13 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 the king of Israel saith unto Elisha, at his seeing them, `Do I smite -- do I smite -- my father?'
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 ye may not call `any' your father on the earth, for one is your Father, who is in the heavens,
and I have said to him, `Sir, thou hast known;' and he said to me, `These are those who are coming out of the great tribulation, and they did wash their robes, and they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb;
may we draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having the hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having the body bathed with pure water;
(not by works that `are' in righteousness that we did but according to His kindness,) He did save us, through a bathing of regeneration, and a renewing of the Holy Spirit,
for if a myriad of child-conductors ye may have in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I -- I did beget you;
but the foolish things of the world did God choose, that the wise He may put to shame; and the weak things of the world did God choose that He may put to shame the strong;
and now, why tarriest thou? having risen, baptize thyself, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord.
Peter saith to him, `Thou mayest not wash my feet -- to the age.' Jesus answered him, `If I may not wash thee, thou hast no part with me;'
A son honoureth a father, and a servant his master. And if I `am' a father, where `is' Mine honour? And if I `am' a master, where `is' My fear? Said Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests, despising My name! And ye have said: `In what have we despised Thy name?'
And Ebed-Melech the Cushite, a eunuch who `is' in the king's house, heareth that they have put Jeremiah into the pit; and the king is sitting at the gate of Benjamin, and Ebed-Melech goeth forth from the king's house, and speaketh unto the king, saying, `My lord, O king, these men have done evil `in' all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the pit, and he dieth in his place because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.' And the king commandeth Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, `Take with thee from this thirty men, and thou hast brought up Jeremiah the prophet from the pit, before he dieth.'
Thou cleansest me with hyssop and I am clean, Washest me, and than snow I am whiter.
Thoroughly wash me from mine iniquity, And from my sin cleanse me,
And Hazael goeth to meet him, and taketh a present in his hand, even of every good thing of Damascus, a burden of forty camels, and he cometh in and standeth before him, and saith, `Thy son Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?'
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 his servants say unto him, `Lo, we pray thee, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel -- that they are kind kings; let us put, we pray thee, sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and we go out unto the king of Israel; it may be he doth keep thee alive.'
And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him, `Gods of hills `are' their gods, therefore they were stronger than we; and yet, we fight with them in the plain -- are we not stronger than they?
And to Abigail wife of Nabal hath one young man of the youths declared, saying, `Lo, David hath sent messengers out of the wilderness to bless our lord, and he flieth upon them; and the men `are' very good to us, and have not put us to shame, and we have not looked after anything all the days we have gone up and down with them, in our being in the field; a wall they have been unto us both by night and by day, all the days of our being with them, feeding the flock. `And, now, know and consider what thou dost; for evil hath been determined against our lord, and against all his house, and he `is' too much a son of worthlessness to be spoken to.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Kings 5
Commentary on 2 Kings 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
Two more of Elisha's miracles are recorded in this chapter.
2Ki 5:1-8
Our saviour's miracles were intended for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet one, like a crumb, fell from the table to a woman of Canaan; so this one miracle Elisha wrought for Naaman, a Syrian; for God does good to all, and will have all men to be saved. Here is,
2Ki 5:9-14
We have here the cure of Naaman's leprosy.
2Ki 5:15-19
Of the ten lepers that our Saviour cleansed, the only one that returned to give thanks was a Samaritan, Lu. 17:16. This Syrian did so, and here expresses himself.
2Ki 5:20-27
Naaman, a Syrian, a courtier, a soldier, had many servants, and we read how wise and good they were, v. 13. Elisha, a holy prophet, a man of God, has but one servant, and he proves a base, lying, naughty fellow. Those that heard of Elisha at a distance honoured him, and got good by what they heard; but he that stood continually before him, to hear his wisdom, had no good impressions made upon him either by his doctrine or miracles. One would have expected that Elisha's servant should be a saint (even Ahab's servant, Obadiah, was), but even Christ himself had a Judas among his followers. The means of grace cannot give grace. The best men, the best ministers have often had those about them that have been their grief and shame. The nearer the church the further from God. Many come from the east and west to sit down with Abraham when the children of the kingdom shall be cast out. Here is,