INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 6 In this chapter are recorded other wonders of Elisha, as causing iron to swim, 2 Kings 6:1 having knowledge of the secret counsels of the king of Syria, which he disclosed to the king of Israel, 2 Kings 6:8 smiting the Syrian army with blindness sent to take him, and which... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS SAID UNTO ELISHA,.... Or the disciples of the prophets, as the Targum: BEHOLD NOW, THE PLACE WHERE WE DWELL WITH THEE IS TOO STRAIT FOR US: their numbers were so increased, that there was not room enough for them in the house they dwelt in with the prophet; which increa... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US GO, WE PRAY THEE, UNTO JORDAN,.... Which, according to Josephus a, was fifty furlongs, or upwards of six miles, distant from Gilgal: AND TAKE THENCE EVERY MAN A BEAM; by cutting down the trees that grew there; for Mr. Maundrell says b, the banks of Jordan are beset with bushes and trees, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ONE SAID, BE CONTENT, I PRAY THEE, AND WITH THY SERVANTS,.... Or be pleased to go with us; he begged it as a favour, that, being awed by his presence, they might preserve peace and order, and have his advice as to the spot of ground to erect their edifice on, and might be protected by him from h... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HE WENT WITH THEM. AND WHEN THEY CAME TO JORDAN, THEY CUT DOWN WOOD. Trees which grew upon the banks of it, to build their house with, at least for the rafters and flooring of it, supposing the walls to be built of stone.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS ONE WAS FELLING A BEAM,.... Cutting down a tree, or a branch of it: THE AXE HEAD FELL INTO THE WATER: into the waters of Jordan; or "the iron" d, the iron part of it, with which the wood was cut; that flew off from the helve into the water: AND HE CRIED, AND SAID, ALAS, MASTER! FOR IT WAS B... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MAN OF GOD SAID, WHERE FELL IT?.... For though endowed with a spirit of prophecy, he did not know all things, and at all times; and if he did know where it fell, he might ask this question to lead on to the performance of the miracle: AND HE SHOWED HIM THE PLACE; the exact place in the rive... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE SAID HE, TAKE IT UP TO THEE,.... This the prophet said to the man that had lost it: AND HE PUT OUT HIS HAND, AND TOOK IT; it being on the top of the water within his reach.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE KING OF SYRIA WARRED AGAINST ISRAEL,.... Proclaimed war against him; on what account, or how long it was after Naaman his general came with a letter of recommendation from him to the king of Israel, and had his cure, is not said: AND TOOK COUNSEL WITH HIS SERVANTS; his privy counsellors, o... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE KING OF ISRAEL SENT TO THE PLACE WHICH THE MAN OF GOD TOLD HIM, AND WARNED HIM OF,.... Sent spies thither to see whether the Syrians were there or not, and whether it was truth the man of God told him; for he had no hearty respect for the prophet, though he had been so serviceable to him: A... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE HEART OF THE KING OF SYRIA WAS SORE TROUBLED FOR THIS THING,.... There was as it were a storm in his breast, as the word signifies; he was like a troubled sea, tossed with tempests, exceeding uneasy in his mind, fretting at the disappointment he met with time after time: AND HE CALLED... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ONE OF HIS SERVANTS SAID, NONE, MY LORD, O KING,.... He believed everyone of his counsellors were true and faithful to him: BUT ELISHA THE PROPHET, THAT IS IN ISRAEL, TELLETH THE KING OF ISRAEL THE WORDS THAT THOU SPEAKEST IN THY BEDCHAMBER; what is said in the most private place, and in the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, GO, AND SPY WHERE HE IS, THAT I MAY SEND AND FETCH HIM,.... But how could he expect to take him, who could give the king of Israel such intelligence of his designs against him, that he might escape his snares? AND IT WAS TOLD HIM, SAYING, BEHOLD, HE IS IN DOTHAN; a city in the tribe of... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE SENT HE THITHER HORSES AND CHARIOTS, AND A GREAT HOST,.... To terrify the inhabitants from attempting to defend the prophet, but deliver him up at once: AND THEY CAME BY NIGHT; that they might come upon them unawares, and their design not be discovered, so as to have timely help from Sama... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE SERVANT OF THE MAN OF GOD WAS RISEN EARLY, AND GONE FORTH,.... Either out of his master's house, or out of the city upon some business to be done early in the morning; this was not Gehazi, but a new servant: BEHOLD, AN HOST COMPASSED THE CITY, BOTH WITH HORSES AND CHARIOTS; which he co... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE ANSWERED, FEAR NOT, FOR THEY THAT BE WITH US ARE MORE THAN THEY THAT BE WITH THEM. Meaning the legions of angels that encamped around them.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELISHA PRAYED, AND SAID, LORD, I PRAY THEE, OPEN HIS EYES, THAT HE MAY SEE,.... Not the eyes of his body, which were not shut nor blinded, but the eyes of his mind; or, in other words, grant him a vision, represented in so strong a light, as to remove his fears: AND THE LORD OPENED THE EYES OF... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY CAME DOWN TO HIM,.... The Syrian army, from the hill on which they were first seen, who came down from thence to the bottom of the hill on which the city stood; and whither Elisha came out, in order both to meet them, and proceed on his journey to Samaria: ELISHA PRAYED UNTO THE LORD,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELISHA SAID UNTO THEM, THIS IS NOT THE WAY, NEITHER IS THIS THE CITY,.... Which is an answer to some questions of the Syrians; as, whether this was the way to find the prophet Elisha, and this the city in which he was to be found? and he answers most truly, though ambiguously, that the way they... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THEY WERE COME INTO SAMARIA, THAT ELISHA SAID, LORD, OPEN THE EYES OF THESE MEN, THAT THEY MAY SEE,.... So as to know where they were: AND THE LORD OPENED THEIR EYES, AND THEY SAW, AND, BEHOLD, THEY WERE IN THE MIDST OF SAMARIA; the gates being thrown open for them, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE KING OF ISRAEL SAID UNTO ELISHA, WHEN HE SAW THEM,.... The Syrian army thus in his hands: MY FATHER, SHALL I SMITE THEM? SHALL I SMITE THEM? he speaks with great reverence and respect to the prophet, whom at other times he neglected and despised; and the repetition of his words shows the ea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE ANSWERED, THOU SHALT NOT SMITE THEM,.... For they were not his, but the prophet's captives, or rather the Lord's: WOULDEST THOU SMITE THOSE WHOM THOU HAST TAKEN CAPTIVE WITH THY SWORD AND WITH THY BOW? when soldiers are made prisoners of war, it is contrary to humanity, to the laws of nature... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE PREPARED GREAT PROVISION FOR THEM,.... Or a great feast, as the Targum; so obedient was he to the prophet's orders: AND WHEN THEY HAD EATEN AND DRANK; and refreshed themselves, which they needed, having marched all night and that morning from place to place: HE SENT THEM AWAY; that is, the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THIS, THAT BENHADAD KING OF SYRIA GATHERED ALL HIS HOST,.... Still retaining a grudge and enmity against Israel, and not at all softened by the kind and humane treatment his forces had met with, when in the hands of Israel; and finding he could do nothing in a secret way, b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WAS A GREAT FAMINE IN SAMARIA,.... No care, perhaps, having been taken to lay up stores against a siege: AND, BEHOLD, THEY BESIEGED IT UNTIL AN ASS'S HEAD WAS [SOLD] FOR FOURSCORE [PIECES] OF SILVER; shekels, as the Targum explains the word in the next clause, which amounted to about nine... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS THE KING OF ISRAEL WAS PASSING BY UPON THE WALL, c. To spy out the motion and situation of the enemy, and to give orders for the annoyance of them, and to see that his soldiers did their duty: THERE CRIED A WOMAN TO HIM, SAYING, HELP, MY LORD, O KING desired his assistance and help in a caus... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, IF THE LORD DO NOT HELP THEE, WHENCE SHALL I HELP THEE?.... Mistaking her meaning, as if she prayed him to relieve her hunger; the margin of our Bible is, "let not the Lord save thee"; and so some understand it as a wish that she might perish; and so Josephus o, that being wroth, he cur... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE KING SAID UNTO HER, WHAT AILETH THEE?.... His passion subsiding, or pitying her as in distress, and supposing that there might be something particular and pressing in her case: AND SHE ANSWERED, THIS WOMAN SAID UNTO ME; who was now with her, and to whom she pointed: GIVE THY SON, THAT WE... [ Continue Reading ]
SO WE BOILED MY SON, AND DID EAT HIM,.... Thus what was predicted, by way of threatening, began to be accomplished, Deuteronomy 28:53, Deuteronomy 28:53, and of which there were other instances of a like kind at the siege of Jerusalem, both by Nebuchadnezzar and Vespasian: AND I SAID UNTO HER ON T... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE KING HEARD THE WORDS OF THE WOMAN, THAT HE RENT HIS CLOTHES,.... At the horror of the fact reported, and through grief that his people were brought into such distress through famine: AND HE PASSED BY UPON THE WALL; returning to his palace: AND THE PEOPLE LOOKED, AND,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HE SAID, GOD DO SO AND MORE ALSO TO ME,.... He swore and made dreadful imprecations: IF THE HEAD OF ELISHA THE SON OF SHAPHAT SHALL STAND ON HIM THIS DAY; imputing the sore famine to him, because he had foretold it, and did not pray for the removal of it, as he might; and perhaps had advised a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELISHA SAT IN HIS HOUSE,.... In Samaria: AND THE ELDERS SAT WITH HIM; not the elders of the city, or the magistrates thereof, but his disciples, as Josephus says p, the eldest of them, whom he admitted to greater familiarity and converse with him: AND THE KING SENT A MAN FROM BEFORE HIM; to ex... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHILE HE YET TALKED WITH THEM,.... Elisha with the elders: BEHOLD, THE MESSENGER CAME DOWN UNTO HIM; sent by the king: AND HE SAID; either the messenger in the king's name, or rather the king, who was at his heels, and came to the door before the messenger was let in, who was detained; and the... [ Continue Reading ]