Why do the four lepers leave the Syrian camp to report what they found?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

They say they are not doing well because it is a day of good tidings. If they keep silent until morning, they will be charged with a crime. They therefore go to the city gate to report the empty camp, and the gate guards carry the news into the king’s palace.

Chapter breakdown

Eliseus calls for people to hear the word of the Lord. He declares that tomorrow, about that time, a bushel of fine flour will be sold for a stater and two bushels of barley for a stater in the gate of Samaria.

Challoner’s separate note says a stater is the same as a sicle or shekel.

One of the lords, upon whose hand the king leans, answers Eliseus by asking whether this could happen even if the Lord made floodgates in heaven. Eliseus tells him he will see it with his eyes but will not eat of it.

Four lepers are at the entrance of the gate. They ask one another why they should stay there until they die. They say they will die from the famine if they enter the city, and must also die if they stay where they are. They propose running over to the Syrians’ camp: if the Syrians spare them, they will live; if the Syrians kill them, they will only die.

They rise in the evening to go to the Syrian camp. Reaching its first part, they find no man there.

The Lord has made the Syrians hear in their camp the noise of chariots, horses and a very great army. They tell one another that Israel’s king has hired the kings of the Hethites and Egyptians against them and that these kings have come upon them. They rise and flee in the dark to save their lives, leaving their tents, horses and asses in the camp.

The lepers reach the beginning of the camp, enter one tent, and eat and drink. They take silver, gold and clothing from it, go away and hide it. They return, enter another tent, carry things away in the same manner and hide them.

They say to one another that they are not doing well, because this is a day of good tidings. If they keep silent and do not report it until morning, they will be charged with a crime. They propose going to tell it in the king’s court.

They come to the city gate and report that they went to the Syrian camp and found no man there, but horses and asses tied and tents standing. The gate guards go and report it inside the king’s palace.

The king rises in the night and tells his servants what he says the Syrians have done. He says they know the city suffers great famine and have left the camp to hide in the fields. He describes their supposed plan: take the people alive when they leave the city, then enter the city themselves.

One servant proposes taking the five horses remaining in the city and sending to see. He says there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel because the rest are consumed. They bring two horses, and the king sends into the Syrian camp, telling them to go and see.

The messengers follow as far as the Jordan. All the way is full of garments and vessels the Syrians have cast away in their fright. The messengers return and tell the king.

The people go out and pillage the Syrian camp. A bushel of fine flour is sold for a stater and two bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord.

The king appoints the lord upon whose hand he leans to stand at the gate. The people tread upon him at its entrance, and he dies as Eliseus had said when the king came down to him.

The account repeats the word Eliseus spoke to the king: two bushels of barley for a stater and a bushel of fine flour for a stater at that very time tomorrow in Samaria’s gate. It recalls the lord asking whether this could happen although the Lord made floodgates in heaven, and Eliseus answering that he would see it with his eyes but not eat of it. It says the events happened as foretold: the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.

The story inside

Eliseus announces the next day’s grain quantities and prices in Samaria’s gate. A lord questions whether this can happen, and Eliseus says he will see it but not eat of it. Four lepers compare staying at the gate, entering the famine-stricken city and going to the Syrian camp. They go in the evening and find no one. The account explains the absence: the Lord caused the Syrians to hear an army’s noise; they said hired Hethite and Egyptian kings had come against them and fled to save their lives. The lepers eat, drink, take goods and hide them after visits to two tents. Their statement that silence until morning would bring a charge of crime leads them to report at the city gate. The guards report inside the palace. The king offers a different explanation for the empty camp, describing a possible trap. A servant proposes sending with five remaining horses; two horses are brought, and the messengers follow as far as the Jordan, see goods cast away and report back. The people pillage the camp and the grain is sold at the foretold quantities and prices. The lord appointed at the gate dies under the people’s feet. The chapter closes by repeating the promise, his question, Eliseus’s reply and the death as its fulfillment.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The lepers give two different reasons for their actions. At the gate they compare death from famine or staying there with the possibilities of being spared or killed at the Syrian camp. After eating and hiding goods, they say silence until morning would bring a charge of crime on a day of good tidings. These statements explain going to the camp and later reporting it without an invented surrender ceremony or private change of heart.
2
The empty camp is reported and then investigated. The lepers describe no men, tied horses and asses, and standing tents. The king says the Syrians are hiding to capture people who leave the city; that remains his explanation. The messengers’ trip as far as the Jordan supplies a further report of discarded garments and vessels. Keeping report, suspicion and investigation distinct prevents the supposed trap from becoming a narrated fact.
3
The chapter names both grain quantities and repeats the lord’s response. A bushel of fine flour and two bushels of barley are each promised for a stater at the next day’s appointed time in Samaria’s gate. Those prices are later reported, while the lord dies at the gate. The closing verses explicitly recall that he would see but not eat, tying his particular outcome to Eliseus’s words rather than adding a general fate for everyone who doubts.

Test your recall

How do the lepers’ two stated reasons lead from the gate to the empty camp and then to reporting it, and how do the king’s suspicion and the messengers’ investigation precede the reported grain prices?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 38763–38773
4 Kings Chapter 7 Eliseus prophesieth a great plenty, which presently ensueth upon the sudden flight of the Syrians; of which four lepers bring the news to the city. The incredulous nobleman is trod to death. 7:1. And Eliseus said: Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord: Tomorrow, about this time, a bushel of fine flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria.
Lines 38774–38775
A stater.... It is the same as a sicle or shekel.
Lines 38776–38780
7:2. Then one of the lords, upon whose hand the king leaned, answering the man of God, said: If the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, can that possibly be which thou sayest? And he said: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Lines 38781–38788
7:3. Now there were four lepers, at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another: What mean we to stay here till we die? 7:4. If we will enter into the city, we shall die with the famine: and if we will remain here, we must also die: come therefore, and let us run over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare us, we shall live: but if they kill us, we shall but die.
Lines 38789–38792
7:5. So they arose in the evening, to go to the Syrian camp. And when they were come to the first part of the camp of the Syrians, they found no man there.
Lines 38793–38801
7:6. For the Lord had made them hear, in the camp of Syria, the noise of chariots, and of horses, and of a very great army: and they said one to another: Behold, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hethites, and of the Egyptians; and they are come upon us. 7:7. Wherefore they arose, and fled away in the dark, and left their tents, and their horses and asses in the camp, and fled, desiring to save their lives.
Lines 38802–38807
7:8. So when these lepers were come to the beginning of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank: and they took from thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went, and hid it: and they came again, and went into another tent, and carried from thence in like manner, and hid it.
Lines 38808–38812
7:9. Then they said one to another: We do not well: for this is a day of good tidings. If we hold our peace, and do not tell it till the morning, we shall be charged with a crime: come, let us go, and tell it in the king’s court.
Lines 38813–38819
7:10. So they came to the gate of the city, and told them, saying: We went to the camp of the Syrians, and we found no man there, but horses, and asses tied, and the tents standing. 7:11. Then the guards of the gate went, and told it within in the king’s palace.
Lines 38820–38825
7:12. And he arose in the night, and said to his servants: I tell you what the Syrians have done to us: They know that we suffer great famine, and therefore they are gone out of the camp, and lie hid in the fields, saying: When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and then we may get into the city.
Lines 38826–38833
7:13. And one of his servants answered: Let us take the five horses that are remaining in the city (because there are no more in the whole multitude of Israel, for the rest are consumed), and let us send and see. 7:14. They brought therefore two horses, and the king sent into the camp of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see.
Lines 38834–38837
7:15. And they went after them, as far as the Jordan: and behold, all the way was full of garments, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away, in their fright, and the messengers returned, and told the king.
Lines 38838–38841
7:16. And the people going out, pillaged the camp of the Syrians: and a bushel of fine flour was sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, according to the word of the Lord.
Lines 38842–38846
7:17. And the king appointed that lord on whose hand he leaned, to stand at the gate: and the people trod upon him in the entrance of the gate; and he died, as the man of God had said, when the king came down to him.
Lines 38847–38860
7:18. And it came to pass, according to the word of the man of God, which he spoke to the king, when he said: Two bushels of barley shall be for a stater, and a bushel of fine flour for a stater, at this very time tomorrow, in the gate of Samaria. 7:19. When that lord answered the man of God, and said: Although the Lord should make flood-gates in heaven, could this come to pass which thou sayest? And he said to him: Thou shalt see it with thy eyes, and shalt not eat thereof. 7:20. And so it fell out to him, as it was foretold, and the people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.