My First Bible #3: 2 Kings 6:16

"Do not be afraid", Elisha answered.  "We have more on our side than they have on theirs".  2 Kings 6:16

This verse comes from an interesting story.  One of Israel's (that's the northern part of the now-divided kingdom) neighbouring Kings is at war with them - the King of Aram.  But despite this being in the book of Kings, the focus here is not on the King: it forms part of a section, within the account of King Joram, which is mainly focussed on the exploits of the prophet Elisha.  This particular story sees Israel at war with Aram (or Syria), the latter being constantly thwarted in their attempts at invasion and conquer due to Yahweh revealing their plans to Elisha.  Frustrated by this, he sends a strong military force to surround the city in which Elisha was living and capture him.  It is on seeing this scene at daybreak that Elisha reassures his understandably terrified servant, with the words of today's verse: Don't be afraid...those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  To conclude the story, Elisha prays that the men will be struck with blindness, and then leads them to Samaria.  He then instructs the King of Israel not to kill the men, but to give them a great feast!  Amazingly, this seems to stop the attacks from Aram.

Having set the scene, let's go back to our verse.  Elisha's servant is, as we have said, understandably terrified.  And yet, when Elisha prays: "Open his eyes, LORD, that he may see" (2 Kings 6:17), then suddenly the servant can see otherwise invisible angelic forces surrounding them!

It took me a surprisingly long time to work out how those apparently gravity-defying human statues work - the ones we see in central London and other such urban tourist hotspots.  A human being seems levitated, until one realises that, underneath their costume, there is a support upon which they are standing or sitting.  But the latter is invisible.  So we're left wondering how on earth this is happening.

Credit: streets-united.com

When Elisha said: "Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see", it was like God took away the costume of the street performer.  Suddenly it was evident how the impossible could be possible.  There's a whole lot more going on than we can see.

And not only that, but this: we have more on our side than they have on theirs.  I became aware as I read this verse that it was a summary, not only of Elisha and his servant's situation, but of our situation too.  It is a verse that speaks, out of it's immediate context, into contexts throughout time and place.  In Ephesians 6 Paul talks about our battle being not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).  In Revelation we see how the battle rages, and see how Christ emerges victorious (e.g. Revelation 17).

Most Christians will have felt outnumbered at times in the face of evil.  The threat may be external, or with our hearts as we face temptation.  It may be a physical threat, such as that Elisha faced, or it may be a battle for the hearts of others.  Things might look incredibly bleak, but that's only the surface; that's only now; that's only temporary, and it's only what is visible.  Not only do we have thousands of angel armies on our side, we have Jesus - the one who defeated death itself.  

Previous: 2 Samuel 6:21-22

The summer I was 17 years old I read my Bible cover to cover for the first time.  I was captivated and completed the whole thing in 4 months.  Although I clearly read it at quite a pace, I still jotted down passages that sprang out to me in my still relatively new faith.  I still have that Bible, and the scraps of paper are still there, bookmarking each verse.  So I decided to go through, 18 years later, and visit each of them.  They are from the Good News Bible.