The Bible Study Podcast, episode 571. Today, the Bible Study podcast continues the study of the

Kings of Israel and Judah with Second Kings Chapter 7.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. We left you with a cliffhanger last week. Now, it's interesting that they put the chapter markers where they did because chapter markers are not put in by the original authors, but put in later on to help us more easily look things up and find things and compare things so I can say, hey, we're in

2nd Kings chapter 7, and you can find that in your Bible. But strangely enough, they put this

chapter marker here, this change of chapter with Israel is being besieged, Samaria is being besieged, and the people are starving. They've even

resorted to cannibalism. The price of a head of the mule has gotten very expensive, and I don't

think the head of a mule is going to be the best dish, so that's really how bad things have gotten.

And so the king comes to Elijah, and he asks the question we left with last week,

Why should I wait any longer for the Lord?

And we continue on with Second King 7 with an answer to that question.

Elijah replied, hear the word of the Lord.

This is what the Lord says.

About this time tomorrow, a sya of the finest

flower will sell for a shekel, and two sias of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.

The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, look, even if the Lord

should open the floodgates of heaven, how could this happen?

You will see it with your own eyes, answered Elisha, but you will not eat any of it.

So last time we talked about how much the cost would be for a donkey's head.

Well, this time he's saying that about 12 pounds of flour are going to cost only one shekel.

Only one, and I think a shekel is roughly a day's wage, if I recall correctly.

And so it's going to be very cheap where right now food is very expensive.

And it continues, the siege lifted.

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