VII. (1) THEN ELISHA SAID. — _And Elisha said._ The division of the Chapter s is unfortunate, there being no break in the story here. The prophet addresses _the king_ and his attendants (2 Kings 7:18). A MEASURE. — Heb., _a seah:_ the most usual corn measure. (Comp. 1 Kings 18:32; 2 Kings 6:25.) T... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN A LORD. — _And the adjutant_ (_shâlîsh_: comp. 2 Samuel 23:8; 1 Kings 9:22; 1 Chronicles 11:11), or _aide-de-camp or esquire_ (equerry). ON WHOSE HAND... LEANED. — Comp. the similar expression in reference to Naaman (2 Kings 5:18). LEANED. — _Was leaning._ BEHOLD, IF THE LORD... THIS THING BE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WERE FOUR LEPROUS MEN. — Literally, _And four men were lepers_. AT THE ENTERING IN OF THE GATE. — And so outside of the city. (Comp. Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:2.) Rashi says they were Gehazi and his sons (!) WHY SIT WE? — Or, _Why are we abiding?_ Nobody brought them food any longer, ow... [ Continue Reading ]
FALL UNTO — _i.e., desert, go over to._ IF THEY SAVE US ALIVE. — And give us food, for pity’s sake. WE SHALL BUT DIE. — As we shall if we stop here, or if we go into the city. (The “but” is not in the Hebrew.)... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE TWILIGHT — _i.e._, at nightfall. (See 2 Kings 7:9; 2 Kings 7:12.) They waited till then, that their departure might not be noticed from the walls. THE UTTERMOST PART — _i.e._, the _outskirts_ or _verge_ of the camp nearest to Samaria.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR. — _Now_: introducing a new paragraph. EVEN THE NOISE. — Rather, _a noise_. The Syriac and the Arabic, as well as some Hebrew MSS., read “_and_ a noise.” This is preferable. (Comp. 2 Kings 6:14, where chariots and horses and a host [of infantry] are distinguished from each other.) The word _qôl... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE (and) THEY AROSE. — The verse gives a vivid picture of a wild flight, in which everything was forgotten except personal safety. AS IT WAS. — “Camp” is feminine here and in Genesis 32:9 only. FOR THEIR LIFE. — 1 Kings 19:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN... TENT. — Literally, _And_ (so) _those lepers came to the edge of the camp, and they went into one tent_, taking up the thread of the narrative again at 2 Kings 7:5, where it was broken by the parenthesis about the panic flight of the Syrians. WENT AND HID IT. — A common practice of Orien... [ Continue Reading ]
SOME MISCHIEF WILL COME UPON US. — Literally, _guilt will find us:_ we shall incur blame. Vulg., “we shall be accused of wrong-doing.” NOW THEREFORE. — _And now:_ the inferential use of “now.” (Comp. Psalms 2:10.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PORTER. — The Oriental versions may be right in reading “porters,” _i.e._, warders. The plural is implied by “they told _them_,” which immediately follows, and actually occurs in 2 Kings 7:11. But the reading of the LXX. and Vulg., “gate,” implies the same consonants differently pointed, as thos... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CALLED THE PORTERS. — Rather, _And the porters called._ The verb in the Hebrew is singular,and may be used impersonally: “And one called, viz., the warders.” But the LXX., Targum, Arabic, and some Hebrew MSS., read the plural. The Syriac has, “And the porters drew near, and told the house of... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL NOW SHEW YOU. — “Suspicax est miseria” (_Grotius_). Such stratagems as Jehoram suspected are, however, common enough in warfare. TO HIDE THEMSELVES IN THE FIELD. — Both expressions in the Hebrew follow the later modes of inflection. Such forms may be due to transcribers rather than to the or... [ Continue Reading ]
LET SOME TAKE. — Literally, _And_ (_i.e._, then) _let them take_. (Comp. 2 Kings 2:9; 2 Kings 4:41.) FIVE. — Used as an indefinite _small_ number, like our “half a dozen.” (Comp. Leviticus 26:8; Isaiah 30:17.) The _actual_ number taken was two pairs (2 Kings 7:14). THE HORSES THAT REMAIN, WHICH ARE... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO CHARIOT HORSES. — Literally, _two chariots_ (_of_)_ horses, i.e._, teams for two chariots, or two pairs of horses. The chariots and their drivers are implied, not mentioned. Two chariots were sent, so that if attacked they might make a better resistance; or perhaps in order that, if one were cap... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THEIR HASTE. — Comp. 1 Samuel 23:6; Psalms 48:6; Psalms 104:7 — passages which prove that the Hebrew text is right here, and the Hebrew margin wrong. UNTO JORDAN. — Not all the way to the river, which would be at least twenty miles, but _in the direction_ of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TENTS. — Rather, _the camp_. SO — _And it came to pass. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_17_)_ AND THE KING APPOINTED. — Rather, _Now the king had appointed._ THE LORD. — _The adjutant_ (2 Kings 7:2). TO HAVE THE CHARGE OF THE GATE. — To maintain order as the famished crowd poured out of the city. TRODE UPON HIM. — _Trampled him down_, as he was trying to discharge his duty. This... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE KING. — The LXX. and Syriac have, “to the messenger.” (See Note on 2 Kings 6:23.) In this and the following verse the author repeats the prediction and its fulfilment with obvious satisfaction. The moral is a warning against unbelief.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT LORD. — _The adjutant._ NOW. — _And._ MIGHT SUCH A THING BE? — Literally, _Might it happen according to this word?_ But the LXX., Syriac, and Vulg.,with many Hebrew MSS., read, as in 2 Kings 7:2, “Might this thing (or word) be?”... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE PEOPLE TRODE UPON HIM. — _And the people trampled him down, or under foot. _... [ Continue Reading ]