2 Kings 3:15-27

2 Kings 3:15-27 - Daily Devotion - 8 July 2026 St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park 15 But now, bring me a harpist. ”And while the harpist played, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha 16 and he said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Dig this valley full of ditches.’ 17 For the LORD says, ‘You will not see wind or rain, but the valley will be filled with water, and you will drink—you and your cattle and your animals.’ 18 This is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD, and He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. 19 And you shall attack every fortified city and every city of importance. You shall cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and ruin every good field with stones.”20 The next morning, at the time of the morning sacrifice, water suddenly flowed from the direction of Edom and filled the land.21 Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So all who could bear arms, young and old, were summoned and stationed at the border. 22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and it looked as red as blood to the Moabites across the way.23 “This is blood!” they exclaimed. “The kings have clashed swords and slaughtered one another. Now to the plunder, Moab!”24 But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked them, and they fled before them. So the Israelites invaded their land and struck down the Moabites. 25 They destroyed the cities, and each man threw stones on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only Kir-haraseth was left with stones in place, but men with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail. 27 So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall.And there was great fury against the Israelites, so they withdrew and returned to their own land.REFLECTIONSWritten by Stephen SheadThe strange ambiguities continue in today’s passage. On the one hand, the Lord promises a miracle through Elisha, and he delivers, with all the water and the optical illusion of blood. But Elisha knows perfectly well that Jehoram is not a loyal follower of the Lord. So why does he give him a miraculous promise?Then there’s the troubling description of what the Israelites did to the Moabite cities in verse 25 – completely destroying the fertile and productive land around their cities. This seems to be a direct violation of the Law of Moses. Deuteronomy 20 laid out rules for how the Israelites were to conduct wars on foreign soil, and one of the rules was: If they besieged a city, they must not cut down all the fruit-bearing trees around it (Deut. 20:19-20). They do that and more.That might explain the puzzling and disturbing ending, where the king of Moab commits the most evil atrocity imaginable: he kills his own son as a human sacrifice to the Moabite god Chemosh. For some reason, this resulted in “great fury against the Israelites”. Perhaps this showed that their whole war had been based on lies and that God was displeased with them.The lesson I drew from all this was: You can’t come to God with an agenda, hoping that he will give you a way to justify your selfish plans. If you do, you will be deceived into thinking God backs your choices. It’s yet another reminder of the importance of genuinely humbling ourselves before the Lord. James rebuked the hypocrites he was writing to for asking God “with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Paul told the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:15). Today would be a good day to ask God to help you search your heart and see whether you are being honest and transparent with him in the things you are pursuing in life. ABOUT THE AUTHORStephen is our Senior Minister.