Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1903
“And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another, Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sithere, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall only die. And they rose at twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians: and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise, no one was 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 to one another, Look the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Therefore 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 lives.” 2 Kings 7:3-7.
THE story of four leprous men inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel—is it not amazing? No, it is not amazing for the Bible. If you were to take out of the Scriptures all the stories that have to do with poor afflicted men and women, what a very small book the Bible would become, especially if together with the stories, you removed all the Psalms of the sorrowful, all the promises for the distressed and all the passages which belong to the children of grief! This Book, indeed, for the most part is made up of the annals of the poor and despised! Think for a minute what space is occupied with the life of the man who was separated from his brothers, sold for a slave and put in prison in Egypt! What a large part of the Bible is occupied by the writings of one who was a babe exposed on the Nile and afterwards kept a flock for 40 years in the wilderness! We could not part with the account of the man who lost all his property and children in one day—and sat among the ashes, covered with sore boils. We could not spare the story of the two widows who came together empty-handed from the land of Moab, one of whom went to glean in the fields of Boaz. Nor the history of that woman of a sorrowful spirit and her little boy, around whom the hope of Israel gathered in the dark days of Eli’s feeble rule.
Page after page of Holy Writ is enriched with the experience of that youth who was taken from tending the flock to become the champion of his country and was afterwards hunted like a partridge upon the mountain by the envious king. We could not give up the history of the Prophet of sorrow, nor of the fugitive who was cast into the sea, nor even the minor incidents of the widow of Sarepta and her barrel of meal—and the Prophet’s widow whose creditor was about to seize her children for her husband’s debts. Nor do lepers fall behind. We have two stories of lepers close together— Naaman the Syrian and the four in our text at Samaria’s gate. They were wisely put forth from Israel, but they were not put forth from Israel’s God!
It is clear enough that the poor and the needy are not only observed by our great King, but the pen of the Holy Spirit has been much occupied in recording their affairs. You that are poor and needy, you that are sick and sorrowful, you whose lives are spent in mourning, listen to this discourse and may the Lord comfort your hearts! On a future day, when the great books of history which, as yet, are only known to the recording angel, shall be read of all men, your story will appear and maybe it will be as memorable as that of Hannah or Joseph—and God will get as much Glory out of what He has done for you as from any of the deeds of His love recorded in the Inspired pages. Remember that the New Testament runs in the same strain. Under the economy of Grace, our Lord Jesus Christ is seen living among fishermen and peasants—and calling the poor to be His disciples! “God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen; yes, and things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are.” It is worthwhile to be among the poor, the despised and the sad, to have your record on high and to magnify the condescension of the Lord! It is in the hope that some disconsolate ones may be cheered that I speak at this time. Oh, that some leprous ones may go forth today and make a grand discovery! I desire to preach, praying in the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit may bless the word and move many to rise out of their despair and say, “Why are we sitting here until we die?”
I. First, I call your attention to A GREAT WORK OF GOD WHICH WAS ENTIRELY UNKNOWN. The city of Samaria had been shut up for some time by the Syrian army. Famine had fallen upon the people and driven them to horrible straits. One can hardly bear to read of mothers devouring their own babies through stress of hunger. God sent His servant Elisha to tell them that the next day there should be a superabundance of food in the gates of Samaria, but the message was received with open ridicule. No sooner was the promise given than the Lord began to carry it out. It is the way with Him, to be true to His Word. However great the promise, it is as sure as it is great! And so, before the sun went down, the Lord had caused Israel’s enemies to flee and had opened magazines of food for hungry Samaria. Without human aid Jehovah had accomplished His promise and much more!