By Martiza Brunt
Do you know what a prophet is? In the Bible, prophets were people who God called to speak on His behalf. Whenever God had a message for His people, He would tell the message to the prophets, who would then tell the people. It was a pretty important job!
One of the most famous prophets in the Old Testament was a man named Elisha. God spoke a lot through Elisha and used Elisha to do many miracles.
But there were lots of people who didn’t like God or His people, the Israelites. One person who definitely didn’t like them was the king of Aram. He had been at war with the Israelites, and he was especially mad because Elisha kept on ruining his plans to attack!
The king of Aram would tell his soldiers to set a trap for the Israelites, but God would always tell Elisha what the evil king was planning, and Elisha would warn the king of Israel. The Israelites were always one step ahead of the king of Aram and his Aramean army, and the king was NOT happy about it.
One day, the king of Aram had had enough. He called all his soldiers and royal advisors and demanded to know which one of them was leaking his information.
“I know there’s a spy among us!” he roared. “Who is it?”
The soldiers and advisors looked at each other. Finally, one of them spoke up.
“It’s not us, my king,” he said. “It’s Elisha the prophet in Israel. He tells the king of Israel everything you say, even what you whisper in your bedroom.”
The king of Aram was so surprised he couldn’t speak for a moment.
“Where is this prophet now?” he thundered. “Tell me, so I can send someone to capture him!”
The soldiers quickly went to find out where Elisha was, and reported back to the king of Aram that Elisha was in a place called Dothan.
So that very evening, the king of Aram sent his Aramean army, hundreds of horses and chariots and soldiers, ready to fight. While it was dark, they surrounded the city of Dothan where Elisha was.
Night passed without a sound. But very early in the morning, Elisha’s servant got up and went outside—and got the fright of his life. There were soldiers and horses and chariots everywhere!
“Elisha!” gasped the servant, running back inside. “Come, look!”
Elisha calmly went to look at the troops surrounding the city. He didn’t seem upset at all!
“Oh, master, what will we do now?” the young servant cried.
Elisha turned to his servant.
“Don’t be afraid,” he told his servant. “There are many more on our side than on the side of the Arameans.”
Then Elisha prayed. Dear God, open the eyes of my servant and let him see.
And God opened the eyes of the servant—can you guess what he saw? The whole mountain was full of angels and horses and chariots of fire! The king of Aram and his soldiers couldn’t see them, but God’s army had surrounded them completely. No wonder Elisha wasn’t afraid!
Suddenly, Elisha and his servant heard the sound of marching footsteps and horses hooves. Dust swirled as the Aramean army stomped towards them.
But Elisha prayed again. Dear God, please make them all blind.
No sooner had Elisha finished his prayer than a ruckus sounded from outside. God had made the entire army blind! They couldn’t see where they were going!
While the Aramean army was confused, Elisha hurried outside to talk to them.
“You’re going the wrong way!” he called. “This isn’t the city you’re looking for! Follow me and I’ll lead you to the man you’re looking for.”
And with that, Elisha led the entire Aramean army into a city called Samaria—where the king of Israel and HIS army were waiting!
Once the Arameans were inside the city, Elisha prayed one final time: “God, open the eyes of the Arameans, so they can see where they are.”
God opened the Aramean army’s eyes. They looked around—they were trapped in Samaria! As they began to panic, the king of Israel came up to Elisha.
“The king of Aram has wanted to hurt us for a long time,” he said to Elisha. “He is not a nice person. What should we do with his soldiers then?”
“Don’t hurt the soldiers!” said Elisha. “You didn’t lift a hand to capture them, God was the one who led them right to you. And even if someone is mean to us, we always treat them with kindness. That’s what God tells us to do.”
So the king of Israel prepared a huge feast for the Aramean army. The soldiers were so grateful, and ate and drank until their bellies were full! Then the king of Israel let them go home, all the way back to the king of Aram.
And do you think the king of Aram still wanted to attack the Israelites after that? That’s right, he never bothered them ever again.
PICTURE CREDIT- Free Bible Images
