2 Kings 7:13

_AND ONE OF HIS SERVANTS ANSWERED AND SAID, LET SOME TAKE, I PRAY THEE, FIVE OF THE HORSES THAT REMAIN, WHICH ARE LEFT IN THE CITY, (BEHOLD, THEY ARE AS ALL THE MULTITUDE OF ISRAEL THAT ARE LEFT IN IT: BEHOLD, I SAY, THEY ARE EVEN AS ALL THE MULTITUDE OF THE ISRAELITES THAT ARE CONSUMED:) AND LET US SEND AND SEE._ One of his servants answered and said ... The sentence which follows as it stands in our version is very ONE OF HIS SERVANTS ANSWERED AND SAID ... The sentence which follows, as it stands in our version, is very obscure. Literally rendered it is thus: 'Let, then, I pray thee, five of the horses remaining, which are left in it (namely, the city), behold them like all the multitudes in Israel left in it, behold them like all the multitudes in Israel which are consumed.' The meaning seems to be, that those horses which still survive will, in all likelihood, soon share the doom of...

12-20 Here see the wants of Israel supplied in a way they little thought of, which should encourage us to depend upon the power and goodness of God in our greatest straits. God's promise may be safely relied on, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. The nobleman that questioned the truth of Elisha's word, saw the plenty, to silence and shame his unbelief, and therein saw his own folly; but he did not eat of the plenty he saw. Justly do those find the world's promises fail them, who think that the promises of God will disappoint them. Learn how deeply God resents distrust of his power, providence, and promise: how uncertain life is, and the enjoyments of it: how certain God's threatenings are, and how sure to come on the guilty. May God help us to inquire whether we are exposed to his threatenings, or interested in his promises....

Verse 2 Kings 7:13. _AND ONE OF HIS SERVANTS ANSWERED_] This is a very difficult verse, and the great variety of explanations given of it cast but little light on the subject. I am inclined to believe, with Dr. _Kennicott_, that there is an interpolation here which puzzles, if not destroys, the sense. "Several instances," says he, "have been given of words improperly _repeated_ by Jewish transcribers, who have been _careless_ enough to make such _mistakes_, and yet _cautious_ not to _alter_ or _erase_, for fear of discovery. This verse furnishes another instance in a careless _repetition_ of _seven Hebrew words_, thus: - הנשארים אשר נשארו בה הנם ככל ההמון ישראל אשר נשארו בה הנם ככל המון ישראל אשר תמי...

BEHOLD ... - The Septuagint and a large number of the Hebrew MSS. omit the clause, “behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it.” But the text followed by our translators, which is that of the best maunscripts, is intelligible and needs no alteration. It is merely a prolix way of stating that the horsemen will incur no greater danger by going to reconnoitre than the rest of their countrymen by remaining in the city, since the whole multitude is perishing....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 7:1 THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA (_continued_)_: _THE DELIVERANCE. 2 KINGS 7:1, 2 KINGS 7:2 The separation of these verses from the preceding narrative is most unfortunate. They are an integral part of it, and form its climax. In answer to the king's attempt upon his life, and hasty speech in which he has threatened to renounce Jehovah, Elisha is commissioned to proclaim that the siege is on the point of terminating, the famine about to be within twenty-four hours succeeded by a time of plenty. There is thu

AND ONE OF HIS SERVANTS ANSWERED AND SAID, LET SOME TAKE, I PRAY THEE, FIVE OF THE HORSES THAT REMAIN, WHICH ARE LEFT IN THE CITY,.... Not having died through the famine as the rest: BEHOLD, THEY ARE AS ALL THE MULTITUDE OF ISRAEL THAT ARE LEFT IN IT; BEHOLD, I SAY, THEY ARE EVEN AS THE MULTITUDE OF ISRAEL THAT ARE CONSUMED; signifying, there was a like consumption among the horses as among the people, and they that remained were starving as they were; so that should those horses, and the men, fall into the hands of the Syrians, and perish, it would be no great matter; the loss would not be much, since they must perish if they continue in the city: according to the Vulgate Latin version, these five horses were all that were left: AND LET US SEND AND SEE; whether the report of the lepers is true or not....

6. ELISHA'S PREDICTION AND ITS FULFILMENT CHAPTER 7 _ 1. Elisha's prediction (2 Kings 7:1)_ 2. The unbelieving lord (2 Kings 7:2) 3. The four lepers and their discovery (2 Kings 7:3) 4. The day of good tidings (2 Kings 7:9) 5. The prediction fulfilled (2 Kings 7:16) 6. The death of the unbelieving lord (2 Kings 7:19) When the worst had come, Samaria starving to death, the king in despondency, Elisha's life threatened, t

2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:20. THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA. The date and source of this episode need discussion. The name of the king of Syria, as in 1 Kings 20, was Ben-hadad; the king of Israel is not named at all. Two Benhadads are possible, the king in 1 Kings 20 who was defeated by Ahab, and the son and successor of Hazael (2 Kings 13:24). If the first is meant, then Jehoram was king of Israel; if not, Jehoash, the grandson of Jehu. Elisha was called in the days of Ahab, and lived under Ahab and his two sons Ahaziah and Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash, dying under the last-named king. It is true that Elisha called the king this son of a murderer, which may be applicable to a son of Ahab; but son of may be used as the commo

THAT ARE LEFT... ISRAELITES. These words are repeated by _Homoeoteleuton_ (instead of omitted, as is usually the case with _Homoeoteleuton)._ They are not in many codices, or Septuagint, Syriac, or Vulgate. This accounts for the parenthesis in Authorized Version....

_five of the horses_ -Five" is probably used indefinitely to mean some small number. That -five" may be thus used seems likely from Genesis 43:34; Numbers 11:19. _behold, they_are _as all the multitude_ The sense of the speaker seems to be: the men sent out as spies, if they be taken and slain, will be no worse off than those that remain behind, for these are consumed with famine and will soon be dead. And if they find the news true they are enough to make sure of the matter, and to bring word into the city....