Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Kings 7

The chapter division here is very awkward. In this verse, Elisha replies to the king’s challenge from 2 Kings 6:33, declaring that his God, Yahweh, will provide deliverance within a day. On the next day, at this same time, the famine will have ceased, and food will be even cheaper than usual.

A measure of fine flour refers literally to “a seah of fine flour,” which is about a peck and a half.

For a shekel was a price equivalent to about two shillings and eightpence.

Two measures of barley means “two seahs of barley,” which is about three pecks.

In the gate refers to the fact that the gates, or gateways, of Eastern towns were popular places for conducting various kinds of business. It would seem that at Samaria one of the gates was used for the grain market.

A lord - This should be translated as “the captain,” as in Exodus 14:7 and 1 Kings 9:22. The term itself, שׁלישׁ shâlı̂ysh (derived from שׁלושׁ shâlôsh, “three”), may be compared with the Latin “tribunus.”

Windows - This should be translated as “sluices” . The lord means to ask, “If the LORD were to open sluices in heaven and pour down grain as He poured down rain in the time of the Deluge, even then could there be such abundance as you speak of?”

The lepers' position was in accordance with the Law of Moses (as the marginal references indicate), and this shows that the Law was still observed to some extent in the kingdom of Israel.

The twilight—The evening twilight (see 2 Kings 7:9).

The uttermost part of the camp—The extreme boundary of the camp toward the city, not its furthest or most distant portion. Compare 2 Kings 7:8.

It is not important whether the miracle by which God delivered Samaria consisted of a mere auditory illusion (Compare to 2 Kings 6:19–20) or an objective, real sound (compare the marginal references).

The king of Israel has hired... The use of mercenaries was employed by the nations bordering Palestine as early as the time of David (2 Samuel 10:6; 1 Chronicles 19:6–7). Therefore, the Syrians' assumption was far from improbable.

The kings of the Hittites. The Hittites, who are first found in the south (Genesis 23:7) and then in the center of Judea (Joshua 11:3), seem to have retreated northward after the Israelites occupied Palestine. They are found among the Syrian enemies of the Egyptians on monuments from the 19th dynasty (around 1300 B.C.) and appear at that time to have inhabited the valley of the Upper Orontes.

In early Assyrian monuments, they form a great confederacy as the most powerful people of northern Syria, dwelling on both banks of the Euphrates. At the same time, there was a second confederacy of their people further south, which seems to have inhabited the Anti-Lebanon region between Hamath and Damascus. During the time of Benhadad and Hazael, these southern Hittites were a powerful people, especially strong in chariots, and they generally assisted the Syrians against the Assyrians. The Syrians, therefore, seem to have imagined that these southern Hittites had been hired by Jehoram.

The kings of the Egyptians. This is a remarkable expression, since Egypt always appears elsewhere in Scripture as a centralized monarchy under a single ruler. The probability is that the main pharaoh had a prince or princes associated with him on the throne, a practice that was not uncommon in Egypt. The period, which is that of the 22nd dynasty, is an obscure one, and the monuments shed little light on it.