{"id":9638,"date":"2022-09-24T03:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T08:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-2-kings-423\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T03:10:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T08:10:00","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-2-kings-423","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-2-kings-423\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 4:23"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 align='center'><b><i> And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? [it is] neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, [It shall be] well. <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p> <strong> 23<\/strong>. it is <em> neither new moon, nor sabbath<\/em> ] These were the principal occasions of assembling for worship, and it is clear from this history that even in Israel, while the house of Ahab was still on the throne, religious services were regularly held by the prophets in the name of Jehovah. The prophets performed all the duties of the priesthood where it was impossible to have the services of priests or Levites. Thus Elijah sacrificed on Mt Carmel before the slaughter of the priests of Baal (<span class='bible'>1Ki 18:33<\/span>). And for purposes of teaching and prayer they appear to have observed the days specially appointed in the Law. On the observance of the new moon cf. <span class='bible'>1Sa 20:5<\/span>; <span class='bible'>1Sa 20:18<\/span>; <span class='bible'>1Sa 20:24<\/span>. For its institution see <span class='bible'>Num 10:10<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Num 28:11<\/span>. In the latter passage is a description of the sacrifice to be offered; and we know from the Psalms (<span class='bible'>Psa 81:3<\/span>) that it was celebrated with the sound of the trumpet. On the observance when it came to be without any spiritual reality, see <span class='bible'>Isa 1:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p> It shall be <em> well<\/em> ] The Heb. word is literally &lsquo;Peace&rsquo;. But it is used in salutations and enquiries after the welfare of another, as below in verse 26. Here however the woman appears to use it as a means of putting aside further questioning. So it would be equivalent to &lsquo;Let be&rsquo;. &lsquo;Say no more&rsquo;. &lsquo;Let me have my way&rsquo;.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P STYLE=\"text-indent: 0.75em\">Her husband did not connect the illness with his wifes demand, but thought she wished to attend one of the prophets devotional services. It is evident that such services were now held with something like regularity on Carmel for the benefit of the faithfull in those parts.<\/P> <P STYLE=\"text-indent: 0.75em\"><B>New moon &#8211; <\/B>By the Law the first day of each month was to be kept holy. Offerings were appointed for such occasions <span class='bible'>Num 28:11-15<\/span>, and they were among the days on which the silver trumpets were to be blown <span class='bible'>Num 10:10<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Psa 81:3<\/span>. Hence, new moons are frequently joined with sabbaths (see <span class='bible'>Isa 1:13<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Eze 45:17<\/span>; <span class='bible'>Hos 2:11<\/span>; <span class='bible'>1Ch 23:31<\/span>).<\/P> <P STYLE=\"text-indent: 0.75em\"><B>It shall be well &#8211; <\/B>Rather, as in the margin, Peace. i. e., Be quiet &#8211; trouble me not with inquiries &#8211; only let me do as I wish.<\/P><\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Albert Barnes&#8217; Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P> Verse <span class='bible'>23<\/span>. <I><B>Wherefore wilt thou go<\/B><\/I>] She was a very prudent woman; she would not harass the feelings of her husband by informing him of the death of his son till she had tried the power of the prophet. Though the religion of the true God was not the religion of the state, yet there were no doubt multitudes of the people who continued to worship the true God alone, and were in the habit of going, as is here intimated, on <I>new moons<\/I> and <I>Sabbaths<\/I>, to consult the prophet.<\/P> <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Adam Clarke&#8217;s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P> <B>New moon and sabbath<\/B> were the chief and usual times in which they resorted to the prophets for instruction, for which he supposed she now went, not suspecting but that the child was well by this time. <\/P> <P><B>It shall be well; <\/B>my going will not be troublesome to him, nor prejudicial to thee or me. Heb. <I>peace<\/I>, i.e. peace be to thee, farewell; or, be contented, let me go. <\/P> <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><strong>And he said, wherefore wilt thou go to him today<\/strong>?&#8230;. What reason is there for it? what is the meaning of it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>it is neither new moon nor sabbath<\/strong>; neither the first day of the month, nor the seventh day of the week, times which were religiously observed; so with the Heathens the new moon and the seventh of the week, and so the fourth, were sacred u; which notions they borrowed from the Jews,<\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'>[See comments on 1Sa 20:5]<\/span> and when, it seems, it was usual to frequent the house of the prophet, to hear the word of God read and explained, and other religious exercises performed, as praying and singing praise, and receiving some good instructions and advice. Joseph Kimchi gives a different sense of these words:<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;there is not a month past, no, not a week, since thou sawest him;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> why therefore shouldest thou be in such haste to go to him? so the words for new moon and sabbath may signify:<\/p>\n<p><strong>and she said, it shall be well<\/strong>; it was right for her to go, and it would be well for him and her, and the family; or, &#8220;peace&#8221; w, be easy and quiet, farewell: it is much he had no mistrust of the death of the child, or that it was worse, since it went from him ill.<\/p>\n<p>u Hesiod. Opera &amp; Dies, l. 2. w  &#8220;pax&#8221;, Pagninus, Montanus, &amp;c.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Gill&#8217;s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>(23) <strong>Wiltt thou go.<\/strong><em>Art thou going<\/em>. Archaic forms of the pronoun and participle are here used.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It is neither new moon, nor sabbath.<\/strong>Comp. <span class='bible'>Amo. 8:5<\/span>. This remark is interesting, because it implies that the faithful in the northern kingdom were wont to visit prophets on these holy days for the sake of religious instruction and edification. Thenius suggests a doubt whether the later practice of resorting to the Scribes on these days has not here been transferred by an anachronism to the days of Elisha. (Comp. <span class='bible'>Num. 18:11<\/span> <em>seq<\/em>.; <span class='bible'>Lev. 23:3<\/span>, for the legal mode of observing new moons and Sabbath days.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>It shall be well.<\/strong>Omit <em>it shall be<\/em>. The expression may be equivalent to our common all right; admitting the truth of what is said, yet persisting in ones purpose. She did not want to be delayed, nor to have her faith shaken by argument.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Ellicott&#8217;s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> <strong> 23<\/strong>. <strong> <\/strong> <strong> Neither new moon, nor sabbath <\/strong> These words imply that it was customary for the people on these holy days to resort to the prophets for help or instruction, and that the prophetical office had in Israel largely taken the place of the Levitical priesthood. The calf worship at Beth-el and Dan had utterly disorganized the lawful priesthood; and the regular worship of sacrifice and offering, as prescribed in the law, could not be observed in the northern kingdom, away from the ark and temple where Jehovah had recorded his name. Hence the pious were wont to resort to the prophets on the holy days, and perhaps the schools of the prophets answered partially the purpose of the synagogues of a later age. Hence this Shunammite&rsquo;s husband asks her why she will go to inquire or seek help of the prophet on a day when the prophets were not wont to be inquired of. The fact that the new moons and the sabbaths were still religiously observed, shows that though there were many wide departures from the law of Moses, that law was not unknown in Israel. Comp. Leviticus xxiii, 3; <span class='bible'>Num 28:11<\/span>.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Whedon&#8217;s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><strong><em><span class='bible'>2Ki 4:23<\/span><\/em><\/strong><strong>. <\/strong><strong><em>It is neither new moon nor sabbath<\/em><\/strong><strong><\/strong> No stated public day, upon which the prophets used to preach and instruct the people, and on which, consequently, they were always to be found by such as wanted their advice or assistance. <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> 2Ki 4:23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? [it is] neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, [It shall be] well.<\/p>\n<p> Ver. 23. <strong> Wherefore wilt thou go to him today?<\/strong> ] Her husband knew nothing then of the child&rsquo;s death. <\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/p>\n<p> It is neither new moon, nor sabbath.<\/strong> ] On which days good people in those evil times were wont to repair to God&rsquo;s holy prophets to hear the word and receive instruction. <\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/p>\n<p> And she said, It shall be well.<\/strong> ] Heb., Peace. Tostatus rendereth it <em> Vale,<\/em> farewell. The Vulgate, not well, <em> Vadam,<\/em> I will go; this had been too peremptory and unseemly.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Trapp&#8217;s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>new moon: Num 10:10, Num 28:11, 1Ch 23:31, Isa 1:13-15 <\/p>\n<p>well: Heb. peace, 2Ki 4:26 <\/p>\n<p>Reciprocal: 1Sa 20:5 &#8211; the new moon Psa 74:8 &#8211; all the synagogues Psa 81:3 &#8211; new Pro 31:11 &#8211; General Isa 66:23 &#8211; that from Amo 8:5 &#8211; When Col 2:16 &#8211; the new<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>4:23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? [it is] neither {n} new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, [It shall be] well.<\/p>\n<p>(n) For at such times the people were wont to resort to the prophets for doctrine and consolation.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? [it is] neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, [It shall be] well. 23. it is neither new moon, nor sabbath ] These were the principal occasions of assembling for worship, and it is clear from this history that even in Israel, while the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-2-kings-423\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 4:23&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}