Context & Key Themes
2 Kings 6 contains two very different stories joined by the single theme of invisible realities: a floating axe head and an army of angels. In the first, a son of the prophets loses a borrowed axe head in the Jordan while cutting wood, and Elisha makes it float. In the second, the king of Syria discovers that his battle plans keep reaching the king of Israel before he can execute them, learns that Elisha is responsible, and sends an army to capture the prophet. Elisha’s servant wakes to find the city surrounded. Elisha prays for his eyes to be opened. The servant sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. The Syrian army is struck blind and led by Elisha into Samaria, fed, and sent home. The chapter closes with the siege of Samaria and a famine so severe that a woman reports eating her own child.
Key Verse
“Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
— 2 Kings 6:16
Summary
The company of prophets wants to build a larger dwelling by the Jordan. One man’s borrowed axe head falls into the water. He cries to Elisha. Elisha cuts a stick, throws it in at the spot, and the iron floats. The man takes it up. The king of Syria is warring against Israel, but every plan he makes reaches Joram of Israel first. He suspects a traitor. His servants tell him it is Elisha, who tells the king of Israel even the words spoken in the bedroom. The king sends horses and chariots and a great army to Dothan, where Elisha is. They surround the city by night. Elisha’s servant rises early, sees the army, and is afraid. Elisha tells him not to fear: those who are with us are more than those who are with them. He prays for the servant’s eyes to be opened. The servant sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire. Elisha prays for the Syrians to be struck with blindness. He leads them to Samaria, into the king’s hands. He prays for their eyes to be opened. The king of Israel asks: shall I strike them? Elisha says no — feed them and send them home. The king prepares a great feast and sends them away. The Syrian raiders do not come into the land of Israel again.
Later Ben-hadad king of Syria besieges Samaria. There is a great famine. A donkey’s head sells for eighty pieces of silver. A woman reports to the king of Israel that she and another woman agreed to eat their sons in turn, ate hers, and the other woman has hidden her son. The king tears his clothes. He swears by the Lord: may God do so to me and more also if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.
Reflection
Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. This is one of the most important sentences in these books, and it is spoken not as abstract comfort but as a description of what is actually, physically present on the mountain. The servant’s problem is not unbelief in the ordinary sense — he simply cannot see what is there. The prayer is not for faith but for sight: open his eyes, Lord, that he may see. The army of fire is already there. The prayer is just for perception to catch up with reality. That gap between the reality of God’s presence and our ability to perceive it is the territory most of the spiritual life is lived in.
The feeding of the captured Syrian army and their release is Elisha’s most surprising act of the chapter. The king of Israel wants to execute them. Elisha says: would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Feed them and send them home. Prisoners of war fed and returned rather than enslaved or killed. Jesus will later expand this logic further still: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Elisha is operating from a posture of divine security — because he knows what is on the mountain, he does not need to press the military advantage. The same security that kept him calm when the army surrounded Dothan keeps him merciful when the army is in his hands.