2 Kings 7:16-20·~1 min

Elisha’s Prophecy Fulfilled

The people plunder the camp, and the market at Samaria’s gate changes exactly as Elisha said it would.

T¹⁶hen the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

The officer assigned to the gate is trampled to death in the surge of people. The narrative repeats his earlier words and Elisha’s promise so that his death is read as the exact answer to his disbelief.

¹⁷Now the king had appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king had come to him. ¹⁸It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel.” ¹⁹And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” ²⁰And that is just what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

Section summaryOnce the report is confirmed, the people rush out and plunder the camp, and food is sold exactly at the price Elisha named. The officer who had mocked the promise is trampled at the gate, so the chapter closes by tying abundance and judgment alike to the fulfilled word of the LORD.

Role in the chapterThis closing section completes both threads opened at the start: the promise of plenty and the warning implied by unbelief. It makes the chapter’s center plain by repeating that events unfold exactly according to the word spoken through Elisha.