2 Kings 3

2 Kings 3:15

On this occasion Elisha was ruffled or heated; and he felt that he was in no fit frame to receive Divine communications and impressions. The angry heart shuts out the gracious Spirit of God. So the prophet felt he must be soothed, and he called for a minstrel to play before him. The gentle strains calmed nerves and heart, soul and spirit, and he was able to receive God's message and explain it to others.

I. This story teaches us that it is fit we seek by natural means to soothe and calm ourselves into a favourable mood to welcome the influence of that Spirit without whom we can neither pray nor praise aright. There is no natural means like music.

II. The text teaches that we should try to have all natural surroundings favourable to us, so that we may start fair when we seek to rise to what is above mere nature. "Music," says the most influential American preacher, "is the preacher's prime minister." It is the function of music to begin at the point where the sermon ends. "Music takes up and renders substantial the same truths which may have been expressed dogmatically." The grandest music is essentially sacred; it is an expression of faith and hope; it is vitally prayer and praise in every pure and upward-looking human spirit.

A. K. H. B., The Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson,3rd series, p. 16.

References: 2 Kings 3:15. Bishop Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the Old Testament,p. 92; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxvii., No. 1612. 2 Kings 3:16. Congregationalist,vol. iv., p. 332. 2 Kings 3:16; 2 Kings 3:17. S. Cox, The Bird's Nest,p. 47; J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year,vol. ii., p. 41; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 137. 2 Kings 3:16. Ibid., Sermons,vol. xiii., No. 747. 2 Kings 3 Parker, vol. viii., p. 101. 2 Kings 4:1. Ibid., Fountain,March 15th, 1877; J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College,vol. iii., p. 69; A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet,p. 81. 2 Kings 4:1. H. Macmillan, Two Worlds are Ours.p. 253.