Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.” – 2 Kings 7:3-4

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 13, 2019): 2 Kings 7

Veronica Roth, in her book “Allegiant,” comments that “Desperation can make a person do surprising things.” The heart of all courage might be born out of the simple fact that there is nothing else that we can do. We attack the hill in a spectacular moment of bravery because we cannot retreat. We go for that position that scares us more than anything else because every other job offer has fallen through. Courage and desperation are siblings who often seem to travel together.

Leprosy was the scourge of the ancient world. Even just two hundred years ago, lepers were separated from society because the disease was so contagious. In the ancient world, even the suspicion of leprosy meant that you were banned from the human community. The only ones who would dare to help you were others lepers. So if you didn’t have leprosy at the moment you were banned, then you would soon catch the disease from the only avenue for help that was left open for you.

Such was the situation for these four lepers. It is hard to imagine the social life of one who had contracted the disease, but in times of national distress, their tragedy was multiplied. Because of their illness, they could not run for the safety that the walls of the city held of other people. These four men had likely been begging at the city gates when the Arameans attacked. Everyone outside the city gates had run to the other side of the walls to save themselves, but these four couldn’t go there. They also couldn’t run off into the hills, where they likely lived, because the attacking army blocked the way. And so they sat exposed at the city gates. No one was coming in and out of the gates to give them food or water. And with each passing moment their situation grew even more desperate.

Until one of them decided on a path. If the men stayed where they were, they would die. If they went into the city, and there was no food, they would die. If they surrendered to the Arameans, either the Arameans would let them pass, wanting to have nothing to do with their disease, or they would kill them. The common theme seemed to be their death. No matter what the four men chose to do, it seemed likely that they would die. But the greatest benefit was available only if they surrendered themselves to the Arameans. Every path led to their probable deaths, but only the Arameans had the power to send them home.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 8