2 Kings 13:1-25
1 In the threea and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followedb the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.
3 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, all their days.
4 And Jehoahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.
5 (And the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime.c
6 Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walkedd therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.)
7 Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing.
8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joashe his son reigned in his stead.
10 In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.
11 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein.
12 And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
13 And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
15 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.
16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.
17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD'S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.
18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.
21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.
22 But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23 And the LORD was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presencef as yet.
24 So Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead.
25 And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz tookg again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.
2 Kings 13:4. Jehoahaz besought the Lord, as oppressed Israel had done in the time of the Judges.
2 Kings 13:5. The Lord gave Israel a Saviour. Not Joash, as some say, but Messiah, the Angel of his presence saved them, as the rabbins state. Why have they not told us more? The Messiah probably appeared as to Joshua, Gideon, and Manoah.
2 Kings 13:6. There remained the grove in Samaria, where Astarte, one of the four names of Venus, had been worshipped, and probably was so worshipped still; yet Elisha had done much in putting down idolatry.
2 Kings 13:14. Now Elisha was fallen sick; persecuted through life, but honoured with a royal visit at his death.
2 Kings 13:19. Was wroth. The LXX read, the man of God “was grieved.” The Elegy of this very illustrious man is sung by the son of Syrac. Sirach 48.
2 Kings 13:21. The bones of Elisha. The papists adduce this as an argument for the miraculous power of relics. Ah Rome! Ah Rome!
2 Kings 13:24. Benhadad, the second, who revived the name of honour, which his father had received.
REFLECTIONS.
What a calamitous portrait have we here of Israel, and how unlike the glory of former days. When God ceases to defend a people, they soon fall into decay. What a proverb of reproach might the heathen now take up against them. Is this the nation whose God is the Lord: has their God forsaken them: is he no longer able to defend them? Nay, the more enlightened would reply, they have forsaken their God, and therefore he has suffered all these calamities to come upon them. Let individuals, churches and nations, be instructed by the errors of Israel: for what man ever forsook the Lord and prospered. Such was the situation of Judah. Samaria and her king Jehoash were also in the same degenerate condition: and to heighten the calamity they fought one against another, while the Syrians were endeavouring to ruin them both! In those calamitous times God took away the venerable Elisha from the evil to come, having fulfilled to him the promise made to obedience, even long life. He spent sixty or seventy years, if our chronologists be right, in the sacred ministry. He came to his sepulchre full of days and full of grace; and what more can a mortal man ask of God? If he failed in converting his country, he preserved the faithful from apostasy; and he lived to see those who revolted cut off by the sword.
He died revered by the wicked, and was honoured as a prince. His sovereign addressed him in his own words, when Elijah ascended: “Oh my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” What shall we do when thou art gone? We shall have no one to deliver, to raise sieges, and give bread in the time of famine. We should therefore regard faithful ministers as the defence of the church and nation; and those who honour them in life and death, are in a fair way to obtain a blessing from the Lord.
Elisha, affected by the royal tears which bedewed his cheeks, sought in the spirit to make the king some returns; and in dying to leave some hope to his country. With this view he directed him to open the window eastward, where the Syrian king had spread his conquests, and to shoot an arrow, which he pronounced to be a pledge of breaking the enemy's yoke. The promised victory he farther illustrated by enjoining the king to smite on the floor, which he did three times. Here the prophet felt that the king came short in his efforts to emancipate his country; and therefore promised him but three victories over the oppressor. So it happens in the singular order of grace, that our salvation corresponds with our faith, and with the efforts we make to obtain deliverance.
God, who honoured Elisha during life, honoured him also after his death. Some people going to bury a man, for the Jews buried without the cities, saw an enemy approach. Perhaps Josephus is right, who says that they were robbers who had murdered the man; therefore they committed another barbarous deed in throwing his body into the prophet's sepulchre; and behold, on touching his bones, he came to life. So Jesus Christ, when touched by faith, gives life to the soul spiritually dead. So Christ was honoured after his crucifixion, not by quickening an individual, but by giving eternal life to all those who take hold of his covenant.
Let us now fix our eyes on the king. Having received the consoling prediction of the expiring prophet, he went home, and animated the few troops he had; and by making a treble effort, he completely recovered his country. But Hazael was no sooner dead, than his son lost all the fruits of his father's victories. What vanity in conquests, in depopulating kingdoms, and making cities without an inhabitant. This man, whose leading passion was military fame; this man, so terrible a scourge to Israel, and equally so to other nations, seems to have been anointed of the Lord solely for the purpose of cutting off the wicked. Hence it is said, “Him that escapes the sword of Jehu, shall Hazael slay.”
The efforts of Elijah and Elisha, though of an extraordinary kind, and those long and repeated strokes of judgment, failed of producing more than a temporary reform; and in this we have assuredly the most striking proof of the power of original sin. Man turns a deaf ear to instruction; he revolts against the rod, or soon forgets the smart; and in defiance of heaven, walks still in his own way. So this prophet died and left his country in its sins, and ultimately doomed to severer strokes of God's afflicting hand.