2 Kings 3:13

_AND ELISHA SAID UNTO THE KING OF ISRAEL, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE? GET THEE TO THE PROPHETS OF THY FATHER, AND TO THE PROPHETS OF THY MOTHER. AND THE KING OF ISRAEL SAID UNTO HIM, NAY: FOR THE LORD HATH CALLED THESE THREE KINGS TOGETHER, TO DELIVER THEM INTO THE HAND OF MOAB._ What have I to do with thee ... Wishing to produce a deep spirit of humility and contrition, Elisha gave a stern repulse to the king of Israel, accompanied by a sarcastic sneer, in bidding him go and consult Baal and his soothsayers. He acknowledged Jehoshaphat king of Judah alone, because it was the theocratic kingdom, and he was descended from the royal dynasty, of David (see similar instances-Hosea, a prophet of Israel, dates his prophetic writings "in the days of Uzziah, etc., kings of Judah"). "What have I to do with thee?" - (see as to this elliptic phrase the note at 1 Kings 17:18.) Its

6-19 The king of Israel laments their distress, and the danger they were in. He called these kings together, yet he charges it upon Providence. Thus the foolishness of man perverteth his way, and then his heart fretteth against the Lord, Proverbs 19:3. It was well that Jehoshaphat inquired of the Lord now, but it had been much better if he had done it before he engaged in this war. Good men sometimes neglect their duty, till necessity and affliction drive them to it. Wicked people often fare the better for the friendship and society of the godly. To try their faith and obedience, Elisha bids them make the valley full of pits to receive water. Those who expect God's blessings, must dig pools for the rain to fill, as in the valley of Baca, and thus make even that a well, Psalms 84:6. We need not inquire whence the wa...

Verse 2 Kings 3:13. _GET THEE TO THE PROPHETS OF THY FATHER_] This was a just, but cutting reproof. _NAY_] The Chaldee adds here, _I beseech thee, do not call the sins_ _of this impiety to remembrance, but ask mercy for us_; because the Lord hath called, c. The Arabic has, _I beseech thee, do not_ _mention of our transgressions, but use kindness towards us_. It is very likely that some such words were spoken on the occasion but these are the only _versions_ which make this addition....

Jehoram’s humility in seeking 2 Kings 3:12 instead of summoning Elisha, does not save him from rebuke. His reformation 2 Kings 3:2 had been but a half reformation - a compromise with idolatry. NAY: FOR THE LORD HATH CALLED ... - The force of this reply seems to be - “Nay, reproach me not, since I am in a sore strait - and not only I, but these two other kings also. The Lord - Yahweh - is about to deliver us into the hand of Moab. If thou canst not, or wilt not help, at least do not reproach.”...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 3:1 THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF JEHORAM'S REIGN OVER ISRAEL; HIS WAR WITH MOAB. 2 KINGS 3:1 NOW JEHORAM THE SON OF AHAB BEGAN TO REIGN OVER ISRAEL IN SAMARIA THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF JEHOSHAPHAT KING OF JUDAH. This note of time is not quite in accordance with the chronology of 1 Kings, which gives Jehoshaphat a reign of twenty-five years (1 Kings 22:42), Ahab one of twenty-two years ...

AND ELISHA SAID UNTO THE KING OF ISRAEL, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE?.... An idolater; I can hold no discourse nor have any conversation with thee, nor give thee any advice or assistance: GET THEE TO THE PROPHETS OF THY FATHER, AND TO THE PROPHETS OF THY MOTHER; the prophets of Baal, and of the groves: AND THE KING OF ISRAEL SAID UNTO HIM, NAY; meaning, he would not apply to them, who he was sensible could give him no relief, only to the Lord God, from whom this affliction was, and therefore begs he would pray to him to have mercy on them; so the Targum, "I beseech thee remember not the sins of that wickedness, pray for mercy for us:'' FOR THE LORD HATH CALLED THESE THREE KINGS TOGETHER, TO DELIVER THEM INTO THE HAND OF MOAB; signifying, that he should not perish alone, but the other two kings with him, who had no connection with the prophets of his father and mother in their idolatr...

2. JEHORAM, MOAB, AND ELISHA CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Jehoram, King of Israel (2 Kings 3:1)_ 2. Moab's rebellion (2 Kings 3:4) 3. Elisha's message and prediction (2 Kings 3:10) 4. The defeat of Moab (2 Kings 3:21) In chapter 1:17 we read, “And Jehoram reigned in his stead (Ahaziah) in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah.” (He was associated with his father in the government of the kingdom. See 2 Kings 8:27;...

REIGN OF JEHORAM. WAR WITH MOAB. The only two kings of Israel on whom the censure pronounced is in any way qualified are Jehoram, the last of the house of Omri, and Hoshea (2 Kings 17:2), the last king of Israel. All the others are said to have done evil. The war with Moab is the subject of the famous inscription of Mesha discovered in 1868 (pp. 34, 69). On this Mesha states that Omri occupied the land of Mehedebah (Medeba, Numbers 21:30; Joshua 13:9; Isaiah 15:2) his days, half his son's days, forty years. In Kings it is specially said that Mesha's rebellion was after the death of Ahab. Omri and Ahab together according to Kings reigned on

WHAT... ? See note on 2 Samuel 16:10. Figure of speech _Erotesis_. App-6. NAY. Say not so....

_What have I to do with thee?_ An expression equivalent to a command to be gone. Cf. Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28; John 2:4. _the prophets of thy father_ It would be no easy task, however willing Jehoram might be, to put down at once the worship of Baal. We know indeed that this was not done. Only the special outward mark, -the pillar of Baal" (verse 2), which indicated the royal attachment to the idolatrous rites, and stood perhaps in the king's own ground, was put down. Jehoram would be forced to trust to the power of opinion to banish the worship completely. It is so much more easy to encourage wrong than to get rid of it. Hence to Elisha the acts of Jehoram would seem very fainthearted, and he would be held for a sharer in the ways of Ahab and J