Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 7:12
And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we [be] hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
12 16. The report of the Syrian flight found to be true. The consequent plenty in Samaria (Not in Chronicles)
12. the king arose in the night ] The news was so important that though it was night-time, the messengers went with it to the king’s bedchamber, and he, though probably thinking the report much too good to be true, at once arose to take measures for investigating it.
what the Syrians have done to us ] i.e. with the hope of entrapping us.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His servants – i. e., high officers of the household, not mere domestics.
I will shew you what the Syrians have done – Jehoram sees in the deserted camp a stratagem like that connected with the taking of Ai Josh. 8:3-19. The suspicion was a very natural one, since the Israelites knew of no reason why the Syrians should have raised the siege.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. The king arose in the night] This king had made a noble defence; he seems to have shared in all the sufferings of the besieged, and to have been ever at his post. Even in vile Ahab there were some good things!
They know that we be hungry] This was a very natural conclusion; the Syrians by the closest blockade could not induce them to give up the city, but knowing that they were in a starving condition, they might make use of such a stratagem as that imagined by the king, in order to get possession of the city.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
12-15. the king . . . said unto hisservants, I will now show you what the Syrians have doneSimilarstratagems have been so often resorted to in the ancient and modernwars of the East that there is no wonder Jehoram’s suspicions wereawakened. But the scouts, whom he despatched, soon found unmistakablesigns of the panic that had struck the enemy and led to a mostprecipitate flight.
2Ki7:17-20. THEUNBELIEVING LORDTRODDEN TO DEATH.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the king arose in the night,…. Upon the report made to him:
and he said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us; taking it to be a stratagem of theirs to decoy them:
they know that we be hungry; and would be glad to come out of the city to get some food:
therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field; to make us believe that they have broke up the siege, and have deserted the camp, and are gone, when they only lie in ambush:
saying, when they come out of the city; which they supposed they would do through hunger:
we shall catch them alive; take them captive at once:
and get into the city; being open to let them out, and receive them on their return.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The king imagined that the unexpected departure of the Syrians was only a ruse, namely, that they had left the camp and hidden themselves in the field, to entice the besieged out of the fortress, and then fall upon them and press into the city. according to later usage for (vid., Ewald, 244, a). In order to make sure of the correctness or incorrectness of this conjecture, one of the king’s servants (counsellors) gave this advice: “Let them take (the Vav before as in 2Ki 4:41) five of the horses left in the city, that we may send and see how the matter stands.” The words, “Behold they (the five horses) are as the whole multitude of Israel that are left in it (the city); behold they are as the whole multitude of Israel that are gone,” have this meaning: The five horsemen (for horses stand for horsemen, as it is self-evident that it was men on horseback and not the horses themselves that were to be sent out as spies) can but share the fate of the rest of the people of Samaria, whether they return unhurt to meet death by starvation with the people that still remain, or fall into the hands of the enemy and are put to death, in which case they will only suffer the lot of those who have already perished. Five horses is an approximative small number, and is therefore not at variance with the following statement, that two pair of horses were sent out with chariots and men. The Chethb is not to be altered, since there are other instances in which the first noun is written with the article, though in the construct state (vid., Ewald, 290, e.); and the Keri is only conformed to the following . 2Ki 7:14, 2Ki 7:15. They then sent out two chariots with horses, who pursued the flying enemy to the Jordan, and found the whole of the road full of traces of the hurried flight, consisting of clothes and vessels that had been thrown away. The Chethb is the only correct reading, since it is only in the Niphal that has the meaning to fly in great haste (cf. 1Sa 23:26; Psa 48:6; Psa 104:7).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Samaria Plentifully Supplied. | B. C. 891. |
12 And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. 13 And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see. 14 They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. 15 And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. 16 And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 17 And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. 18 And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria: 19 And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. 20 And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.
Here we have,
I. The king’s jealousy of a stratagem in the Syrian’s retreat, v. 12. He feared that they had withdrawn into an ambush, to draw out the besieged, that they might fall on them with more advantage. He knew he had no reason to expect that God should appear thus wonderfully for him, having forfeited his favour by his unbelief and impatience. He knew no reason the Syrians had to fly, for it does not appear that he or any of this attendants heard the noise of the chariots which the Syrians were frightened at. Let not those who, like him, are unstable in all their ways, think to receive any thing from God; nay, a guilty conscience fears the worst and makes men suspicious.
II. The course they took for their satisfaction, and to prevent their falling into a snare. They sent out spies to see what had become of the Syrians, and found they had all fled indeed, commanders as well a common soldiers. They could track them by the garments which they threw off, and left by the way, for their greater expedition, v. 15. He that gave this advice seems to have been very sensible of the deplorable condition the people were in (v. 13); for speaking of the horses, many of which were dead and the rest ready to perish for hunger, he says, and repeats it, “They are as all the multitude of Israel. Israel used to glory in their multitude, but now they are diminished and brought low.” He advised to send five horsemen, but, it should seem, there were only two horses fit to be sent, and those chariot-horses, v. 14. Now the Lord repented himself concerning his servants, when he saw that their strength was gone, Deut. xxxii. 36.
III. The plenty that was in Samaria, from the plunder of the camp of the Syrians, v. 16. Had the Syrians been governed by the modern policies of war, when they could not take their baggage and their tents with them they would rather have burnt them (as it is common to do with the forage of a country) than let them fall into their enemies’ hands; but God determined that the besieging of Samaria, which was intended for its ruin, should turn to its advantage, and that Israel should now be enriched with the spoil of the Syrians as of old with that of the Egyptians. Here see, 1. The wealth of the sinner laid up for the just (Job 27:16; Job 27:17) and the spoilers spoiled, Isa. xxxiii. 1. 2. The wants of Israel supplied in a way that they little thought of, which should encourage us to depend upon the power and goodness of God in our greatest straits. 3. The word of Elisha fulfilled to a tittle: A measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel; those that spoiled the camp had not only enough to supply themselves with, but an overplus to sell at an easy rate for the benefit of others, and so even those that tarried at home did divide the spoil,Psa 68:12; Isa 33:23. God’s promise may be safely relied on, for no word of his shall fall to the ground.
IV. The death of the unbelieving courtier, that questioned the truth of Elisha’s word. Divine threatenings will as surely be accomplished as divine promises. He that believeth not shall be damned stands as firm as He that believeth shall be saved. This lord, 1. Was preferred by the king to the charge of the gate (v. 17), to keep the peace, and to see that there was no tumult or disorder in dividing and disposing of the spoil. So much trust did the king repose in him, in his prudence and gravity, and so much did he delight to honour him. He that will be great, let him serve the public. 2. Was trodden to death by the people in the gate, either by accident, the crowd being exceedingly great, and he in the thickest of it, or perhaps designedly, because he abused his power, and was imperious in restraining the people from satisfying their hunger. However it was, God’s justice was glorified, and the word of Elisha was fulfilled. He saw the plenty, for the silencing and shaming of his unbelief, corn cheap without opening windows in heaven, and therein saw his own folly in prescribing to God; but he did not eat of the plenty he saw. When he was about to fill his belly God cast the fury of his wrath upon him (Job xx. 23) and it came between the cup and the lip. Justly are those thus tantalized with the world’s promises that think themselves tantalized with the promises of God. If believing shall not be seeing, seeing shall not be enjoying. This matter is repeated, and the event very particularly compared with the prediction (v. 18-20), that we might take special notice of it, and might learn, (1.) How deeply God resents out distrust of him, of his power, providence, and promise. When Israel said, Can God furnish a table? the Lord heard it and was wroth. Infinite wisdom will not be limited by our folly. God never promises the end without knowing where to provide the means. (2.) How uncertain life and the enjoyments of it are. Honour and power cannot secure men from sudden and inglorious deaths. He whom the king leaned upon the people trod upon; he who fancied himself the stay and support of the government was trampled under foot as the mire in the streets. Thus hath the pride of men’s glory been often stained. (3.) How certain God’s threatenings are, and how sure to alight on the guilty and obnoxious heads. Let all men fear before the great God, who treads upon princes as mortar and is terrible to the kings of the earth.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Bread A plenty! verses 12-20
King Joram was surely one of the most pessimistic, sin-hardened men who ever lived, when it came to acknowledging the power of God. Somehow he had backed away from execution of Elisha, perhaps because of the prophet’s prediction of a better day to come. Yet here he is, aroused from his bed, having evidently already forgotten the prediction of the man of God, never once thinking that this astounding report concerning the Syrian camp would bring the very kind of condition Elisha foretold. However, even with the Syrians gone, not many would have thought that they would leave their food, and there certainly was precious little food left in the environs of Samaria.
The king thought it was some sinister plot, by which the Syrians were taking advantage of the starved Samaritans, luring them out of their walls while they hid in ambush to rush in the open gates and take the city. But one of his men besought the king to allow him to take five of the horses which still survived the famine and go out to investigate the lepers’ report. It appears from the man’s words that Joram had been trying to preserve his warhorses, but the man argued that the horses and the men in Samaria all alike faced starvation. Even though it might be a trick on the part of the Syrians the horses, left in the city, were going to starve just like the people. So what matter if the Syrians take them in this proposed venture?
In the end two chariot horses were taken. The route of the Syrians’ flight was easily traced, all the way to the Jordan River, on the other side of which the Syrians would be well within reach of their city of Damascus. In their haste to escape the supposed armies of Hittites and Egyptians they had cast off garments all along the way, and had thrown away vessels they may have carried for food or water. So back the investigators went to Samaria and reported to the king that the story of the lepers was indeed true.
In their spoiling of the Syrian camp fine flour and barley were found in abundance, and those who secured it set up market in the gate and sold a seah of flour for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, just as Elisha foretold. The hungry people swarmed to the gate to get food, creating such turmoil that the king sent the man who had scoffed at Elisha to keep order there. The press of the throng was so great that the contemptuous fellow was thrown down, and the people trampled him to death under their feet. He had, as Elisha said, seen the flour and barley selling at the prices of the prophet’s prediction, but he did not live to appease his hunger with any of it.
Here is another good analogy. This doubting courtier of King Joram wanted bread, certainly knew he needed it, but refused to believe it could be had so readily. When it was too late to do anything about it he saw the salvation, but died without it. His condition is quite well portrayed in Jesus’ account of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man had little concern for his need until he lifted up his eyes in hell. Across in Abraham’s bosom he could see Lazarus enjoying the things he had spurned (Lu 16:19-31).
Many lessons have been pointed out in the course of comments, but they will be re-emphasized here: 1) most people today continue to scoff and discredit the predictions of the Lord’s word; 2) it is foolish to settle for certain death though skeptical of the alternative for good; 3) God will call to account those of His children who do not bear witness of His saving grace; 4) sin-blinded men never recognize the hand of God in events, even when they are blessed by them; 5) too late people will lift up their eyes in torment and see all the good things they might have had.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(12) I will now shew you.Suspicax est miseria (Grotius). Such stratagems as Jehoram suspected are, however, common enough in warfare.
To hide themselves in the field.Both expressions in the Hebrew follow the later modes of inflection. Such forms may be due to transcribers rather than to the original writer.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Great Plenty in Samaria
v. 12. And the king, v. 13. And one of his servants, v. 14. They took therefore two chariot horses, v. 15. And they went after them unto Jordan, v. 16. And the people, v. 17. And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned, v. 18. And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria, v. 19. and that lord answered the man of God and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
v. 20. And so it fell out unto him; for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Observe how closely allied to one another are guilt and unbelief. The king of Israel knew how little he merited mercy from the Lord, and therefore he could not be led to hope, notwithstanding his servant the prophet had taught Israel to expect some great deliverance, that it would be bestowed. Reader! this is the case, more or less, with every sinner. Conscious that we merit not the Lord’s favor, and measuring God’s dealings by our own, we slight the declarations of his grace. Jesus sweetly, graciously, tenderly, tells us, that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. But alas! unbelief robs Jesus of his glory, and our souls of their happiness. And thus, like the poor king of Israel, to the very last we know not how to give the Lord the credit of his free grace and salvation!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 7:12 And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we [be] hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
Ver. 12. I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. ] This he saith, being nimium et intempestive meticulosus, more fearful than was fit; but he either believed not, or else had “forgotten the consolation” [ ], as the apostle saith the Hebrews had, Heb 4:6 the promise made him by the prophet. 2Ki 7:1
They know that we be hungry, &c.
a Justin., lib. i.
b Funcc., Chron.
the Prophets Word Fulfilled
2Ki 7:12-20
The lepers were first in the deserted camp. The abundance was awaiting the starving populace, but only a few outcasts tasted it. So Christs wealth and unsearchable riches are for all, but often the outcasts gathered by the Salvation Army know more about them than the children of the church. The cottager who early opens his window for his sick child, knows more of the summer morning, than does the millionaire who sleeps within curtained windows. But be sure you tell out what you know, else you sin against God and man. There is enough for all. To scatter is to increase.
Though this plenty had been predicted, it seemed too good to be believed. Send out your scouts, O Church of God! As the result of our Lords victory at Calvary, the roads-north, south, east, and west-have been trodden by your fleeing foes, and are strewn, with spoil. But beware lest, in the day of the Lords deliverance, you see with your eyes but are unable, through unbelief, to partake, Luk 13:28. Mans unbelief cannot hinder Gods purpose, but it excludes the unbeliever, who perishes amid abundance.
2Ki 7:12. The king said, I will show you what the Syrians have done He was jealous of a stratagem, and feared the Syrians had only retreated to be in ambush, and draw out the besieged, that they might fall upon them to more advantage. He knew he had no reason to expect that God should appear thus wonderfully for him, having forfeited his favour by his unbelief and impatience. And he knew no reason the Syrians had to flee; for it does not appear that either he, or any of his attendants, or, indeed, any in Samaria, had heard the noise of the chariots, &c., which had affrighted the Syrians.
7:12 And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, {h} I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we [be] hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
(h) He mistrusted the prophets words, and therefore could believe nothing, as they who are more prudent than godly always cast more doubt than is needed.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes