I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 5-7.

All of the accounts about Elisha’s actions in today’s passage contain elements in common with urban legends and other stories which should be taken with a grain of salt.  Unlike the story in yesterday’s passage where Elisha accompanied the armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom as they went to attack Moab, these stories contain little information which would allow someone to connect them with events recorded elsewhere.  I am not saying that these stories do not relate actual events.  However, it is possible that along with details being lost over time that some details from other events were added here.

More importantly, these stories contain important lessons for us.  In the story of Naaman we learn that sometimes God calls us to do things which seem mundane and beneath us.  Sometimes God works in powerful ways through things which seem mundane, ordinary, and even sometimes beneath us.  In the story about the attempt by the king of Aram to capture Elisha we learn that even when the odds seem overwhelmingly stacked against us, if God is on our side our enemies are outnumbered and outmatched.  In the story about the siege of Samaria, we learn that even the impossible is possible for God…and if we lose faith in God we may see His power at work but not have the opportunity to enjoy it.  Finally, these stories tell us that even though the kings of the Northern Kingdom were mostly idolatrous and evil, many of the people continued to worship and serve God,  They tell us this by the fact that they were told and retold among the people.