In 2 Kings 6, the situation was dire for Samaria. The Arameans had besieged the city for so long that a donkey’s head sold for 80 pounds of silver. Citizens ate bird’s dung—and even their own children.
Four lepers crouched at the city gate. “They said to each other, ‘Why stay here until we die?’” (2 Kings 7:3) If they went into the city: death. If they stayed still: death. So, they would go out to the besieging army. They would be fed, or they would die.
The Aramean camp was empty. Tent flaps rustled in the wind. Horses knickered and stamped their hooves. Campfires smoldered with the smoke of thousands of absent men. “For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army,” and they had run away (2 Kings 7:6).
The lepers ate and drank from the stores of their former aggressors. They took armfuls of treasure and hid them away. They filled their starving stomachs—then they stopped.
“They said to each other, ‘What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves’” (v. 9). The lepers knew that the news wasn’t theirs to keep. It needed to be shared, and when it was, the city was saved.
“We get to live this story,” says Eric Derry, vice president of Team Expansion. “Why wouldn’t we share it?”
Will you keep the good news to yourself, or will you share it with a starving world?
Hear the highly entertaining, “dramatized according to Eric” version of this story on our podcast. If you want to spread the news but don’t know where to start, try our free, 10-session course to share with your friends and neighbors.
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