5 And the king of Aram saith, `Go thou, enter, and I send a letter unto the king of Israel;' and he goeth and taketh in his hand ten talents of silver, and six thousand `pieces' of gold, and ten changes of garments.
And Samson saith to them, `Let me, I pray you, put forth to you a riddle; if ye certainly declare it to me `in' the seven days of the banquet, and have found `it' out, then I have given to you thirty linen shirts, and thirty changes of garments;
And the king saith unto Hazael, `Take in thy hand a present, and go to meet the man of God, and thou hast sought Jehovah by him, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?' 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?'
Go, now, ye rich! weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon `you'; your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten; your gold and silver have rotted, and the rust of them for a testimony shall be to you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye made treasure in the last days!
Go, now, ye who are saying, `To-day and to-morrow we will go on to such a city, and will pass there one year, and traffic, and make gain;'
And Simon, having beheld that through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, the Holy Spirit is given, brought before them money, saying, `Give also to me this authority, that on whomsoever I may lay the hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.' And Peter said unto him, `Thy silver with thee -- may it be to destruction! because the gift of God thou didst think to possess through money;
And now, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.
I said in my heart, `Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it `is' vanity.
And he saith, `Peace; my lord hath sent me, saying, Lo, now, this, come unto me have two young men from the hill-country of Ephraim, of the sons of the prophets; give, I pray thee, to them, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.' And Naaman saith, `Be pleased, take two talents;' and he urgeth on him, and bindeth two talents of silver in two purses, and two changes of garments, and giveth unto two of his young men, and they bear before him;
and they say each one to his neighbour, `Give help, let us make bricks, and burn `them' thoroughly:' and the brick is to them for stone, and the bitumen hath been to them for mortar.
and the king of Israel saith unto his servants, `Have ye not known that ours `is' Ramoth-Gilead? and we are keeping silent from taking it out of the hand of the king of Aram!'
And Saul saith to his young man, `And lo, we go, and what do we bring in to the man? for the bread hath gone from our vessels, and a present there is not to bring in to the man of God -- what `is' with us?' And the young man addeth to answer Saul, and saith, `Lo, there is found with me a fourth of a shekel of silver: and I have given to the man of God, and he hath declared to us our way.'
and now, flee for thyself unto thy place; I have said, I do greatly honour thee, and lo, Jehovah hath kept thee back from honour.' And Balaam saith unto Balak, `Did I not also unto thy messengers whom thou hast sent unto me, speak, saying, If Balak doth give to me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I am not able to pass over the command of Jehovah, to do good or evil of mine own heart -- that which Jehovah speaketh -- it I speak?
for very greatly I honour thee, and all that thou sayest unto me I do; and come, I pray thee, pierce for me this people.' And Balaam answereth and saith unto the servants of Balak, `If Balak doth give to me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I am not able to pass over the command of Jehovah my God, to do a little or a great thing;
And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian go, and divinations in their hand, and they come in unto Balaam, and speak unto him the words of Balak,
to all of them hath he given -- to each changes of garments, and to Benjamin he hath given three hundred silverlings, and five changes of garments;
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,