2 Kings 6:9

_AND THE MAN OF GOD SENT UNTO THE KING OF ISRAEL, SAYING, BEWARE THAT THOU PASS NOT SUCH A PLACE; FOR THITHER THE SYRIANS ARE COME DOWN._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

8-12 The king of Israel regarded the warnings Elisha gave him, of danger from the Syrians, but would not heed the warnings of danger from his sins. Such warnings are little heeded by most; they would save themselves from death, but will not from hell. Nothing that is done, said, or thought, by any person, in any place, at any time, is out of God's knowledge....

Verse 2 Kings 6:9. _BEWARE THAT THOU PASS NOT SUCH A PLACE_] Elisha must have had this information by immediate revelation from heaven....

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-7:20 FURTHER MIRACLES WROUGHT BY ELISHA. The historian relates first a (comparatively) private miracle wrought by Elisha in the vicinity of Jericho, for the benefit of one of the "sons of the prophets" (2 Kings 7:1). He then tells us briefly of a series of public miracles which brought Elisha into much note and prominence. War, it appears, had again broken out in a pronounced form between Israel and Syria, Syria being the aggressor. The Syrian monarch prepared traps for his adversary, encamping in places where he hoped to take him at a disadvantage. But Elisha frustrated these plans, by addressing warnings to the King of Israel, and pointing out to him the various positions occupied ...

AND THE MAN OF GOD SENT UNTO THE KING OF ISRAEL,.... That is, Elisha sent to him: saying, BEWARE THAT THOU PASS NOT SUCH A PLACE: not go to it, but avoid it, and pass another way: FOR THITHER THE SYRIANS ARE COME DOWN: are hidden, as the Targum; lie covered at the bottom of the hill, so as not to be seen....

2 Kings 6:1. _And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us._ It seems to have been a habit of the prophets to gather about them companies of young men whom they instructed in the holy Scripture and in the truths of revelation. Many of these young men became prophets themselves and were the instructors of the people. Elisha, then, was the President of a College for young men who were being trained for the sacred ministry of God. They had grown so numerous that they were cramped in their lodging and they said, «The place is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us fit place there, where we may dwell.» They were ready to work to build their own lodging; they do not appear to have gone into debt for it, and to have saddled themselves and the institutio

5. ELISHA AND THE SYRIANS CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The lost axe-head recovered (2 Kings 6:1)_ 2. Elisha makes known Ben-hadad's plans (2 Kings 6:8) 3. Elisha's arrest planned (2 Kings 6:13) 4. The blinded Syrians led to Samaria (2 Kings 6:18) 5. Samaria besieged (2 Kings 6:24) 6. The king's wrath against Elisha (2 Kings 6:31) It has been truly said that the miracle of the swimming axe-head reveals the condescension of

AN AXEHEAD SWIMS. ELISHA AND THE SYRIANS AT DOTHAN. In several minor miracles Elisha is always represented as working them not by his word, but by some expedient. Thus he heals the miscarrying waters by salt, and the pot by meal, and recovers the axehead by casting a stick into the water. The prophet appears in the second narrative as the moving spirit in the Syrian war. Whenever the king of Syria devised an ambush (2 Kings 6:8, with a slight alteration of reading), Elisha revealed the secret. Elisha was at Dothan (2 Kings 6:13), a city standing on a hill about 10 miles N. of Samaria, on the caravan road from Egypt to Damascus (Genesis 37:17, p. 30). Elisha was defended, as we are finely told, by horses and chariots of f

KING OF ISRAEL. Jehoram....

_And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel_ As against Syria, the power of Elisha would be most naturally exerted in favour of Israel. In spite of the strong language used against Jehoram (2 Kings 3:13-14) and his family on account of their sins, God's prophet had still much hope of the nation, and as we have seen in several instances, not without good reason. His action here saves not only the king, but the people also. _are come_[R.V. COMING] _down_ They were lying or intending to lie in ambush ready to spring upon and capture any that came in their way. Josephus says the king of Israel was starting on a hunting party when Elisha warned him....