. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die” (2 Kings 7:3–4).
They reasoned logically: If we stay here, we are sure to die. If we go into the city, we’ll die. If we go to the Syrian camp, they will probably kill us, but maybe, just maybe, they will be gracious to us and feed us a few scraps.
Can you see the scene unfold? At the edge of the camp, they hesitated. It was too quiet. Where were the Syrians? On tiptoes, they edged into camp and snuck into the first tent. Nobody was home, but the kitchen table was set with a festive banquet of rich and delicious food.
After eating their fill, they looked into another tent and found a similar abundance of food. Food! Food! Everywhere they looked, there was food! They ate all they could hold and then stuffed their pockets.
That’s when one of the lepers made the following declaration: “We’re not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our punishment will catch up with us. So let’s go tell the king’s household” (2 Kings 7:9).
We’re something like the hungry lepers. Today, we have discovered the Bread of Life, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone. We must not fail to share the Gospel, the Good News, with the hungry and hurting.
If we keep silent, “we are not doing right! … Let’s go tell!”
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).
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