Advanced Level, Block 7—Idolatry and Division
Week 68
Elisha—Setting a Feast for Israel’s Enemies
Point to emphasize: Do you show kindness to those you don’t like (your enemies)?
Reading Reference: 2 Kings 6:8-23, Life-study of 1 and 2 Kings, msg. 14
Memory Verse: But to you who hear I say, Love your enemies; do well to those who hate you. (Luke 6:27)
Story Sample
In the Old Testament, we were shown that there was first the priesthood. Priests were those who would bring the people to God, through prayer and the offering of sacrifices. But eventually, they failed to carry this out their function. After the failure of the priesthood, there began to be kings, because the people no longer trusted God to rule them. They wanted a king to rule. However, many of the kings failed to rule according to God. So, God raised up the prophethood. A prophet was one who spoke for God. When the priests failed and the kings were ruined, the prophets were then raised up as a support to the priests and kings. Today, I would like to tell you a story about one of the prophets, Elisha.
This was during the time when the king of Syria had waged a war against Israel. The Syrians planned to go to a certain place to do battle with the Israelites. But the prophet Elisha warned the king of Israel of this plan and told them not to go this way. The king of Syria was enraged when he heard that the Israelites had been warned. He sent a huge army to go to seize Elisha in Dothan. They came at night and surrounded the city. In the early morning, Elisha’s servant saw the army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. He came to Elisha and asked what they should do.
Elisha told the servant not to be afraid because they also had an army of their own. Then, Elisha prayed. He asked God to open the servant’s eyes that he may see. And Jehovah did. When the servant opened his eyes, he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. So, it’s clear that Elisha could have called that army down from the mountain to battle with all the Syrians who were planning to attack them, right then and there. But he didn’t. Elisha chose to treat them in a different way.
Then Elisha prayed again. He asked God to strike the enemy’s army with blindness. Then Elisha told the blinded army to follow him, and then he would lead them to the person they were looking for. He led them to Samaria, where Jeroboam, the king of Israel, was. Then he prayed once more to Jehovah, asking Him to restore their sight. When they opened their eyes, they found that they were in Samaria. Jeroboam wanted to strike the Syrian army down and destroy them because the Syrians had planned to destroy them. They deserved it, right? But he asked Elisha first because he knew Elisha spoke for God. Should he destroy the enemies of Israel? Do you know what Elisha instructed Jeroboam to do? He told the king to prepare a feast, to feed them, and then let them return to their master, the king of Syria. Can you believe that?! He showed kindness toward them and then let them return home.
When I was your age, there was a boy who lived across the street from me. He was always mean to me, both in his words and in his actions. When the neighborhood children would gather to play, he would always make fun of me, calling me names and pushing and shoving me. So, I did not like him at all! One day, some of us had gone to his house to play on his trampoline. We were taking turns, but when it was my turn, he cut in front of me. Then when he got on the trampoline, he started showing off by doing dangerous tricks. I was so mad at him! But, all of a sudden, he took a tumble and hit his head on the edge of the trampoline. He was bleeding! Do you think I laughed or thought he deserved it? NO! Even though I didn’t like him, I surely didn’t want to see him suffer either. So, right away I ran to get his mom so that she could take him to the doctor for stitches. [Storyteller, use your own example of revenge vs. kindness.]
Would you show kindness as Elisha did? If someone you didn’t like tried to do something mean to you, would you want revenge or would you do something kind towards him? You may not be bold enough to say out loud that they are your enemy or even that you don’t like them. But tell me, if someone you play with won’t share their things with you, don’t you think, “Next time I won’t share my things with you?” Or, “If you hit me, I’ll hit back?” Or, “If you say something unkind to me, I’ll say something mean back to you?” Do you let it go or do you have to get back at them? If we are honest, all of us have thought or done something like this. But have you felt bad about it? Well, we should feel bad about it. [Lead the children into a discussion about whether or not they feel bad when they do something in revenge. We should all feel bad whenever we have the slightest thought of wanting revenge. Encourage them to talk to their parents about wanting to take revenge. They should also talk to their parents if they are treated badly so that they can find ways of showing kindness instead of revenge.]
The Bible says that we should love our enemies and do well to those who hate us (Luke 6:27). We should never try to seek revenge. We should be like Elisha. He did not want the Syrians to suffer, so he did not look for revenge. Instead, he prepared a feast for them before they returned to Syria. And what was the outcome of this kind of act? The people of Syria never again came to invade the land of Israel.