Faith in a Dry Ditch Text: 2 Kings 3:13-20
Introduction: The Standoff of Unbelief
We find ourselves in this passage in the middle of a military campaign that has gone badly sideways. Three kings, Jehoram of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah, and the king of Edom, have marched out to deal with a rebellious Moab. They took the long way around, through the wilderness of Edom, and now they are stuck. There is no water for the army or for their animals. The campaign is about to collapse, not from enemy action, but from thirst. It is in this desperate moment that men reveal what they are truly made of and where their ultimate trust lies.
Jehoram, the son of Ahab and Jezebel, is a syncretist. He’s a little bit better than his father, he put away the pillar of Baal, but he still clung to the sins of Jeroboam. He is the kind of man who only turns to God when his own plans have run aground. His theology is crisis-driven. He sees the hand of Yahweh in the disaster, but only as a malevolent force. "Yahweh has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab." This is the cry of a man who sees God as a cosmic killjoy, a celestial bully waiting to smash his toys.
Jehoshaphat, on the other hand, is a man of genuine, if sometimes compromised, faith. He is in a bad alliance here, yoked with an unbeliever, which is a recurring problem for him. But when the crisis hits, his first instinct is not to blame God, but to seek a prophet of God. He knows that the problem is not that God is malicious, but that they have not consulted Him. His question, "Is there not a prophet of Yahweh here?" is the cry of faith in a dry land.
And so they come to Elisha. And what we witness is a collision of worldviews. We see the stark contrast between a faith that is merely a foxhole convenience and a faith that is the very foundation of reality. This passage is about more than just a miraculous provision of water. It is about the nature of true prophecy, the necessity of faith, and the staggering power of a God for whom the most astonishing miracles are but a "light thing."
The Text
13 Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” And the king of Israel said to him, “No, for Yahweh has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.” 14And Elisha said, “As Yahweh of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you. 15So now bring me a musician.” And it came about, when the musician played, that the hand of Yahweh came upon him. 16And he said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’ 17For thus says Yahweh, ‘You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your livestock and your cattle. 18And this is but a light thing in the sight of Yahweh; He will also give the Moabites into your hand. 19Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’ ” 20Then it happened in the morning about the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
(2 Kings 3:13-20 LSB)
A Prophet's Rebuke (v. 13-14)
Elisha’s initial response to this royal delegation is not one of flattery or deference. It is a blast of holy contempt.
"Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, 'What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.' And the king of Israel said to him, 'No, for Yahweh has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.' And Elisha said, 'As Yahweh of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.'" (2 Kings 3:13-14)
Elisha confronts Jehoram with the utter bankruptcy of his religious pragmatism. "Go to the prophets of your father and mother." In other words, "You had your gods of convenience, the prophets of Baal and Asherah, when things were going well. Why don't you ask them for water? Did your cheap gods run out of miracles?" This is a serrated edge. A true prophet of God does not exist to bail out the failing enterprises of apostate kings. He is not a court magician or a spiritual consultant to be called upon when the pagan options are exhausted.
Jehoram's response is telling. "No, for Yahweh has called these three kings together..." He acknowledges Yahweh, but only as the architect of his doom. He has just enough theology to be a fatalist. He sees God's sovereignty, but only as a threat. This is the theology of the unregenerate. They know there is a God, and they know they are accountable to Him, and they hate it. They see His power not as a source of comfort but of terror.
Elisha's second statement is even more severe. He swears an oath by the living God, "As Yahweh of hosts lives," and then essentially tells the king of Israel that he is not worth looking at. The only reason Elisha will even entertain this meeting is because of the presence of Jehoshaphat. This is a stunning rebuke. The prophet of God is declaring that the covenant faithfulness of one man, even a flawed man like Jehoshaphat, is providing a temporary shield for the apostate king standing next to him. This is the principle of covenantal representation. God deals with people in federal terms, as representatives of a group. The presence of a righteous man can delay judgment and provide an avenue for grace, not for the sake of the wicked, but for the sake of the righteous among them.
The Musician and the Spirit (v. 15)
Having delivered his blistering rebuke, Elisha prepares to hear from God. His method is instructive.
"So now bring me a musician.' And it came about, when the musician played, that the hand of Yahweh came upon him." (2 Kings 3:15 LSB)
Why does Elisha call for a musician? He has just been righteously indignant. His spirit is stirred up, agitated by the presence of this wicked king. In order to quiet his own spirit and become a receptive instrument for the word of the Lord, he calls for music. This is not about mood manipulation. This is about rightly ordering the soul before God. Worship, and music is a central part of worship, is a way of tuning the heart to hear the voice of God. It settles the spirit, pushes out the distractions of the world, and focuses the mind on the majesty and holiness of God.
This shows us that the prophetic office is not a mechanical affair. The prophet is not a spiritual fax machine. He is a man, and his own spiritual state matters. Elisha needed to get his own heart right before he could be a conduit for God's word. This is a lesson for all of us. If you want to hear from God, whether through His Word or through the preaching of it, you must prepare your heart. And music, godly music, is one of God's appointed means for doing so. When the musician played, "the hand of Yahweh came upon him." The power of God descends, and the prophet is ready to speak.
A Bizarre Command and an Impossible Promise (v. 16-17)
The first word from the Lord is a command that must have sounded like madness.
"And he said, 'Thus says Yahweh, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’ For thus says Yahweh, ‘You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your livestock and your cattle.'" (Genesis 3:16-17 LSB)
God's command is a test of faith. "Dig ditches. Dig them in this dry, dusty valley where you are dying of thirst." This is an act of what the world would call foolishness. It is an act of obedience that makes no sense apart from the promise of God. God often commands His people to do things that seem absurd from a human perspective. Noah was told to build a giant boat on dry land. Abraham was told to leave his home for a land he had never seen. The Israelites were told to march around Jericho. And here, these soldiers are told to grab their shovels and start digging irrigation ditches in a desert.
The purpose of such commands is to require faith. God is setting up a situation where He, and He alone, will get the glory. If they dig the ditches, and the water comes, no one can say, "Well, our geological survey indicated a high water table." No, they will know that God has acted. Faith is not just a feeling; it is an action. It is obedience to God's word, especially when that word cuts against all human reason and experience.
And the promise is just as staggering as the command. "You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water." God is promising a miracle, but He is promising a quiet one. There will be no dramatic thunderstorm. There will be no visible, natural cause for this event. The water will simply appear. This is to underscore the fact that God is not bound by natural processes. He is the author of those processes. He can work through them, or He can work without them. He doesn't need clouds to make water any more than He needed a sun to make light on Day One. He is the sovereign Lord of all creation.
A Light Thing (v. 18-20)
As if this were not enough, God then declares that this astonishing miracle is, from His perspective, a triviality.
"And this is but a light thing in the sight of Yahweh; He will also give the Moabites into your hand. Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’ Then it happened in the morning about the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water." (2 Kings 3:18-20 LSB)
This is one of the most faith-building statements in all of Scripture. "This is but a light thing in the sight of Yahweh." The miracle that will save three armies from a thirsty death, the supernatural flooding of a desert valley, is a small matter for God. It is nothing to Him. This is meant to recalibrate their entire perspective, and ours. We look at our problems, our impossible situations, our "dry valleys," and they seem immense, insurmountable. God looks at them and calls them a "light thing." What is a mountain to us is a molehill to Him. What is a crisis for us is a casual Tuesday for Him.
And because providing the water is such a light thing, God throws in the military victory as a bonus. He will not only save them from their circumstances, He will give them victory over their enemies. The instructions for the battle are severe, a form of holy war against a rebellious and pagan nation. This is not a pattern for all warfare, but a specific command in a specific covenantal context. The point is that God's deliverance is total. He doesn't just solve the immediate problem; He accomplishes His larger purposes.
And then, the fulfillment. "It happened in the morning about the time of offering the sacrifice." The timing is significant. The miracle occurs in conjunction with the daily worship of God. God's mighty acts are tied to the faithful, ordinary means of grace. And the water came, not from the sky, but "by the way of Edom." It simply appeared, filling the ditches they had dug in faith. God honored their obedience.
Conclusion: Digging Ditches in the Gospel
This story is a powerful illustration of the life of faith. We are often called to walk through dry valleys. We face circumstances, personal, familial, or cultural, that seem utterly hopeless. The resources have run out. The experts have no answers. And in those moments, we are tempted to be like Jehoram, to despair and accuse God of malice.
But God calls us to be like Jehoshaphat, to seek a word from the Lord. And that word often comes to us as a command to do something that seems foolish. "Dig ditches." For us, digging ditches means engaging in the ordinary, often unspectacular, means of grace, in faith. It means praying when you don't feel like it. It means reading your Bible when it feels like a dry book. It means gathering for worship with the saints when you feel discouraged. It means training your children in the fear of the Lord when the culture is screaming that it is a waste of time. It means building faithful Christian institutions, schools, and businesses in a world that says they are doomed to fail. We are to dig the ditches of obedience, not because we can see the rain coming, but because God has promised the water.
And we must remember that the greatest miracle, the salvation of our souls, is but a "light thing" for God. If He can speak a universe into existence, if He can raise His Son from the dead, then He can certainly handle your financial trouble, your sickness, or your wayward child. Our problem is not that our problems are too big, but that our vision of God is too small.
The water that filled this valley is a type of the Holy Spirit, poured out on the dry ground of our hearts. Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:37-38). The promise is for us. So let us, by faith, take up our shovels. Let us dig the ditches of faithful obedience, looking to God who has promised to fill them. For He who promised is faithful, and what seems impossible to us is but a light thing for Him.