2 Kings 3:13-27

Mesha's Defeat and Desperate Sacrifice

2 Kings 3:13

Jehoshaphat, though erring, was still God's child, and deliverance came to him. The heights of our senseless folly and the depths of our waywardness will not succeed in severing us from God's love. Elisha used the very words of Elijah, 2 Kings 3:14 and 1 Kings 17:1. Notice how men of different mold and mission, the Elijahs and the Elishas, derive their inspiration and strength in the same way. As a great Christian general put it, “Every morning I stand at attention before my Maker.” Note the effect of music in soothing the soul! 2 Kings 3:15.

In all God's gifts there is need for our cooperation. He alone can send the water, but we must trench the ground. Our expectant faith creates the capacity to receive God's gifts; but when we have gone to our limit and the valley is filled with ditches, He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond. The answer came at the hour of morning prayer, and probably at the prophet's intercession, 1 Kings 8:44. God's answers are often too deep and inward to give outward sign. There is sound of neither wind nor rain; but our prayers are answered to the full. Many of the points in this narrative-notably 2 Kings 3:27 -have been corroborated by the recent explorations in Moab.