Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-23

ln6C6 was dlIllOSI COIlIlIludI Wal
| between Israel and Syria. Benhadad
| found a rather strange situation,
| thouh; whenever he would make a
plan, it would be frustrated. He was
| either a poor strategist or else some
| one was q traitor. Neither was true.
His plan were we'll laid, and would
! have been effective in capturing Je.
| horam many time, if they had not
miscarried. When he confronted his
| board of strategy with the facts and
| asked the only explanation he could
think of, he received a very strange
answer One of his officers told him
, that Elisha would tell Jehoram what
the thoughts of his bedchamber were.
1t was through Elisha's prescience
| that Jehoram was saved many a
| time. How the Syrian officer found
! out the real truth is hard to imagine,
! unless Elishas fame had spread SO
| far and his abilities magnified be.
You'd his actual post experiences.
Two Armies
| Benhaded at once ordered Elisha
| found and apprehended. Why did
not Elisha discover this plan, too,
and Illustrate it? Learning that
he was at Dothan, he fitted up a
| large and powerful army and sur
rounded the city by night. That he
!
round a city just twelve miles from
the capital of the country shows how
distressing the condition Of Israel
was. Elisha was trapped. He saved
! others; himself he did not save.
In the morning, when his servant
went out to do the chores, he saw
their predicament. There was no hui
man possibility to escape-the Syrian
host was so powerful and so numer-
Gus that not only Elisha and his
servant, but every other inhabintant
of Dothan was powerless before
| them.
The servant was panic-stricken; he
! feared for himself and also for his
master, for he knew something of
! the cruel treatment prisoners re-
! ceived at the hands of their captors.
! Elisha, however, was unafraid. He
was as calm as if nothing had hap
pened. And to his frightened serv-
ant said: Fear not, for they that
| be with us are more than they that
| be with them"
The servant, no doubt thought,
| Elisha had lost his mind. Around
| the city in every direction were Syr-
| ian soldiers armed to the teeth. Do
than was a small city at best, and
the soldiers on the outside far out
| numbered the people on the inside.
Then Elisha prayed to Jehovah
that He would open the eyes of the
young man so that he could see.
And God answered that prayer and
the young man saw-and behold the
mountain was full of horses and
chariots of fire; Jehovah had en-
camped around about them that
feared Him and was ready to deliver
them.
.Elisha's HumOr and Magnanimity
Elisha's humor and sense of fun
came to the front. He determined
to play a joke on his enemies and
teach them a lesson. I like these
intensely human touches in the Bible
characters. Elisha's joke was diff
ferent from many practical jokes,
however, for it had helpfulness and
uplift as it's object rather than the
discomfort of it's victims.
He prayed again; this time that
! the Lohd would smite this Syrian
host with blindness. And God an
| swered that prayer Immediately.
Some would have us believe that it
| was not physical blindness, but only
mental confusion. Well, either was
a miracle; but the word used is else
where used of physical blindness, and
/ that's what 1 believe it was. Elisha
| then sought out the leader and said:
| 'This is not the way, neither is this
| the city; follow me and I will bring
you to the man whom we seek" OF
course, they followed; blind men
could not do anything else. So he
| led them twelve miles into the very
| heart Of Samaria, and into the pres
: ence of the King of Irael.
! Some have thought Elisha was de-
! ceiving them and was not justified in
! telling them an untruth. He neither
! deceived them, nor told an untruth.
/ He led them into the very presence
, of the king whom they had tried
! time and again to take in a trap.
| He was giving them their own medi-
! cine and had entrapped them. He
! had not tried to escape. He himself
was still there among them, and un-
armed. When he prayed again, and
God, in answer to it, opened their
eyes and took away their blindness,
he was right in their midst, and ap-
! parently in their power. So he had
not deceived them nor told them an
untruth. But he had played a great
joke on them; and they must have
| felt like thirty cents when they saw
where they were, and how they had
gotten there.
| Jehoram wanted to kill every one
OF them. That was the cruelty of
those days. But Elisha rebuked him
sternly. Would you kill a man you
had captured with sword or bow?
Then would you dare think of killing
one who had fallen into your power
Ike these have? No, instead of kill
/ ing them or keeping them, feed them
and send them home.
| 1t was a royal feast Jehoram set
before them, the best those Syrians
| had ever tasted, for it had life with
| every mouthful. When they had
eaten as much as they could hold,
| Jehoram sent them on their way
home. And they stayed there a long
! time. 1.-The bands of Syria came no
more into the land of Israel" Kind
ness was the most effective weapon
! Israel ever used. This was what
! Elisha had in view. He wanted to
! teach the whole Syrian army what
! he had taught Naaman in another
| Way-the power and the goodness Of
Jehovah. Have you learned that
lesson yet?
EIisha's Defenders
| We are interested in this story of
! Elishas miraculous deliverance; but
if we only knew it that story could
| be repeated every day of our lives.
! We are so mundane and material
| that we are too often like Elisha s
IserVant, not able to see what is really
al: around us until God opens our
eyes in answer to some Elisha's
prayer. Thousands of people are
going about seeing nothing, but the
til the eyes of their minds are open