The Economics of Unbelief Text: 2 Kings 7:15-20
Introduction: Two Kinds of Folly
We live in an age that prides itself on its sophistication. Our experts, our economists, our political strategists, they all lean back in their chairs and tell us what is and is not possible. They operate within a closed system, a world where God is, at best, a sentimental afterthought for the private lives of the simple-minded. Their world is governed by spreadsheets, probabilities, and the hard, cold realities of what men can accomplish in their own strength. When a prophet of God speaks a word that defies their models, they do not just disbelieve it; they mock it. They consider it absurd, like suggesting the sky might open up and rain down bread. It is a foolishness to them.
But there are two kinds of folly in this world. There is the folly of the man who believes the God of the Bible, the God who speaks and brings worlds into being, the God who makes promises that seem ludicrous to the natural mind. And then there is the far deeper, far more damnable folly of the man who hears the promise of God and sneers. This is the man who stands at the gate of God's blessing and says, "Impossible." This is the man who trusts his own limited experience more than the unlimited power of the Almighty. The story before us is a tale of these two follies, and it serves as a stark and eternal warning. God's promises are not subject to the approval of our expert committees. His word accomplishes precisely what He sends it to do, and it will either be a word of salvation that you feast upon, or a word of judgment that tramples you in the gate.
The scene is Samaria, a city starved into cannibalism by the Aramean siege. Elisha, the man of God, has just made a preposterous prophecy: by this time tomorrow, the shattered economy of the city will be so flooded with supply that a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for the same. It was an economic impossibility. And the king's right-hand man, a royal official, a man of charts and logistics, scoffed. "Behold, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" Elisha's reply was chilling: "Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it." Our text today is the story of that terrible fulfillment. It is a story about the collision between divine power and human unbelief.
The Text
Then they went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.
So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh.
Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had spoken, who spoke when the king came down to him.
So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel and a seah of fine flour for a shekel will be sold tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria.”
And the royal officer had answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.”
And so it happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.
(2 Kings 7:15-20 LSB)
The Evidence of Panic (v. 15)
We begin with the report of the scouts, confirming the unbelievable news first brought by the lepers.
"Then they went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste." (2 Kings 7:15)
God's deliverance here is accomplished not through a mighty battle, but through a rumor. God caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of a vast army, and they fled for their lives in a blind panic. This is the beautiful economy of God's power. He does not need to expend great effort to achieve His ends. A sound, a whisper, a thought placed in the mind of the enemy is sufficient. The Arameans, who had brought all their might to bear against God's people, were routed by nothing more than phantom chariots.
The evidence of their terror was strewn all the way to the Jordan River. They cast off everything that might slow them down: clothes, weapons, equipment. This was not an orderly retreat; it was a headlong flight. When God decides to save, the panic of the wicked is total. They throw away the very things they trusted in, the very instruments of their pride and power. This is a picture of how God's salvation works generally. He turns the strength of the world into rubbish. The things the world values, the weapons it trusts, the wealth it accumulates, become impediments to those fleeing the judgment of God. They will cast their gold into the streets, the prophets say, because it cannot deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.
The Plunder of Grace (v. 16)
The result of this panic is an immediate, radical, and gracious reversal of fortunes for the people of Samaria.
"So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh." (2 Kings 7:16)
Notice the sequence. First, the people act on the report. They go out. Faith is not passive; it moves. They had been starving, cowering behind their walls, but now they stream out of the city gates to take the spoil. And what spoil it is. The very army that was starving them becomes their caterer. The besiegers become the providers. This is a glorious picture of the gospel. Our enemy, Satan, who holds the world in bondage and seeks to starve our souls, is defeated. And in the victory of Christ, we plunder the enemy's camp. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all the riches of grace, all the promises of God, are now ours for the taking.
And the economic result is precise. The prophecy of Elisha is fulfilled to the letter. The market corrects, not according to the laws of godless supply and demand, but "according to the word of Yahweh." This is the central point. God's word does not merely predict the future; it creates the future. His prophecies are not weather forecasts; they are decrees. The world runs on the word of God. Every law of physics, every principle of economics, every beat of your heart is sustained by His powerful word. When He speaks a specific, prophetic word into history, that word has the same creative force that said "Let there be light." The cynic looks at circumstances and says "impossible." The believer looks at the word of God and says "inevitable."
The Trampling of Unbelief (v. 17)
Now we turn from the glorious fulfillment of the promise of blessing to the grim fulfillment of the promise of judgment.
"Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had spoken..." (2 Kings 7:17)
Here is a bitter irony. The king, likely still cautious, appoints his most trusted advisor to manage the situation at the gate. This is the very man who mocked the promise of God. He is given a position of authority right at the nexus of the blessing. He is tasked with overseeing the very flood of provision he declared could never happen. God has a flair for the dramatic. He loves to seat the scoffer in the front row to watch the miracle he denied.
But the rush of the people, desperate for food and eager for the plunder, is too great. They are a torrent of humanity pouring through the gate, and the officer is simply overwhelmed. He is trampled underfoot and dies. This was not a malicious act of murder by the people. It was the outworking of providence. He was crushed by the stampede of God's blessing. The very promise he mocked became the instrument of his death. This is a terrifying principle. When you stand in the way of God's declared purpose, you will not stop it. You will only be crushed by it.
The Infallible Word (v. 18-20)
The narrator then drives the point home, leaving no room for misunderstanding. He brackets the event, reminding us of the prophecy and its precise fulfillment.
"So it happened just as the man of God had spoken... And the royal officer had answered... 'if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?' And he had said, 'Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.' And so it happened to him..." (2 Kings 7:18-20)
The Bible is relentless in its insistence on this point. What God says, happens. The text repeats the prophecy and the scoffing response, and then concludes with the stark confirmation: "And so it happened to him." There is a direct, causal line between the officer's unbelieving words and his tragic end. His sin was not mere doubt or a failure of imagination. His sin was cynicism. It was a contemptuous dismissal of the power and integrity of Yahweh. He wasn't just questioning the "how"; he was mocking the very idea.
His punishment was perfectly fitted to his crime. He wanted to see it to believe it? God says, fine. You will see it. You will see the flour and the barley. You will see the starving people made rich. You will see my word vindicated. But you will not taste it. You will not benefit from it. You will see the feast, but you will die of starvation in the doorway of the banquet hall. This is the essence of the punishment of hell. It is to see the goodness and glory of God, to know that the feast is real, and to be eternally excluded from it because of unbelief. The gates of the New Jerusalem are open, but for those who have sneered at the promise, they will only ever see the light from a great distance.
Conclusion: The Gate of the Gospel
This story is not just a historical account of a strange event in ancient Israel. It is a paradigm for how every person responds to the promise of the gospel. The gospel is a message of impossible, scandalous provision. It declares that God has provided a feast for spiritual paupers. It says that the bread of life is available without money and without price. It says that though our sins have created an infinite famine in our souls, God in Christ has plundered the enemy and offers us all the riches of heaven freely.
This is a preposterous message to the sophisticated unbeliever. "What? My sins are forgiven just by trusting in another? I am declared righteous because of what someone else did? The curse of the law is broken? Heaven is opened to me as a free gift?" The worldly-wise officer in all of us is tempted to sneer, "Behold, if God should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" It is too good to be true. It violates all the rules of our self-salvation projects and our merit-based economies.
And God's answer to us is the same as it was to that man. The gate is Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Through Him, a flood of grace and mercy and provision is pouring into the world. You can see it. You can see the lives changed. You can see the joy of the redeemed. You can see the evidence of the resurrection all around you in the life of the church.
The question is, will you be one of the starving who rushes through the gate in faith to plunder the riches of grace? Or will you be the one who stands at the gate, arms crossed in cynical disbelief, analyzing the impossibility of it all? The warning of this text is severe. If you choose the latter, you will see the glory. You will see the feast. But you will not partake. You will be trampled under the feet of the joyful, desperate, believing sinners who are rushing in to get the bread of life. Do not be the sophisticated fool. Be the desperate leper. Believe the impossible report, run to the camp, and plunder the grace of God.