2 Kings 3:9

_SO THE KING OF ISRAEL WENT, AND THE KING OF JUDAH, AND THE KING OF EDOM: AND THEY FETCHED A COMPASS OF SEVEN DAYS' JOURNEY: AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE HOST, AND FOR THE CATTLE THAT FOLLOWED THEM._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 3:9. _A COMPASS OF SEVEN DAYS' JOURNEY_] By taking a circuitous route, to go round the southern part of the Dead Sea, they probably intended to surprise the Moabites; but it appears their journey was ill planned, as they at last got into a country in which it was impossible to obtain _water_, and they were brought in consequence to the utmost extremity....

SEVEN DAYS’ JOURNEY - The distance of the route probably followed is not much more than 100 miles. But the difficulties of the way are great; and the army might not be able to move along it at a faster rate than about 15 miles a day. NO WATER - The kings had probably expected to find sufficient water for both men and baggage animals in the Wady-el-Ahsy, which divides Edom from Moab, and which has a stream that is now regarded as perennial. But it was dried up - quite a possible occurrence with any of the streams of this region....

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 ...

SO THE KING OF ISRAEL WENT, AND THE KING OF JUDAH,.... The way of the wilderness of Edom, proposed by the latter: AND THE KING OF EDOM; whom they took with them in their way, who was not properly a king, but a viceroy or deputy, see 1 Kings 22:47 AND THEY FETCHED A COMPASS OF SEVEN DAYS JOURNEY; they went round the Dead Sea, and through the wilderness of Edom, and so to the borders of Moab: AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE HOST, AND FOR THE CATTLE THAT FOLLOWED THEM; neither for the soldiers in the army, nor the cattle that drew the carriages, being in a wilderness....

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

FETCHED. COMPASS. made. circuit. Compare Acts 28:13....

_So the king of Israel went_ Josephus (_Ant._IX. 3. 1) tells how Jehoram and his army were hospitably and magnificently received in Jerusalem before they started on their march. _and the king of Edom_ The same author says that along with his own promise of help, Jehoshaphat had pledged himself to compel the king of Edom, his subject, to take part in the expedition. So by going this way the army not only found an uninterrupted line of march but additional forces also. _and they fetcht a compass_[R.V. MADE A CIRCUIT] _of seven days" journey_ This old English phrase for taking a roundabout road is found here and 2 Samuel 5:23; Acts 28:13. It is not easy to see why they should have gone so long a way about, when the country through which they were passing belonged to one of the