Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 13:14
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.
14 21. The visit of Joash to Elisha on his deathbed. Elisha’s prediction of victory over Syria. A dead body brought to life on touching Elisha’s bones (Not in Chronicles)
14. and wept over his face ] R.V. over him. ‘Face’ in Hebrew is constantly used for ‘a person’, and it seems more suitable to omit the very literal rendering here. For examples cf. Gen 19:21, ‘I have accepted thee’, margin ‘thy face’; Gen 43:34, ‘He sent messes from before him’, margin ‘his face’.
It is manifest from this history that though Jehoash continued the worship of the calves, the worship of Jehovah can have met with no opposition from him, and Jehovah’s prophet was held in the highest esteem. Indeed the picture presented of the king leaving his palace to visit the house of the dying prophet, and weeping over the approaching loss which Israel was to suffer makes us wonder that Elisha’s influence had not the effect of banishing the calves. The political significance of these objects must have been very great to have outweighed the counsels which we cannot doubt Elisha gave for their abolition.
O my father, my father ] R.V. omits ‘ O ’, which A.V. does not give in the corresponding passage 2Ki 2:12. Elisha’s help had been so often given to Israel against their enemies, that the words seem to apply even better to him than to Elijah.
the chariot [R.V. chariots ] of Israel ] The word is meant to embrace the whole mounted host, the chariotry of the land. Hence the plural is the more correct rendering. See the note on 2Ki 2:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The closing scene of Elishas life. It was now at least sixty-three years since his call, so that he was at this time very possibly above ninety. He seems to have lived in almost complete retirement from the time he sent the young prophet to anoint Jehu king 2Ki 9:1. And now it was not he who sought the king, but the king who sought him. Apparently, the special function of the two great Israelite prophets (Elijah and Elisha) was to counteract the noxious influence of the Baalistic rites; and, when these ceased, their extraordinary ministry came to an end.
The chariot of Israel … – See the marginal reference. Joash must have known the circumstances of Elijahs removal, which were perhaps already entered in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel; and he must have intended to apply to Elisha his own words on that solemn occasion; Thou too art about to leave us, and to follow Elijah – thou who hast been since his departure, that which he was while he remained on earth, the true defense of Israel.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 13:14-21
Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died.
The death of Elisha
I. A great man dying.
II. A wicked man regretting the event.
III. A good man leaving the world interested in posterity. Elisha, though dying, was excited to some interest in the future of his country (2Ki 13:15-19).
IV. A dead man exerting a wonderful influence. (David Thomas, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. Now Elisha was fallen sick] This is supposed to have taken place in the tenth year of Joash; and if so, Elisha must have prophesied about sixty-five years.
O my father, my father] “What shall I do now thou art dying? thou art the only defense of Israel.” He accosts him with the same words which himself spoke to Elijah when he was translated; see 2Kg 2:12, and the note there.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wept over his face; not for any true love and respect to him, for then he would have followed his counsel, in forsaking the calves, and returning to the Lord; but for his own and the kingdoms inestimable loss in him.
The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof: see 2Ki 2:12.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14-19. Elisha was fallen sick of hissickness whereof he diedEvery man’s death is occasioned bysome disease, and so was Elisha’s. But in intimating it, there seemsa contrast tacitly made between him and his prophetic predecessor,who did not die.
Joash the king of Israel camedown unto him, and wept over his faceHe visited him where hewas lying ill of this mortal sickness, and expressed deep sorrow, notfrom the personal respect he bore for the prophet, but for theincalculable loss his death would occasion to the kingdom.
my father, my father!&c.(See on 2Ki 2:12).These words seem to have been a complimentary phrase applied to onewho was thought an eminent guardian and deliverer of his country. Theparticular application of them to Elisha, who, by his counsels andprayer, had obtained many glorious victories for Israel, shows thatthe king possessed some measure of faith and trust, which, thoughweak, was accepted, and called forth the prophet’s dying benediction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died,…. The prophets do not live for ever; this sickness was unto death; Elisha died, and was not translated as Elijah was:
and Joash the king came down unto him; from his palace to the prophet’s house, to visit him in his sickness; which was an instance of great condescension and respect, and especially in a wicked prince that could not be reformed by him:
and wept over his face; held his head over him, and wept, perceiving he was near his end, and sensible that his death would be a public loss; the nation having often reaped the benefit of his prayers, though his counsel and advice were neglected and despised:
and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof; the same words Elisha said to Elijah, as he went up to heaven, which very probably Joash had heard of;
[See comments on 2Ki 2:12], and here, as there, the Targum is,
“my master, my master, who was better to Israel by his prayers than chariots and horsemen.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Illness and Death of the Prophet Elisha. – 2Ki 13:14. When Elisha was taken ill with the sickness of which he was to die, king Joash visited him and wept over his face, i.e., bending over the sick man as he lay, and exclaimed, “My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and horsemen thereof!” just as Elisha had mourned over the departure of Elijah (2Ki 2:12). This lamentation of the king at the approaching death of the prophet shows that Joash knew how to value his labours. And on account of this faith which was manifested in his recognition of the prophet’s worth, the Lord gave the king another gracious assurance through the dying Elisha, which was confirmed by means of a symbolical action.
2Ki 13:15-18 “Take-said Elisha to Joash-bow and arrows, … and let thy hand pass over the bow” ( ), i.e., stretch the bow. He then placed his hands upon the king’s hands, as a sign that the power which was to be given to the bow-shot came from the Lord through the mediation of the prophet. He then directed him to open the window towards the east and shoot, adding as he shot off the arrow: “An arrow of salvation from the Lord, and an arrow of salvation against the Syrians; and thou wilt smite the Syrians at Aphek (see at 1Ki 20:26) to destruction.” The arrow that was shot off was to be a symbol of the help of the Lord against the Syrians to their destruction. This promise the king was then to appropriate to himself through an act of his own. Elisha therefore directed him (2Ki 13:18) to “take the arrows;” and when he had taken them, said: , “strike to the earth,” i.e., shoot the arrows to the ground, not “smite the earth with the bundle of arrows” (Thenius), which neither agrees with the shooting of the first arrow, nor admits of a grammatical vindication; for , when used of an arrow, signifies to shoot and to strike with the arrow shot off, i.e., to wound or to kill (cf. 2Ki 9:24; 1Ki 22:34). The shooting of the arrows to the earth was intended to symbolize the overthrow of the Syrians. “And the king shot three times, and then stood (still),” i.e., left off shooting.
2Ki 13:19 Elisha was angry at this, and said: “Thou shouldst shoot five or six times, thou wouldst then have smitten the Syrians to destruction; but now thou wilt smite them three times.” : it was to shoot, i.e., thou shouldst shoot; compare Ewald, 237, c.; and for , then hadst thou smitten, vid., Ewald, 358, a. As the king was told that the arrow shot off signified a victory over the Syrians, he ought to have shot off all the arrows, to secure a complete victory over them. When, therefore, he left off after shooting only three times, this was a sign that he was wanting in the proper zeal for obtaining the divine promise, i.e., in true faith in the omnipotence of God to fulfil His promise.
(Note: “ When the king reflected upon the power of the kings of Syria, since he had not implicit faith in Elisha, he thought that it was enough if he struck the earth three times, fearing that the prophecy might not be fulfilled if he should strike more blows upon the ground. ” – Clericus.)
Elisha was angry at this weakness of the king’s faith, and told him that by leaving off so soon he had deprived himself of a perfect victory over the Syrians.
2Ki 13:20-21 Elisha then died at a great age. As he had been called by Elijah to be a prophet in the reign of Ahab and did not die till that of Joash, and forty-one years elapsed between the year that Ahab died and the commencement of the reign of Joash, he must have held his prophetical office for at least fifty years, and have attained the age of eighty. “And they buried him must as marauding bands of Moabites entered the land. And it came to pass, that at the burial of a man they saw the marauding bands coming, and placed the dead man in the greatest haste in the grave of Elisha,” for the purpose of escaping from the enemy. But when the (dead) man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life again, and rose up upon his feet. is a circumstantial clause. The difficult expression , “a year had come,” can only have the meaning given by the lxx and Chald.: “when a year had come,” and evidently indicates that the burial of Elisha occurred at the time when the yearly returning bands of Moabitish marauders invaded the land. Ewald (Krit. Gramm. p. 528) would therefore read , a coming of the year, in which case the words would be grammatically subordinate to the main clause. Luther renders it “the same year,” in ipso anno , after the Vulgate and Syriac, as if the reading had been . , they, the people who had just buried a man. , not threw, but placed hastily. : and the man went and touched. serves as a pictorial delineation of the thought, that as soon as the dead man touched the bones of Elisha he came to life. is not only applied to the motion of inanimate objects, but also to the gradual progress of any transaction. The conjecture of Thenius and Hitzig, , “and they went away,” is quite unsuitable. The earlier Israelites did not bury their dead in coffins, but wrapped them in linen cloths and laid them in tombs hewn out of the rock. The tomb was then covered with a stone, which could easily be removed. The dead man, who was placed thus hurriedly in the tomb which had been opened, might therefore easily come into contact with the bones of Elisha. The design of this miracle of the restoration of the dead man to life was not to show how even in the grave Elisha surpassed his master Elijah in miraculous power (Ephr. Syr. and others), but to impress the seal of divine attestation upon the prophecy of the dying prophet concerning the victory of Joash over the Syrians (Wis. 48:13, 14), since the Lord thereby bore witness that He was not the God of the dead, but of the living, and that His spirit was raised above death and corruptibility. – The opinion that the dead man was restored to life again in a natural manner, through the violent shaking occasioned by the fall, or through the coolness of the tomb, needs no refutation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Joash Visits Elisha – Verses 14-19
Elisha had come to the end of his long ministry. Elijah had cast the prophet’s mantle on his shoulders away back during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel. For more than sixty years Elisha had preached and represented the true God of Israel through the reigns of six wicked kings.
It may have seemed to him that little had been accomplished, for Israel was not revived, had not turned again to worship of the Lord. Yet the prophet had fulfilled God’s mission for him and had never given up; he went down in the annals of inspired writ as one of God’s great men.
Elisha was sick and soon to die, and Joash the king heard of it. Why that idol-worshipper decided to pay the old prophet a visit is not revealed, but there is evidence for conjecture from his words of greeting when he arrived at Elisha’s house. He came in weeping, and saying, “O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.” He was repeating the words of Elisha exclaimed by him when he observed the rapture of Elijah by fiery chariot. At at that time Elisha had received a requested double portion of Elijah’s spirit.
Joash may not have expected Elisha to go up to heaven in a fiery chariot like Elijah had done, but he may have thought being near the great man of God he might acquire some of that spirit. Of course the wicked king had no right to expect a special gift of the spirit from the Lord, but he had no understanding of ‘such things. This may have been his thought.
Elisha had some parting information for the king, a message from the Lord of good blessing on Israel. The king was instructed to take bow and arrows and put his hands to them.
Then Elisha put his own hands on those of the king, instructed the opening of an east window, and had the king shoot the arrow out the window.
East was the direction of the Syrian enemy who continued to ravage the land of Israel. Elisha told King Joash that this shot arrow was the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance from Syria. Joash would smite the Syrians at Aphek, east of Chinnereth (Sea of Galilee, as called later), until he had consumed them.
Next Elisha instructed the king to take the arrows from the quiver and smite them on the ground. The king did so, but smote only three times, for which Elisha was angrily displeased with him. The enthusiasm of the promised blessing of the Lord in defeat of Syria should have made Joash strike over and over with the arrows.
The angry prophet scolded the king, saying he should have smitten five or six times, in which case Syria would have been totally consumed.
But now Israel would win but three times, allowing a resurgence of the old enemy. Lack of zeal and half-hearted obedience have lost many a battle for the Lord’s people (cf. Hos 10:2).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2Ki. 13:14. Elisha was fallen sickThe prophets presence was felt by Joash to be a guarantee of the safety of his kingdom, and he dreaded to lose him, fearing that after the prophets death he must again confront the destructive Syrians, and therefore cries, My father! my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof! It implies the kings conviction that this man of God had been, by his counsels and prayers, the secret of Israels valour and victories.
2Ki. 13:17. The arrow of the Lords deliverance, &c.War was then significantly proclaimed by an arrow or war-missel being shot into the enemys country. By the prophets putting his hands upon the kings hands (2Ki. 13:16) he indicated the supernatural power which would go with the king in his invasion of Syria. The Syrians had established themselves in the East, therefore the arrow was shot Eastward (2Ki. 13:17).
2Ki. 13:18. Smite upon the groundAs a symbolic act of subjugation. The king did not use up all the arrows in the quiver. Why? Perhaps because he obeyed the theory that what was done thrice was done efficiently and absolutely; or, possibly, because he lacked in persistency. The latter; for Elishas command, Take the arrow; smite! implies with all the arrows; but he stopped on his own accord. A bad omen.
2Ki. 13:19. The man of God was wroth with himFor the king thereby predicted his incomplete conquest.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki. 13:14-19
SALVATION THE ALL-ABSORBING THEME OF A TRUE PROPHET
I. It is a theme on which he delights to dwell in his dying moments. The ministry of Elisha was one of peace and good will. He sought to build up rather than to destroy. He loved to speak of mercy and deliverance rather than of wrath and destruction. He had witnessed the sins of Israel, and had faithfully denounced them. He saw and grieved over the sufferings that had come upon the nation. And now, worn down with age and disease, and rapidly approaching the end of his career, his last message is one of hope and salvation. The theme of his youth had lost none of its freshness and power in his old age. The herald of salvation cannot close his career more grandly than in proclaiming his loved message with his dying lips:
Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp His name;
Preach Him to all, and cry in death,
Behold, behold the Lamb!
II. It is a theme which raises his own character into dignity and power. The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. This seemed to mean that Elisha was regarded as the strength and protection of Israel. What use there was of chariots and horsemen in those wars of the ancients all history tells us. All the strength of the battle stood in these; there could be neither defence nor offence but by them. Such was Elisha unto Israel. The greatest safeguard to any nation is the sanctity and faithfulness of their prophets, without which the church and state lie open to utter desolation. And there is that in the truths which a faithful minister declares which re-acts upon and elevates his own character. The diligent student becomes great by the greatness of the truths he studies. He becomes familiar with great ideas, and is purified and strengthened by the Divine spirit that lives and breathes in them. The grand elements of greatness and power are found in closest communion with God and truth.
III. It is a theme illustrated by suggestive symbols. (2Ki. 13:15-19). In these symbols we are taught:
1. That salvation is from the Lord. Elisha directed Joash to take bow and arrows as a symbolical act designed to intimate more fully and significantly the victories promised to the king of Israel over the Syrians. His laying his hands upon the kings hands was to represent the power imparted to the bow-shot as coming from the Lord through the medium of the prophet. Salvation is not by armies, or by the subtlety of human diplomacy, but of God, who can save by many or by few. Salvation is the confluence of every attribute in Deity, extinguishing by contrast whatever else was splendid, while God himself effused the sparkles of heaven upon the question of despair, and dissolved the darkness of human destiny in a flood of everlasting light!
2. That the measure of salvation is limited by our faith. Joashs shooting the other arrows into the ground was in token of the number of victories he was to gain; but his stopping at the third betrayed the weakness of his faith; for as the discharged arrow signified a victory over the Syrians, it is evident that the more arrows he shot, the more victories he would gain; and as he stopped so soon, his conquest would be incomplete. Faith in God is the measure, and unbelief the limit, of His blessings. According to your faith be it unto you.
LESSONS:
1. The chief joy of a true prophet is to proclaim deliverance to the oppressed.
2. That a true prophet is ennobled by the spirit of his message.
3. That Jehovah carries on His work of salvation by human agencies.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki. 13:14. A touching death-bed scene. I. A young, healthy, vigorous king weeping in the presence of an aged, venerable, and dying saint. II. The tears of the monarch bore eloquent testimony to the worth and power of the dying prophet. III. Counsels given under such circumstances carry with them a weight and solemnity that cannot be forgotten.
The longest day must have its evening. Good Elisha, who had lived some ninety years, a wonder of prophets, and had out-worn many successions in the thrones of Israel and Judah, is now cast upon the bed of his sickness, yea, of his death. That very age might seem a disease, which yet is seconded with a languishing distemper. It is not in the power of any holiness to privilege us from infirmity of body, from final dissolution. He saw his master Elijah rapt up suddenly from the earth and fetched by a fiery chariot from this vale of mortalityhimself must leisurely wait for his last pangs in a lingering passage to the same glory. There is not one way appointed to us by the Divine Providence unto one common blessedness; one hath more pain, another hath more speed; violence snatcheth away one, another by an insensible pace draws every day nearer to his term. The wisdom and goodness of God magnifies itself in both. Happy is he, who, after due preparation, is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware! Happy is he, who, by the holy use of long sickness, is taught to see the gates of death afar off and addressed for a resolute passage. The one dies like Elijah, the other like Elishaboth blessedly.Bp. Hall.
O, thou, who canst do more by thy prayers than all the soldiers can with their weapons of war! Elishas piety and prayers were the strength of the state, as this wicked king could now acknowledge with tears, though before he had slighted him. Stapleton says that he called Elisha the horsemen of Israel, because by his holy life and doctrine he led all Israel; and the chariot, because by his virtue and prayers he preserved the people, that God destroyed them not for their sins. The death of such is very ominous, a forerunner of great calamities.Trapp.
The death of godly ministers a subject for lamentation.Death reduces all things to their proper level. Circumstances and characters never find their just estimate until the shadows of mortality have abated the glare of life, and its chills have tempered the fluctuating state of life. On this occasion, what is the crown of Israel to the dying prophet? Death brought the purple of the monarch into contact with the coarse garment of the prophet. The prophet under that dispensation was what the minister is now to the church. There is a difference in some respects; but in origin and design the office is one. Times and modes change; but principles are eternal. And thus we may adopt the lamentation of Joash over the expiring Elisha,Oh my father, my father, &c. We may be instructed by it in the following particulars.
I. The importance of a faithful minister to the church and the world in his life and in his death.
1. The importance of his ministry. What is there in the world to compete with it? It is to show the ruins of the fall repaired and paradise restored. It is to save souls from death.
2. The importance of fidelity in it. Woe unto those who conceal, or deny, or alter, or add to the truth.
3. The importance of the life of a faithful minister to the church and to the world. The life will preach when the tongue is silent. Renders his preaching singularly impressive.
4. The importance of the death of a faithful minister. Though it does not determine character, what consolation does it afford to the survivors! What a savour of Christianity does it leave behind. The faithful minister is a strong bulwark to those around him.
II. The attention awakened by his removal and the respect due to his memory.
1. Israels chariot and horsemen are departed. They are immortal till their work is done. Some fall newly green, and others newly grey; and how swiftly are they removed.
2. Attention is awakened by events like these. An attention that too often sleeps before. We do not find the attention of Joash awakened before. O! if we were aware we were hearing the last sermon, with what attention should we listen.
3. There is respect due to the memory of a faithful minister. This is claimed on every principle of reason and gratitude.
III. The tender recollections of those more immediately connected with him, and the special duties devolving upon them. The king wept. Such intimacies stand connected with every man and with every minister. All the charities of human nature are connected in the sacred office, and called into contact with all its parts.
IV. Anticipate the day when all the ravages of death shall be repaired and all the fruits of ministerial usefulness gathered.
1. Such a day shall come. A day when the harvest shall be reaped.
2. The anticipation of this day is solemn, delightful, important.The Pulpit.
It is rarely recognised how great and irreparable is the loss of a true man of God, a great benefactor and a faithful servant, until he is gone. King Joash was not ashamed to come to the dying prophet, and to confess with tears his own helplessness; but how many shun such holy men, and are glad if they need never have anything to do with them.Lange.
2Ki. 13:15. Here we see Elishas patriotism. If we would know what true love of ones fatherland is, let us ask the prophet. In his case it received a Divine consecration. It is truly touching to see with what tenderness the prophets enfold in their hearts their country and people, even when they see in them little but spiritual death, decay, and corruption, and experience from their fellow-countrymen little but bitterness, hate, and persecution.Krummacher.
2Ki. 13:17. The arrows of the Lords deliverance. That death-bed scene speaks volumes for the power of holiness. Elisha was the prophet of Goda man of no honourable station, except that he is always honourable whom God calls to serve him. Joash, the king of Israel, who has often rejected Elishas admonitions, and continued to worship in the groves of Baal, though Elisha had denounced them, now that the prophet is about to die at the good old age of ninety, comes to weep at his bed-side. It was something remarkable for the king to come there at all. Kings do not often visit death-bed scenes, especially the death-beds of Gods servants. But it was something more remarkable for that king to stand and look upon the decaying form of the aged prophet, and to weep over his face. More notable still was the language in which the king expressed his sense of the value of the prophet to the state. O my father! my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof! He felt as if now all his strength was cut off. The king had trusted in his cavalry, though he had but a slender force, and he compares the prophet to that which he looked upon as being the strongest arm of his military service; or he looks upon the state now as being a chariot with wild horses, and no stately prophet to stand erect and hold the reins. Now have the reins dropped, and whither will the chariot go? It will soon be overturned, and the mad coursers will drag it hither and hither. So the king, out of a sort of selfish respect for the prophetfor it was respect, and yet it was selfishnessstands and weeps over the prophets dying bed.
I. Let us consider the significant sign. Israel was at that time engaged in warfare against Syria. As a sign that God intended to give victory to his people, the king is bidden to take the bow and arrows; Elisha, as Gods representative, puts his hand upon the kings hands; forth with the window is opened, and the arrow is shot. As it flies through the air, the prophet says that that arrow is the arrow of the Lords deliverance of his people out of the hand of Syria. The interpretation of this symbolical act is simple enough. God will save. Deliverance is of the Lord; but it must be accomplished by human instrumentality. Joash must take the bow and arrows; but the hands of Joash cannot make the arrow speed, save as Elisha, the representative of God, puts his hands there. So the man, divinely strengthened by God, shoots the arrow, and the deliverance comes. We grant you that God can work without means, and even when he uses means, he still takes the glory to himself, for it is all his own; yet it has been the rule, and will be the rule till the day of means shall come to an end, that just as God saved man by taking upon himself mans flesh, so everywhere in the world he calls men by speaking to them through men of their own flesh and blood. We are not to let the arrows lie still, and say, God will do his own work, Elisha will shoot the arrows. This is idleness; we have had enough of this. Look at those churches which say, God will do his own work. You will find that the more these people talk about Gods doing his own work, the more they sink into a fatal apathy. And when they have entangled brethren whose conversion was effected under other ministry than their own, they talk as if they had been re-converted, and did not know the truth till they had heard the particular, excellent, hot-pressed gospel which they deliver. On the other hand it is an equally dangerous error to suppose that we are to take the arrows and shoot without God. This is, in fact, the more dangerous of the two; although, if I have to compare two devils together, I know not which is the worst of these evil spiritsthe spirit which idly says, Leave it to God, or the spirit which goes about Gods work without dependence on him.
II. Let us censure the slack-handed king. The prophet gave him the bow and arrows, and bade him shoot down upon the ground. It was left to him. He is bidden to shoot, and he shoots once; he draws his bow and he shoots again; a third time he draws the bow, and then throws it down slack upon the ground. The prophet is angry with him, for he will only have three victories. If he had smitten the ground six times he would have had six victories. The king is to be censured, and censured severely; but as he is dead and gone, and our censure cannot affect him, let us censure those who now imitate him.
1. How many believers have but little faith, and seem quite content to have but that little. They cannot grasp the promise of God and believingly expect to have it fulfilled. They cannot take God at his word, and therefore their temporal troubles and their spiritual cares press very heavily upon them. Oh, that they had grace to smite the ground six times! Oh, that they knew how to cast all their burden on Him who careth for them!
2. Then you see another class of people who are just the same as to their knowledge. They do not understand the deep things of God; they are content to know that which saves the soul from ruin, and the remedy which is provided by Christ, but they let the deep things of God lie still for strong men, but they themselves are content to be babes.
3. You will see these same people, or others like them, who are content about their daily walk and conversation. They are not drunkards; they do not swear; they are scrupulously truthful; they commit no breach of the Sabbath day; but when you have said this, you have said about as much as you can say of them. Their religion seems to have made them moral, but it would be difficult to perceive that it has made them holy. These brethren have, in fact, shot three times, and they have smitten the ground once or twice, but they have not made a clean sweep of their besetting sins; they still tolerate some of them; they have not reached to a high point of holiness.
4. So, too, there are many Christians who do not shoot more than three times, inasmuch as they are content with very low enjoyments. Shame on us that we are content to be such dwarfs, when we might grow into giants; that we are here frittering away our time, when we might immortalize ourselves and glorify our Lord. How is it we are content to bring forth a lean ear, and then a scanty ear, when there should be seven ears upon one stalk, like the plenty of Egypt. Consider some of the reasons why the king did not shoot more.
(1). Perhap he felt rather tender towards the Syrians. It is just possible that he felt he did not want to hurt them too much. He would be victorious; he would get his enemy under his feet; but, if he did more, he would crush him outright, and he hardly wanted to do that. So some professors do not want to be too hard upon their sins; they have a sort of hidden tenderness towards their own corruptions.
(2). Again, perhaps the king did not go on to shoot because he thought it was hardly his business to be employed as a bowman. Why should I stay here for ever, saith he, shooting arrows? I did not object when the prophets hand was upon me, to shoot; but to stand here and keep smiting the ground is hardly the occupation for a king.
(3). And then the thought, perhaps, that he should have three victories, and that would be enough. You do not want to be made good; you do not want to be made Christ-like; you do not want to be able to triumph over your sins; you mistake your high calling; you think you are called to be a slave, when you are called to reign; you fancy you are called to wear sackcloth, when you are bidden to put on scarlet and fine linen; you think that God has called you to a dunghill, whereas He has called you to a throne; you imagine you are to be but here and there the skirmishers in the battle, when He has called you to stand in the front rank and to fight constantly for his cause.
(4). The king may have begun to doubt whether the victories would really come. He knew very well that he had not many soldiers, and that Syria was very strong, so he thought: Well, it takes some faith to think that I shall beat them three times; but it is not likely I shall do it in the fourth. He doubted the Divine power and the Divine promise, because of his own weakness; and many Christians do that.
(5). And it is very likely the king despised the prophets plan. Why, he seemed to say, this was absurd, smiting the ground in this way! If there were any men to be shot at, he would not spare the arrows; but to smite the ground in this wayabsurd! ridiculous! So, too often we miss a blessing because we do not like Gods plans.
III. Let us justify the righteous wrath of the prophet. We do not like to see either an old man or a dying man angry; but the prophet here did well to be angry, even though at the hour of death. He loved the people, and wept to think that their king was standing in their light, and robbing them of precious privileges.
1. How much Israel suffers from the slack-handedness of the king. Oh, Christians! you suffer yourselves; you miss a thousand comforts. What you might do for God you are unable to do. What you might sit down and feed upon yourselves, you utterly miss, because you will not go on farther, and seek higher attainments: and all your brethren suffer too.
2. How easy the triumph that might have been achieved! Why, if this king had shot more arrows, Syria would have been quite overcome, and cut in pieces; but because he was slack in this, Syria waves her proud banner over captive maids and sorrowing widows whose husbands have been slain in battle, and weep in the streets of Samaria. The devil rejoices when he sees slumbering Christians. The world laughs in its sleeve at professors now-a-days.
3. How Jehovahs name was dishonoured! In Assyrias streets they laughed at Jehovah; they said that their gods were greater than He. Oh, what a shame it is that you and I should ever put Christ to more shame than he endured for our sakes! Let us bethink ourselves whether we have not been shooting too few arrows; whether we have not thought too much of the little we have been doing; whether we might not have done more. I am sure there is room for great improvement in the best of us. O Lord, what a spark is my love to thee! Oh, that thou wouldest blow it into a flame till it were as coals of juniper!C. H. Spurgeon.
The arrow shot towards the enemys country signifies the deliverance which the Lord will soon grant Israel from the Syrian yoke. The casting of a spear, or shooting of an arrow into an enemys country was a common signal for the beginning of hostilities. Thus Alexander the Great is said to have hurled a dart into his enemys land when he came to the borders of the Persian territory.Whedon.
After the Scythians had laid waste their country before the legions of Darius, and thus reduced the invading army to the greatest distress for want of provisions, they sent an ambassador to the Persian king to present him a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. The ambassador was asked what these presents meant. He answers that he had nothing else in charge but to deliver them, and return with all speed; but that the Persians, if they were ingenious, would discover what interpretation to put upon them. Darius, judging according to his wishes, gave it as his opinion that they were tokens of submission. The mouse, said he, being bred in the earth, indicates that they yield up their lands; the frog, living in water, that they yield up also their lakes, rivers, &c.; the bird, represented all the wild and tame fowl; and the delivering up the five arrows was the same with the Scythians as delivering up arms is with other nations. Alas! said Gobryas, one of the seven princes who had ejected the magi, it is far otherwise. For O, Persians! unless as birds ye fly in the air, or as mice ye retreat under the earth, or as frogs ye swim in the water, ye shall never return whence ye came, but shall perish by these arrows. And so in fact it turned out; for it was only by the merest accident that Darius and the whole of the army were not cut off by the Scythians.Peroy Anecdotes.
How readily doth Elisha now make good the words of Joash! How truly is he the chariots and horsemen of Israel! Israel had not fought without himmuch less had been victorious. If theirs be the endeavour, the success is his. Even the dying prophet puts life and speed into the forces of Israel; and while he is digging his own grave, is raising trophies to Gods people.Bp. Hall.
Many an arrow of the Lord is shot from the lips or looks of a dying sainte.g., a mothers last appeal, a fathers farewell counsel, a friends request.
2Ki. 13:18-19. Elishas reproof to Joash. Consider:
I. What messages of mercy God has sent to us.
1. By significant emblems.
2. By express promises.
3. By the declarations and examples of dying saints.
II. Whence it is that we profit so little by them. The fault is in ourselves alone, just as it was in the king of Israel.
1. Our desires are faint.
2. Our expectations low.
3. Our exertions languid. Conclusion:
1. Improve the opportunities God affords you by his ministers.
2. Trifle not with the impressions which are at any time upon your mind.Simeon.
Cease not to shoot arrows of love into the heart of God, so shall one arrow of deliverance after another come back from the Lord, and be given to thee in the word of truth. So shalt thou smite thy spiritual foes and tread them under foot, even more completely than Joash did the Syrians. He who is called to execute work for God may not stop and desist according to his own good judgment, but must go on in it tirelessly and faithfully till the Lord commands him to cease. Faith must hold firm until the end. When one battle is won, the conflict is not over. How much is it to be regretted when one only half believeshalf obeys; or when one, after a good beginning, desists.Lange.
2Ki. 13:19. The conflict with evil. I. Should be carried on under the direction of those competent to advise. II. Complete victory can be achieved only by resolute and persevering effort. III. To stop short of complete victory is to entail greater calamity in the future.
The prophet himself did not yet know how many victories Joash should obtain against the Syrians; but God had signified to him that he should learn that by the number of the kings strokes; and he was angry with him, not simply because he smote only thrice, but because, by his unbelief and idolatry, he provoked God so to over-rule his heart and hand that he should smite but thrice, which was a token that God would assist him no further, although his smiting but thrice might proceed either from his unbelief or negligence. For, by the former sign, and the prophets comment upon it, he might clearly perceive that this also was intended as a sign of his success, and, therefore, he ought to have done it frequently and vehemently.Pool.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B. THE FINAL PREDICTION OF ELISHA 13:1425
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 (2Ki. 13:14-19); (2) how the power of Elisha was manifested even after his death (2Ki. 13:20-23) and (3) how the final prophecy of Elisha was fulfilled (2Ki. 13:22-25).
1. THE PREDICTIVE SYMBOLIC ACTIONS (2Ki. 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 2Ki. 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 Gods 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 (2Ki. 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 kings hands, i.e., he arose from his bed and also took the position of an archer covering the kings two hands with his own. The shooting of the arrow would then appear to be a joint act of the prophet and the king (2Ki. 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 (1Ki. 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 (2Ki. 13:17). No record exists of the fulfillment of this prophecy, but this victory is doubtlessly alluded to in 2Ki. 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 (2Ki. 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 Jehoashs 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, Jehoashs son, to recover completely the territory lost to Aram. Jehoash would only enjoy partial success against the enemies. He would defeat them but thrice (2Ki. 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 (2Ki. 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] (2Ki. 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 (2Ki. 13:21).
[575] The first month of the Hebrew year corresponds roughly to what in the modern calendar would be March/April. Amo. 2:1 may allude to these Moabite raids.
3. THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY OF ELISHA
(2Ki. 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 Elishas 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 2Ki. 13:3, viz., that Hazael oppressed the children of Israel throughout the days of Jehoahaz (2Ki. 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. 2Ki. 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 (2Ki. 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 (2Ki. 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. 2Ki. 13:22 suggests (but does not necessitate) that Hazael outlived Jehoahaz, in which case Benhadad could only have captured cities referred to in 2Ki. 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 (2Ki. 13:25).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(14) He died.Rather, he was to die.
Came down to himi.e., to his house. Comp, the Note on 2Ki. 5:24; 2Ki. 6:33.
Wept over his face.As he lay on the bed.
O my father, my father.Comp, the Note on 2Ki. 2:12. Joash laments the approaching loss of his best counsellor and helper. The prophet, by his teaching and his prayers, as well as by his sage counsel and wonder-working powers, had been more to Israel than chariots and horsemen.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(14-21) The visit of Joash to the dying Elisha.
This section is obviously derived from another documentary source than the preceding. What a fresh and life-like picture it presents in contrast with the colourless abstract which it follows!
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
SICKNESS, DEATH, AND BURIAL OF ELISHA, 2Ki 13:14-21.
14. Elisha was fallen sick The last notice of this prophet was where he sent one of his disciples to anoint Jehu king. 2Ki 9:1-3. During all the bloody period that had intervened he seems to have retired from public affairs.
Joash came down unto him The mortal sickness of this distinguished prophet was soon known throughout the land, and touched the heart of the king. Joash knew that his grandfather Jehu had been anointed by authority from this prophet, and he could not but have the highest reverence for him.
Wept over his face That is, wept as he bent over the prostrate form of the man of God as he lay sick upon his couch.
My father! the chariot of Israel See note on 2Ki 2:12. Joash, by that deathbed, seemed to feel that a power was passing away from Israel mightier than horses and chariots. He had been to Israel better than weapons of war against Syria.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Death Bed Of Elisha ( 2Ki 13:14-20 a).
As we have seen, in a similar way to chapter 2 this passage is deliberately put outside the regnal formulae, with Jehoash’s death coming before it and the commencement of Amaziah’s coming after it. Both the passage in chapter 2 and the passage here convey a ‘heavenly’ message (the presence of the fiery chariots and horses of YHWH acting on behalf of Israel) and may therefore be seen as a kind of inclusio of what lies between, covering the life of Elisha. Both passages emphasise Israel’s dependence on ‘the horses and chariots of Israel’, which represent the heavenly host who fight on Israel’s side when they are obedient to YHWH (2Ki 6:17). It is reminding us that with the presence of Elisha and Elijah the power of YHWH of hosts had been at work on earth in a unique way, as their miracles demonstrate.
In the first passage (in chapter 2) the message was one of hope, with Elijah being taken and Elisha entering Israel over the miraculously parted Jordan and advancing on Jericho and Bethel to take possession of the land. Now that period is over and Elisha is dying, but he wants Jehoash to recognise that the future is still one of hope if only he will trust in YHWH, and he does it by vivid symbolism which indicates that the chariots and horsemen of Israel and the armoury of God (represented by the arrow of YHWH’s victory) will still be with them if they are faithful to YHWH.
The first act of symbolism in this passage is the firing of an arrow which is a symbol of YHWH’s coming victory over Aram. It is the arrow of YHWH’s victory. YHWH is still fighting on behalf of His people. In the second act of symbolism the king is told to strike the ground with the arrows, but because he only does it half-heartedly (three times) he learns that his success will also only be half-hearted. Rather he should have demonstrated his commitment by doing it five or six times. Then he would have been fully successful
Analysis.
a
b And Elisha said to him, “Take bow and arrows,” and he took to himself bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow,” and he put his hand on it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the window eastwards,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot (2Ki 13:15-17 a).
c And he said, “YHWH’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram, for you will smite the Aramaeans in Aphek, until you have consumed them” (2Ki 13:17 b).
b And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have smitten Aram until you had consumed it, whereas now you will smite Aram only three times” (2Ki 13:18-19).
a And Elisha died, and they buried him (2Ki 13:20 a).
Note that in ‘a’ Elisha was mortally ill, and in the parallel he died. In ‘b’ he called on the king to fire an arrow which was YHWH’s arrow of victory, and in the parallel he called on the king to strike the ground three times with the arrows, thus only ensuring three victories. Centrally in ‘c’ the arrow fired by the king was the arrow of YHWH’s victory over Aram.
2Ki 13:14
‘Now Elisha had fallen sick of his sickness of which he died, and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and he said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.” ’
After a long life and a ministry of over fifty years Elisha was terminally ill, and as a result Joash (Jehoash) of Israel came down to see him. And when he came to Elisha’s bedside he wept at what it was going to mean for Israel. He recognised that in Elisha Israel were losing their most powerful weapon, for the king feared that with him the invisible fiery chariots and horses of YHWH would also depart (compare 2Ki 6:17; 2Ki 2:11-12). YHWH would no longer be with His people in the same way.
There is some disagreement about who said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.” In 2Ki 2:11-12 it had been Elisha. Here it could be either Elisha or the king. In 2Ki 6:21 the king of Israel calls Elisha ‘my father’, which might be seen as favouring a similar situation here. But if it was the king he was clearly well versed in what had happened at the taking of Elijah and Elisha’s original call. This would then suggest the probability of an already existing prophetic writing. This would not be too surprising as we know that some of the prophets did leave their own narratives (e.g. Nathan the prophet; Ahijah the prophet; Iddo the seer – 2Ch 9:29). But either way the significance is the same. Will the death of Elisha bring to an end YHWH’s activity on behalf of Israel?
2Ki 13:15
‘And Elisha said to him, “Take bow and arrows,” and he took to himself bow and arrows.’
Elisha’s reply was to tell him to take in his hands a bow and arrows, which he then did. The arrows were clearly visible to a king who probably was not spiritually attuned enough to see the chariots and horses of Israel (as he had demonstrated when he thought that they represented Elisha). Arrows were a vivid and well known symbol for the activity of YHWH. In Deu 32:23 we read, ‘I will heap evils on them, I will spend My arrows on them.’ In the Davidic Psa 7:13 we read, ‘if a man does not repent God will whet His sword, He has bent and strung His bow, He has prepared His deadly weapons, making His arrows fiery shafts.’ In Psa 45:5 we read, ‘your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies, the peoples fall under you.’ See also Psa 18:14; Psa 64:7; Psa 77:17; Psa 144:6; Lam 3:12-13; Zec 9:14. Thus Elisha was demonstrating that YHWH’s fiery arrows were still at the ready on behalf of Israel.
It is not correct to call this sympathetic magic. Elisha was not trying to influence YHWH. He was demonstrating to the king in vivid pictorial symbolism that YHWH was still at hand to work for him, as 2Ki 13:17 specifically says. Compare how Jonathan similarly fired arrows in order to convey a message where there was no idea of sympathetic magic (1Sa 20:20-22). There is in fact no clear example of sympathetic magic in the Old Testament. It was very much a polytheistic idea. The vivid symbolism of the later prophets was not in order to influence YHWH, but was at YHWH’s command in order to bring home the message to the people. The same is true here.
2Ki 13:16
‘And he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow,” and he put his hand on it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands.’
By putting his hands on the king’s hands Elisha was demonstrating that even after his death his God would still be active on Israel’s behalf. This will later be emphasised by the raising of a man from the dead by contact with Elijah’s corpse. The death of Elisha would not be the death of YHWH’s active power.
2Ki 13:17
‘And he said, “Open the window eastwards,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “YHWH’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram, for you will smite the Aramaeans in Aphek, until you have consumed them.” ’
Notice the step by step description of what the king had to do. Elisha wanted the message to be firmly implanted in the king’s mind, and because the Aramaeans regularly invaded via Transjordan (over which they now held control) which was to the east of Samaria, Elisha arranged for the arrow to be fired eastwards. Then when the arrow had been despatched Elisha declared that it was the arrow of YHWH’s victory, even His victory over Aram. It was evidence that Joash of Israel would smite the Aramaeans at Aphek (Tel En Gev on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Compare 1Ki 20:26 where the Aramaeans had previously invaded via Aphek) until he had consumed them. There were a number of Apheks, which simply means ‘fortress’, but everything points to this Aphek being in Transjordan.
Unlike the servant of Elisha previously (2Ki 6:17), Elisha knew that the king was not spiritually attuned enough to see chariots and horses of fire at the ready to fight for Israel. Thus he gave him instead a visible sign of YHWH’s victory, one that he could understand and appreciate. And he was to see the arrows as the arrows of YHWH.
2Ki 13:18
‘And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck three times, and stopped.’
Then Elisha told the king to take the remaining arrows and to ‘strike the ground’ with them. Some consider that this was to be done by firing the arrows, with each arrow indicating a victory as it struck the ground. The idea would then appear to be that instead of firing all the arrows in the quiver he only selected three. He was simply going through the motions, not really getting involved in what YHWH wanted to do. This interpretation might appear to be supported by the normal use of the Hebrew verb which indicates ‘smite, slaughter’. Others consider that he was to hold them in his hand and strike the ground with them. Either way he only did it three times, even though it should have been obvious that it symbolised something of great importance. It was clear that he was obeying mechanically rather than thoughtfully and from his heart. He was not really convinced that YHWH would be active on his behalf, and was making no attempt to, as it were, get into YHWH’s mind. His heart was not in it.
2Ki 13:19
‘And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have smitten Aram until you had consumed it, whereas now you will smite Aram only three times.” ’
The king’s lack of enthusiasm angered Elisha, and in spite of his weak condition, he rebuked the king for his lethargy, because it had demonstrated his lack of trust in YHWH and his lack of desire to have for Him to get involved. He informed him that as a result of only striking three times he would only defeat the Aramaeans three times. Had he struck five or six times he would have smitten them until he had consumed them,
2Ki 13:20
‘And Elisha died, and they buried him.’
These were the king’s last dealings with Elisha before he died. We are not told how long Elisha survived after this, but eventually he expired and was buried. The glorious ministry of Elisha was apparently at an end. But that his powerful influence continued will now be remarkably illustrated. We are not to see the incident that follows as anything but a serious indication that the living God was still with Israel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Our minds are relieved from the relation of such awful characters as we have lately been looking to, in the history of Jehoahaz and Joash, in the very mention of the name of Elisha, the man of God. And though we are now arrived to the period of his death in the history, yet, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. We are not told how old the prophet was, but we may pretty nearly gather the account, from the time in which he became a prophet to the time of his death. If the Reader looks back to the call of Elisha, he will discover that from the entrance on his prophetical office, which was when anointed by Elijah as his successor, (see 1Ki 19:16 ) to this period, was little short of 66 years. So that however young he then was, his ministry proves him to have died tolerably aged. Indeed many years seem to have passed in retirement, towards the close of his life, for we have no account of him since his anointing Jehu king. The visit of Joash, and the lamentation he made over the prophet in the prospect of his death, is striking. He used the same words as Elisha himself had done on the departure of Elijah. As if he had said; now thou art departing, all the praying strength of Israel is departing with thee. Oh! how blessed is it to be thus in truth esteemed. Gracious, praying souls among God’s people are the salt of the earth, to preserve it from general putrefaction! They are the lights of the world, to prevent total darkness. Lord! I would take occasion to say, from this scene in the dying chamber of Elisha, Lord, raise up more Elishas, more faithful servants of our God, to stem the torrent of general corruption.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 13:14 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.
Ver. 14. Now Elisha was fallen sick. ] Being, as it is thought, above a hundred years old. That is a pious note that a reverend writer a maketh here: Happy is he that, after due preparation, is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware. Happy is he that, by the holy use of long sickness, is taught to see the gates of death afar off, and addresseth for a resolute passage. The one dieth like Elijah, the other like Elisha – both blessedly.
And said, O my father.
The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
“ Virtutem incolumen odimus,
Sublatam ex oculis quaerimus invidi. ” – Horat.
Stapleton saith that he calleth Elisha “the horsemen” of Israel, because by his holy life and doctrine he led all Israel; and “the chariot,” because by his virtue and prayers he preserved the people ne propter peceata Deus illos perderet, that God destroyed them not for their sins. c The death of such is very ominous, a forerunner of great calamities. Isa 57:1
a Bp. Hall.
b Vatab.
c Promp. Mor., Dom. v., post Epiph., Vex. 8.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Kings
ELIJAH’S TRANSLATION AND ELISHA’S DEATHBED
2Ki 2:12
The scenes and the speakers are strangely different in these two incidents. The one scene is that mysterious translation on the further bank of the Jordan, when a mortal was swept up to heaven in a fiery whirlwind, and the other is an ordinary sick chamber, where an old man was lying, with the life slowly ebbing out of him. The one speaker is the successor of the great prophet, on whom his spirit in a large measure fell; the other, an idolatrous king, young, headstrong, who had despised the latter prophet’s teaching while he lived, but was now for the moment awed into something like seriousness and reverence by his death.
Now the remarkable thing is that this unworthy monarch should have come to the dying prophet, and should have strengthened and cheered him by the quotation of his own words, spoken so long ago, as if he would say to him, ‘All that thou didst mean when thou didst stand there in rapturous adoration, watching the ascending Elijah, is as true about thee, lying dying here, of a common and lingering sickness. My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.’ Seen or unseen, these were present. The reality was the same, though the appearances were so different.
I We have in the first case the chariot and horsemen seen.
It does not seem to me that the interpretation of the words now in favour is at all satisfactory. It tells us that the expression is to he taken as in apposition with the exclamation ‘My father, my father’; and that both the one phrase and the other mean-Elijah! Yet what a preposterous and strange metaphor it would be to call a man a chariot and pair, or a chariot and cavalry! It seems to me that the very statement of this explanation, in plain English, condemns it as untenable. It is surely less probable that Elisha in that exclamation was describing Elijah than that he was speaking of that wondrous chariot of fire and horses of fire that had come between him and his master, and that his exclamation was one of surprised adoration as he gazed with wide-opened eyes on the burning angel-hosts, and saw his master mysteriously able to bear that fire, ringed round by these flaming squadrons, possibly standing unscathed on the floor of the chariot, and swept with it and all the celestial pomp, by the whirlwind, into heaven.
But why should he say ‘the chariot of Israel’? I think we take for granted too readily that ‘Israel’ here means the nation. You will remember that that name was not originally that of the nation, but of its progenitor and founder, given to Jacob as the consequence and record of that mysterious wrestling by the brook. And I think we get a nobler signification for the words before us if, instead of applying the name to the nation, we apply it here to the individual. When Elijah and Elisha crossed Jordan they were not far from the spot where that name was given to Jacob, ‘the supplanter,’ whom discipline and communion with God had elevated into Israel. And they were near another of the sites consecrated by his history, the place where, just before the change of his name, the angels of God met him and ‘he called the name of the place Mahanaim.’ That means ‘ the two camps ,’ the one, Jacob’s defenceless company of women and children, the other, their celestial guards.
It seems reasonable to suppose that, in all probability, a reminiscence of that old story of the manifestation of the armed angels of God as the defenders and servants of His children broke from Elisha’s lips. As he looks upon that strange appearance of the chariot and horses of fire that parted him and his friend, he sees once more ‘the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof,’ the reappearance of the shining armies whose presence had of old declared that ‘the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.’ And now the same hosts in their immortal youth, unweakened by the ages which have brought earthly warriors to dust and their swords to rust, are flaming and flashing there in the midday sun. What was their errand, and why did they appear? They came, as God’s messengers, to bear His servant to His presence. They attested the commission and devotion of the prophet. Their agency was needful to lift a mortal to skies not native to him. Strange that a body of flesh should he able to endure that fiery splendour! Somewhere in the course of that upward movement must this man, who was caught up to meet the Lord in the air, have been ‘changed.’ His guards of honour were not only for tokens of his prophetic work, but for witnesses of the unseen world and in some sort pledges, suited to that stage of revelation, of life and immortality.
How striking is the contrast between the translation of Elijah and the Ascension of Christ! He who ascended up where He was before needed no whirlwind, nor chariot of fire, nor extraneous power to elevate Him to His home. Calmly, slowly, as borne upwards by indwelling affinity with heaven, He floated thither with outstretched hands of blessing. The servant angels did not need to surround Him, but, clad no longer in fiery armour, but ‘in white apparel,’ the emblem of purity and peace, they stood by the disciples and comforted them with hope. Elijah was carried to heaven. Christ went. The angels disappeared with the prophet and left Elisha to grieve alone. They lingered here after Christ had gone, and turned tears into rainbows flashing with the hues of hope.
II. We have in our second text the chariot and horsemen present though unseen.
Elisha was by no means so great a prophet as Elijah. His work had not been so conspicuous, his character was not so strong, though perhaps more gentle. No such lofty and large influence had been granted to him as had been given to the fiery Tishbite to wield, nor did he leave his mark so deep upon the history of the times or upon the memory of succeeding generations. But such as it had been given him to be he had been. He was a continuer, not an originator. There had been a long period during which he appears to have lived in absolute retirement, exercising no prophetic functions. We never hear of him during the interval between the anointing of Jehu to the Israelitish monarchy and the time of his own death, and that period must have extended over nearly fifty years. After all these years of eclipse and seclusion he was lying dying somewhere in a corner, and the king, young but impressible, although, on the whole, not reliable nor good, came down to the prophet’s home, and there, standing by the pallet of the dying man, repeated the words, so strangely reminiscent of a very different event-’ My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!’
And what does that exclamation mean? Two things. One is this, that the angels of the Divine Presence are with us as truly, in life, when unseen as if seen. So far as we know, it was only to Elisha that the vision had been granted of that chariot of fire and horses of fire. We read that at Elijah’s translation on the other side of Jordan, and consequently at no great distance off, there stood a company of the sons of the prophets from Jericho to see what would happen, but we do not read that they did see. On the contrary, they were inclined to believe that Elijah had been caught up and flung away somewhere on the mountains, and that it was worth while to organise search-parties to go after him. It was only Elisha that saw, and Elijah did not know whether he would see or not, for he said to him, ‘If thou shalt see me when I am taken from thee, then’ thy desire shall be granted.
The angels of God are visible to the eyes that are fit to see them; and those eyes can always see them. It does not matter whether in a miracle or in a common event-it does not matter whether on the stones by the banks of Jordan or in a close sick chamber, they are visible for those who, by pure hearts and holy desires, have had their vision purged from the intrusive vulgarities and dazzling brightnesses of this poor, petty present, and can therefore see beneath all the apparent the real that blazes behind it.
The scenes at Jordan and in the death-chamber are not the only times in Elisha’s life when we read of these chariots and horses of fire. There was another incident in his career in which the same phrase occurs. Once his servant was terrified at the sight of a host compassing the little city where Elisha and he were, with horses and chariots, and came to his master with alarm and despair, crying, ‘Alas! my master, how shall we do?’ The prophet answered with superb calmness, ‘Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them . . .. Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.’ They had always been there, though no one saw them. They were there when no one but Elisha saw them. They were no more there when the young man saw them than they had been before. They did not cease to be there when the film came over his eyes again, and the common round took him back to the trivialities of daily life.
And so from the mouth of this not very devout king the prophet was reminded of his own ancient experiences, and invited to feel that, unseen or seen, the solemn forms stood ‘bright-harnessed,’ and strong, ‘in order serviceable,’ ranged about him for his defence and blessing.
And are they not round about us? If a man can but look into the realities of things, will he see only the work of men and of the forces of nature? Will there not be-far more visible as they are far more real than any of these-the forces of the Eternal Presence and ever operative Will of our Father in Heaven? We need not discuss the personality of angels. An angel is the embodiment of the will and energy of God, and we have that will and energy working for us, whether there are any angel persons about us or not. Scripture declares that there are, and that they serve us. We may be sure that if only we will honestly try to purge our eyes from the illusions and temptations of ‘things seen and temporal,’ the mountain or the sick chamber will be to us equally full of the angel forms of our defenders and companions.
Do we see them for ourselves; and, not less important, do we, like Elisha, lying there on his deathbed, help else blind men to see them, and make every one that comes beside us, even if he be as little impressible and as little devout as this king Joash was, recognise that in our chambers there sit, and round our lives there flutter and sing, sweet and strong angel wings and voices? Will anybody, looking at you, be constrained to feel that with and around you are the angels of God?
Still further, another cognate application of these great words is that one which is more directly suggested by their quotation by Joash. It does not matter in what way the end of life comes. The reality is the same to all devout men; though one be swept to heaven in a whirlwind, and another lady slowly away in old age, or ‘fall sick of the sickness wherewith he should die.’ Each is taken to God in a chariot of fire. The means are of little moment, the fact remains the same, however diverse may he the methods of its accomplishment. The road is the same, the companions the same, the impelling-I was going to say the locomotive-power, is the same, and the goal is the same.
Of Enoch we read, ‘He was not, for God took him.’ Of Elijah we read, ‘He went up in a whirlwind to heaven.’ Of Elisha we read, ‘He died and they buried him.’ And of all three-the two who were translated that they should not see death, and the one who died like the rest of us-it is equally true that ‘God took’ them, and that they were taken to Him. So for ourselves and for our dear ones we may look forward or backward, to deathbeds of weariness, of lingering sickness, of long pain and suffering, or of swift dissolution, and piercing beneath the surface may see the blessed central reality and thankfully feel that Death, too, is God’s angel, who’ does His commandments, hearkening to the voice of God’s word’ when in his dark hearse he carries us hence.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
sick of his sickness. Figure of speech Polyptoton. App-6, Elisha’s long ministry of sixty-six years was now drawing to a close, after forty-five years’ silence. We hear of no sickness of Elijah.
my father. Figure of speech Epizeuxis.
the chariot of Israel. A memory of 2Ki 2:12, wondering whether his end would be like Elijah’s.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 3166, bc 838
fallen sick: 2Ki 20:1, Gen 48:1, Joh 11:3, Phi 2:26
he died: Psa 12:1, Isa 57:1, Zec 1:5, Act 13:36
O my father: 2Ki 2:12, 2Ki 6:21, Pro 11:11, Eze 14:14, Eze 22:30, Mar 6:20
Reciprocal: Gen 50:1 – wept Jdg 17:10 – a father Jdg 18:19 – a father 2Sa 1:27 – weapons 2Ki 2:9 – Ask what 2Ki 5:13 – My father 2Ki 6:10 – saved 2Ki 8:9 – Thy son Benhadad 2Ki 13:12 – the rest Mat 23:9 – call 2Co 6:13 – be
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A TRUE PATRIOTS DEATH-BED
Now Elisha was fallen sick of the sickness of which he died.
2Ki 13:14
Elisha, one of the greatest and gentlest of Israels prophets, a man of wider and more enduring influence than even his great predecessor, Elijah, had lain him down to die. His career had been unstained, and as a prophet of Jehovah, mighty in word and deed, through the power of faith and love, he had been a power behind the throne, ever working for the safety and welfare of the people whom he loved.
I. No prophet, unless it be Hosea, more resembled Jesus Christ in close communion with God and tenderness of spirit.He had won the affection and confidence of Joash, who recognised, with admiration and reverence, the services he had been instrumental in rendering to Israel. Even the Syrians, Israels implacable foes, well understood the shield he was to Israel. The dying patriot, obeying an inward prompting of the Spirit, gathered up his failing strength to bequeath a last service to his falling country. Joash wept for him as for a father in God, and recalling Elishas parting words to Elijah, gave them a new and well-deserved application. Elisha had been, though no fighter, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, achieving great, though bloodless, victories.
II. A nations goodly men, true to the cardinal points of heaven and home, are its best defenders and friends.Be good, walk with God, keep a conscience void of offence towards God and man, and you serve your country in a fashion that leaves no regrets, and wins at last affection and honour. Ten godly men would have saved Sodom.
Illustration
Note how the last scene accords with the tenour of Elishas life, and brings the many labours of the prophet to a fitting, because a peaceful, close. Elijah had been the prophet of fire and storm; the lonely herald of desolating judgment. He had moved apart from the homes and haunts of men, flashing among them suddenly like tempest. For such a career it was a fitting end that there should be horses and chariots of fire. But Elisha was very different from Elijah. He was more genial, more gentle, and more homely. He gave his blessing to the family circle, and entered the homes of Israel as a brother. And though like a true prophet he could take his stand, and be stern and rigorous when the occasion called for it, yet the great impression which he leaves with us is that of a tender and sympathetic man. Not, then, for him is there a fiery escort, and the rushing of the whirlwind, at the close. He dies surrounded by the stir of life, and within the comforting sound of human voices. His work is over and he falls asleep, sustained at the end by Him Whom he had served, and passing to his rest and his reward by a path that had been smoothed by love.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 13:14. Elisha was fallen sick, &c. Elisha lived long; for it was now about sixty years since he was first called to be a prophet. It was a great mercy to Israel, and especially to the sons of the prophets, that he was continued so long a burning and a shining light. Elijah finished his testimony in a fourth part of that time. For Gods prophets have their day appointed them, longer or shorter, as infinite wisdom sees fit. The time of Elishas flourishing, however, was much less than the time of his living. During all the latter part of his life, from the anointing of Jehu, which was forty-five years before Joash began his reign, we find no mention made of him, nor of any thing he did, till we find him here upon his death-bed. He was, no doubt, useful to the last, yet, it seems, not so famous as he had formerly been. The king came down, and wept over his face While he leaned over him to kiss him. This was an evidence of some good in Joash, and that he had a value for a faithful prophet. So far was he from hating and persecuting him as a troubler of Israel, as Ahab had hated and persecuted Elijah, that he loved and honoured him, as one of the greatest blessings of his kingdom. Thus it has sometimes happened, that those who, like Joash, would not be obedient to the word of God, yet have been compelled to hold his faithful ministers in honour, fully convinced of their being upright and holy men of God. And said, O my father, my father, &c. Thus he laments over him in the same words which Elisha himself had used when he lamented the removal of Elijah. Probably he had heard or read of them, and judged them as applicable to Elisha as they had been to his predecessor: see on 2Ki 2:12. Joash seems to have intended by these words to express Elishas fatherly care of Israel, the great authority he had maintained among them, that by his counsels, and prayers, and miracles, they had obtained great and glorious victories over their enemies; and that he and his kingdom would sustain an inestimable loss by his death.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
13:14 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, {h} O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
(h) Thus they used to call the prophets and servants of God, by whom God blesses his people, as in 2Ki 2:12 meaning that they prospered their country more by their prayers than by force of arms.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Elisha’s prophesy and death 13:14-21
Jehoash of Israel had respect and affection for Elisha. He anticipated the loss that the death of God’s spiritual warrior would be to Israel (2Ki 13:14). He recognized that Israel’s real defense lay in Yahweh’s angelic army and in Elisha’s spiritual warfare for her (2Ki 13:14; cf. 2Ki 2:12).
"The prophet is the man whose prayer is better than chariots and horsemen. Trust in the words of the prophet means that horses and chariots can be abandoned." [Note: Beek, p. 8. Cf. 2:12.]
Elisha gave the king a prophecy of Israel’s future deliverance because Jehoash had humbled himself before God (2Ki 13:15-19).
"Elisha instructed Israel’s king to pick up his bow (2Ki 13:15). When he had done so, the prophet placed his own hands on those of the king, thereby indicating that what he was about to do would be full of spiritual symbolism (2Ki 13:16)." [Note: Patterson and Austel, p. 225.]
The bow and arrows were symbols of the strength and victory God would give Jehoash. By taking them in hand the king was symbolically becoming God’s agent of power. Elisha put his own hands on the king’s to illustrate that the king’s power would come from Yahweh, whom Elisha represented. The east window opened toward Aram from Israel. By shooting the first arrow Jehoash was appropriating the victory symbolized by the arrow. As he shot, Elisha explained to him that the arrow represented victory over Aram at Aphek (cf. 1Ki 20:30). The prophet then instructed Jehoash to shoot the remaining arrows at the ground. The Hebrew makes this translation preferable. He was to strike the ground by shooting the arrows at it.
"It is . . . a symbolic action, like that of Joshua thrusting with a spear at Ai (Jos 8:18)." [Note: Wiseman, p. 241.]
Elisha was angry when Jehoash shot only three more arrows because in doing so the king was demonstrating weak faith. Jehoash knew what shooting the arrows signified (2Ki 13:17). Perhaps the king did not believe God could or would give him as much victory as Elisha had implied. He failed to trust God even though he knew what God had promised.
Elisha’s ministry spanned at least 56 years. [Note: Thomas L. Constable, "2 Kings," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, p. 504.] When he died, friends evidently buried him in a cave or rock tomb, as was customary then. Apparently the men who placed the body of their dead friend in Elisha’s tomb observed his resuscitation. Undoubtedly they told their story everywhere, and probably King Jehoash heard it. Such a sign of God’s power, working even through His prophet’s corpse, would have encouraged the king as he looked forward to meeting Aram in battle. It would also have rebuked him for his lack of faith. The story would have impressed on everyone who heard it the great power of Yahweh that brought blessing (life) to others through His faithful servants. Since Elisha was dead there was no question that the power was Yahweh’s, not the prophet’s.
"As he was a man of power in life (chaps. 2-7), moving and persuasive even in stories told about him (2Ki 8:1-6), so now his awesome powers continue working in death, confirming the prophet and foreshadowing the victory to come." [Note: Long, p. 166.]