12 And the rest of the matters of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
And Elisha hath been sick with his sickness in which he dieth, and come down unto him doth Joash king of Israel, and weepeth on his face, and saith, `My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen.' And Elisha saith to him, `Take bow and arrows:' and he taketh unto him bow and arrows. And he saith to the king of Israel, `Place thy hand on the bow;' and he placeth his hand, and Elisha putteth his hands on the hands of the king, and saith, `Open the window eastward;' and he openeth, and Elisha saith, `Shoot,' and he shooteth; and he saith, `An arrow of salvation to Jehovah, and an arrow of salvation against Aram, and thou hast smitten Aram, in Aphek, till consuming.' And he saith, `Take the arrows,' and he taketh; and he saith to the king of Israel, `Smite to the earth;' and he smiteth three times, and stayeth. And the man of God is wroth against him, and saith, `By smiting five or six times then thou hadst smitten Aram till consuming; and now, three times thou dost smite Aram.' And Elisha dieth, and they bury him, and troops of Moab come in to the land, at the coming in of the year, and it cometh to pass, they are burying a man, and lo, they have seen the troop, and cast the man into the grave of Elisha, and the man goeth and cometh against the bones of Elisha, and liveth, and riseth on his feet. And Hazael king of Aram hath oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz, and Jehovah doth favour them, and pity them, and turn unto them, for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and hath not been willing to destroy them, nor to cast them from His presence as yet. And Hazael king of Aram dieth, and reign doth Ben-Hadad his son in his stead, and Jehoash son of Jehoahaz turneth and taketh the cities out of the hand of Ben-Hadad son of Hazael that he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father in war; three times hath Joash smitten him, and he bringeth back the cities of Israel.
then hath Amaziah sent messengers unto Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, `Come, we look one another in the face.' And Jehoash king of Israel sendeth unto Amaziah king of Judah, saying, `The thorn that `is' in Lebanon hath sent unto the cedar that `is' in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son for a wife; and pass by doth a beast of the field that `is' in Lebanon, and treadeth down the thorn. Thou hast certainly smitten Edom, and thy heart hath lifted thee up; be honoured, and abide in thy house; and why dost thou stir thyself up in evil, that thou hast fallen, thou, and Judah with thee?' And Amaziah hath not hearkened, and go up doth Jehoash king of Israel, and they look one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, in Beth-Shemesh, that `is' Judah's, and Judah is smitten before Israel, and they flee each to his tent. And Amaziah king of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, caught hath Jehoash king of Israel in Beth-Shemesh, and they come in to Jerusalem, and he bursteth through the wall of Jerusalem, at the gate of Ephraim unto the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits, and hath taken all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that are found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the house of the king, and the sons of the pledges, and turneth back to Samaria. And the rest of the matters of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoash lieth with his fathers, and is buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and reign doth Jeroboam his son in his stead.
And Amaziah king of Judah taketh counsel, and sendeth unto Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, `Come, we look one another in the face.' And Joash king of Israel sendeth unto Amaziah king of Judah, saying, `The thorn that `is' in Lebanon hath sent unto the cedar that `is' in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son for a wife; and pass by doth a beast of the field that `is' in Lebanon, and treadeth down the thorn. Thou hast said, Lo, I have smitten Edom; and thy heart hath lifted thee up to boast; now, abide in thy house, why dost thou stir thyself up in evil, that thou hast fallen, thou, and Judah with thee?' And Amaziah hath not hearkened, for from God it `is' in order to give them into hand, because they have sought the gods of Edom; and go up doth Joash king of Israel, and they look one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, in Beth-Shemesh, that `is' Judah's, and Judah is smitten before Israel, and they flee -- each to his tents. And Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, hath Joash king of Israel caught in Beth-Shemesh, and bringeth him in to Jerusalem, and breaketh down in the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the gate of the corner, four hundred cubits, and `taketh' all the gold, and the silver, and all the vessels that are found in the house of God with Obed-Edom, and the treasures of the house of the king, and the sons of the pledges, and turneth back to Samaria.
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Commentary on 2 Kings 13 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 13
2Ki 13:1-7. Jehoahaz's Wicked Reign over Israel.
1-3. Jehoahaz … reigned seventeen years—Under his government, which pursued the policy of his predecessors regarding the support of the calf-worship, Israel's apostasy from the true God became greater and more confirmed than in the time of his father Jehu. The national chastisement, when it came, was consequently the more severe and the instruments employed by the Lord in scourging the revolted nation were Hazael and his son and general Ben-hadad, in resisting whose successive invasions the Israelitish army was sadly reduced and weakened. In the extremity of his distress, Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and was heard, not on his own account (Ps 66:18; Pr 1:28; 15:8), but that of the ancient covenant with the patriarchs (2Ki 13:23).
4. he saw the oppression of Israel—that is, commiserated the fallen condition of His chosen people. The divine honor and the interests of true religion required that deliverance should be granted them to check the triumph of the idolatrous enemy and put an end to their blasphemous taunts that God had forsaken Israel (De 32:27; Ps 12:4).
5. a saviour—This refers neither to some patriotic defender nor some signal victory, but to the deliverance obtained for Israel by the two successors of Jehoahaz, namely, Joash, who regained all the cities which the Syrians had taken from his father (2Ki 13:25); and Jeroboam, who restored the former boundaries of Israel (2Ki 14:25).
6. there remained the grove—Asherah—the idol set up by Ahab (1Ki 16:33), which ought to have been demolished (De 7:5).
7. made them like the dust in threshing—Threshing in the East is performed in the open air upon a level plot of ground, daubed over with a covering to prevent, as much as possible, the earth, sand, or gravel from rising; a great quantity of them all, notwithstanding this precaution, must unavoidably be taken up with the grain; at the same time the straw is shattered to pieces. Hence it is a most significant figure, frequently employed by Orientals to describe a state of national suffering, little short of extermination (Isa 21:10; Mic 4:12; Jer 51:33). The figure originated in a barbarous war custom, which Hazael literally followed (Am 1:3, 4; compare 2Sa 18:31; Jud 8:7).
2Ki 13:8-25. Joash Succeeds Him.
8. his might—This is particularly noticed in order to show that the grievous oppression from foreign enemies, by which the Israelites were ground down, was not owing to the cowardice or imbecility of their king, but solely to the righteous and terrible judgment of God for their foul apostasy.
12, 13. his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah—(See on 2Ki 14:8-14). The usual summary of his life and reign occurs rather early, and is again repeated in the account given of the reign of the king of Judah (2Ki 14:15).
14-19. Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died—Every man's death is occasioned by some disease, and so was Elisha's. But in intimating it, there seems a contrast tacitly made between him and his prophetic predecessor, who did not die.
Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face—He visited him where he was lying ill of this mortal sickness, and expressed deep sorrow, not from the personal respect he bore for the prophet, but for the incalculable loss his death would occasion to the kingdom.
my father, my father! &c.—(See on 2Ki 2:12). These words seem to have been a complimentary phrase applied to one who was thought an eminent guardian and deliverer of his country. The particular application of them to Elisha, who, by his counsels and prayer, had obtained many glorious victories for Israel, shows that the king possessed some measure of faith and trust, which, though weak, was accepted, and called forth the prophet's dying benediction.
15-18. Take bow and arrows—Hostilities were usually proclaimed by a herald, sometimes by a king or general making a public and formal discharge of an arrow into the enemy's country. Elisha directed Joash to do this, as a symbolical act, designed to intimate more fully and significantly the victories promised to the king of Israel over the Syrians. His laying his hands upon the king's hands was to represent the power imparted to the bow shot as coming from the Lord through the medium of the prophet. His shooting the first arrow eastward—to that part of his kingdom which the Syrians had taken and which was east of Samaria—was a declaration of war against them for the invasion. His shooting the other arrows into the ground was in token of the number of victories he was taken to gain; but his stopping at the third betrayed the weakness of his faith; for, as the discharged arrow signified a victory over the Syrians, it is evident that the more arrows he shot the more victories he would gain. As he stopped so soon, his conquests would be incomplete.
20, 21. Elisha died—He had enjoyed a happier life than Elijah, as he possessed a milder character, and bore a less hard commission. His rough garment was honored even at the court.
coming in of the year—that is, the spring, the usual season of beginning campaigns in ancient times. Predatory bands from Moab generally made incursions at that time on the lands of Israel. The bearers of a corpse, alarmed by the appearance of one of these bands, hastily deposited, as they passed that way, their load in Elisha's sepulchre, which might be easily done by removing the stone at the mouth of the cave. According to the Jewish and Eastern custom, his body, as well as that of the man who was miraculously restored, was not laid in a coffin, but only swathed; so that the bodies could be brought into contact, and the object of the miracle was to stimulate the king's and people of Israel's faith in the still unaccomplished predictions of Elisha respecting the war with the Syrians. Accordingly the historian forthwith records the historical fulfilment of the prediction (2Ki 13:22-25), in the defeat of the enemy, in the recovery of the cities that had been taken, and their restoration to the kingdom of Israel.