2 Kings 13:1-9. Reign of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, over Israel (Not in Chronicles) 1. _In the three-and-twentieth year of Joash … king of Judah, Jehoahaz_… began _to reign_ The chronology here seems inconsistent with verse 10. Jehoahaz's seventeen years, according to the statement before us, would go... [ Continue Reading ]
_which made Israel to sin_ R.V. WHEREWITH HE MADE, &c. As usual. The same change is needed below in verses 6 and 11 of this chapter. We must understand the language of this verse as referring not only to the days of Jehoahaz, but to those of his father Jehu, at least so far as the delivery of Israel... [ Continue Reading ]
_all_their _days_ R.V. CONTINUALLY. The sense cannot be what is represented by A.V. For in the days of Benhadad (2 Kings 13:25) the son of Jehoahaz made conquests from Benhadad. Hence -all the days" must mean the days of Jehoahaz, which accords with the statement of verse 22 below. So -continually... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him_ Just as in the case of punishment God does not always visit at once, even though an Ahab have sold himself to work wickedness, so in the case of mercy, the intervention of Jehovah is postponed to another generation. The Syrians are allowe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Lord gave Israel a saviour_ The LXX, has σωτηρίαν -salvation", -deliverance". The two verses 5 and 6 are a parenthesis, and interrupt the connexion. The - _saviour_" alludes to what is said of Jeroboam 2. (2 Kings 14:27). -The Lord _saved_Israel by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash". Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_and there remained the grove_[R.V. ASHÊRAH] _also in Samaria_ On Ashêrah, by which is probably meant a wooden image of a goddess worshipped with similar rites to those of the god Baal, see note on 1 Kings 14:15. Jehu had not eliminated all that belonged to the Tyrian idolatry, and his successors we... [ Continue Reading ]
_Neither did he leave_of _the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen_ R.V. FOR HE LEFT NOT TO JEHOAHAZ OF THE PEOPLE SAVE FIFTY HORSEMEN. Not only does R.V. render the original here more exactly, but it indicates clearly where the parenthesis of the last two verses comes to an end. We have here the c... [ Continue Reading ]
Reign of Jehoash king of Israel (2 Chronicles 25:17-24) 10. _In the thirty and seventh year of Joash_ See above on verse 1. _Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz_ As in the case of Jehoash king of Judah (see 2 Kings 12:2; 2 Kings 12:19-20) so here the longer form, in the previous verse the shorter form of... [ Continue Reading ]
_his might where_with _he fought against Amaziah king of Judah_ The story of Amaziah's challenge to Jehoash is told in 2 Kings 14:8-14 and in 2 Chronicles 25. He was proud of his victory over Edom, and sent to the king of Israel saying, -Come let us see one another in the face", and, in spite of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_and Jeroboam sat upon his throne_ i.e. Jeroboam the second, who was the third generation of the family of Jehu. This form of words concerning a royal succession is unusual. We generally have -reigned in his stead". See below 2 Kings 14:16 for the usual form concerning this same king. _with the kin... [ Continue Reading ]
The visit of Joash to Elisha on his deathbed. Elisha's prediction of victory over Syria. A dead body brought to life on touching Elisha's bones (Not in Chronicles) 14. _and wept over his face_ R.V. OVER HIM. -Face" in Hebrew is constantly used for -a person", and it seems more suitable to omit the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take bow and arrows_ It is as if the prophet by this significant action directed and encouraged the king to enter on the war against Syria.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and Elisha put_[R.V. LAID] _his hands upon the king's hands_ It will be seen from the marginal rendering of A.V. that the two verbs, both translated -put", are not the same. Hence the need for change in the English. The first verb= _make thine hand to ride_, is expressive of the grasp of the archer... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said, Open the window_ That there might be a free space for the arrow to be shot through. The command must be directed to some attendant, as the king was holding the bow ready to shoot when he was bidden. The windows of this time were merely open gratings, not filled with anything transparen... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take the arrows_ By the previous symbolical act, the prophet has directed the king to go eastward with courage against the enemy, assured that the Lord will be with his arrows, and will regard them as His own. He now proceeds to test the zeal of Joash. _Smite upon the ground_ The Hebrew indicates... [ Continue Reading ]
_the man of God was wroth_ We must think of sorrow as well as anger. We can see through all Elisha's life, that the welfare of his country was very dear to him. Hence his desire that the king should accept God's announcement of victory with eagerness, and his grief that he did not.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_[R.V. NOW] _the bands of the Moabites invaded the land_ If Elisha died in Samaria, and was buried in that neighbourhood, we must suppose Moab to have made great inroads upon Israel if the bands of plunderers could advance close to the royal city. Probably the great devastations of the Syrians o... [ Continue Reading ]
_as they were burying a man_ i.e. Some Israelites had brought a dead body to the burial-place. The body was carried on a bier, and was not enclosed in a coffin (cf. Luke 7:12-14), so that when cast into the grave it would touch any other body which had been deposited there before. In the East the gr... [ Continue Reading ]
Hazael's oppression of Israel. God has compassion on them. The victories of Jehoash over Ben-hadad (Not in Chronicles) 22. _But_[R.V. AND] _Hazael … oppressed Israel_ In these four verses we have a recapitulation of the attitude of Syria toward the Israelites in the two reigns of Jehoahaz and his s... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_[R.V. BUT] _the Lord was gracious unto them_ Cf. for the sentiment, Malachi 3:6, -I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." _as yet_ The writer of Kings was living at the time of the captivity. He therefore knew that the grace and compassion had been shewn in v... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ben-hadad his son_ Hazael has given to his son the name which had previously been common in the Syrian royal family. This is the third Ben-hadad on the throne of Damascus. (Cf. Schrader, p. 109.) Nothing is known of him from the inscriptions.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jehoash … took again … the cities_ Ben-hadad must have been a very different monarch from his father. The fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen (verse 7) must have been allowed to increase very rapidly to effect so complete a change in the relations between Syria and Israel a... [ Continue Reading ]