Chariots of fire
2 Kings Chapters 6 – 7
God intervenes on behalf of the Israelites in their ongoing conflicts with the Arameans. Both interventions involve changing their perception of reality: In one case they are struck blind and led into a trap. In the other case they the sounds of great armies that aren’t there and flee.
Both cases also involve unexpected twists.
When the blinded army marches into the midst of an Israelite city, Elisha insists the Israelites not only spare their lives but also throw them a great banquet. That gesture leads to a period of peace.
In the second story, Aram has beseiged Samaria, leading to starvation and hyperinflation
Elisha prophesies that not only is the seige about to end, but that prices will return to normal, both within a day. An officer scoffs at this: even if the seige were to end immediately, it would take prices time to stabilize.
But when God throws the Aramean army into a panic, the soldiers flee without taking their supplies and possessions, leaving their camp to be taken and plundered by the Israelites. Their supplies are so abundant that prices drop overnight in a biblical story of supply and demand at work.