THE FAMINE IN SAMARIA.



"AND it came to pass after this, that Benhadad, king of Syria, gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria. . . . And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barn floor, or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she hath hid her son.

"And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day."

Then the king went to see Elisha, who was sitting in his house with the elders, and Elisha said unto him, " Hear ye the word of the Lord; 

Thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria."

Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, then might this thing be. And Elisha said unto him, "Behold thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof."

There were four leprous men just outside the gate of the city, and knowing that they must starve if they stayed where they were, they went to the camp of the Syrians,, thinking it possible that their enemies might let them live, and when they came to the camp, there was no man there. "For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host; and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it."

Then they went to the city, and told that the Syrians had fled; but the king feared that his enemies had hidden outside of the camp, hoping to draw the Israelites out of the city, and kill them. So he sent men to search, and they went after them unto Jordan, and lo, all the way was full of vessels and garments, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste.

And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians; so a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. Now the lord who had spoken so haughtily to Elisha the day before, was trodden down and killed by the people, as they crowded through the gate of the city.