Outside the Gates

<p>OUTSIDE THE GATES There is a story in the Old Testament (2Kings 7) about how the unseen world of spiritual light and spiritual darkness operates. It is the story of Elisha and the four lepers of Samaria. This story demonstrates how limited the power of darkness is when it faces up to the power and purpose of God and his goodness. The spiritual world is an unseen world – the real world of God’s activity – the world dominated by light and God’s goodness and faith, and with faith we can withstand and overthrow the spiritual darkness in that unseen realm with its fear and deception. The story begins with Israel under siege and with the Syrian army camped in the hills nearby and God’s people starving to death inside the walls of the city of Samaria, which had become the temporary capital of the Northern tribes of Israel. </p> <p>It was reported that people were paying fifty dollars for the head of a donkey to eat, and the king of Israel was blaming Elisha for causing this situation to come about. That was because Elisha had provoked the Syrian army the previous year when he had asked God to blind their eyes so he could trick them by leading them away from where they were headed, to a city called Dothan, and into the waiting hands of the King of Israel in Samaria, where they were ambushed and defeated.  However, by this time the Syrian army had regrouped and now they were back, and the King of Israel was angry with Elisha and threatened to have him killed by his hatchet-man - his chief officer, and Elisha was aware of that plot.</p> <p>2Kings 6:31 ‘May God kill me if I don’t execute Elisha this very day the king vowed. Elisha was in his house meeting with the elders of Israel and the king sent a message to summons him, and Elisha said to the elders ‘This murderer has sent his chief officer to kill me. When he arrives, shut the door, and keep him out, for the King will soon follow him’, but while Elisha was still saying this, the chief officer arrived followed by the king.</p> <p>The King must have presumed