The Syrians Flee – Bible Story for Kids

This is a simplified version of the Bible story found in 2 Kings 7, written for children to understand. For the original version, please refer to the Bible passage.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Elisha who spoke for God. He told everyone that the next day, there would be lots of food in Samaria! A big bag of flour and two bags of barley would only cost one shekel. But one of the king’s helpers said, “That can’t be true! Even if God opened the windows of heaven, there wouldn’t be that much food.” But Elisha told him that he would see it with his own eyes, but he wouldn’t get to eat any of it.

Now, there were four men who were very sick with a disease called leprosy. They were sitting outside of the city, and they were very hungry because there wasn’t any food. They talked to each other and said, “If we go to the city, we’ll still be hungry and might die. If we stay here, we’ll definitely die. Let’s go to the Syrian army’s camp. Maybe they’ll spare our lives and give us some food. If they don’t, at least we’ll die trying.”

They went to the camp at night and saw that nobody was there! God had made the Syrian army hear sounds of chariots and horses, so they ran away because they thought the kings of Hittites and Egypt were coming to fight them. They left everything behind and ran away.

The four men went into one of the tents and saw that there was lots of food, so they ate and drank. They also saw that there was silver, gold, and clothes, so they took them and hid them. They went to another tent and did the same thing. They talked to each other and said, “We shouldn’t be keeping this good news to ourselves. We need to tell the king’s household!” They went to the city gatekeepers and told them what happened.

The gatekeepers told the king’s household, and the king was very happy. He thought that the Syrian army had gone to hide so they could capture the Israelites when they left the city. He sent some men to see what happened, and they found lots of things that the Syrian army had left behind. They came back and told the king.

Then the Israelites went to the Syrian army’s camp and took everything. There was so much food that a big bag of flour and two bags of barley only cost one shekel, just like Elisha had said! But the king’s helper who didn’t believe Elisha’s words, he got trampled and died. Just like Elisha said, the helper saw the food, but he didn’t get to eat any of it.

Biblical Lessons

God is powerful and can do amazing things, like making an entire army flee without a fight!
It’s important to share good news with others, just like how the four men with leprosy shared the news about the Syrian army fleeing.
We should trust and believe in God’s words, even if it seems impossible or unlikely.

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