Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 2:21
And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren [land].
21. Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters ] The prophet by his words carries the thought away from the sign to the thing signified, the power of God exerted at the prayer of the prophet. We cannot suppose, though no mention is made of it, that the healing was attempted without a calling upon God.
any more death or barren land] R.V. or miscarrying. The R.V. thus conforms to its rendering of verse 19, and gives a wider sense than that conveyed by the A.V. This is to be preferred because the root of the word applies in the first instance rather to deprivation of children than to sterility of soil.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The spring of the waters – The spring intended is probably that now called Ain-es-Sultan, which is not much more than a mile from the site of the ancient town. It is described as a large and beautiful fountain of sweet and pleasant water. The springs issuing from the eastern base of the highlands of Judah and Benjamin are to this day generally brackish.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. And cast the salt in there] He cast in the salt at the place where the waters sprang out of the earth. Jarchi well observes here, “Salt is a thing which corrupts water; therefore, it is evident that this was a true miracle.” What Elisha did on this occasion, getting the new cruse and throwing in the salt, was only to make the miracle more conspicuous. If the salt could have had any natural tendency to render the water salubrious, it could have acted only for a short time, and only on that portion of the stream which now arose from the spring; and in a few moments its effects must have disappeared. But the miracle here was permanent: the death of men and cattle, which had been occasioned by the insalubrity of the waters, ceased, the land was no longer barren; and the waters became permanently fit for all agricultural and domestic uses.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Cast the salt in there; which was in itself idle and ineffectual, considering both the quality of salt, and the small quantity of it, and the place where it was put, the fountain, which quickly works out any thing which is put into it; see Lev 11:36; but was only used as a sign of Gods presence and power, which did the thing: compare Exo 15:25; 2Ki 4:41; 6:6.
Any more death, i.e. hurt or danger, as death is oft used, (as 2Co 11:23) to men or beasts, by drinking of it, as formerly.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he went forth unto the spring of the waters,…. The fountain from whence they flowed, the head of them:
and cast the salt in there; which was an unlikely means of making bad water good, since that makes it brackish, and not so drinkable, and what makes ground barren; but this method, contrary to nature, was taken, that the miracle might appear the greater; or, as the Jews express it, be a miracle within a miracle:
and said, thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; he did not pretend to heal them in his own name, and by his own power, but in the name and by the power of the Lord, to whom he would have it ascribed:
there shall not be from thence any more death, or barren land; or miscarrying; no more noxious and mortal diseases should be got by drinking them, nor any abortions occasioned by them in women, cattle, and fruit trees, as had been.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) The spring of the waters.Now called Aines Sultn (the Sultans Fountain), a fine spring of sweet water, which irrigates the neighbouring plain.
Thus saith the Lord.Not the prophets own power, nor the natural virtues of the salt, but the Divine creative will was effectual to the healing of the spring.
There shall not be.Many MSS., and all the versions, save LXX., read and there shall not be, or, arise.
Death.Caused by the unwholesome water, either to the people, or to their unborn offspring.
Or barren land.The same word as in 2Ki. 2:19. Literally, and making (or, multiplying) abortion, which is apparently used as a substantive here (i.e., cause of abortion).
Unto this day.The time when the narrative was first committed to writing.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. The spring of the waters “The fountain bursts forth at the eastern foot of a high double mound, or group of mounds, situated a mile or more in front of the mountain Quarantania, and about thirty-five minutes from the modern village of Jericho. It is a large and beautiful fountain of sweet and pleasant water; not, indeed, cold, but also not warm. It is the only one near Jericho, and there is every reason to regard it as the scene of Elisha’s miracle.” Robinson.
I have healed these waters Not Elisha, but Elisha’s God was the author of that miraculous change in the mineral sources of the fountain. This miracle, says Wordsworth, “was typical of the work done by the Lord after the ascension of Christ, by means of the apostles and their successors casting the salt of Christian doctrine from the new cruse of the Gospel into the unhealthful waters of the Jericho of this world, and healing them.” Compare with this miracle that of the healing of the poisonous pottage, 2Ki 4:38-41, and the waters of Marah, Exo 15:25.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 2:21. And hecast the salt in there, and said, &c. The manner in which Elisha sweetened this fountain, and made the soil fruitful by casting salt into the water, was in order to make the miracle more conspicuous; for salt is a thing which of all others makes water less drinkable, and ground more barren. There is a fountain at this very day towards the west of Jericho, which rises about three quarters of a league above the town in the way to Jerusalem, and yielding a great deal of water very excellent in its kind, runs along and fructifies the plain. See Josephus Bell. Jud. book 5: cap. 4 and Exo 23:25.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ki 2:21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren [land].
Ver. 21. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there. ] Not into the channel, but into the spring. So must we, if we would be healed, cast the salt of mortification into our hearts, those fountains of speeches and actions. The Paracelsian holdeth that there is salt in every body. Sure enough there ought to be godly sorrow in every soul.
I have healed these waters.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
cast the salt. Elisha’s second miracle.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
cast: 2Ki 4:41, 2Ki 6:6, Exo 15:25, Exo 15:26, Lev 2:13, Mat 5:11, Mar 9:50, Joh 9:6
I have healed: Eze 47:8-11, 1Co 1:18-28, Rev 22:2, Rev 22:3
there shall: Psa 107:33-38, Rev 21:4
Reciprocal: 2Ki 3:12 – The word 2Ki 5:10 – wash Hos 9:8 – with
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
AT THE SPRING OF THE WATERS
He went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there.
2Ki 2:21
The spirit of Elijah, they said, doth rest on Elisha. It was true, yet who is not struck with the difference, with the contrariety, between them? At first sight the succession is a deterioration. The glow, the rush, the genius, the inspiration, the awe, the prowess, seem to have died with the master. Viewed in one aspect, no position was ever more level, no work more human, no office less heroic, than that of Elisha. Yet it is upon this life that a double portion of Elijahs spirit rested. If the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elias, it was Eliseus the prophet who dimly prefigured Christ.
There is one point peculiar to this parable, and that is the stress laid upon the spring of the waters. The water is nought, and the ground barren. Gods prophet goes to the spring of the waters, and casts the healing salt in there.
I. Man might have been satisfied to deal with the symptoms: with the water and with the ground.When the miracle is interpreted into parable, we see how infinite may be its applications. It is the parable of thoroughness. It bids us go to the spring of our disease and never rest till the antidote is at work there.
II. There are two aspects of our earthly being, each impressive, each admonitory.The one is that which represents it as a multitude, the other that which represents it as a unit. Our life is a unit life, and this is what gives significance and solemnity to its starting. We are here at the spring of the waters, and here therefore must a more than prophets hand cast in the salt. The Gospel of a free forgiveness for the sake of a dying, living Lord, the Gospel of a Divine strength given in the person of an indwelling Spiritthis is the healing salt, this is the life-giving life, for the sake of which Christ came and suffered, and died, and rose. He went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there. And the Lord said, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
Dean Vaughan.
Illustrations
(1) If Paradise Lost is to be regained, human life must be regenerated at its springs. If evil is to be vanquished, it must be crushed in the egg; if good is to be victorious, it must be nursed from the cradle. The physical deterioration and moral degeneration, which follow in the wake of overcrowding, do not fall so heavily on the grown-up man or woman, whose character is already formed, as on the sensitive, impressionable nature of the child. In giving charity it is better to support orphanages, to endeavour to save the children, than to give indiscriminately to the grown-up beggar who solicits our alms; and it is more important that a little child should be brought up in the temperance cause than that a drunken man or woman should be reclaimed. The nations greatest need is the salvation of the child-life.
(2) Like most of Elishas miracles, this was a miracle of mercy. With the solitary exception of the act recorded at the end of the chapterfor which there must surely be some extenuating explanationhis deeds were deeds of gracious, soothing, homely beneficence, bound up with the ordinary tenour of human life. This miracle was wrought with visible means, a new cruse and salt therein. Nothing, after all, is so wonderful as the familiar. Facts are stubborn things. It was worked at the fountain-head. The prophet went unto the spring of the waters. It is always wise to do this. Any poisoned fountain must be healed at its source if the cure is intended to last. This is what conversion does in the soul. It makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 2:21-22. He went forth unto the spring, and cast the salt in there If the salt had been a proper remedy for the brackishness of these waters and the barrenness of the land, what could so small a quantity have done, and especially as cast into the fountain? For a fountain quickly works out any thing cast into it. But Elisha only used it as a sign of Gods power, which was to produce the effect, and to render the operation of that power more conspicuous. Therefore he says, Thus saith the Lord God, I have healed these waters He himself; the new cruise and the salt were no more than mere instruments, or channels through which God was pleased to convey this healing virtue. There shall not be from thence any more death Hurt or danger, to man or beast, by drinking the water. So the waters were healed unto this day There is a fountain at this very day, toward the west of Jericho, which rises about three quarters of a league above the town in the way to Jerusalem, and, yielding a great deal of water, very excellent in its kind, runs along and fructifies the plain: and many authors speak of the extraordinary fruitfulness and pleasantness of the country hereabouts, after this time. See Josephus, Bell. Jud., book 5, cap. 4.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast {m} the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren [land].
(m) Thus God gave him power, even contrary to nature, to make the water profitable for man’s use, which before was hurtful.