The four lepers were excluded from the city. They knew that there was nothing to eat where they were, and nothing to eat if they broke the law and entered the city. In desperation, and knowing they had nothing to lose, they infiltrated the enemy camp at twilight in search of food. To their astonishment, the enemy camp was deserted. Thinking that Egypt and the Hittites were on their way to help the Northern Kingdom, theSyrian army abandoned their camp in haste, leaving everything behind. The lepers looted the camp and brought the news back to Samaria. The Israelites looted the Syrian camp and the amount of food available meant that its price dropped, even to the extent that the best flour sold for one shekel, just as Elisha prophesized the day before. The officer who scoffed the day before, saw the sudden abundance of food but did not live to enjoy it, as he was trampled to death in the rush for food. (II Kings 7:17-20)

 

Elisha continued the work of Elijah after his death. Like Elijah, he fought against the paganism of the rulers of the Northern Kingdom, but unlike him, he did not operate alone. He created an organized following - a college of prophets - and he worked with the secular establishment (King Ahab the son of Omri) to obtain the religious reforms that Elijah demanded. These failed to be long lasting, and their persistence in adhering to the pagan culture led to the overthrow of the entire House of Omri. Jehu massacred Ahab's royal house and "all his great men, and his kinsfolk, and his priests, until he left him none remaining."  II Kings 10:11 Ahab's seventy sons were decapitated and all the priests of Baal - the contemporary form of paganism - were assembled and slaughtered.

 

As king, Jehu temporarily restored the worship of Yahveh to the Northern Kingdom, but he soon turned back, as well as all the other kings of Israel, right up to their capture and enforced exile under King Shalmanezzer V of Assyria. (720 BC)