Verse 6
THE LORD HAD LIFTED THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA AND HAD ENRICHED IT WITH IMMENSE FOOD SUPPLIES
"For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it."
"The outermost part of the camp ... the uttermost part" (2 Kings 7:5,8). Hungry as the lepers doubtless were, they were afraid to enter any of the tents, until, after exploring the whole site of the encampment, they realized that it was totally deserted.
It is foolish to attempt any rational explanation of such wonders as these. No mortal "wise man" should attempt it. He would be a fool to do so. How did God do it? We don't know. For that matter, there are inexplicable wonders in the natural creation that are just as mysterious. For example, the lemmings of New England make a mad dash for Long Island Sound every seven years, drowning the vast majority of them in the sea. The few survivors, within another seven years, restore the astounding numbers of those tiny animals, which then repeat that mad dash to the sea, and that has been going on for thousands of years! When someone is able to explain how God does that, we might listen to his explanation of what happened here.
And that is only one mystery. That of the 17-year cicadas of Northeastern U.S.A. is just as inexplicable.
The conduct of the lepers following their discovery and of their relieving their hunger is understandable. God had suddenly enriched them, rescuing them from their dependence upon the doubtful charities of a starving city. Their humanitarian concern for others soon asserted itself, and they decided to spread the good news in Samaria.
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