The sea of blood

                                                                       2 Kings 3:21-27

 

August 24, 2021

 

 

When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border.   And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.   And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!”   But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went.   And they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land, every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it.  When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not.   Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

 

Often, men tend to take credit for God’s accomplishments I do not find that to be true in this case.  One would hope that these three Kings would have given all the glory to the mightiest of all Warriors, the Lord God.  We know that the Moabites put their trust in what they thought they were seeing, only to be defeated in battle.

 

The kings listen to the man of God and follow his counsel, to the letter with one exception they left the one key city and the king of Moab alive after the king of Moab offered his son as a burnt offering.  Now as I often shared with you God’s ways are different than ours, and I do not understand what was taking place at this time.  I also looked at those who write commentaries, and, in my opinion, they also are guessing.  I will not try to write about things I have no understanding of.

 

From the Back porch,

 

Bob Rice