Why did the Israelites buy dove droppings for five shekels of silver (2 Kings 6:25)?

Some take this in 2 Kings 6:25 to represent a kind of herb; we have plants similarly named as cowslip, hart's-tongue, etc., and the Arabs have a herb they call 'sparrows' dung.'

The siege caused severe famine in the city, so that a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver and a small amount of dove's droppings for 5 shekels. Why did the king of Israel not even consider praying to the Lord in this predicament? He could speak of the Lord (v.27), but had no faith whatever in God's sovereign goodness.

The 'white asses' mentioned in Judges 5:10 are still greatly prized in the East. In some parts the flesh of the ass is highly esteemed for food, but it was forbidden as unclean to the Jews: it was however eaten in the dire famine at the siege of Samaria. 2 Kings 6:25.

We read here of a famine in Samaria, the capital city of a country most highly favored, most deeply guilty in her abuse of the patience and goodness of a long-suffering God. And now the judgment that must needs overtake iniquity was falling upon her. The enemy was besieging her in her gates, and already we see her in most extreme distress: they besieged it till an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of doves' dung for five pieces of silver." In this awful strait, the words of Moses' prophetic denunciation were fulfilled, and that took place which Jeremiah records in his moan of anguish over a still greater calamity, "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children." The king rends his clothes in agony at the terrible disclosure, and the people see sackcloth within upon his flesh; but in the depth of his despair, his heart, really unhumbled, breaks out against God in the person of His prophet: "God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day." He repents indeed of this rashness, and hastes after his messenger to save the prophet's life, but it is only to break out once more in impatience against God: "Behold, this evil is of the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?"

Strange it seems to our natural thoughts that just here should come the announcement of blessing: And Elisha said, 'Hear ye the word of the Lord: thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow, about this time, shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.'"

The siege makes manifest the depths of evil to which the nation had sunk, and further displays the height to which the grace of God can rise through this, the last public service of Elisha.

Jehoram, the apostate king, was already beholden to Elisha for having saved his life, and rescued his army from destruction. Apparently this great mercy had affected no change either in the king or nation. Now, in the government of God the enemy is allowed to besiege Samaria, leading to "a great famine" in the city. In the fearful straits to which the inhabitants are reduced, the solemn prophecy uttered more than five hundred years before, is fulfilled. Moses had warned the people of God, that if they departed from God, the time would come when, besieged by their enemies, they would be reduced to such straits, that tender, delicate women would secretly eat their young children (Lev. 26:21-29; Deut. 28:49-57). This abomination had at last come to pass.

The enemy of God's people never considers himself beaten. If the Syrian bands, convicted of their wrong-doing by the power of the God of Israel, cease making incursions into the land, Ben-Hadad in contrast gathers all his army to besiege Samaria, and this siege brings a great famine in its wake. Such are the consequences of Israel's sin. The enemy, without knowing it, was sent by God in judgment against this people. But at the same time he is a type of the prince of death, from whom sinful man cannot escape. The famine is a consequence of the presence of the enemy, who certainly would never dream of feeding those whom he is oppressing. It is like another form of death pressing down upon this guilty people. In all this chapter, then, it is death — that terrible, inevitable fate deserved by sinful men — that reigns. But God has resources even against death. He has the prophet to proclaim this, and if He announces that He will bring the famine to an end, we shall see that this is brought about by doing away with the enemy, the instrument of His judgment. This introduces us into the domain of grace and of the gospel.

Samaria was the capital and center of a religious world which still maintained the appearance of upholding the worship of the Lord, but which had corrupted it. We find this same world in our day in another form, and it is precisely on account of its religious pretensions that it is the object of the judgment of God. Every kind of sacrifice was tolerated at Samaria, and the famine, instead of causing the people and their king to reconsider, only manifested the terrible egoism of men's hearts, who, in order to avoid dying of hunger, were sacrificing even their own children instead of sacrificing themselves for them. If such things could be met with here, it was not because the external features of religion had been banished. The king even wore "sackcloth within upon his flesh" as a sign of mourning and of mortification, probably in hope of averting the danger, but without having his conscience touched and his heart changed. We see the same features taking place in Christendom when nations are smitten with public calamities.

The awful condition of the nation and the wickedness of the king are thus thoroughly exposed. The people of Samaria are struggling to obtain an ass's head, or a piece of dove's dung. Women are eating their children; the king is raging up and down on the wall; but Elisha is sitting quietly in his house waiting upon the Lord. Then comes the messenger followed by the king charging the Lord with all the evil. The king says as it were, "What is the good of Elisha sitting in his house doing nothing? He delivered me once before from destruction, why does he not act now? What is the good of his professing to wait upon the Lord? Nothing happens. I will give up all thought of the Lord, and I will take off the head of Elisha the prophet of the Lord."

What next follows I may be brief upon. We are all more or less familiar, no doubt, with the great famine in Samaria, and how the Lord changed everything, and changed so surprisingly, and by such simple means. The distress was excessive. The king of Israel was most helpless, and all was in confusion. "And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman to him saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If Jehovah do not help thee whence shall I help thee?" "And she answered, This woman said to me, Give thy son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and did eat him; and I said to her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him, and she has hid her son." No wonder that the king rent his clothes, and wore sackcloth; but there was no fear of God — on the contrary, there was a murderous intent against the prophet of God.

Some time after Ben-hadad besieged Samaria and a great famine followed, and there was such a distress that women ate their own offspring. It was but a fulfilment of the threatened judgments upon an apostate people (Lev. 26:29; Deut. 28:53). The same horror occurred during the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Lam. 4:10) and also, according to Josephus, during the siege by Titus 70 A.D. The wicked nature of the king asserted itself in blaming Elisha for the misfortune which had fallen upon his kingdom. He seeks to slay the man of God. After all the mighty miracles God had wrought by the hands of Elisha, the representative of Israel, wants to kill the prophet. This also foreshadows our Lord, when they sought to kill Him after His gracious ministry. But Elisha knew the murderous purpose of the long ere the messengers came. He called the king by the right name "this son of a murderer," for such Ahab was. And when the king appeared in person he said, "Behold this evil is of the LORD, what should I wait for the LORD any longer?" He realizes the impending judgment on account of Israel's sin.