Four Lepers of the City of Samaria

Starving Lepers
In 2 Kings chapter 7 in the Bible, the city of Samaria was besieged by the Syrians. When the food in the city ran out, people began to die of starvation. Some women
could not bear the hunger and ate their own sons.
At that time, there were four lepers living by the entrance of the city gate. They were driven out of the city and lived outside, surviving on food provided by their families. However, due to a famine in the city, they could not receive food anymore. One day the lepers were speaking to each other.
“Huff, I’m hungry.”
“Why are we just sitting here waiting to die?”
“Even if we go into the city, we will die anyway because of the famine there. So, let’s go and surrender to the Syrian army. If they let us live, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall just die.”
Until now, the lepers had no choice but to die while waiting for food from the city that would never come. However, they got free of their thoughts and came up with a new thought. God’s wisdom had entered the lepers’ hearts and led them.

Let’s Go and Tell the King’s Household
The lepers got up and went to the camp of the Syrians. When they arrived, the camp was empty. God had caused the Syrian army to believe that the noise the lepers made as they approached sounded like chariots and horses and a great army coming to attack. The Syrian soldiers thought that the king of Israel had asked for help from the
kings of neighboring countries to come fight against them. So, they fled, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, food, silver, and gold.
The lepers went into the tents and ate and drank. They also took the silver, the gold and some clothing. But then they said to each other, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some
mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”

Food Became Abundant in Samaria
The lepers rushed back to the city and called out to the gatekeepers.
“Listen to us.”
“What do these lepers want?”
“When we went to the camp of the Syrians, there were no soldiers and there was plenty of food in the tents.”
Upon hearing the news, the king of Israel thought that the Syrians were setting a trap. He thought they had made false rumors and hidden somewhere so they could attack
when the people came out of the city. No one believed the story of the lepers at first. So, they went to the camp of the Syrians at night, and just as the lepers had said, they found so much food there. How happy the people who had been starving for days must have been while eating lots of food. They must also have been very grateful to the lepers.



A New Heart from God
At first, the lepers ate the food in the Syrian camp and tried to hide the silver and gold to keep only for themselves. But soon they had a new heart. They felt that they had to
inform the city about the abundance of food so people could be saved. God had used the four lepers to save the dying people in the city of Samaria. First, God gave the four lepers a new thought, led them to the Syrian camp, and fed them until
they were full before anyone else. God showed how He works then led
them to preach the fact to people.
On October 7, 1962, I received a new heart that I had never had before. Until then, I thought I was a sinner because I had stolen and lied. However, while reading the Bible
that day, I had the heart thinking, ‘It is true that I am a sinner. However, Jesus died on the cross and received all the punishment for my sins. So now my sins have been washed away and I have become righteous.’ God allowed me to realize the Gospel.
After that, there were difficulties and problems, but I preached the Gospel to people. I am not qualified to do a great ministry, but while I was preaching the Gospel, God opened the way for people all over the world to be saved.



We Are the Lepers of This Age
We, too, are the lepers of this age. God rejoices that we also receive His heart and preach the Gospel. When we ignore God’s voice and become immersed in our own
thoughts, we feel burdened to preach the Gospel. However, if we preach the Gospel according to God’s word, the work of people being saved will also happen through us. Plus, we can see God helping our lives in a thousand ways. I hope this year will be one in which everyone will follow the Word of God and preach the Gospel to the people around them, experiencing much of God’s work.