2 Kings 8:1

_THEN SPAKE ELISHA UNTO THE WOMAN, WHOSE SON HE HAD RESTORED TO LIFE, SAYING, ARISE, AND GO THOU AND THINE HOUSEHOLD, AND SOJOURN WHERESOEVER THOU CANST SOJOURN: FOR THE LORD HATH CALLED FOR A FAMINE; AND IT SHALL ALSO COME UPON THE LAND SEVEN YEARS._ Then spake Elisha unto the woman - rather, 'had spoken.' The repetition of Elisha's direction to the Shunammite is merely given as an introduction to the following narrative; and it probably took place before the events recorded in 2 Kings 5:1; 2 Kings 6:1. THE LORD HATH CALLED FOR A FAMINE. All such calamities are chastisements inflicted by the hand of God; and this famine was to be of double duration to that one which happened in the time of Elijah (James 5:

1-6 The kindness of the good Shunammite to Elisha, was rewarded by the care taken of her in famine. It is well to foresee an evil, and wisdom, when we foresee it, to hide ourselves if we lawfully may do so. When the famine was over, she returned out of the land of the Philistines; that was no proper place for an Israelite, any longer than there was necessity for it. Time was when she dwelt so securely among her own people, that she had no occasion to be spoken for to the king; but there is much uncertainty in this life, so that things or persons may fail us which we most depend upon, and those befriend us which we think we shall never need. Sometimes events, small in themselves, prove of consequence, as here; for they made the king ready to believe Gehazi's narrative, when thus confirmed. It made him ready to grant her request, and to support a life which was given once and again by mira...

CHAPTER VIII _Account of the sojourning of the Shunammite in the land of the_ _Philistines, during the seven years famine_, 1, 2. _She returns, and solicits the king to let her have back her_ _land; which, with its fruits, he orders to be restored to her_, 3-6. _Elisha comes to Damascus, and finds Ben-hadad sick; who sends_ _his servant Hazael to the prophet to inquire whether he shall_ _recover_, 7-9. _Elisha predicts his death, tells Hazael that he shall be king,_ _and shows him the atrocities he will commit_, 10-14....

The famine here recorded, and the conversation of the monarch with Gehazi, must have been anterior to the events related in 2 Kings 5 since we may be sure that a king of Israel would not have entered into familiar conversation with a confirmed leper. The writer of Kings probably col ected the miracles of Elisha from various sources, and did not always arrange them chronologically. Here the link of connection is to be found in the nature of the miracle. As Elisha on one occasion prophesied plenty, so on another he had prophesied a famine. CALLED FOR A FAMINE - A frequent expression (compare the marginal references). God’s “calling for” anything is the same as His producing it (see Ezekiel 36:29;...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 8:1 THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY OF THE SHUNAMMITE. THE KILLING OF BENHADAD BY HAZAEL; AND THE WICKED REIGNS OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH IN JUDAH. 2 KINGS 8:1 Elisha is still the _protagonistes_ of the historical drama. The writer brings together in the present section two more occasions of a public character in which he was c

THEN SPOKE ELISHA UNTO THE WOMAN (WHOSE SON HE HAD RESTORED TO LIFE),.... His hostess at Shunem, 2 Kings 4:8 the following he said to her, not after the famine in Samaria, but before it, as some circumstances show: SAYING, ARISE, AND GO THOU AND THINE HOUSEHOLD, AND SOJOURN WHERESOEVER THOU CANST SOJOURN; with the greatest safety to her person and property, and with the least danger to her moral and religious character: FOR THE LORD HATH CALLED FOR A FAMINE, AND IT SHALL ALSO COME UPON THE LAND SEVEN YEARS: which Jarchi says was the famine that was in the days of Joel; it was, undoubtedly, on account of the idolatry of Israel, and was double the time of that in the days of Elijah....

ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. HAZAEL, KING OF SYRIA. This chapter is somewhat varied as to composition. It opens with a short story about Elisha (2 Kings 8:1), of which we may presuppose (_a_) that it is earlier than 5, because Gehazi (2 Kings 8:4) is not a leper; (b) that the king of Israel is an admirer of the prophet, By Elisha's advice the Shunammite lady, whose husband is apparently dead, leaves her home to avoid a famine (_cf_. Ruth 1:1), and her lands were restored when the king ascertained who she was. 2 Kings 8:6 is a second narrative of the prophet. Jehoram must have been king of Israel at the time, as Hazael was contemporary with Jehu. Th

WHOSE SON. Compare 2 Kings 4:35. FAMINE. the famine, which had already begun. Probably the same as 2 Kings 4:38. Occasion is not determined by the text, but, 2 Kings 8:3 takes up the history at the end of the seven years. IT SHALL ALSO COME. it is come. SEVEN YEARS: i.e. "[to last] seven years"....

2 Kings 8:1-6. The land of the Shunammite is restored to her by the king's order for the sake of Elisha's miracles (Not in Chronicles) 1. _Then spake Elisha_ R.V. NOW ELISHA HAD SPOKEN. It is clear from verse 3 that Elisha's advice was given at least seven years before the event narrated in these verses. Hence the necessity for the change of tense. It is probable that the accounts of Elisha's work and influence are not related in their chronological order. The famine here spoken of was most likely the same to which allusion is made in 2 Kings 4:38, and perhaps the conference of the king with Gehazi mentioned in verse 4 took place before the latter was smitten with leprosy. It is not however absolutely certain that Jehoram might not have an interview with Gehazi, though leprous. Bp Hall sa

THEN SPAKE ELISHA, &C.— _Elisha had said,_ &c. So 2 Kings 8:2. _And the woman had arisen, and done,_ &c. Houbigant: who conjectures from the 4th verse, that this event happened before Gehazi was stricken with leprosy....