2 Kings 13:19

_AND HE SAID TO THE KING OF ISRAEL, PUT THINE HAND UPON THE BOW. AND HE PUT HIS HAND UPON IT: AND ELISHA PUT HIS HANDS UPON THE KING'S HANDS._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

10-19 Jehoash, the king, came to Elisha, to receive his dying counsel and blessing. It may turn much to our spiritual advantage, to attend the sick-beds and death-beds of good men, that we may be encouraged in religion by the living comforts they have from it in a dying hour. Elisha assured the king of his success; yet he must look up to God for direction and strength; must reckon his own hands not enough, but go on, in dependence upon Divine aid. The trembling hands of the dying prophet, as they signified the power of God, gave this arrow more force than the hands of the king in his full strength. By contemning the sign, the king lost the thing signified, to the grief of the dying prophet. It is a trouble to good men, to see those to whom they wish well, forsake their own mercies, and to see them lose advantages against spiritual enemies....

The unfaithfulness of man limits the goodness of God. Though Joash did the prophet’s bidding, it was without any zeal or fervour; and probably without any earnest belief in the efficacy of what he was doing. Compare Mark 6:5. God had been willing to give the Israelites complete victory over Syria 2 Kings 13:17; but Joash by his non-acceptance of the divine promise in its fulness had checked the outflow of mercy; and the result was that the original promise could not be fulfilled....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 13:1 REIGNS OF JEHOAHAZ, SON OF JEHU, AND JOASH, SON OF JEHOAHAZ, OVER ISRAEL. NOTICES OF ELISHA. WAR OF ISRAEL WITH SYRIA. 2 KINGS 13:1 THE REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ. The writer returns in this chapter to the history of the Israelite kingdom, taking it up from the death of Jehu, which was recorded in the clo

AND THE MAN OF GOD WAS WROTH WITH HIM,.... Because he ceased smiting, and smote no oftener; for it was revealed to the prophet, by an impulse upon his mind, that by the number of times he smote on the ground, it would be known how often he should get the victory over his enemies; but this was to be left to the king's own will, how often he would smite, and thereby the prophet would know also with what spirit he would pursue his victories, and the advantages he would gain: AND SAID, THOU SHOULDEST HAVE SMITTEN FIVE OR SIX TIMES, THEN HADST THOU SMITTEN SYRIA UNTIL THOU HADST CONSUMED IT; as a nation, as well as routed their several armies: WHEREAS NOW THOU SHALT SMITE SYRIA BUT THRICE; beat them only three times in battle, according to the number of his smitings on the ground....

2 Kings 13:1. _In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son, of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom._ «Seventeen years» that is a long time in which to do mischief. Seventeen years of reigning over a people, influencing them all for mischief, turning them aside from God, and doing his utmost to erase the name of Jehovah from the hearts of the people. Remember, this Jehoahaz was the son of John, who had been called to the front because of the sins of the house of Ahab. Though Jehu was brought forward to be a reformer, yet he and his race were as bad as those who were cast out. What a sad thing this is, when those who are planted where the cu

5. JEHOAHAZ AND JEHOASH OF ISRAEL, ELISHA'S DEATH CHAPTER 13 _ 1. The reign of Jehoahaz and his death (2 Kings 13:1)_ 2. Jehoash King of Israel (2 Kings 13:10) 3. Elisha and Joash (2 Kings 13:14) 4. The death of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20) 5. Hazael and his death (2 Kings 13:22) Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, reigned after the death of his father (2 Kings 10:35) and here we learn that he also followed in t

THE REIGN OF JOASH OR JEHOASH OF ISRAEL. During this reign Elisha died. He is represented, as in 2 Kings 6, as Israel's champion in the great war with Syria, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof (_cf._ 2 Kings 2:12). 2 Kings 13:16_ _ f. The action is a piece of sympathetic magic (_cf._ Exodus 17:9; Joshua 8:18; Joshua 8:26), but it is something more. The Hebrews thought of the prophetic word as achieving its own fulfilment (Isaiah 55:10 f.

MAN OF GOD. See App-49. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim._ with Art. App-4....

_the man of God was wroth_ We must think of sorrow as well as anger. We can see through all Elisha's life, that the welfare of his country was very dear to him. Hence his desire that the king should accept God's announcement of victory with eagerness, and his grief that he did not....