“there are more with us than there are with them…”

Presented by

Blake Brown

Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was not a happy man! And there was one solitary man in the kingdom of Israel who was to blame for the king’s sour disposition. The text of 2 Kings 6 tells us what happened to make the king so angry—and what God did to…uh…“help” the king get “unangry.”

Ben-Hadad was waging war against the people of Israel. But every time he set a trap for the Israelites so he could surprise them and destroy them, the Israelites somehow knew about the king’s plans, and were able to avoid being killed. This made Ben-Hadad very mad! One day, during a fit of rage, he screamed at his servants, “Tell me who among us is siding with the king of Israel!” Ben-Hadad had come to the conclusion that there had to be a spy in his palace, because every trap he had set for the Israelites had failed. Somehow, the king of Israel seemed to know Ben-Hadad’s every move.

But as Ben-Hadad was about to find out, it was not a spy in his land who was the problem. Rather, it was a prophet of God in the land of Israel who was the problem! One of the king’s servants finally told him that there was no spy. The servant said to the king, “It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

What?! The Israelite prophet Elisha knew so much about Ben-Hadad’s life that he even knew what the king was doing in his own bedroom in his own palace? Now Ben-Hadad was really mad! So, as 2 Kings 6:14 tells us, the king “sent horses and chariots and a great army” to the city of Dothan by night to capture Elisha and bring him back to Syria.

Early the next morning, Elisha’s servant walked outside, and what did he see? The text of 2 Kings 6:15-17 tells us that the entire city was surrounded by Ben-Hadad’s army! Elisha’s poor servant was scared to death, and ran back inside screaming, “Alas, master! What shall we do?!” Elisha quietly said to his servant, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.” Elisha then prayed to God and said, “Lord, please open his eyes so that he may see.” So God opened the eyes of the servant—and what did the fellow see? He saw that the mountain outside the city was full of horses and chariots of fire, sent by God to protect Elisha and the Israelites.

But what happened next? As we continue reading in 2 Kings 6, we learn that the Syrians came down to capture Elisha. But Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people with blindness.” God honored the prophet’s prayer, and caused the entire Syrian army to go blind, just as Elisha had requested. Elisha then slyly said to the leaders of the army, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek” (2 Kings 6:19). Then what did Elisha do? He led the Syrian army to Samaria, the capital of Israel—straight into the hands of the king of Israel and his waiting army!

Once the Syrian army was inside the city, the Lord opened the soldiers’ eyes. Imagine their surprise to see that the prophet of God had tricked them and had turned them over to their most-hated enemies! The king of Israel said to Elisha, “Shall I kill them?! Shall I kill them?!” But Elisha said, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and return to their master” (2 Kings 6:22). So instead of destroying the Syrian army, the king of Israel prepared a great feast for the soldiers. Then, after those soldiers had finished the meal, the king of Israel sent them back to King Ben-Hadad. Imagine being the leader of the Syrian army—and having to tell Ben-Hadad all the things that had happened because of one man—Elisha! The Bible says simply, “So the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel” (2 Kings 6:23).

Now we can see what Elisha meant when he said to his servant, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.” God was on Elisha’s side! Years later, when the prophet Nehemiah and the Israelites were threatened by other enemies, Nehemiah told the people, “Our God will fight for us!” Or, as the apostle Paul put it in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” That is the very point that Elisha and Nehemiah were making. Things may seem bleak, but God is always in control. The psalmist wrote, “Our God is in heaven, and He does whatever He pleases” (Psalm 115:3). As long as we are doing what God has told us to do, He will indeed “fight for us.” What a thrilling thought that is—to know that while we are on God’s side, He is also on our side!