2 Kings 13:14-25

B. THE FINAL PREDICTION OF ELISHA 13:14-25

The prophetic ministry of Elisha which had spanned over half a century, came to a close in the early years of Jehoash of Israel. His death-bed prophecy concerned the recovery of Israelite territories from the hands of the Arameans. The author relates (1) how Elisha ordered the king to perform certain symbolic acts (2 Kings 13:14-19); (2) how the power of Elisha was manifested even after his death (2 Kings 13:20-23) and (3) how the final prophecy of Elisha was fulfilled (2 Kings 13:22-25).

1. THE PREDICTIVE SYMBOLIC ACTIONS (2 Kings 13:14-19)

TRANSLATION

(14) Now Elisha became ill with a terminal illness, and Jehoash king of Israel went down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. (15) And Elisha said unto him, Take a bow and arrows. And he took unto him a bow and arrows. (16) And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow; and he put his hand upon the bow; and Elisha put his hand upon the hand of the king. (17) And he said, Open the window toward the east; and it was opened. And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the deliverance of the LORD, even the arrow of the deliverance against Aram; for you shall smite Aram in Aphek until you have consumed them. (18) And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them, And he said to the king of Israel, Smite the ground. And he smote three times, and stopped. (19) And the man of God was wroth with him: Had you smitten five or six times then you would have smitten Aram until you consumed it; but now three times you shall smite Aram.

COMMENTS

By the time Johoash ascended the throne of Israel the prophet Elisha must have been at least eighty years of age. The terminal illness referred to here must be the result of the natural deterioration of his body. The visit of a king to the bedside of a prophet must have been unprecedented. Such kindness, sympathy and consideration seem out of character for monarchs of that time. What a pathetic scene is described in 2 Kings 13:14the king leaning over the dying prophet and weeping. Realizing that the old man of God was departing the earth, the king bestowed upon him the familiar titles which were addressed to Elijah upon his exodus: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen. The term father recognized Elisha as the spiritual leader and teacher of the nation; chariot depicted him as national defender. When Elijah left the earth he left a capable successor; but now with the death of Elisha, there was no one to take up the reins of spiritual leadership. The king realized that a great era of God's dealings with man was coming to an end.

Moved by the compassion of the king, Elisha mustered his strength to give Jehoash assurance that God would still stand by His people. The old prophet instructed the king to take a bow and arrows from one of the soldiers who naturally would have accompanied the king on this visit (2 Kings 13:15). The prophet then instructed the king to place his hands on the bow as one would normally do when about to shoot that weapon. When the king assumed this position Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands, i.e., he arose from his bed and also took the position of an archer covering the king's two hands with his own. The shooting of the arrow would then appear to be a joint act of the prophet and the king (2 Kings 13:16). The prophet then ordered one of the servants to open the shutter on the window facing the east. This was the direction of Gilead and Bashan where the Arameans had won such impressive victories. The king was then instructed to release the arrow, and as he did so Elisha explained the symbolic significance of what was taking place. The arrow symbolized deliverance from the cruel Aramean oppression. The abstract and symbolic is immediately followed by a concrete prediction: Israel would inflict an utterly crushing defeat upon the Aramean at Aphek in Gilead, a spot where once before Israel had defeated these same invaders (1 Kings 20:26-30). Aphek was on the direct route between Samaria and Damascus, and thus would be a likely spot for such a decisive battle (2 Kings 13:17). No record exists of the fulfillment of this prophecy, but this victory is doubtlessly alluded to in 2 Kings 13:25.

A second symbolic act was to follow on the first. The king was instructed to take in hand the arrows remaining in the quiver and to smite them upon the ground.[574] Jehoash smote the arrows against the floor three times and then paused thinking he had done enough. He did not enter into the spirit of the symbolic act, which represented the smiting and slaying of enemies. Perhaps he had not much faith in the virtue of the symbolism which he may have even thought to be childish (2 Kings 13:18). Elisha was angry at this evident lack of enthusiasm. If this king had been earnestly desirous of victory and had had faith in the symbolical action as divinely directed, he would have kept smiting until instructed to stop, or at any rate would have smitten the floor five or six times instead of three. From his prophetic perspective Elisha could see the great opportunity which was forfeited because of Jehoash's lethargic response. Had the king entered into the spirit of this occasion, the complete extrication from the Aramean yoke might have been anticipated by fifteen or twenty years. As it was, it remained for Jeroboam, Jehoash's son, to recover completely the territory lost to Aram. Jehoash would only enjoy partial success against the enemies. He would defeat them but thrice (2 Kings 13:19).

[574] Keil thinks the command is to shoot the arrows from the window into the ground beneath. But the most ancient explanation, that of the Septuagint, is to be preferred, viz., strike upon the ground.

2. THE POST-MORTEM POWER OF ELISHA (2 Kings 13:20-21)

TRANSLATION

(20) And Elisha died, and they buried him. And bands of Moabites came into the land at the coming of the year. (21) And it came to pass as a man was being buried, that behold they saw a band, and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha; and when the man came and touched the bones of Elisha; he revived, and rose upon his feet.

COMMENTS

Shortly after the visit of Jehoash, Elisha died of his ailment. Unlike his predecessor Elijah, he was buried near his home. Josephus (Ant., IX, 8.6) says his funeral was magnificent. Because of the weakness of Israel at this time, marauding bands of Moabites invaded Israel at the beginning of each year, i.e., in the spring of the year[575] (2 Kings 13:20). Some time after the death of Elisha, some Israelite men were carrying the corpse of some unidentified man out for burial when the funeral party spotted one of these bands of raiders. With no time for ceremony, the burial party hastily and perhaps somewhat roughly cast the corpse into the nearest sepulcher which just happened to be the one where lay the bones of Elisha. When that corpse touched the bones of Elisha, the dead man revived and stood up inside the sepulcher (2 Kings 13:21).

[575] The first month of the Hebrew year corresponds roughly to what in the modern calendar would be March/April. Amos 2:1 may allude to these Moabite raids.

3. THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY OF ELISHA

(2 Kings 13:22-25).

TRANSLATION

(22) Now Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. (23) But the LORD was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and He turned unto them for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He did not desire to destroy them nor cast them away from His presence as yet. (24) And Hazael the king of Aram died; and Benhadad his son ruled in his place. (25) And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz again took the cities from the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael which he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz his father in war; three times Jehoash smote him and recovered the cities of Israel.

COMMENTS

Having parenthetically related the extraordinary miracle wrought through the instrumentality of Elisha's corpse, the author returns to the subject of the Aramean oppression. The closing verses of chapter 13 are intended to demonstrate how the final predictions of Elisha were fulfilled. To reintroduce this subject, the author repeats what he has already stated in 2 Kings 13:3, viz., that Hazael oppressed the children of Israel throughout the days of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13:22). But even in His wrath, the Lord was gracious to Israel and preserved His people from total destruction at the hands of Hazael. For the sake of his covenant with the grand patriarchs of Genesis, He kept the cause of Israel before His mind continually. That covenant had pledged the Lord to be the God of Israelto watch over and to protect themso long as they did not utterly cast off their allegiance to Him (cf. 2 Kings 17:7-18). There would be a time, so the author now hints, when God would be forced to cast off this people, but not as yet (2 Kings 13:23). That tragic blow would fall upon Israel within a century.

Hazael had given his eldest son the name of the great king from whom he had usurped the throne, and this son, Benhadad, succeeded his father on the throne in Damascus (2 Kings 13:24). For a time Benhadad was able to intensify the Aramean oppression of Israel by capturing certain unidentified cities from Jehoahaz.[576]

[576] Whether Benhadad captured these cities after he ascended the throne or as general of the armies of his father is difficult to determine. 2 Kings 13:22 suggests (but does not necessitate) that Hazael outlived Jehoahaz, in which case Benhadad could only have captured cities referred to in 2 Kings 13:25 in his capacity as general. However John C. Whitcomb in his chart on the Old Testament Kings and Prophets has Benhadad coming to the throne three years prior to the death of Jehoahaz.

Sometime subsequent to the predictions made by Elisha on his death-bed, these cities were retaken by Jehoash. Three times Jehoash defeated Benhadad, though he was not able to completely extricate the nation from the Aramean grip. Much, if not most, of the Trans Jordan territories remained firmly under the control of Benhadad until the reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kings 13:25).