"Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, 'Why do we sit here until we die? If we say, ""We will enter the city,"" then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die.'

They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, 'Behold, the King of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.'

Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their life.

When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also; and went and hid them."
2 Kings 7:3-8 (NAS).

Richard Roberts says, "They got an idea to march into the enemy army's camp."
His implication is that the lepers were going to march as an armed band and attempt to do battle with the enemy in the enemy's own camp, "But what kind of a chance did four lepers have against a well-trained army?"

If that had been the intent of lepers, then their comments in verse 4 were pointless and foolish, because they said:

"If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die."

The lepers never said one word about "marching" into the enemy camp and doing battle with them. Their choice was to "fall unto" the Aramean camp, hoping that they would be "accepted," 2 kings 7:4. It is a rare event in which an invader is "accepted" by those being invaded, and in the case of two opposing armies, it would be an exceedingly rare event.

Richard Roberts says, "Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they took a stand of faith and put themselves in a position for a miracle!"

What stand of faith did the lepers take? What was the object of this alleged faith and the results that were intended? Richard Roberts would have the reader believe that the choice they made was to do battle with the enemy, and the faith claimed that they expressed was for a miracle victory over those forces. But was that the choice that the lepers made and did they express any faith toward that goal? The person who reads the narrative will quickly see that the lepers did not do either.

The decision to go to the enemy's camp was made in relation to three choices that they determined that they could make. Two of those choices could only have one outcome and one of those choices could have two outcomes::
(a) "If we say, 'We will enter the city,' then the famine is in the city and we will die there . . ," 2 Kings 7:4.
(b) ". . . and if we sit here, we die also," 2 Kings 7:4.
(c) "If they (the enemy) spare us, we will live . . ," 2 Kings 7:5. ". . . and if they kill us, we will but die," 2 Kings 7:5.

Two of the choices would have insured their eventual death at some time in the near future, because they would have either (1) remained outside the gate of the city, or (2) gone into the city; each of those choices would have involved eventual starvation.

The third choice, to go to the camp of the enemy, could have two outcomes; (1) death, if they were not accepted, and (2) life, if they were accepted.

Given the fact that death was 100% assured if they stayed where they were or went into the city, they only had one option left in which they had at least a 50% chance of remaining alive. Their choice, to go to the camp of the enemy, was not based on any thought of doing battle with the Arameans, but was a practical decision based on their preference to live rather than die. If they were going to die anyway, if they remained in their present position, then it was at least a hope that they might live if they went to the camp of the enemy, even though they might also die.

"If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die," 2 Kings 7:4.

According to Richard Roberts, the lepers were going to march to the camp of the enemy to do battle with them. However, the lepers also considered going into the city (Samaria), so is it to be presumed that they also considered the possibility of marching into the city in order to do battle with their own people? That is the logical conclusion of Richard Roberts' claims.

Far from the lepers deciding to march into battle, believing that they could obtain a victory over the enemy with the help of God, they were actually planning to capitulate or surrender to the enemy in the hopes that their lives would be spared as a result of the generosity or pity of the Arameans. There was no reason to believe that the enemy would spare the lives of four lepers rather than kill them, but they chose the only option that they believed was open to them.

They understood perfectly that the outcome of their decision would not be determined by their actions but by the reaction of their enemy, who would then be in complete control of a determination of life and death.

According to Richard Roberts, if a person has doubt, it is defined as fear and God cannot act on behalf of a person if they have fear in their life. The question becomes, How did God act on behalf of the four lepers when they had doubts that are defined as fear, which prevents God from acting?

Richard Roberts creates his own scenario by asserting that the lepers "stirred up their faith" and God acted as a result, however, the lepers did not express any type of faith, much less any faith directed toward God. In fact, the lepers never mentioned God in relation to what they chose to do. The lepers stated a series of negative expressions by which they revealed that they had no real hope that their decision would have a positive ending.
(a) "If we . . . enter the city . . . we will die there . . ," 2 Kings 7:4.
(b) ". . . if we sit here, we die also," 2 Kings 7:4.
(c) "If they spare us, we will live . . ," 2 Kings 7:4.
(d) ". . . if they kill us, we will but die," 2 Kings 7:4.

Their decision was predicated on a series of "ifs" in which they postulated what they thought might or could happen: "If we enter," "If we sit," "If they spare us," and "If they kill us." "Ifs" are predicated on a foundation that includes doubt, so if doubt prevents God from acting according to Richard Roberts, then the lepers did not express faith and God did not act in relation to their actions. All of the "ifs" were in relation to their own actions and the actions of the enemy, and none of them were considered in relation to an action by God on their behalf. Yet, Richard Roberts wishes his readers to assume that their actions were expressions of faith toward what God would do for them, "They stepped over into the supernatural and received a victory miracle!" The lepers never regarded God to be part of the equation, never prayed to God and never even spoke about God during the entire episode.

Still trying to give the impression that the lepers were an armed band who were attempting to invade the Aramean camp, Richard Roberts says, "As the lepers marched toward the camp, the Bible says that the sound became so loud to the enemy soldiers hat they thought it was a huge army, and they began to run for their lives."

The narrative says nothing about the lepers marching toward the camp as an armed band. That is simply Richard Roberts' addition the Scripture. Richard Roberts would have the reader believe that God caused the sound of the marching footsteps of the lepers to be multiplied and magnified to the point where they sounded like a great army marching toward the camp of the enemy. But is that what the Scripture says?

They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold there was no one there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, 'Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us,'" 2 Kings 7:5-6.

In his attempt to make the reader believe that the sound that was heard by the enemy army was the magnified sound of the footsteps of the lepers, Richard Roberts leaves out some very important aspects of the noise that God caused the enemy to hear:
(a) There was the sound of chariots.
(b) There was the sound of horses.
(c) There was the sound of a great army - the sound of armor, metal weapons, wagons, voices and animals.

The sound of thousands of men, animals, chariots, wagons, marching soldiers, clanking armor and voices is all said by Richard Roberts to have been an extrapolation by God of the sound of the footsteps of the lepers. However, the Scripture says that before the lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, the portion of the encampment that was farthest away from the city, they realized that everything had been abandoned and everyone was gone, which meant that the enemy had left long before the lepers reached the edge of the encampment closest to the city. The enemy abandoned their camp before the lepers approached, because they never heard the enemy leave, so they were not even close when the event occurred. The lepers began their walk toward the encampment of the enemy sometime in the twilight of the evening, which was after sunset and before total darkness came, but the enemy had abandoned their stations sometime during that same evening but prior to the arrival of the lepers. The lepers never stated that they were even aware that the army was leaving or had left until they walked through the encampment and reached the point farthest away from the city. At that point they realized the enemy was gone and then they sat down and had the meal that they so badly needed. The Scripture never connects the footsteps of the lepers with the noise that God caused the enemy army to hear and that struck such terror in their hearts that they abandoned everything in order to save their lives.

Richard Roberts says: "The four lepers gathered up the spoils and took them back to Samaria." However, the Scripture states a very different action on their part:

When the lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them," 2 Kings 7:8.

The lepers were the only people in the enemy encampment and the only ones who knew the enemy was gone, because it was then late evening or night, and the people of the city of Samaria were locked behind the city walls where they had no knowledge of the events that had just happened. Darkness became the ally of the lepers and they were able to do as they pleased. Having sated their appetite, they gathered as much silver, gold and clothing as they could carry, then went and hid the treasure. This they did twice, ". . . and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also, and went and hid them," 2 Kings 7:8. The lepers hid their their newly found wealth in a place other than the city of Samaria, because the gates of the city would have been locked and they would not have had access. Would not the guards have questioned where they had obtained the silver, gold and clothes that they would have brought with them on two seperate occasions? The reality is that no guard would have placed his life at stake by opening the gates of the city in the middle of the night, exposing the city to what might have been a sneak attack by the enemy under the cover of darkness.

The lepers actually had all night to collect as much treasure as they could retrieve, but after their second trip, their conscience began to bother them, and then they began to feel very insecure regarding their actions. Believing that something bad would happen to them if they did not notify the king, they decided to report what had happened, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now, therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household," 2 Kings 7:9.

They did take the message to the city, but they did not reveal the fact that they had secreted a treasure for themselves, not inside the city but somewhere outside the city walls.