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2 Kings 7 · a question people ask

Were the four men wrong to hide the silver and gold?

In the text

In the first tent they "ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it", and then did the same from a second tent (7:8). Then they said, "We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent" (7:9). The words that follow "We aren’t doing right" are about keeping silent on a day of good news. Then they add: "If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us" (7:9). The chapter doesn't say whether the hiding was wrong, and a few verses later "The people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians" (7:16). These notes don't judge what the chapter leaves unjudged.

The verses

“When these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, then carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid it. Then they came back, and entered into another tent and carried things from there also, and went and hid them. Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.””
2 Kings 7:8-9 · World English Bible
“The people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the LORD’s word.”
2 Kings 7:16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Kings 7

2 Kings 7: A day of good news

The captain called the LORD's word "this thing" (7:2): in Hebrew, the same noun, davar. The four men and the fleeing Syrians both rose in the twilight (7:5, 7:7). And besorah, the four men's "good news" (7:9), comes only six times in the Hebrew Bible; the other five are all in 2 Samuel, all news for King David (2 Samuel 4:10, 18:20-27).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions