19The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.”
20He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” Then they brought it to him.21He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’ ”22So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke.
19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.”
20 He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” Then they brought it to him.
21 He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren wasteland.’ ”
22 So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke.
KJVKing James Version
19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha: 'Behold, we pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; but the water is bad, and the land miscarrieth.
20 And he said: 'Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein.' And they brought it to him.
21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast salt therein, and said: 'Thus saith the LORD: I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or miscarrying.'
22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
Exodus 23:26(v19)No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
Deuteronomy 28:2-4(v19)All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. You shall be blessed in the city, and…
Exodus 15:25-26(v21)Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute…
Deuteronomy 28:11(v19)Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in…
2 Kings 4:41(v21)But he said, “Then bring meal.” He threw it into the pot; and he said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing…
Show all 29 cross-references
Leviticus 2:13(v21)Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking…
Deuteronomy 28:15-18(v19)But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
Exodus 7:19(v19)Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their…
Exodus 15:23(v19)When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah.
1 Kings 16:34(v19)In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the…
2 Kings 6:6(v21)The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float.
Revelation 21:4(v21)He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The…
Revelation 22:2-3(v21)in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit…
Numbers 12:11(v19)Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please don’t count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned.
Mark 9:50(v21)Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one…
John 9:6(v21)When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,
Joshua 6:17(v19)The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in…
Joshua 6:26(v19)Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed is the man before Yahweh who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With…
1 Kings 18:7(v19)As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”
Hosea 9:14(v19)Give them—Yahweh what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Matthew 5:11(v21)“Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
1 Corinthians 1:18-28(v21)For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,…
Judges 9:45(v20)Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city and killed the people in it. He beat down the city and sowed it with…
Psalms 107:33-38(v21)He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground, and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who…
Ezekiel 47:8-11(v21)Then he said to me, “These waters flow out toward the eastern region, and will go down into the Arabah. Then they will go toward the sea;…
Zephaniah 2:9(v20)Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a…
1 Kings 18:13(v19)Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed Yahweh’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh’s prophets with fifty to a…
Ezekiel 47:11(v20)But the miry places of it, and its marshes, will not be healed. They will be given up to salt.
1 Timothy 5:17(v19)Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv19, 21Or, killeth the inhabitants.
Or, killeth the inhabitants.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv19–222Ki 2:19 And the men of the city said…
2Ki 2:19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city [is] pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water [is] naught, and the ground barren.
Ver. 19. Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city, &c.] Say we so of such places, though never so pleasant, as have not the word and sacraments - those waters of life - purely and powerfully administered in them: and seek remedy.
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But the water is naught, and the ground barren.] Heb., Making to miscarry. The cause whereof was not either that ancient malediction of Joshua, or the neighbourhood of that noisome lake of Sodom, but the recent sins of the inhabitants, - see Psa 107:34, - and particularly Hiel’s presumption in rebuilding it. {1Ki 16:34}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv19–21Either it was so orignally, at least as to…
Either it was so orignally, at least as to that part of the city where the college of the prophets was, for it is not necessary to understand this of the whole territory; or it became so from the curse of God inflicted upon it, either when Joshua first took it, or afterwards when Hiel rebuilt it. Howsoever, upon the prophet’s care, it grew exceeding fruitful, and therefore is commended for its fertility by later writers.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v19Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of…
Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of Elijah's spirit, that he wrought more miracles than Elijah. Some reckon them in number just double. Two are recorded in these verses - a miracle of mercy to Jericho and a miracle of judgment to Bethel, Psa 101:1.
I. Here is a blessing upon the waters of Jericho, which was effectual to heal them. Jericho was built in disobedience to a command, in defiance to a threatening, and at the expense of the lives of all the builder's children; yet, when it was built, it was not ordered to be demolished again, nor were God's prophets or people forbidden to dwell in it, but even within those walls that were built by iniquity we find a nursery of piety. Fools, they say, build houses for wise men to dwell in. Here the wealth of the sinner provided a habitation for the just. We find Christ at Jericho, Luk 19:1. Hither Elisha came, to confirm the souls of the disciples with a more particular account of Elijah's translation than their spies, who saw at a distance, could give them. Here he staid while the fifty men were searching for him. And, 1. The men of Jericho represented to him their grievance, Kg2 2:19. God's faithful prophets love to be employed; it is wisdom to make use of them during the little while that their light is with us. They had not applied to Elijah concerning the matter, perhaps because he was not so easy of access as Elisha was; but now, we may hope, by the influence of the divinity-school in their city, they were reformed. The situation was pleasant and afforded a good prospect; but they had neither wholesome water to drink nor fruitful soil to yield them food, and what pleasure could they take in their prospect? Water is a common mercy, which we should estimate by the greatness of the calamity which the want or unwholesomeness of it would be. Some think that it was not all the ground about Jericho that was barren and had bad water, but some one part only, and that where the sons of the prophets had their lodgings, who are here called the men of the city. 2. He soon redressed their grievance. Prophets should endeavour to make every place they come to, some way or other, the better for them, endeavouring to sweeten bitter spirits, and to make barren souls fruitful, by the due application of the word of God. Elisha will heal their waters; but, (1.) They must furnish him with salt in a new cruse, Kg2 2:20. If salt had been proper to season the water, yet what could so small a quantity do towards it and what the better for being in a new cruse? But thus those that would be helped must be employed and have their faith and obedience tried. God's works of grace are wrought, not by any operations of ours, but in observance of his institutions. (2.) He cast the salt into the spring of the waters, and so healed the streams and the ground they watered. Thus the way to reform men's lives is to renew their hearts; let those be seasoned with the salt of grace; for out of them are the issues of life. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good. Purify the heart and that will cleanse the hands. (3.) He did not pretend to do this by his own power, but in God's name: Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters. He is but the instrument, the channel through which God is pleased to convey this healing virtue. By doing them this kindness with a Thus saith the Lord, they would be made the more willing hereafter, to receive from him a reproof, admonition, or command, with the same preface. If, in God's name, he can help them, in God's name let him teach and rule them. Thus saith the Lord, out of Elisha's mouth, must, ever after, be of mighty force with them. (4.) The cure was lasting, and not for the present only: The waters were healed unto this day, Kg2 2:22. What God does shall be for ever, Ecc 3:14. When he, by his Spirit, heals a soul, there shall be no more death nor barrenness; the property is altered: what was useless and offensive becomes grateful and serviceable.
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II. Here is a curse upon the children of Bethel, which was effectual to destroy them; for it was not a curse causeless. At Bethel there was another school of prophets. Thither Elisha went next, in this his primary visitation, and the scholars there no doubt welcomed him with all possible respect, but the townsmen were abusive to him. One of Jeroboam's calves was at Bethel; this they were proud of, and fond of, and hated those that reproved them. The law did not empower them to suppress this pious academy, but we may suppose it was their usual practice to jeer the prophets as they went along the streets, to call them by some nickname or other, that they might expose them to contempt, prejudice their youth against them, and, if possible, drive them out of their town. Had the abuse done to Elisha been the first offence of that kind, it is probable that it would not have been so severely punished. But mocking the messengers of the Lord, and misusing the prophets, was one of the crying sins of Israel, as we find, Ch2 36:16. Now here we have, 1. An instance of that sin. The little children of Bethel, the boys and girls that were playing in the streets (notice, it is likely, having come to the town of his approach), went out to meet him, not with their hosannas, as they ought to have done, but with their scoffs; they gathered about him and mocked him, as if he had been a fool, or one fit to make sport with. Among other things that they used to jeer the prophets with, they had this particular taunt for him, Go up, thou bald head, go up, thou bald head. It is a wicked thing to reproach persons for their natural infirmities or deformities; it is adding affliction to the afflicted; and, if they are as God made them, the reproach reflects upon him. But this was such a thing as scarcely deserved to be called a blemish, and would never have been turned to his reproach if they had had any thing else to reproach him with. It was his character as a prophet that they designed to abuse. The honour God had crowned him with should have been sufficient to cover his bald head and protect him from their scoffs. They bade him go up, perhaps reflecting on the assumption of Elijah: "Thy master," they say, "has gone up; why dost not thou go up after him? Where is the fiery chariot? When shall we be rid of thee too?" These children said as they were taught; they had learned of their idolatrous parents to call foul names and give bad language, especially to prophets. These young cocks, as we say, crowed after the old ones. Perhaps their parents did at this time send them out and set them on, that, if possible, they might keep the prophet out of their town. 2. A specimen of that ruin which came down upon Israel at last, for misusing God's prophets, and of which this was intended to give them fair warning. Elisha heard their taunts, a good while, with patience; but at length the fire of holy zeal for God was kindled in his breast by the continued provocation, and he turned and looked upon them, to try if a grave and severe look would put them out of countenance and oblige them to retire, to see if he could discern in their faces any marks of ingenuousness; but they were not ashamed, neither could they blush; and therefore he cursed them in the name of the Lord, both imprecated and denounced the following judgment, not in personal revenge for the indignity done to himself, but as the mouth of divine justice to punish the dishonour done to God. His summons was immediately obeyed. two she-bears (bears perhaps robbed of their whelps) came out of an adjacent wood, and presently killed forty-two children, Kg2 2:24. Now in this, (1.) The prophet must be justified, for he did it by divine impulse. Had the curse come from any bad principle God would not have said Amen to it. We may think it would have been better to have called for two rods for the correction of these children than two bears for the destruction of them. But Elisha knew, by the Spirit, the bad character of these children. He knew what a generation of vipers those were, and what mischievous enemies they would be to God's prophets if they should live to be men, who began so early to be abusive to them. He intended hereby to punish the parents and to make them afraid of God's judgments. (2.) God must be glorified as a righteous God, that hates sin, and will reckon for it, even in little children. Let the wicked wretched brood make our flesh tremble for fear of God. Let little children be afraid of speaking wicked words, for God notices what they say,. Let them not mock any for their defects in mind or body, but pity them rather; especially let them know that it is at their peril if they jeer God's people or ministers, and scoff at any for well-doing. Let parents, that would have comfort in their children, train them up well, and do their utmost betimes to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts; for, as bishop Hall says, "In vain do we look for good from those children whose education we have neglected; and in vain do we grieve for those miscarriages which our care might have prevented." Elisha comes to Bethel and fears not the revenges of the bereaved parents; God, who bade him do what he did, he knew would bear him out. Thence he goes to Mount Carmel (Kg2 2:25), where it is probable there was a religious house fit for retirement and contemplation. Thence he returned to Samaria, where, being a public place, this father of the prophets might be most serviceable. Bishop Hall observes here, "That he can never be a profitable seer who is either always or never alone."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv19–22And he said, bring me a new cruse, and…
And he said, bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein,.... One that had never been used, that it might not be thought that the virtue was owing to anything that had been, or was, put into it:
and they brought it to him; the pot with the salt in it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv19–21Barren - Either it was so originally, at least,…
Barren - Either it was so originally, at least, as to that part of the city where the college of the prophets was: or, it became so from the curse of God inflicted upon it, when Hiel rebuilt it. However, upon the prophet's care, it grew exceeding fruitful, and therefore is commended for its fertility in later writers.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv19, 21Verse 19. The water is naught, and the ground…
Verse 19. The water is naught, and the ground barren.] The barrenness of the ground was the effect of the badness of the water.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv19–212Ki 2:19. The water is naught, and the ground…
2Ki 2:19. The water is naught, and the ground barren — Either it was so originally, at least as to that part of the city where the college of the prophets was; or it became so from the curse of God inflicted upon it, either when Joshua first took the city, or when Hiel rebuilt it: however, upon the prophet’s care it became exceeding fruitful, and therefore is commended for its fertility by later writers. Thus the ministers of the gospel should endeavour to make every place they come to some way or other the better for them; labouring to sweeten bitter spirits, and to make barren souls fruitful by a due application of God’s word.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv19–21The water is naught - i. e. “bad.”
The water is naught - i. e. “bad.”
And the ground barren - Translate “and the land apt to miscarry.” The stream was thought to be the cause of untimely births, abortions, and the like, among the cattle, perhaps also among the people, that drank of it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv19–21Barren, owing to the salt or bituminous waters. Some…
Barren, owing to the salt or bituminous waters. Some think that they were muddy and of a loathsome smell. The fountain is still to be seen very abundant and excellent, watering the plain on the west of the city. Its source is about two miles distant on the road to Jerusalem. (Maundrell, p. 134.) (Calmet) --- Other parts of the environs were very fertile. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v20ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS. (Kg2 2:19-25)
ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS. (Kg2 2:19-25)
Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein--The noxious qualities of the water could not be corrected by the infusion of salt--for, supposing the salt was possessed of such a property, a whole spring could not be purified by a dishful for a day, much less in all future time. The pouring in of the salt was a symbolic act with which Elisha accompanied the word of the Lord, by which the spring was healed [KEIL].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv19–21ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS OF JERICHO, 2Ki_2:19-22.
ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS OF JERICHO, 2Ki_2:19-22.
As we see in the translation of Elijah a type of Christ’s ascension into heaven, so may we also see in the subsequent career of Elisha a type of the holy Apostolic Church, clothed with the spirit of the Master, and working even greater miracles than he.
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19. The men of the city — Prominent citizens of the place. Perhaps, as Bahr says, they were the elders of the city who thus applied to Elisha, and their action shows that he had their confidence. As he had now attained the highest eminence in the prophetic office, they, possibly, expected that he might be able to rid their city of its plague.
Situation of this city is pleasant — Travellers all agree in representing the site of Jericho as exceedingly beautiful.
The water is naught — Bad, harmful.
The ground barren — Better, The land suffers from abortions, or causes untimely births. הארצ, the land, refers here to the inhabitants, rather than the soil, and 2Ki_2:21 shows that the bad waters caused the land to suffer from abortions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv19–2219–22. Elisha heals the noxious water at Jericho (Not…
19–22. Elisha heals the noxious water at Jericho (Not in Chronicles)
19. And the men of the city] These are the ordinary inhabitants. From the sons of the prophets they would gather that Elisha was now gifted with the spirit and power of Elijah. The situation of Jericho, near the passage of the Jordan, was such as to attract a considerable population after it was rebuilt, and for the sake of the prosperity which came to them in other ways they were content to dwell in such an unwholesome place. Now however they saw a hope of benefit and with this thought they came to Elisha. ‘It is good making use of a prophet while we have him’ (Bp Hall).
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I [R.V. we] pray thee] The Hebrew is a mere interjection. The change in the English is justified because the petitioners were numerous.
the situation of this city is pleasant] Jericho was a part of that country which, in Gen_13:10, is compared to ‘the garden of the Lord’.
the water is naught] This word is of frequent occurrence in the English of the 16th century in the sense of ‘bad’. So too ‘naughty’. Cf. Jer_24:2, ‘naughty figs’. And for ‘naught’ cf. Shakes. As You Like It, I. 2. 68, ‘The mustard was naught’. Much Ado, v. I. 157, ‘If I do not carve most curiously, say my knife’s naught’.
and the ground barren] R.V. and the land miscarrieth. The R.V. is explained in a margin ‘casteth her fruit’. The evil effect was clearly in consequence of the hurtful water, for the healing of the spring is to bring a remedy for the other evils. It seems therefore that the water was such as caused the trees to shed their fruit prematurely and the cattle which fed on the herbage which it watered to cast their young untimely, and it may be that the mischief extended also to the human beings who drank thereof.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv19–21(19) The men of the city.—Not “the sons of…
(19) The men of the city.—Not “the sons of the prophets,” but the citizens make this trial of the prophet’s miraculous powers.
The situation of this (Heb., the) city is pleasant (Heb., good).—Jericho, “the city of palms” (Deu_34:3), had a fine position, “rising like an oasis from a broad plain of sand.”
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The water is naught.—Heb., bad. “Naught” i.e., “naughty.”
And the ground barren.—2Ki_2:21 (“from thence”) shows that the waters, not the soil, were the cause of the evil complained of. “The ground,” or rather, the land is here put for its inhabitants, including the lower animals; and what is said is either “the country bears dead births,” or, “the country has many miscarriages” (pi’el may be either factitive or intensive). (Comp. Exo_23:26; Mal_3:11.) The use of different waters is said to have good and bad effects upon the functions of conception and parturition (not “a popular superstition,” as Reuss suggests). “The ground is barren,” or unfruitful, is therefore an incorrect translation.
(19-25) Elisha, as prophet, heals the waters of Jericho, and curses the scorners of Beth-el.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv19–22Vers. 19-25. The historian passes to the record of…
Vers. 19-25. The historian passes to the record of some of Elisha"s minor miracles, belonging to the time whereof he is writing, and helping to explain the position of dignity and respect which he is found to occupy in the next chapter (vers. 11-14). The miracles showed his twofold power, both to confer benefits and to punish. And the men of the cityi.e. the inhabitants of Jericho; probably the civic authorities, having heard of the recent miracle said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth. According to the unanimous voice of travelers, the situation of Jericho (now Eriha) is charming. Lying on a broad plain which is traversed by an abundant river, at the point where one of the main wadys debouched from the Judaean upland upon the low country, shaded by groves of palm trees (Deu_34:3) and fig-mulberries, (Luk_19:4) the air scented with aromatic shrubs, opobalsam, myroba-lanum, and the like, facing the Orient sun, and commanding a wide prospect both across and also up and down the Ghor, with the mountains of Moab in the distance, Jericho was, no doubt, even before the miracle of Elisha, a "pleasant" place. But there was one drawbackthe water is naught, and the ground barren. Bitter and brackish springs, of which there are many in the Jordan valley, gushed forth from the foot of the mountains, and formed rivulets, which ran across the plain towards the Jordan, not diffusing health and fertility, but rather disease and barrenness. Untimely births, abortions, and the like prevailed among the cattle which were fed in the neighborhood, perhaps even among the inhabitants of the locality, and were attributed to the bitter springs, which made the land "miscarrying" (ajteknoumenh, LXX). It was the prayer of the men of Jericho that Elisha would remove this inconvenience.
Vers. 19-22.
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The waters healed.
A beautiful city was Jericho. It stood in the midst of a small but luxuriant plain. Fig trees and palm trees, and wheat, aromatic flowers and plants, grew there in great profusion. A few miles distant rolled the river Jordan, "the most interesting river on earth," and in the background lay the rugged hills of Quarantana. Jericho, too, had a famous history. It was the first city to which the Israelitish spies came when they set out to view the land of promise. It was the first city taken by the Israelites, when its walls fell down as they were compassed about by the priests and people of Israel. Five hundred years after that its walls were rebuilt, in the days of Ahab, by Hiel the Bethelite, who suffered the judgment pronounced by God against the man that would rebuild them. (1Ki_16:34) Yet despite their history and their beautiful surroundings, the inhabitants of Jericho were not happy. The city, rich in so many natural advantages, lacked one of the most important of all necessities of a large town pure water. The water was diseased or bad, and its badness seems to have affected even the fertile land. The men of the city tell Elisha that the water is bad and the ground barren. (The word translated "barren" really means in the original that the ground cast its fruit or did not bring its fruit to perfection.) Beautiful Jericho with its bad water is like many another place on earth. Many a city is fair without, but all corrupt within. Many a mansion, outwardly gorgeous, is full of wretchedness within. Many a man who presents a smiling face to the world has the canker of a guilty conscience gnawing at his heart. Those who are wrong and want to get set right may find some thoughts of comfort and hope in the passage before us. It points us to Jesus, the only One who can set all right and keep all right. "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.
Notice here SOME WATERS THAT NEED HEALING, AND CHRIST"S POWER TO HEAL THEM.
1. There are waters of sin. Men may dispute about the universality of the Deluge in the days of Noah. But here is a flood about whose universality there is no doubt. The Gulf-stream has a well-defined course. But the stream of sin is everywhere. Certain forms of disease are peculiar to certain countries. But the disease of sin is found in every land.
(1) There are corrupt currents in our national life. Our political parties are far from being what they ought to be. Compared with those concerned in the government of other countries, perhaps our statesmen may stand high. But compared with the requirements of God"s Law, compared with the standard which ought to be required of those who would legislate for a Christian nation, how far short they come! We may thank God for a Christian queen, but who will say we have a Christian legislature? There are Christian men in it, no doubt. But, alas I what an absence of Christian principle in many of the representatives of our people! Some of them notorious atheists. Some of them trampling on the most sacred laws of God and man; and yet what a mockery! the professed lawmakers of the nation. What laws in the interests of the Sunday observance, in the interests of morality, in the interests of sobriety and temperance, could we expect from lawgivers who care for none of these things? Truly our political life needs to be purified. We need a reformed parliament in the highest and best sense.
(2) There are corrupt currents in our social life. Perhaps, after all, our legislature is but a fair reflection of our national life. No community that was decidedly Christian would return an avowed atheist as its representative. No community that had a high standard of morality would return men notorious for their wickedness. And then the condition of the press also affords an index to the state of public religion and morality. What vile rubbish is circulated in the form of the novel! What corrupting abominations in the shape of newspapers issue from the London press! The same demoralization and degradation which in heathen lands and in ancient Israel were wrought by the worship of idols, are now being wrought by the circulation of bad literature. The immense circulation which some of the worst of these publications have reached affords an unhappy indication of a low standard of public morality.
(3) There are corrupt currents in our commercial life. Those who are engaged in business know well that it is so. Customers too often attempting to defraud those who supply them with what they need. Sellers too often attempting to defraud those who buy their goods. Those who are in the employment of others robbing them with one hand while they take their pay with the other. There is a curse upon all ill-gotten gain, that all the excuses of the world, all the benedictions of the wicked, never can undo. Wealth gotten by dishonesty or fraud, wealth gotten at the temporal, moral, or spiritual expense of others, is a foul stream, that will bring its blight upon the whole life, and leave it smeared with slime.
2. How are these corrupt currents to be cleansed? How is this foul stream to be purified? Ah! there is only One who can do it. Laws will not do it. Good resolutions will not do it. Jesus is the great Healer. He pours in the fresh stream of water of life upon the diseased currents of the world.
(1) He works through his Word. As Elisha cast the salt into the bad water of Jericho, so Jesus casts the purifying influence of the gospel into the polluted stream of human life. He brings its influence to bear upon the conscience and the heart, alarming men by the fear of death and the terrors of the judgment, and winning them by the still small voice of kindness and of love.
(2) He works also through his people. Christians are to exercise a purifying influence upon the world"s life. "Ye are the salt of the earth," are the words of Jesus. The full force of this statement is only realized when we remember that in the natural world salt is the great antidote against corruption. To withhold salt from a prisoner used to be, in the dark ages, the most cruel way of bringing about a slow and gradual death, and that under its most loathsome form. Hence it is that the ocean is, as it has been called, "the chemical bath of the world." It is the salt that is in it which is its chief preservative against corruption, and not only so, but which renders it such a source of life and health. Now, just what the salt is to the sea, and what the salt was to the waters of Jericho, Christians are to be to the life of the world. They are not to lose their savor by not exercising an influence upon the world. Then the world is pretty sure to exercise an influence upon them. No; but they are to carry with them into all the relationships of life the teachings of the gospel and the Spirit of Christ. Here is the practical work which Christians have to do in reference to the corrupt currents of which we have been speaking. Every grain of salt exercises an influence, small though it may be. Exercise what influence you have as citizens to secure that public positions shall be filled with Christian men. Resist the spread of impure and vicious literature, and counteract it so far as you can by helping to circulate books and newspapers and magazines of a healthy and moral tone. Let your influence in business and in social relationship be on the side of Christ and purity and truth.
1. Is there one in whose heart and life the stream of sin is still flowing unchecked and unchanged? What have those waters of sin done for you that you thought so pleasant to the taste? Have they never been bitter waters? Have you never suffered the penalty of sin"s consequences? Have you never startled at the whisper of an accusing conscience? Has not sin left its blight upon your life? Have you not found, like the men of Jericho, that though the outward surroundings of your life are pleasant, yet the current of your desires and pleasures is only bringing evil with it, and your life is barren of any good or useful fruit? If you think, as some do, that you can yet make it all right by your own exertions, you are making a great mistake. You can never undo the past. Christ alone can give you forgiveness through his blood. Go to him and ask his mercy. Go to him and ask his help to overcome temptation, to conquer old habits, to get rid of old associates. How happy the moment when you hear the Savior of the world, the Son of God, your future Judge, saying to you, "Thy sins be forgiven thee; go in peace"! What moment in the sinner"s experience on earth can compare with that when he bears a voice from heaven saying, "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed the waters"?
2. But even Gods people sometimes need a healing of the waters too. The Christian, too, needs a purifying from sin"s corrupting influence. Let the salt of the Divine Word be freely used by God"s children, that it may exercise its purifying, preserving influence upon their spiritual life. Our lives would be far holier, far purer, far happier, far more fruitful than they are, if we kept our minds more in contact with the influence of the Word of God.
3. And then there are the bitter waters of sorrow. Trial and suffering will always be bitter to the taste. But he who is the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" knows how to sweeten the bitter cup. Many a tried and troubled Christian has experienced that, "though no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." Many a time our most bitter trial proves to be our sweetest blessing. We fear as we enter into the cloud, but we see a new vision of Jesus there, and before all is over we learn to say, "Master, it is good for us to be here." The salt of God"s Word, here also, has power to purify the diseased waters of unbelief and to sweeten the hitter waters of affliction. In all our troubles we may hear the voice of Jesus saying, I have healed the waters.
4. To every one who has experienced the healing power of Jesus the exhortation may be givenBe a sweetener of life for others. Is there strife between neighbors, between brethren, between fellow-Christians? Don"t do anything to embitter it. Rather seek to be at peace and to cultivate peace with all men. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Are there persons known to you in poverty. Try to sweeten life for them by giving them a little of your comforts. Are there young persons, lonely, and far from home and friends? Try to sweeten life for them by a little kindness and attention. Are there some known to you who are going down the broad way to destruction? Give them some message from God"s Word, spoken in kindness, that may help, as the salt at Jericho, to purify the muddy current of their life. Learn of Jesus how to do good to others. And though you may but cast in the salt into life"s bitter waters, he will bless your efforts, and you will hear him say, "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed the waters. C.H.I.
Vers. 19-22.
The healing of the spring.
This first miracle is a fitting introduction to in some respects a symbol of the whole ministry of Elisha. In contrast with his predecessor, Elisha was a gentle, beneficent power in Israel. His miracles, like those of Christ, were, with two exceptions only (in this like Christ also), miracles of mercy, not of judgment. He is the "still small voice" coming after the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire. (1Ki_19:11, 1Ki_19:12) He is as Melancthon to Elijah"s Luther; we may even say, with reverence, as the "Son of man" to Elijah"s John the Baptist. Unlike Elijah, he is not a child of the desert, but a man of the city. He came "eating and drinking". (Mat_11:19) He mixed with the people; lived a homely life; was the friend and counselor of kings. Of all this, his first deed of mercy is the image.
I THE REBUILT CITY AND THE UNHEALED SPRING.
1. The city and its curse. The city was Jericho. After the curse pronounced on it by Joshua, (Jos_6:26) it had lain in ruins till the reign of Ahab, when it was rebuilt by Hiel the Bethelite, at the cost of his eldest and youngest sons" lives. (1Ki_16:34)
2. The unhealed spring. The city was rebuilt, hut the spring on which its prosperity then, as ever since, depended, remained unhealed. The situation of the city was pleasant, but the water was bad, and the laud "miscarried," i.e. the water had a deleterious effect on those with child.
3. The heart and its issues. How striking an image is this rebuilt city, with its unhealed spring, of godless civilizations, founded on self-will and defiance of God"s counsel, (Gen_4:17) often stately and imposing, yet ending in vanity, because no means exist to cure the spring of the corrupt human heart! "Of republican Athens, of imperial Rome, it might well be said, "The city was pleasant." In both there was learning, genius, high civilization, the cultivation of the fine arts to an extent that has made the Elgin marbles, for example, the wonder of the world. But "the water was naught, and the ground was barren," because there was the absence of true religion. No country whatever can in the highest sense prosper without it" (Revelation T.H. Howat). Politics, literature, art, science, material civilization, will dwindle and decay unless a pure stream can be made to flow from the people" s heart; for "out of it are the issues of life". (Pro_4:23)
II THE PROPHET"S HEALING OF THE SPRING. The case of the city of Jericho was brought under the notice of Elisha by the men of the city a lesson to us not to fail to improve our spiritual opportunities.
1. The means of cure. The means by which Elisha effected the cure of the unwholesome waters wore exceedingly simple. He obtained "a new cruse new, and therefore free from all defilement, and in this was put somesalt. The salt appears here as the symbol of what is uncorrupt and purifying. There lay in it no natural virtue to heal the water a circumstance which made the miracle more conspicuous.
1. The Agent in the cure. In casting the salt into the spring, Elisha spoke in the name of the Lord, and attributed, as was right, all the power to him. "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters." The miracle looks back to an earlier wonder that of the healing of the bitter waters at Marah, where God declared, "I am the Lord that healeth thee". (Exo_15:26) One act of mercy lays the foundation for expecting a second.
2. The effect of the cure. There was not to be from thence (the spring) any more death or barrenness. The result of Elisha"s word was that "the waters were healed unto this day." "Down to the present hour all travelers to Palestine Robinson, Dean Stanley, Professor Porter speak in glowing terms of the cool, sweet, and pleasant waters of the "Fountain of Elisha." The soil is extensively cultivated. Sugar-yielding canes are plentiful. Fig trees abound on all sides" (Howat). All which things may again be interpreted as a parable. The gospel is the new cruse, and in it is the healing salt the word of truth which, cast into the diseased spring of the human heart, heals and purifies its waters; yet is the effect not wrought by the natural action of the truth, apart from the Divine and omnipotent operation of the Holy Spirit, who works through human means, yet is himself the efficient Agent in all conversion. The work is of God, and the effects are incalculable. "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". (2Co_5:17) The most marvelous influence is exerted by Christianity on the spring, not only of private, but of public and social life; and State as well as Church is blessed. Christianity is the salvation of peoples the source of true national as well as of individual well-being. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v19And the men of the city said unto Elisha.
2Ki_2:19-22
And the men of the city said unto Elisha.
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The bitter waters sweetened-Elisha the healer
Jericho, a city of high antiquity, was one of the most important in the land of Palestine. Its walls were so broad, that at least one person--Rahab--had her house upon them. Silver and gold were so abundant that one man--Achan--could stealthily appropriate 200 shekels. Between the city and the far East, there had existed for years, before its occupation by the children of Israel, a wide and extensive commerce, of which the goodly Babylonish garment, purloined in the act of dishonesty just mentioned, may be accepted as proof. The New Testament notices of Jericho are full of interest. The lonely limestone rocks behind the city formed the scene of our Lords temptation. It was down the banks of the Jordan, at Jericho, the Master had previously gone to be baptized. Three times in Jericho did our Blessed Lord give sight to the blind. Once in Jericho, the descendant of Rahab the hostess accepted the hospitality of Zaccheus the publican. For five hundred and fifty years a doom had lain upon Jericho. She had been the first city to resist the advance of Israel under the leadership of Joshua. She was therefore not only condemned to fall before the captain of the Lords host, and amid the much ceremony with which we are all familiar--the annihilation was accompanied with a terrible curse. The man who ventured to rebuild Jericho was to lay the foundation in his first-born, and in his youngest son to set up the gates. Josephus describes the district in his day as quite a fairyland, with its palms and roses, and fragrant balsams and thickly dotted pleasure grounds--a perfect garden and paradise of Eastern beauty. At the period of the text, however, things were very different. The spring was still suffering from the old doom pronounced against Jericho, it was noxious, unfit for drinking, prejudicial to the soil: The men of the city said unto Elisha --who was at this time residing here in the sacred college--Behold. I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my Lord seeth, but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
1. The Gospel is a new cruse for the world. Christianity comes not in the oldness of the letter and the law, but in the newness of the Spirit. The Gospel, too, begins at the origin of the evil--the heart--that is the spring of the waters. What is needed is a clean heart and a right spirit; the poison is at the fountain-head, and must be dealt with there. Once again, like the salt in the cruse, how unlikely and insufficient at first sight the simple Gospel appears for the worlds conversion. The words with which Elisha accompanied tile casting in of the salt, and the consequent working of the miracle, are very noticeable: Thus saith the Lord, exclaimed the prophet, I have healed these waters. How the change was effected, we cannot tell. Means were employed to show that God in His greatest works has a place for the instrumentality of man. Elisha cast in the salt.
2. In the redemption of a lost world, God has room for the energies of believing men. As ye go, preach. Sow beside all waters. But God is the grand agent. The power of the healing waters comes from the Great Physician. The new cruse and the salt in it, both are Gods sufficient honour for poor sinful men to be their administrators--let God be All in All. There was no mistaking the result of the Divine interposition by the hand of Elisha in relation to the bitter waters of Jericho. Thus saith the Lord, there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
3. The figure is that of the Gospel again, both in its influence on society at large and the individual believing heart. Put the new cruse and the salt once really in, and a new heart leads to a new life, and the world at large, once its springs are really touched, feels it through all its tributaries and ramifications. What has Christianity not done for the social life of man? It has abolished polygamy. It has put honour on the marriage tie. It has created lazar-houses for the sick, and asylums for the penitent profligate. What has it not done for the cause of civil liberty? It has struck the fetters from the negro. It has proclaimed freedom of conscience. What has Christianity not done for the commercial enterprise and the outward prosperity of the world? The missionary is the pioneer of the merchant. (H. J. Howat.)
Cleansing the fountain
Elisha began his work as a leader of the church of his time by a deed of mercy. Elisha made no claim that he had healed the waters himself, and he did not pretend that there was any power in the salt to work the change. He was simply Gods minister, and the salt was used simply as a symbol of Gods presence in the cleansing of the fountain. We have in this cleansing of the fountain suggested to us: that a mans surroundings may be very pleasant, and his temporal circumstances such as to cause the envy of his neighbours, and yet his life may be embittered and his career utterly despoiled because of some malady of the spirit that takes away his peace, and ruins his happiness. Elisha assumed that it would be useless to change the water in the stream, for the evil fountain left unchanged would continue to pour forth its poisoned waters. So he went to the spring, and cast in the healing salt at the fountain-h cad. We are reminded of the words of Jesus where He declares that A good man, out of the good treasure of heart, bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil mare out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And again our Saviour says, For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: and He adds, These are the things which defile a man. The poisonous stream of conduct is poured forth because the heart is evil. It is one of Aristotles axioms that the goodness or badness of anything is determined from its principle: hence it is that we call that a good tree that hath a good root, that a good house that hath a good foundation, that good money that is made of good metal, that good cloth that is made of good wool; but a good man is not so called because he has good hands, a good head, good words, a good voice, and all the lineaments of his body similar and composed, as it were, in a geometrical symmetry, but because he has a good heart, good affections, good principles of grace, whereby all his faculties, both of body and of soul, are always in a readiness to do that which is right. Plutarch tells us that Apollodorus dreamed one night that the Scythians took him and tortured him, and as they were putting him to death in the boiling cauldron, his heart said unto him, It is I that have brought thee to this sorrow; I am the cause of all the mischief that hath befallen thee. And it is certainly true that the heart of man is the forge and the anvil where all the actions of his life are hammered out. You must give your whole heart to God and obey Him in every way, or else all pretensions to religion are hypocrisy. The secret of Christianitys great power in the world is in this transformation of the heart. Elisha made sure that the water in the stream would be clean and pure, by cleansing the fountain. Christ makes sure that the new life of the man who truly comes to Him shall be good, by cleansing the heart. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
Elisha healing the water, and the means he used
What a true picture is here delineated of things on earth! What a living sample of its present state! Look where you will, go where you please, there is something pleasant and something unpleasant. May we not hereby learn how sin has defaced this fair creation, so that nowhere can perfection be seen. And now, therefore, the Lord will bring good out of evil. He will make this city a resting-place for his prophets.
I. In what part of the waters did Elisha exert his power? It was the spring. This conveys a deep spiritual truth. We can easily perceive that, had Elishas attention been directed to the water only a few yards from the fountain-head, his labour would have been for nought. As fast as he sweetened the running water, the bitter fountain would still pour out its venom. But we do not so readily see and allow that, except the corruption of human nature be attacked at the fountain-head, the heart, all other remedial measures can only work a passing effect, since the bitter stream of innate depravity will still run out.
II. The means Elisha used. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, etc. Salt is a conspicuous article in Scripture. It was a pledge of fidelity, and is so still in the East. If you once cat salt with an Arab, his life is pledged for your life, Some few grains of salt and bread pass the lips, and then the words are used--By this salt and bread I will not betray thee; and in the Book of Chronicles we read--The Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David by a covenant of salt (2Ch_13:5). Salt was also a sign cf maintenance. Thus, in the Book of Ezra, the adversaries of Judah, in stating their case to Artaxerxes the king, say, Now because we have maintenance from the kings palace (Ezr_4:14), which is literally, as rendered in the margin, because we are salted with the salt of the palace--i.e., supported at the kings charge. When a native of the East means to say he is fed by any one, he uses the expression, I eat such an ones salt. Salt was also a constant accompaniment of the ceremonial law. Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt, are the words of Jesus; and it is in this sense that we find our Lord and His apostles using salt figuratively for grace, saying, If the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? (Mar_9:49; Mar_9:1). Thus the means used by Elisha to heal the waters point to another deep spiritual truth--they remind every one of this inquiry, Have ye salt in yourselves? Is grace working in your heart, mortifying your evil and corrupt affections, and inclining you daily to exercise all virtue and godliness of living? But there is another feature in the means here used which may convey a useful hint--they were contrary to nature, contrary to any means that man would have employed to produce a like effect. Salt, we know, renders water bitter and nauseous instead of sweet and pleasant to drink, and naturally, therefore, the salt would have served but to increase the brackishness of the fountain. The fact, then, of Elisha using a remedy opposed to the effect wanted, not only went to make the miracle more evident, more palpable, but it also confirmed a stumbling truth--namely, that grace and nature are contrary the one to the other--that the ways of God (so far as seen in this fallen world) and the ways of man in curing an evil are altogether different; both will use means, but the means which it pleases Jehovah to use are not those which man would choose or even think of. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord (Isa_55:8). Surely these opposites--these unlikely means fetching a good end--are meant to teach us something. What can it be? They were intended to humble man, and to bring him into submission to the righteousness of God. God chooses foolish things of the world, or things foolish in the worlds sight, to confound the wise (1Co_1:27). (G. L. Glyn.)
The pleasant and the painful
I. Life as it is. That is, with the pleasant and the painful associated. Now, this is a picture of every mans life.
1. It is so materially. How much we have in this material world that is pleasant to our senses, and healthful and strengthening to our bodies; but amidst all there is the painful. There are malarial swamps, pestilential winds, roaring earthquakes, and poisonous minerals and plants, etc. etc.
2. It is so intellectually. There is much in the region of intellect that is pleasant--bubbling springs of thought, tempting regions of inquiry, bright visions and hypotheses bespangling the heavens. But with all this there is much that is painful--dense clouds of ignorance hanging over the scene, hideous doubts howling in the ear, terrific chasms yawning at the feet.
3. It is so socially. How much in social life is pleasant--the friendly grasps, the affectionate greetings, the sweet amenities of those with whom we meet and mingle. But with all this there is much that is painful--social unchastities, hypocrisies, frauds, insolences.
4. It is so religiously. The religious, where the idea of God fills the horizon, there is the infinitely pleasant But in this wonderful region how much of the painful do we experience, what temptation to doubt, what infidelity and blasphemy often assail us, and bring over us the horror of a great darkness.
II. Life as it might become. The painful and the pleasant separated. Elisha here separates the painful from the pleasant. Two remarks here.
I. The separation was a happy one. He did not take away the pleasant from the painful, but the painful from the pleasant.
2. The separation was a supernatural one. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, etc. The Gospel is the true cruse for separating the painful from the pleasant in the experience of human life. Thank God for the pleasant in your life. Seek earnestly that Gospel cruse whose salt alone can rid your life of all that is deleterious and distressing. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v192Ki_2:20. A new cruse—“A symbol of the renewing power…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2Ki_2:20. A new cruse—“A symbol of the renewing power of the Word of God” (Keil).
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2Ki_2:21. Death or barren land; death or abortion.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_2:19-22
THE HEALED WATERS A SYMBOL OF THE EFFICACY OF THE GOSPEL
It is a proof of the confidence Elisha has already won that the dignitaries of the city came to consult him about a matter of great public concern; they believed he could cure the malefic waters. How potent is the influence of a good man! It is in times of distress and difficulty that his neighbours discover his real value. The transactions related in this paragraph may be used to symbolize the power of the Gospel to heal the poisoned waters of humanity. Observe—
I. Humanity enjoys many privileges. “The situation is pleasant.” All travellers agree in representing the site of Jericho as exceedingly beautiful; its external surroundings were all that could be desired. So man’s position in the world has its peculiar advantages. Scenes of beauty and of grandeur meet his gaze in every direction. He is rich with the wealthy accumulations of the historic past. He is surrounded by living examples of noble enterprise and chivalry. He is on the current of an ever-advancing civilization. Opportunities of usefulness open invitingly at every step, and there is everything to call out and sustain his best energies. Life on earth is a grand opportunity which, wisely used, will be fruitful in everlasting good.
II. Humanity is infected with a dangerous and fatal malady. “The water is naught, and the ground barren.” In the fairest prospect there is some deformity; in the clearest and brightest crystal we may detect a flaw. So the beauties of Jericho were shadowed by the sufferings and disappointment of its inhabitants. The water was bad, and the land unfruitful. So is it with man. The springs of his being are poisoned with sin. Every part of his nature is tainted: “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” The fatal malady infects every stream, disorders every project, blackens every prospect, chills every aspiration, withers every hope. The soil of the heart is barren, and every attempt to bring forth the fruit of righteousness is abortive.
III. The Gospel provides the power to heal humanity of its malady.
1. It is a Divine provision. “Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.” The healing power was not in Elisha, or in the cruse or the salt; but in God. So the new cruse of the Gospel, and the salt of Christian doctrine, would be ineffectual to heal humanity of its evils without the permeating presence and active power of God. We should be careful, like Elisha, to give to God all the glory of His own work. Man cannot cure himself, any more than the broken pitcher can repair itself.
2. It is efficacious “So the waters were healed.” The prophet cast the salt into the spring of the waters. The fountain being healed, all its streams participated in the cure. So the Gospel begins its restorative work in the heart, the fountain head of human life. True reformation should ever begin at the source of evil; it will then be thorough and permanent. “If God cast into the fountain of our hearts but one cruseful of the salt of His spirit, we are whole; no thought can pass between the receipt and the remedy.” If we have not streams of Divine blessing in abundance, we may have enough to refresh, to heal, and fertilize.
If not full showers of rain, yet, Lord,
A little pearly dew afford;
A little, if it come from thee,
Will be of great avail to me.
LESSONS:—
1. The gospel has a remedy for every evil.
2. The remedy must be prayerfully sought.
3. Must be believingly applied.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_2:19-22. As we see in the translation of Elijah a type of Christ’s ascension into heaven, so may we also see in the subsequent career of Elisha a type of the holy apostolic church, clothed with the spirit of the Master, and working even greater miracles than he.
2Ki_2:19. The material facts thus combined and contrasted are very suggestive to the mind of spiritual conditions. The situation in which we stand is pleasant. While so many fair regions of the earth lie in spiritual darkness, the full and blessed light of God’s truth shines upon our habitations. We have the written word of truth—we have the uttered word of truth—one of the first sounds that entered our infant ears was that name which is above every name; and not a day passes in which, under some form or other, we may not see or hear the words of salvation. What situation could be more pleasant, more favourable to our spiritual progress? Surely our city stands upon the delectable mountain whence on any clear day we may have fair prospects of the goodly land that lies beyond the swelling Jordan. Yet, pleasant as all things seem, it is not well with us. “The ground is barren.”—Kitto.
—A crook in every lot.
1. True of the most pleasantly situated city.
2. Of the most highly favoured nation.
3. In the history of every individual life.
2Ki_2:20. The injurious property and effect was not taken from the water by the salt poured in; for even if the salt actually possessed this power, a whole spring could not be corrected by a single dish of salt, even for one day, much less for a longer time or for ever. The pouring in of the salt was a symbolic act with which Elisha accompanied the word of the Lord, by which alone the spring was healed. Salt, on account of its power of preserving from putrescence and decay, is the symbol of incorruptibility and of life removing death. The new dish was also a symbol of purity and inviolateness.—Keil.
2Ki_2:21. In a place where the spiritual fountains are poisoned, and the people receive to drink, from all the pulpits and school-teachers’ desks, not the water which streams forth unto eternal life, but the death-draught of that modern babble of deceit and falsehood, there is a more deadly curse upon the land than that which once lay upon the district of Jericho. May the Lord of Elisha raise up those who shall carry the healing salt also into these fountains.—Krummacher.
—Moral reformation.
1. Begins in the soul—“He went forth unto the spring of the waters.”
2. Is accomplished by human agency—“And cast the salt in there.”
3. Is a divine work—“Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.”
4. Is thorough and permanent—“There shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv19, 21The men of the city
The men of the city
"The leaders of the city"
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the situation of this city is pleasant
This means that the city is located in a good place. AT: "this city is in a good place" or "this city is in a good location" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
as my master can see
The men refer to Elisha here as "my master" to honor him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v202:20-22 Elisha used a new bowl (Deut 21:3) filled…
2:20-22 Elisha used a new bowl (Deut 21:3) filled with salt (Lev 2:13; Ezek 43:24) to symbolize calling upon God to purify the people and the environment. Elisha made it clear that the Lord, not he or the salt, had purified this water.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv19, 21 Or, killeth the inhabitants.
Or, killeth the inhabitants.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–22 2Ki 2:19 And the men of the city said…
2Ki 2:19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city [is] pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water [is] naught, and the ground barren.
Ver. 19. Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city, &c.] Say we so of such places, though never so pleasant, as have not the word and sacraments - those waters of life - purely and powerfully administered in them: and seek remedy.
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But the water is naught, and the ground barren.] Heb., Making to miscarry. The cause whereof was not either that ancient malediction of Joshua, or the neighbourhood of that noisome lake of Sodom, but the recent sins of the inhabitants, - see Psa 107:34, - and particularly Hiel’s presumption in rebuilding it. {1Ki 16:34}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Either it was so orignally, at least as to…
Either it was so orignally, at least as to that part of the city where the college of the prophets was, for it is not necessary to understand this of the whole territory; or it became so from the curse of God inflicted upon it, either when Joshua first took it, or afterwards when Hiel rebuilt it. Howsoever, upon the prophet’s care, it grew exceeding fruitful, and therefore is commended for its fertility by later writers.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v19 Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of…
Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of Elijah's spirit, that he wrought more miracles than Elijah. Some reckon them in number just double. Two are recorded in these verses - a miracle of mercy to Jericho and a miracle of judgment to Bethel, Psa 101:1.
I. Here is a blessing upon the waters of Jericho, which was effectual to heal them. Jericho was built in disobedience to a command, in defiance to a threatening, and at the expense of the lives of all the builder's children; yet, when it was built, it was not ordered to be demolished again, nor were God's prophets or people forbidden to dwell in it, but even within those walls that were built by iniquity we find a nursery of piety. Fools, they say, build houses for wise men to dwell in. Here the wealth of the sinner provided a habitation for the just. We find Christ at Jericho, Luk 19:1. Hither Elisha came, to confirm the souls of the disciples with a more particular account of Elijah's translation than their spies, who saw at a distance, could give them. Here he staid while the fifty men were searching for him. And, 1. The men of Jericho represented to him their grievance, Kg2 2:19. God's faithful prophets love to be employed; it is wisdom to make use of them during the little while that their light is with us. They had not applied to Elijah concerning the matter, perhaps because he was not so easy of access as Elisha was; but now, we may hope, by the influence of the divinity-school in their city, they were reformed. The situation was pleasant and afforded a good prospect; but they had neither wholesome water to drink nor fruitful soil to yield them food, and what pleasure could they take in their prospect? Water is a common mercy, which we should estimate by the greatness of the calamity which the want or unwholesomeness of it would be. Some think that it was not all the ground about Jericho that was barren and had bad water, but some one part only, and that where the sons of the prophets had their lodgings, who are here called the men of the city. 2. He soon redressed their grievance. Prophets should endeavour to make every place they come to, some way or other, the better for them, endeavouring to sweeten bitter spirits, and to make barren souls fruitful, by the due application of the word of God. Elisha will heal their waters; but, (1.) They must furnish him with salt in a new cruse, Kg2 2:20. If salt had been proper to season the water, yet what could so small a quantity do towards it and what the better for being in a new cruse? But thus those that would be helped must be employed and have their faith and obedience tried. God's works of grace are wrought, not by any operations of ours, but in observance of his institutions. (2.) He cast the salt into the spring of the waters, and so healed the streams and the ground they watered. Thus the way to reform men's lives is to renew their hearts; let those be seasoned with the salt of grace; for out of them are the issues of life. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good. Purify the heart and that will cleanse the hands. (3.) He did not pretend to do this by his own power, but in God's name: Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters. He is but the instrument, the channel through which God is pleased to convey this healing virtue. By doing them this kindness with a Thus saith the Lord, they would be made the more willing hereafter, to receive from him a reproof, admonition, or command, with the same preface. If, in God's name, he can help them, in God's name let him teach and rule them. Thus saith the Lord, out of Elisha's mouth, must, ever after, be of mighty force with them. (4.) The cure was lasting, and not for the present only: The waters were healed unto this day, Kg2 2:22. What God does shall be for ever, Ecc 3:14. When he, by his Spirit, heals a soul, there shall be no more death nor barrenness; the property is altered: what was useless and offensive becomes grateful and serviceable.
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II. Here is a curse upon the children of Bethel, which was effectual to destroy them; for it was not a curse causeless. At Bethel there was another school of prophets. Thither Elisha went next, in this his primary visitation, and the scholars there no doubt welcomed him with all possible respect, but the townsmen were abusive to him. One of Jeroboam's calves was at Bethel; this they were proud of, and fond of, and hated those that reproved them. The law did not empower them to suppress this pious academy, but we may suppose it was their usual practice to jeer the prophets as they went along the streets, to call them by some nickname or other, that they might expose them to contempt, prejudice their youth against them, and, if possible, drive them out of their town. Had the abuse done to Elisha been the first offence of that kind, it is probable that it would not have been so severely punished. But mocking the messengers of the Lord, and misusing the prophets, was one of the crying sins of Israel, as we find, Ch2 36:16. Now here we have, 1. An instance of that sin. The little children of Bethel, the boys and girls that were playing in the streets (notice, it is likely, having come to the town of his approach), went out to meet him, not with their hosannas, as they ought to have done, but with their scoffs; they gathered about him and mocked him, as if he had been a fool, or one fit to make sport with. Among other things that they used to jeer the prophets with, they had this particular taunt for him, Go up, thou bald head, go up, thou bald head. It is a wicked thing to reproach persons for their natural infirmities or deformities; it is adding affliction to the afflicted; and, if they are as God made them, the reproach reflects upon him. But this was such a thing as scarcely deserved to be called a blemish, and would never have been turned to his reproach if they had had any thing else to reproach him with. It was his character as a prophet that they designed to abuse. The honour God had crowned him with should have been sufficient to cover his bald head and protect him from their scoffs. They bade him go up, perhaps reflecting on the assumption of Elijah: "Thy master," they say, "has gone up; why dost not thou go up after him? Where is the fiery chariot? When shall we be rid of thee too?" These children said as they were taught; they had learned of their idolatrous parents to call foul names and give bad language, especially to prophets. These young cocks, as we say, crowed after the old ones. Perhaps their parents did at this time send them out and set them on, that, if possible, they might keep the prophet out of their town. 2. A specimen of that ruin which came down upon Israel at last, for misusing God's prophets, and of which this was intended to give them fair warning. Elisha heard their taunts, a good while, with patience; but at length the fire of holy zeal for God was kindled in his breast by the continued provocation, and he turned and looked upon them, to try if a grave and severe look would put them out of countenance and oblige them to retire, to see if he could discern in their faces any marks of ingenuousness; but they were not ashamed, neither could they blush; and therefore he cursed them in the name of the Lord, both imprecated and denounced the following judgment, not in personal revenge for the indignity done to himself, but as the mouth of divine justice to punish the dishonour done to God. His summons was immediately obeyed. two she-bears (bears perhaps robbed of their whelps) came out of an adjacent wood, and presently killed forty-two children, Kg2 2:24. Now in this, (1.) The prophet must be justified, for he did it by divine impulse. Had the curse come from any bad principle God would not have said Amen to it. We may think it would have been better to have called for two rods for the correction of these children than two bears for the destruction of them. But Elisha knew, by the Spirit, the bad character of these children. He knew what a generation of vipers those were, and what mischievous enemies they would be to God's prophets if they should live to be men, who began so early to be abusive to them. He intended hereby to punish the parents and to make them afraid of God's judgments. (2.) God must be glorified as a righteous God, that hates sin, and will reckon for it, even in little children. Let the wicked wretched brood make our flesh tremble for fear of God. Let little children be afraid of speaking wicked words, for God notices what they say,. Let them not mock any for their defects in mind or body, but pity them rather; especially let them know that it is at their peril if they jeer God's people or ministers, and scoff at any for well-doing. Let parents, that would have comfort in their children, train them up well, and do their utmost betimes to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts; for, as bishop Hall says, "In vain do we look for good from those children whose education we have neglected; and in vain do we grieve for those miscarriages which our care might have prevented." Elisha comes to Bethel and fears not the revenges of the bereaved parents; God, who bade him do what he did, he knew would bear him out. Thence he goes to Mount Carmel (Kg2 2:25), where it is probable there was a religious house fit for retirement and contemplation. Thence he returned to Samaria, where, being a public place, this father of the prophets might be most serviceable. Bishop Hall observes here, "That he can never be a profitable seer who is either always or never alone."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–22 And he said, bring me a new cruse, and…
And he said, bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein,.... One that had never been used, that it might not be thought that the virtue was owing to anything that had been, or was, put into it:
and they brought it to him; the pot with the salt in it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Barren - Either it was so originally, at least,…
Barren - Either it was so originally, at least, as to that part of the city where the college of the prophets was: or, it became so from the curse of God inflicted upon it, when Hiel rebuilt it. However, upon the prophet's care, it grew exceeding fruitful, and therefore is commended for its fertility in later writers.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19, 21 Verse 19. The water is naught, and the ground…
Verse 19. The water is naught, and the ground barren.] The barrenness of the ground was the effect of the badness of the water.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv19–21 2Ki 2:19. The water is naught, and the ground…
2Ki 2:19. The water is naught, and the ground barren — Either it was so originally, at least as to that part of the city where the college of the prophets was; or it became so from the curse of God inflicted upon it, either when Joshua first took the city, or when Hiel rebuilt it: however, upon the prophet’s care it became exceeding fruitful, and therefore is commended for its fertility by later writers. Thus the ministers of the gospel should endeavour to make every place they come to some way or other the better for them; labouring to sweeten bitter spirits, and to make barren souls fruitful by a due application of God’s word.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv19–21 The water is naught - i. e. “bad.”
The water is naught - i. e. “bad.”
And the ground barren - Translate “and the land apt to miscarry.” The stream was thought to be the cause of untimely births, abortions, and the like, among the cattle, perhaps also among the people, that drank of it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv19–21 Barren, owing to the salt or bituminous waters. Some…
Barren, owing to the salt or bituminous waters. Some think that they were muddy and of a loathsome smell. The fountain is still to be seen very abundant and excellent, watering the plain on the west of the city. Its source is about two miles distant on the road to Jerusalem. (Maundrell, p. 134.) (Calmet) --- Other parts of the environs were very fertile. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v20 ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS. (Kg2 2:19-25)
ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS. (Kg2 2:19-25)
Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein--The noxious qualities of the water could not be corrected by the infusion of salt--for, supposing the salt was possessed of such a property, a whole spring could not be purified by a dishful for a day, much less in all future time. The pouring in of the salt was a symbolic act with which Elisha accompanied the word of the Lord, by which the spring was healed [KEIL].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv19–21 ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS OF JERICHO, 2Ki_2:19-22.
ELISHA HEALS THE WATERS OF JERICHO, 2Ki_2:19-22.
As we see in the translation of Elijah a type of Christ’s ascension into heaven, so may we also see in the subsequent career of Elisha a type of the holy Apostolic Church, clothed with the spirit of the Master, and working even greater miracles than he.
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19. The men of the city — Prominent citizens of the place. Perhaps, as Bahr says, they were the elders of the city who thus applied to Elisha, and their action shows that he had their confidence. As he had now attained the highest eminence in the prophetic office, they, possibly, expected that he might be able to rid their city of its plague.
Situation of this city is pleasant — Travellers all agree in representing the site of Jericho as exceedingly beautiful.
The water is naught — Bad, harmful.
The ground barren — Better, The land suffers from abortions, or causes untimely births. הארצ, the land, refers here to the inhabitants, rather than the soil, and 2Ki_2:21 shows that the bad waters caused the land to suffer from abortions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19–22. Elisha heals the noxious water at Jericho (Not…
19–22. Elisha heals the noxious water at Jericho (Not in Chronicles)
19. And the men of the city] These are the ordinary inhabitants. From the sons of the prophets they would gather that Elisha was now gifted with the spirit and power of Elijah. The situation of Jericho, near the passage of the Jordan, was such as to attract a considerable population after it was rebuilt, and for the sake of the prosperity which came to them in other ways they were content to dwell in such an unwholesome place. Now however they saw a hope of benefit and with this thought they came to Elisha. ‘It is good making use of a prophet while we have him’ (Bp Hall).
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I [R.V. we] pray thee] The Hebrew is a mere interjection. The change in the English is justified because the petitioners were numerous.
the situation of this city is pleasant] Jericho was a part of that country which, in Gen_13:10, is compared to ‘the garden of the Lord’.
the water is naught] This word is of frequent occurrence in the English of the 16th century in the sense of ‘bad’. So too ‘naughty’. Cf. Jer_24:2, ‘naughty figs’. And for ‘naught’ cf. Shakes. As You Like It, I. 2. 68, ‘The mustard was naught’. Much Ado, v. I. 157, ‘If I do not carve most curiously, say my knife’s naught’.
and the ground barren] R.V. and the land miscarrieth. The R.V. is explained in a margin ‘casteth her fruit’. The evil effect was clearly in consequence of the hurtful water, for the healing of the spring is to bring a remedy for the other evils. It seems therefore that the water was such as caused the trees to shed their fruit prematurely and the cattle which fed on the herbage which it watered to cast their young untimely, and it may be that the mischief extended also to the human beings who drank thereof.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–21 (19) The men of the city.—Not “the sons of…
(19) The men of the city.—Not “the sons of the prophets,” but the citizens make this trial of the prophet’s miraculous powers.
The situation of this (Heb., the) city is pleasant (Heb., good).—Jericho, “the city of palms” (Deu_34:3), had a fine position, “rising like an oasis from a broad plain of sand.”
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The water is naught.—Heb., bad. “Naught” i.e., “naughty.”
And the ground barren.—2Ki_2:21 (“from thence”) shows that the waters, not the soil, were the cause of the evil complained of. “The ground,” or rather, the land is here put for its inhabitants, including the lower animals; and what is said is either “the country bears dead births,” or, “the country has many miscarriages” (pi’el may be either factitive or intensive). (Comp. Exo_23:26; Mal_3:11.) The use of different waters is said to have good and bad effects upon the functions of conception and parturition (not “a popular superstition,” as Reuss suggests). “The ground is barren,” or unfruitful, is therefore an incorrect translation.
(19-25) Elisha, as prophet, heals the waters of Jericho, and curses the scorners of Beth-el.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv19–22 Vers. 19-25. The historian passes to the record of…
Vers. 19-25. The historian passes to the record of some of Elisha"s minor miracles, belonging to the time whereof he is writing, and helping to explain the position of dignity and respect which he is found to occupy in the next chapter (vers. 11-14). The miracles showed his twofold power, both to confer benefits and to punish. And the men of the cityi.e. the inhabitants of Jericho; probably the civic authorities, having heard of the recent miracle said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth. According to the unanimous voice of travelers, the situation of Jericho (now Eriha) is charming. Lying on a broad plain which is traversed by an abundant river, at the point where one of the main wadys debouched from the Judaean upland upon the low country, shaded by groves of palm trees (Deu_34:3) and fig-mulberries, (Luk_19:4) the air scented with aromatic shrubs, opobalsam, myroba-lanum, and the like, facing the Orient sun, and commanding a wide prospect both across and also up and down the Ghor, with the mountains of Moab in the distance, Jericho was, no doubt, even before the miracle of Elisha, a "pleasant" place. But there was one drawbackthe water is naught, and the ground barren. Bitter and brackish springs, of which there are many in the Jordan valley, gushed forth from the foot of the mountains, and formed rivulets, which ran across the plain towards the Jordan, not diffusing health and fertility, but rather disease and barrenness. Untimely births, abortions, and the like prevailed among the cattle which were fed in the neighborhood, perhaps even among the inhabitants of the locality, and were attributed to the bitter springs, which made the land "miscarrying" (ajteknoumenh, LXX). It was the prayer of the men of Jericho that Elisha would remove this inconvenience.
Vers. 19-22.
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The waters healed.
A beautiful city was Jericho. It stood in the midst of a small but luxuriant plain. Fig trees and palm trees, and wheat, aromatic flowers and plants, grew there in great profusion. A few miles distant rolled the river Jordan, "the most interesting river on earth," and in the background lay the rugged hills of Quarantana. Jericho, too, had a famous history. It was the first city to which the Israelitish spies came when they set out to view the land of promise. It was the first city taken by the Israelites, when its walls fell down as they were compassed about by the priests and people of Israel. Five hundred years after that its walls were rebuilt, in the days of Ahab, by Hiel the Bethelite, who suffered the judgment pronounced by God against the man that would rebuild them. (1Ki_16:34) Yet despite their history and their beautiful surroundings, the inhabitants of Jericho were not happy. The city, rich in so many natural advantages, lacked one of the most important of all necessities of a large town pure water. The water was diseased or bad, and its badness seems to have affected even the fertile land. The men of the city tell Elisha that the water is bad and the ground barren. (The word translated "barren" really means in the original that the ground cast its fruit or did not bring its fruit to perfection.) Beautiful Jericho with its bad water is like many another place on earth. Many a city is fair without, but all corrupt within. Many a mansion, outwardly gorgeous, is full of wretchedness within. Many a man who presents a smiling face to the world has the canker of a guilty conscience gnawing at his heart. Those who are wrong and want to get set right may find some thoughts of comfort and hope in the passage before us. It points us to Jesus, the only One who can set all right and keep all right. "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.
Notice here SOME WATERS THAT NEED HEALING, AND CHRIST"S POWER TO HEAL THEM.
1. There are waters of sin. Men may dispute about the universality of the Deluge in the days of Noah. But here is a flood about whose universality there is no doubt. The Gulf-stream has a well-defined course. But the stream of sin is everywhere. Certain forms of disease are peculiar to certain countries. But the disease of sin is found in every land.
(1) There are corrupt currents in our national life. Our political parties are far from being what they ought to be. Compared with those concerned in the government of other countries, perhaps our statesmen may stand high. But compared with the requirements of God"s Law, compared with the standard which ought to be required of those who would legislate for a Christian nation, how far short they come! We may thank God for a Christian queen, but who will say we have a Christian legislature? There are Christian men in it, no doubt. But, alas I what an absence of Christian principle in many of the representatives of our people! Some of them notorious atheists. Some of them trampling on the most sacred laws of God and man; and yet what a mockery! the professed lawmakers of the nation. What laws in the interests of the Sunday observance, in the interests of morality, in the interests of sobriety and temperance, could we expect from lawgivers who care for none of these things? Truly our political life needs to be purified. We need a reformed parliament in the highest and best sense.
(2) There are corrupt currents in our social life. Perhaps, after all, our legislature is but a fair reflection of our national life. No community that was decidedly Christian would return an avowed atheist as its representative. No community that had a high standard of morality would return men notorious for their wickedness. And then the condition of the press also affords an index to the state of public religion and morality. What vile rubbish is circulated in the form of the novel! What corrupting abominations in the shape of newspapers issue from the London press! The same demoralization and degradation which in heathen lands and in ancient Israel were wrought by the worship of idols, are now being wrought by the circulation of bad literature. The immense circulation which some of the worst of these publications have reached affords an unhappy indication of a low standard of public morality.
(3) There are corrupt currents in our commercial life. Those who are engaged in business know well that it is so. Customers too often attempting to defraud those who supply them with what they need. Sellers too often attempting to defraud those who buy their goods. Those who are in the employment of others robbing them with one hand while they take their pay with the other. There is a curse upon all ill-gotten gain, that all the excuses of the world, all the benedictions of the wicked, never can undo. Wealth gotten by dishonesty or fraud, wealth gotten at the temporal, moral, or spiritual expense of others, is a foul stream, that will bring its blight upon the whole life, and leave it smeared with slime.
2. How are these corrupt currents to be cleansed? How is this foul stream to be purified? Ah! there is only One who can do it. Laws will not do it. Good resolutions will not do it. Jesus is the great Healer. He pours in the fresh stream of water of life upon the diseased currents of the world.
(1) He works through his Word. As Elisha cast the salt into the bad water of Jericho, so Jesus casts the purifying influence of the gospel into the polluted stream of human life. He brings its influence to bear upon the conscience and the heart, alarming men by the fear of death and the terrors of the judgment, and winning them by the still small voice of kindness and of love.
(2) He works also through his people. Christians are to exercise a purifying influence upon the world"s life. "Ye are the salt of the earth," are the words of Jesus. The full force of this statement is only realized when we remember that in the natural world salt is the great antidote against corruption. To withhold salt from a prisoner used to be, in the dark ages, the most cruel way of bringing about a slow and gradual death, and that under its most loathsome form. Hence it is that the ocean is, as it has been called, "the chemical bath of the world." It is the salt that is in it which is its chief preservative against corruption, and not only so, but which renders it such a source of life and health. Now, just what the salt is to the sea, and what the salt was to the waters of Jericho, Christians are to be to the life of the world. They are not to lose their savor by not exercising an influence upon the world. Then the world is pretty sure to exercise an influence upon them. No; but they are to carry with them into all the relationships of life the teachings of the gospel and the Spirit of Christ. Here is the practical work which Christians have to do in reference to the corrupt currents of which we have been speaking. Every grain of salt exercises an influence, small though it may be. Exercise what influence you have as citizens to secure that public positions shall be filled with Christian men. Resist the spread of impure and vicious literature, and counteract it so far as you can by helping to circulate books and newspapers and magazines of a healthy and moral tone. Let your influence in business and in social relationship be on the side of Christ and purity and truth.
1. Is there one in whose heart and life the stream of sin is still flowing unchecked and unchanged? What have those waters of sin done for you that you thought so pleasant to the taste? Have they never been bitter waters? Have you never suffered the penalty of sin"s consequences? Have you never startled at the whisper of an accusing conscience? Has not sin left its blight upon your life? Have you not found, like the men of Jericho, that though the outward surroundings of your life are pleasant, yet the current of your desires and pleasures is only bringing evil with it, and your life is barren of any good or useful fruit? If you think, as some do, that you can yet make it all right by your own exertions, you are making a great mistake. You can never undo the past. Christ alone can give you forgiveness through his blood. Go to him and ask his mercy. Go to him and ask his help to overcome temptation, to conquer old habits, to get rid of old associates. How happy the moment when you hear the Savior of the world, the Son of God, your future Judge, saying to you, "Thy sins be forgiven thee; go in peace"! What moment in the sinner"s experience on earth can compare with that when he bears a voice from heaven saying, "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed the waters"?
2. But even Gods people sometimes need a healing of the waters too. The Christian, too, needs a purifying from sin"s corrupting influence. Let the salt of the Divine Word be freely used by God"s children, that it may exercise its purifying, preserving influence upon their spiritual life. Our lives would be far holier, far purer, far happier, far more fruitful than they are, if we kept our minds more in contact with the influence of the Word of God.
3. And then there are the bitter waters of sorrow. Trial and suffering will always be bitter to the taste. But he who is the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" knows how to sweeten the bitter cup. Many a tried and troubled Christian has experienced that, "though no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." Many a time our most bitter trial proves to be our sweetest blessing. We fear as we enter into the cloud, but we see a new vision of Jesus there, and before all is over we learn to say, "Master, it is good for us to be here." The salt of God"s Word, here also, has power to purify the diseased waters of unbelief and to sweeten the hitter waters of affliction. In all our troubles we may hear the voice of Jesus saying, I have healed the waters.
4. To every one who has experienced the healing power of Jesus the exhortation may be givenBe a sweetener of life for others. Is there strife between neighbors, between brethren, between fellow-Christians? Don"t do anything to embitter it. Rather seek to be at peace and to cultivate peace with all men. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Are there persons known to you in poverty. Try to sweeten life for them by giving them a little of your comforts. Are there young persons, lonely, and far from home and friends? Try to sweeten life for them by a little kindness and attention. Are there some known to you who are going down the broad way to destruction? Give them some message from God"s Word, spoken in kindness, that may help, as the salt at Jericho, to purify the muddy current of their life. Learn of Jesus how to do good to others. And though you may but cast in the salt into life"s bitter waters, he will bless your efforts, and you will hear him say, "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed the waters. C.H.I.
Vers. 19-22.
The healing of the spring.
This first miracle is a fitting introduction to in some respects a symbol of the whole ministry of Elisha. In contrast with his predecessor, Elisha was a gentle, beneficent power in Israel. His miracles, like those of Christ, were, with two exceptions only (in this like Christ also), miracles of mercy, not of judgment. He is the "still small voice" coming after the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire. (1Ki_19:11, 1Ki_19:12) He is as Melancthon to Elijah"s Luther; we may even say, with reverence, as the "Son of man" to Elijah"s John the Baptist. Unlike Elijah, he is not a child of the desert, but a man of the city. He came "eating and drinking". (Mat_11:19) He mixed with the people; lived a homely life; was the friend and counselor of kings. Of all this, his first deed of mercy is the image.
I THE REBUILT CITY AND THE UNHEALED SPRING.
1. The city and its curse. The city was Jericho. After the curse pronounced on it by Joshua, (Jos_6:26) it had lain in ruins till the reign of Ahab, when it was rebuilt by Hiel the Bethelite, at the cost of his eldest and youngest sons" lives. (1Ki_16:34)
2. The unhealed spring. The city was rebuilt, hut the spring on which its prosperity then, as ever since, depended, remained unhealed. The situation of the city was pleasant, but the water was bad, and the laud "miscarried," i.e. the water had a deleterious effect on those with child.
3. The heart and its issues. How striking an image is this rebuilt city, with its unhealed spring, of godless civilizations, founded on self-will and defiance of God"s counsel, (Gen_4:17) often stately and imposing, yet ending in vanity, because no means exist to cure the spring of the corrupt human heart! "Of republican Athens, of imperial Rome, it might well be said, "The city was pleasant." In both there was learning, genius, high civilization, the cultivation of the fine arts to an extent that has made the Elgin marbles, for example, the wonder of the world. But "the water was naught, and the ground was barren," because there was the absence of true religion. No country whatever can in the highest sense prosper without it" (Revelation T.H. Howat). Politics, literature, art, science, material civilization, will dwindle and decay unless a pure stream can be made to flow from the people" s heart; for "out of it are the issues of life". (Pro_4:23)
II THE PROPHET"S HEALING OF THE SPRING. The case of the city of Jericho was brought under the notice of Elisha by the men of the city a lesson to us not to fail to improve our spiritual opportunities.
1. The means of cure. The means by which Elisha effected the cure of the unwholesome waters wore exceedingly simple. He obtained "a new cruse new, and therefore free from all defilement, and in this was put somesalt. The salt appears here as the symbol of what is uncorrupt and purifying. There lay in it no natural virtue to heal the water a circumstance which made the miracle more conspicuous.
1. The Agent in the cure. In casting the salt into the spring, Elisha spoke in the name of the Lord, and attributed, as was right, all the power to him. "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters." The miracle looks back to an earlier wonder that of the healing of the bitter waters at Marah, where God declared, "I am the Lord that healeth thee". (Exo_15:26) One act of mercy lays the foundation for expecting a second.
2. The effect of the cure. There was not to be from thence (the spring) any more death or barrenness. The result of Elisha"s word was that "the waters were healed unto this day." "Down to the present hour all travelers to Palestine Robinson, Dean Stanley, Professor Porter speak in glowing terms of the cool, sweet, and pleasant waters of the "Fountain of Elisha." The soil is extensively cultivated. Sugar-yielding canes are plentiful. Fig trees abound on all sides" (Howat). All which things may again be interpreted as a parable. The gospel is the new cruse, and in it is the healing salt the word of truth which, cast into the diseased spring of the human heart, heals and purifies its waters; yet is the effect not wrought by the natural action of the truth, apart from the Divine and omnipotent operation of the Holy Spirit, who works through human means, yet is himself the efficient Agent in all conversion. The work is of God, and the effects are incalculable. "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". (2Co_5:17) The most marvelous influence is exerted by Christianity on the spring, not only of private, but of public and social life; and State as well as Church is blessed. Christianity is the salvation of peoples the source of true national as well as of individual well-being. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha.
2Ki_2:19-22
And the men of the city said unto Elisha.
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The bitter waters sweetened-Elisha the healer
Jericho, a city of high antiquity, was one of the most important in the land of Palestine. Its walls were so broad, that at least one person--Rahab--had her house upon them. Silver and gold were so abundant that one man--Achan--could stealthily appropriate 200 shekels. Between the city and the far East, there had existed for years, before its occupation by the children of Israel, a wide and extensive commerce, of which the goodly Babylonish garment, purloined in the act of dishonesty just mentioned, may be accepted as proof. The New Testament notices of Jericho are full of interest. The lonely limestone rocks behind the city formed the scene of our Lords temptation. It was down the banks of the Jordan, at Jericho, the Master had previously gone to be baptized. Three times in Jericho did our Blessed Lord give sight to the blind. Once in Jericho, the descendant of Rahab the hostess accepted the hospitality of Zaccheus the publican. For five hundred and fifty years a doom had lain upon Jericho. She had been the first city to resist the advance of Israel under the leadership of Joshua. She was therefore not only condemned to fall before the captain of the Lords host, and amid the much ceremony with which we are all familiar--the annihilation was accompanied with a terrible curse. The man who ventured to rebuild Jericho was to lay the foundation in his first-born, and in his youngest son to set up the gates. Josephus describes the district in his day as quite a fairyland, with its palms and roses, and fragrant balsams and thickly dotted pleasure grounds--a perfect garden and paradise of Eastern beauty. At the period of the text, however, things were very different. The spring was still suffering from the old doom pronounced against Jericho, it was noxious, unfit for drinking, prejudicial to the soil: The men of the city said unto Elisha --who was at this time residing here in the sacred college--Behold. I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my Lord seeth, but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
1. The Gospel is a new cruse for the world. Christianity comes not in the oldness of the letter and the law, but in the newness of the Spirit. The Gospel, too, begins at the origin of the evil--the heart--that is the spring of the waters. What is needed is a clean heart and a right spirit; the poison is at the fountain-head, and must be dealt with there. Once again, like the salt in the cruse, how unlikely and insufficient at first sight the simple Gospel appears for the worlds conversion. The words with which Elisha accompanied tile casting in of the salt, and the consequent working of the miracle, are very noticeable: Thus saith the Lord, exclaimed the prophet, I have healed these waters. How the change was effected, we cannot tell. Means were employed to show that God in His greatest works has a place for the instrumentality of man. Elisha cast in the salt.
2. In the redemption of a lost world, God has room for the energies of believing men. As ye go, preach. Sow beside all waters. But God is the grand agent. The power of the healing waters comes from the Great Physician. The new cruse and the salt in it, both are Gods sufficient honour for poor sinful men to be their administrators--let God be All in All. There was no mistaking the result of the Divine interposition by the hand of Elisha in relation to the bitter waters of Jericho. Thus saith the Lord, there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
3. The figure is that of the Gospel again, both in its influence on society at large and the individual believing heart. Put the new cruse and the salt once really in, and a new heart leads to a new life, and the world at large, once its springs are really touched, feels it through all its tributaries and ramifications. What has Christianity not done for the social life of man? It has abolished polygamy. It has put honour on the marriage tie. It has created lazar-houses for the sick, and asylums for the penitent profligate. What has it not done for the cause of civil liberty? It has struck the fetters from the negro. It has proclaimed freedom of conscience. What has Christianity not done for the commercial enterprise and the outward prosperity of the world? The missionary is the pioneer of the merchant. (H. J. Howat.)
Cleansing the fountain
Elisha began his work as a leader of the church of his time by a deed of mercy. Elisha made no claim that he had healed the waters himself, and he did not pretend that there was any power in the salt to work the change. He was simply Gods minister, and the salt was used simply as a symbol of Gods presence in the cleansing of the fountain. We have in this cleansing of the fountain suggested to us: that a mans surroundings may be very pleasant, and his temporal circumstances such as to cause the envy of his neighbours, and yet his life may be embittered and his career utterly despoiled because of some malady of the spirit that takes away his peace, and ruins his happiness. Elisha assumed that it would be useless to change the water in the stream, for the evil fountain left unchanged would continue to pour forth its poisoned waters. So he went to the spring, and cast in the healing salt at the fountain-h cad. We are reminded of the words of Jesus where He declares that A good man, out of the good treasure of heart, bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil mare out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And again our Saviour says, For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: and He adds, These are the things which defile a man. The poisonous stream of conduct is poured forth because the heart is evil. It is one of Aristotles axioms that the goodness or badness of anything is determined from its principle: hence it is that we call that a good tree that hath a good root, that a good house that hath a good foundation, that good money that is made of good metal, that good cloth that is made of good wool; but a good man is not so called because he has good hands, a good head, good words, a good voice, and all the lineaments of his body similar and composed, as it were, in a geometrical symmetry, but because he has a good heart, good affections, good principles of grace, whereby all his faculties, both of body and of soul, are always in a readiness to do that which is right. Plutarch tells us that Apollodorus dreamed one night that the Scythians took him and tortured him, and as they were putting him to death in the boiling cauldron, his heart said unto him, It is I that have brought thee to this sorrow; I am the cause of all the mischief that hath befallen thee. And it is certainly true that the heart of man is the forge and the anvil where all the actions of his life are hammered out. You must give your whole heart to God and obey Him in every way, or else all pretensions to religion are hypocrisy. The secret of Christianitys great power in the world is in this transformation of the heart. Elisha made sure that the water in the stream would be clean and pure, by cleansing the fountain. Christ makes sure that the new life of the man who truly comes to Him shall be good, by cleansing the heart. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
Elisha healing the water, and the means he used
What a true picture is here delineated of things on earth! What a living sample of its present state! Look where you will, go where you please, there is something pleasant and something unpleasant. May we not hereby learn how sin has defaced this fair creation, so that nowhere can perfection be seen. And now, therefore, the Lord will bring good out of evil. He will make this city a resting-place for his prophets.
I. In what part of the waters did Elisha exert his power? It was the spring. This conveys a deep spiritual truth. We can easily perceive that, had Elishas attention been directed to the water only a few yards from the fountain-head, his labour would have been for nought. As fast as he sweetened the running water, the bitter fountain would still pour out its venom. But we do not so readily see and allow that, except the corruption of human nature be attacked at the fountain-head, the heart, all other remedial measures can only work a passing effect, since the bitter stream of innate depravity will still run out.
II. The means Elisha used. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, etc. Salt is a conspicuous article in Scripture. It was a pledge of fidelity, and is so still in the East. If you once cat salt with an Arab, his life is pledged for your life, Some few grains of salt and bread pass the lips, and then the words are used--By this salt and bread I will not betray thee; and in the Book of Chronicles we read--The Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David by a covenant of salt (2Ch_13:5). Salt was also a sign cf maintenance. Thus, in the Book of Ezra, the adversaries of Judah, in stating their case to Artaxerxes the king, say, Now because we have maintenance from the kings palace (Ezr_4:14), which is literally, as rendered in the margin, because we are salted with the salt of the palace--i.e., supported at the kings charge. When a native of the East means to say he is fed by any one, he uses the expression, I eat such an ones salt. Salt was also a constant accompaniment of the ceremonial law. Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt, are the words of Jesus; and it is in this sense that we find our Lord and His apostles using salt figuratively for grace, saying, If the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? (Mar_9:49; Mar_9:1). Thus the means used by Elisha to heal the waters point to another deep spiritual truth--they remind every one of this inquiry, Have ye salt in yourselves? Is grace working in your heart, mortifying your evil and corrupt affections, and inclining you daily to exercise all virtue and godliness of living? But there is another feature in the means here used which may convey a useful hint--they were contrary to nature, contrary to any means that man would have employed to produce a like effect. Salt, we know, renders water bitter and nauseous instead of sweet and pleasant to drink, and naturally, therefore, the salt would have served but to increase the brackishness of the fountain. The fact, then, of Elisha using a remedy opposed to the effect wanted, not only went to make the miracle more evident, more palpable, but it also confirmed a stumbling truth--namely, that grace and nature are contrary the one to the other--that the ways of God (so far as seen in this fallen world) and the ways of man in curing an evil are altogether different; both will use means, but the means which it pleases Jehovah to use are not those which man would choose or even think of. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord (Isa_55:8). Surely these opposites--these unlikely means fetching a good end--are meant to teach us something. What can it be? They were intended to humble man, and to bring him into submission to the righteousness of God. God chooses foolish things of the world, or things foolish in the worlds sight, to confound the wise (1Co_1:27). (G. L. Glyn.)
The pleasant and the painful
I. Life as it is. That is, with the pleasant and the painful associated. Now, this is a picture of every mans life.
1. It is so materially. How much we have in this material world that is pleasant to our senses, and healthful and strengthening to our bodies; but amidst all there is the painful. There are malarial swamps, pestilential winds, roaring earthquakes, and poisonous minerals and plants, etc. etc.
2. It is so intellectually. There is much in the region of intellect that is pleasant--bubbling springs of thought, tempting regions of inquiry, bright visions and hypotheses bespangling the heavens. But with all this there is much that is painful--dense clouds of ignorance hanging over the scene, hideous doubts howling in the ear, terrific chasms yawning at the feet.
3. It is so socially. How much in social life is pleasant--the friendly grasps, the affectionate greetings, the sweet amenities of those with whom we meet and mingle. But with all this there is much that is painful--social unchastities, hypocrisies, frauds, insolences.
4. It is so religiously. The religious, where the idea of God fills the horizon, there is the infinitely pleasant But in this wonderful region how much of the painful do we experience, what temptation to doubt, what infidelity and blasphemy often assail us, and bring over us the horror of a great darkness.
II. Life as it might become. The painful and the pleasant separated. Elisha here separates the painful from the pleasant. Two remarks here.
I. The separation was a happy one. He did not take away the pleasant from the painful, but the painful from the pleasant.
2. The separation was a supernatural one. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, etc. The Gospel is the true cruse for separating the painful from the pleasant in the experience of human life. Thank God for the pleasant in your life. Seek earnestly that Gospel cruse whose salt alone can rid your life of all that is deleterious and distressing. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v19 2Ki_2:20. A new cruse—“A symbol of the renewing power…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2Ki_2:20. A new cruse—“A symbol of the renewing power of the Word of God” (Keil).
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2Ki_2:21. Death or barren land; death or abortion.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_2:19-22
THE HEALED WATERS A SYMBOL OF THE EFFICACY OF THE GOSPEL
It is a proof of the confidence Elisha has already won that the dignitaries of the city came to consult him about a matter of great public concern; they believed he could cure the malefic waters. How potent is the influence of a good man! It is in times of distress and difficulty that his neighbours discover his real value. The transactions related in this paragraph may be used to symbolize the power of the Gospel to heal the poisoned waters of humanity. Observe—
I. Humanity enjoys many privileges. “The situation is pleasant.” All travellers agree in representing the site of Jericho as exceedingly beautiful; its external surroundings were all that could be desired. So man’s position in the world has its peculiar advantages. Scenes of beauty and of grandeur meet his gaze in every direction. He is rich with the wealthy accumulations of the historic past. He is surrounded by living examples of noble enterprise and chivalry. He is on the current of an ever-advancing civilization. Opportunities of usefulness open invitingly at every step, and there is everything to call out and sustain his best energies. Life on earth is a grand opportunity which, wisely used, will be fruitful in everlasting good.
II. Humanity is infected with a dangerous and fatal malady. “The water is naught, and the ground barren.” In the fairest prospect there is some deformity; in the clearest and brightest crystal we may detect a flaw. So the beauties of Jericho were shadowed by the sufferings and disappointment of its inhabitants. The water was bad, and the land unfruitful. So is it with man. The springs of his being are poisoned with sin. Every part of his nature is tainted: “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” The fatal malady infects every stream, disorders every project, blackens every prospect, chills every aspiration, withers every hope. The soil of the heart is barren, and every attempt to bring forth the fruit of righteousness is abortive.
III. The Gospel provides the power to heal humanity of its malady.
1. It is a Divine provision. “Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.” The healing power was not in Elisha, or in the cruse or the salt; but in God. So the new cruse of the Gospel, and the salt of Christian doctrine, would be ineffectual to heal humanity of its evils without the permeating presence and active power of God. We should be careful, like Elisha, to give to God all the glory of His own work. Man cannot cure himself, any more than the broken pitcher can repair itself.
2. It is efficacious “So the waters were healed.” The prophet cast the salt into the spring of the waters. The fountain being healed, all its streams participated in the cure. So the Gospel begins its restorative work in the heart, the fountain head of human life. True reformation should ever begin at the source of evil; it will then be thorough and permanent. “If God cast into the fountain of our hearts but one cruseful of the salt of His spirit, we are whole; no thought can pass between the receipt and the remedy.” If we have not streams of Divine blessing in abundance, we may have enough to refresh, to heal, and fertilize.
If not full showers of rain, yet, Lord,
A little pearly dew afford;
A little, if it come from thee,
Will be of great avail to me.
LESSONS:—
1. The gospel has a remedy for every evil.
2. The remedy must be prayerfully sought.
3. Must be believingly applied.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_2:19-22. As we see in the translation of Elijah a type of Christ’s ascension into heaven, so may we also see in the subsequent career of Elisha a type of the holy apostolic church, clothed with the spirit of the Master, and working even greater miracles than he.
2Ki_2:19. The material facts thus combined and contrasted are very suggestive to the mind of spiritual conditions. The situation in which we stand is pleasant. While so many fair regions of the earth lie in spiritual darkness, the full and blessed light of God’s truth shines upon our habitations. We have the written word of truth—we have the uttered word of truth—one of the first sounds that entered our infant ears was that name which is above every name; and not a day passes in which, under some form or other, we may not see or hear the words of salvation. What situation could be more pleasant, more favourable to our spiritual progress? Surely our city stands upon the delectable mountain whence on any clear day we may have fair prospects of the goodly land that lies beyond the swelling Jordan. Yet, pleasant as all things seem, it is not well with us. “The ground is barren.”—Kitto.
—A crook in every lot.
1. True of the most pleasantly situated city.
2. Of the most highly favoured nation.
3. In the history of every individual life.
2Ki_2:20. The injurious property and effect was not taken from the water by the salt poured in; for even if the salt actually possessed this power, a whole spring could not be corrected by a single dish of salt, even for one day, much less for a longer time or for ever. The pouring in of the salt was a symbolic act with which Elisha accompanied the word of the Lord, by which alone the spring was healed. Salt, on account of its power of preserving from putrescence and decay, is the symbol of incorruptibility and of life removing death. The new dish was also a symbol of purity and inviolateness.—Keil.
2Ki_2:21. In a place where the spiritual fountains are poisoned, and the people receive to drink, from all the pulpits and school-teachers’ desks, not the water which streams forth unto eternal life, but the death-draught of that modern babble of deceit and falsehood, there is a more deadly curse upon the land than that which once lay upon the district of Jericho. May the Lord of Elisha raise up those who shall carry the healing salt also into these fountains.—Krummacher.
—Moral reformation.
1. Begins in the soul—“He went forth unto the spring of the waters.”
2. Is accomplished by human agency—“And cast the salt in there.”
3. Is a divine work—“Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.”
4. Is thorough and permanent—“There shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 21 The men of the city
The men of the city
"The leaders of the city"
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the situation of this city is pleasant
This means that the city is located in a good place. AT: "this city is in a good place" or "this city is in a good location" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
as my master can see
The men refer to Elisha here as "my master" to honor him.
fruitful
producing good crops
translationWords
beg
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v20 2:20-22 Elisha used a new bowl (Deut 21:3) filled…
2:20-22 Elisha used a new bowl (Deut 21:3) filled with salt (Lev 2:13; Ezek 43:24) to symbolize calling upon God to purify the people and the environment. Elisha made it clear that the Lord, not he or the salt, had purified this water.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.