📖WEB · 2 Kings 6:24
What does 2 Kings 6:24 mean?
"After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria."
— 2 Kings 6:24 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, “My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?”
He answered, “You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.”
He prepared a great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria stopped raiding the land of Israel.
After this, Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.
There was a great famine in Samaria. Behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”
He said, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, where could I get help for you? From of the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”
Explanation
This verse marks a turning point in the narrative of 2 Kings, moving from a period of relative peace to renewed hostility. In plain terms, it tells us that Ben-hadad, the king of Aram (Syria), mobilized his entire military force and laid siege to Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. A siege in the ancient world meant surrounding a city, cutting off its supply lines, and waiting for starvation and
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