Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 8
A famine is a serious lack of food in a country or a region. During a famine, the price of food may become extremely expensive; and good food may be difficult or impossible to obtain. In the worst famines, people starve to death.
There were famines at the times of both Elijah and Elisha. These famines happened because of the wicked deeds and the false religions of Ahab’s family (1 Kings 18:18). God wanted to show his kindness to Israel – but those evil kings brought troubles upon their nation (Deuteronomy chapter 28). They ruined Israel’s relationship with God; and the result was that Israel’s people did not receive the benefit of their harvests.
The cause of the famine at the time of Elijah was that the usual rains did not fall. So, for three years, the harvests failed. This affected the whole of northern and central Israel; and people in surrounding countries also suffered. It happened during the rule of Ahab (1 Kings chapters 17 and 18).
The famine at the time of Elisha lasted for seven years when Joram, Ahab’s son, was king. There seem to have been several causes, and it may not have affected the whole country at once. The first mention of it was at Gilgal, near the river Jordan, in 2 Kings 4:38. At that time, the problem was that the harvests failed. We then read about attacks from Aram’s soldiers, who probably robbed the harvests from northern Israel (5:2; 6:23). Finally, Aram’s soldiers surrounded the capital city, Samaria (6:24-25). They stopped the supply of food into the city. The famine ended when Samaria’s people took the grain from the camp of Aram’s soldiers (7:16).
Next part: Philistia: a place of safety (2 Kings 8:2)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2025, Keith Simons.