2 Kings 5:5

Go to, go. — Depart thou (thither), enter (the land of Israel).

A letter. — Written, probably, in that old Aramean script of which we have examples on Assyrian seals of the eighth century B.C., and which closely resembled the old Phœnician and Hebrew characters, as well as that of the Moabite stone (2 Kings 1:1, Note).

With him. — In his hand. (Comp. the expression “to fill the hand for Jehovah” — i.e., with presents; 1 Chronicles 29:5.)

Changes of raiment. — Or, holiday suits. Reuss, habits de fête. (See the same word, halîphôth, in Genesis 45:22.) Curiously enough, similar expressions (nahlaptum, hitlupatum) were used in the like sense by the Assyrians (Schrader).

Ten talents of silver. — About £3,750 in our money. The money talent was equivalent to sixty minas, the mina to fifty shekels. The shekel came to about 2 Samuel 6 d. of our money.

Six thousand pieces of gold. — Heb., six thousand (in) gold: i.e., six thousand gold shekels=two talents of gold, about £13,500. The gold shekel was worth about 45s. of our currency. The total sum appears much too large, and the numbers are probably corrupt, as is so often the case.