2 Kings 3:14

_AND ELISHA SAID, AS THE LORD OF HOSTS LIVETH, BEFORE WHOM I STAND, SURELY, WERE IT NOT THAT I REGARD THE PRESENCE OF JEHOSHAPHAT THE KING OF JUDAH, I WOULD NOT LOOK TOWARD THEE, NOR SEE THEE._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

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 3:14. _WERE IT NOT THAT I REGARD THE PRESENCE OF JEHOSHAPHAT_] He worshipped the true God; Jehoram was an idolater....

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 ...

ELISHA SAID, AS THE LORD OF HOSTS LIVETH, BEFORE WHOM I STAND,.... Whose minster and prophet he was, to whom he prayed, and whose service he was ready to perform: SURELY, WERE IT NOT THAT I REGARD THE PRESENCE OF JEHOSHAPHAT THE KING OF JUDAH; revere him not only as a king, but as a pious prince, and a worshipper of the true God: I WOULD NOT LOOK TOWARD THEE, NOR SEE THEE; give him no countenance at all, pay no regard to his request, not so much as to look at him in a civil way; but turn away his face from him with contempt and disdain, as unworthy to be conversed with by a prophet of the Lord....

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

BEFORE, &C. Implying Elisha's priesthood. NOT LOOK. Jehoram was wicked in himself (2 Kings 3:2), as well as being the son of Ahab. Elisha less austere later (2 Kings 6)....

As _the Lord of hosts liveth_ Probably the use of this expression is due to the circumstances. Jehovah, set before the Jews as the Lord of the armies both of heaven and of earth, would be fitly spoken of by this title at this time. There were three armies together all reduced to the greatest straits, and brought to sue for help to the prophet of the Lord. It was a fit opportunity for pointing out that though armies may be gathered, yet the issue of their undertaking is in His hands alone. He is the living God, all others are no gods. _were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat_ Thus the prophet continues the same thought. Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, is specially the protector of His people. When they are in danger, and cry to Him, He heareth them. And the prophet is the representative of God. Jehoshaphat joins in the appeal, and for his sake mercy is extended to the less dese...

B. THE JOINT CAMPAIGN AGAINST MOAB 3:4-27 The one major effort of Jehoram's twelve-year reign was his effort to resubjugate Moab. In this effort Jehoram was able to enlist the services of Jehoshaphat of Judah. The good king from Jerusalem does not seem to have learned anything from his disastrous military alliance with Ahab (1 Kings 22) and his equally disastrous commercial alliance with Ahaziah of Israel (2 Chronicles 20:35 f.). In the present section, the Moabite campaign unfolds. The author discusses (1) how the joint effort came to be undertaken (2 Kings 3:4-8); (2) the plight of the allied forces (2 Kings 3:9-15 a); (3)