2 Kings 7:1-2, So cheap it’s inedible?

Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

//Here’s the story of today’s verse. The Syrian army had surrounded the city of Samaria, and its inhabitants were starving. But Elisha the prophet encouraged the king, promising that tomorrow food would become so plentiful that it would be sold at cheap prices.

At this, the king’s officer scoffed, saying the only way that could happen is if food rained down from heaven! To which Elisha retorted, you’ll see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any!

If the officer’s stomach weren’t rumbling, I’m sure his eyes would be rolling. Why wouldn’t he eat any if there was plenty?

The next day, some mysterious loud noises startled the Assyrian army, and they scuttled off, afraid for their lives. A few adventurous lepers wandered into the now-empty Assyrian camp, and after eating their fill, they came back to the city to report what they found. So the king stationed his officer, the scoffing one, at the gate of the camp to supervise. At which point, the starving city-dwellers stampeded toward the food, trampling and killing the officer.

Elisha was right. Moral: don’t mock God’s prophet.