17 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 it cometh to pass at the turn of the year, that Ben-Hadad inspecteth the Aramaeans, and goeth up to Aphek, to battle with Israel,
And Jehovah saith unto him, `What `is' this in thy hand?' and he saith, `A rod;'
And it cometh to pass, on that night, that Jehovah saith unto him, `Rise, go down into the camp, for I have given it into thy hand; and if thou art afraid to go down -- go down, thou and Phurah thy young man, unto the camp, and thou hast heard what they speak, and afterwards are thy hands strengthened, and thou hast gone down against the camp.' And he goeth down, he and Phurah his young man, unto the extremity of the fifties who `are' in the camp; and Midian and Amalek, and all the sons of the east are lying in the valley, as the locust for multitude, and of their camels there is no number, as sand which `is' on the sea-shore for multitude. And Gideon cometh in, and lo, a man is recounting to his companion a dream, and saith, `Lo, a dream I have dreamed, and lo, a cake of barley-bread is turning itself over into the camp of Midian, and it cometh in unto the tent, and smiteth it, and it falleth, and turneth it upwards, and the tent hath fallen.' And his companion answereth and saith, `This is nothing save the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; God hath given into his hand Midian and all the camp.' And it cometh to pass, when Gideon heareth the narration of the dream and its interpretation, that he boweth himself, and turneth back unto the camp of Israel, and saith, `Rise ye, for Jehovah hath given into your hand the camp of Midian.' And he divideth the three hundred men `into' three detachments, and putteth trumpets into the hand of all of them, and empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he saith unto them, `Look at me, and thus do; and lo, I am coming into the extremity of the camp -- and it hath been -- as I do so ye do; and I have blown with a trumpet -- I and all who `are' with me, and ye have blown with trumpets, even ye, round about all the camp, and have said, For Jehovah and for Gideon.' And Gideon cometh -- and the hundred men who `are' with him -- into the extremity of the camp, `at' the beginning of the middle watch (it hath only just confirmed the watchmen), and they blow with trumpets -- dashing in pieces also the pitchers which `are' in their hand; and the three detachments blow with trumpets, and break the pitchers, and keep hold with their left hand on the lamps, and with their right hand on the trumpets to blow, and they cry, `The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon.'
And the word of Samuel is to all Israel, and Israel goeth out to meet the Philistines for battle, and they encamp by Eben-Ezer, and the Philistines have encamped in Aphek,
and Elisha sendeth unto him a messenger, saying, `Go, and thou hast washed seven times in Jordan, and thy flesh doth turn back to thee -- and be thou clean. And Naaman is wroth, and goeth on, and saith, `Lo, I said, Unto me he doth certainly come out, and hath stood and called in the name of Jehovah his God, and waved his hand over the place, and recovered the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? do I not wash in them and I have been clean?' and he turneth and goeth on in fury. And his servants come nigh, and speak unto him, and say, `My father, a great thing had the prophet spoken unto thee -- dost thou not do `it'? and surely, when he hath said unto thee, Wash, and be clean.' And he goeth down and dippeth in Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh doth turn back as the flesh of a little youth, and is clean.
His mother saith to the ministrants, `Whatever he may say to you -- do.' And there were there six water-jugs of stone, placed according to the purifying of the Jews, holding each two or three measures. Jesus saith to them, `Fill the water-jugs with water;' and they filled them -- unto the brim; and he saith to them, `Draw out, now, and bear to the director of the apartment;' and they bare.
Jesus saith, `Take ye away the stone;' the sister of him who hath died -- Martha -- saith to him, `Sir, already he stinketh, for he is four days dead;' Jesus saith to her, `Said I not to thee, that if thou mayest believe, thou shalt see the glory of God?' They took away, therefore, the stone where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted his eyes upwards, and said, `Father, I thank Thee, that Thou didst hear me;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Kings 13
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.