It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
Parallel Translations
-
It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
-
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
-
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying: 'Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 5:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 11:8 All these servants of yours will come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, “Get out, with all the people who follow you;” and after that I will go out.’ ” He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
- 2 Samuel 3:31 David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn in front of Abner.” King David followed the bier.
- 1 Kings 17:24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truth.”
- 1 Kings 18:36-37 At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
- 2 Kings 1:6 They said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, “Yahweh says, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’ ” ’ ”
- 2 Kings 5:3 She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy.”
- 2 Kings 5:7 When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”
- 2 Kings 5:15 He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
- Ezekiel 2:5 They, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse, for they are a rebellious house, yet they will know that there has been a prophet among them.
- Hosea 12:13 By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.
- Romans 11:13 For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The Prophet rebuketh the king because he did not…
The Prophet rebuketh the king because he did not consider that God was true in his promise, and therefore would not leave his Church destitute of a Prophet, whose prayers he would hear, and to whom others should have recourse for comfort.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 5:8 And it was [so], when Elisha the…
2Ki 5:8 And it was [so], when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
Ver. 8. Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes?] Knowest thou not that God doth both kill and make alive at the prayer of the faithful? Hoc peto et volo, et fiat voluntas mea, said Luther, praying for Miconius, a godly minister far gone in a deep consumption; and he recovered.
Read full note →
And he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.] Though thou and thy courtiers will take little knowledge of me: nor so much as consult with me in this great affair.
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 Jehoram had not advised with Elisha, either because the…
Jehoram had not advised with Elisha, either because the sudden surprisal made him forget it, or because he hated him, and scorned to beg any thing from him.
Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? there was no just occasion for thee to do so.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it was so, when Elisha the man of…
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes,.... And upon what account:
that he sent to the king, saying, wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? and thereby expressed so much concern and distress:
Read full note →
let him come now to me: meaning Naaman the Syrian leper:
and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel; able in the name of the Lord to work miracles, which he should be sensible of and acknowledge, to the glory of the God of Israel, by the cure that should be wrought upon him; and hereby he taxed the king of Israel with ignorance or neglect of him as a prophet.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Let him come now to me] Do…
Verse 8. Let him come now to me] Do not be afflicted; the matter belongs to me, as the prophet of the Most High; send him to me, and he shall know that I am such.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ki 5:8. Elisha sent to the king, saying, Wherefore…
2Ki 5:8. Elisha sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? — There is no just occasion for thee to do so. Let him come now to me — It was not for his own honour, but for the honour of God and his people, that he desires the leprous Syrian to be sent to him. And he shall know there is a prophet in Israel — One who can do that which the king of Israel dares not attempt, and which the prophets of Syria cannot pretend to: and it were sad with Israel if there were not. As the word prophet commonly signifies a man who declares things which none could know but God, and those to whom he revealed them, so here it signifies a man endued with a divine power, and who thereby could do what no man could effect, unless God were with him.
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 He shall know ... Israel - namely, “That which…
He shall know ... Israel - namely, “That which thou (the king of Israel) appearest to have forgotten, that there is a prophet - a real Yahweh prophet - in Israel.”
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 Israel; able to perform much greater wonders, by God’s…
Israel; able to perform much greater wonders, by God’s assistance. (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 ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED.…
ELISHA SENDS HIM TO JORDAN, AND HE IS HEALED. (Kg2 5:8-15)
when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, . . . let him come now to me--This was the grand and ultimate object to which, in the providence of God, the journey of Naaman was subservient. When the Syrian general, with his imposing retinue, arrived at the prophet's house, Elisha sent him a message to "go and wash in Jordan seven times." This apparently rude reception to a foreigner of so high dignity incensed Naaman to such a degree that he resolved to depart, scornfully boasting that the rivers of Damascus were better than all the waters of Israel.
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 8. Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes — Why…
8. Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes — Why yield to such frenzy of emotion and alarm? Hast thou forgotten the miracle in the wilderness of Edom, (see 2Ki_3:13; 2Ki_3:18,) and will thou still be stubbornly ignorant that there is a prophet in Israel through whom God works?
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 8. that he sent to the king] The prophets…
8. that he sent to the king] The prophets of Jehovah were now in no such peril as they had been in Ahab’s days. Elisha has his house in the royal city, and has no fear of sending a message to the palace.
that there is a prophet in Israel] i.e. a true messenger of the God who can kill and make alive. Cf. the words of the people (Luk_7:16) when our Lord raised the widow’s son at Nain, ‘A great prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited his people’.
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 (8) There is a prophet.—With stress on there is…
(8) There is a prophet.—With stress on there is (yçsh): scil., as his message pre-supposes.
When Elisha . . . had heard.—He was in Samaria at the time (2Ki_5:3), and would hear of the coming of the great Syrian captain and of the king’s alarm. Why did not Jehoram think at once of Elisha? King and prophet were not on good terms with each other. (Comp. 2Ki_3:14.) Besides, Elisha had not as yet done any miracle of this sort; and his apprehensions may have made the king unable, for the moment, to think at all.
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 And it was so or, it came to pass…
And it was so or, it came to pass when Elisha the man of God (see 2Ki_4:7, 2Ki_4:16, etc.) had heard that the King of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? The king"s act was public; his complaint was public; he wished his subjects to know the outrageous conduct, as he viewed it, of the Syrian king. (comp. 1Ki_20:7, where Ahab similarly calls attention to the strait in which he is placed) Thus the rumor went through the town, and reached the ears of the prophet, who therefore sent a message to the king. Let him come now to me; i.e. let Naaman, instead of applying to thee, the earthly head of the state, the source of all human power, which is utterly unavailing in such a case, apply to me, the source of spiritual power, the commissioned minister of Jeho-yah, who alone can help him under the circumstances. And then he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel; i.e. he shall have swift and sure demonstration, that God "has not left himself without witness," that, "in spite of the apostasy of king and people, the God who can kill and make alive yet makes himself known in Israel in his saving might through his servants the prophets" (Bahr), of whom I am one.
Vers. 8-19. The story of Naaman: 2. The suggestive cure.
Read full note →
The cure which Naaman came to seek was, nevertheless, obtained by him. We have here
I THE INTERPOSITION OF ELISHA. Naaman was on the point of being sent away, when Elisha interposed. God"s prophet vindicates God"s honor.
1. Elisha sends to the king. He sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes?" etc., His words were:
(1) A rebuke of faithlessness. The king was not God, to kill and to make alive; but was there not a God in Israel who could? Has he already received no proofs of this God"s power? Wherefore, then, had he rent his clothes? How much of our despondency, fear, despair, arises from want of faith in a living God!
(2) An invitation to seek help in the right quarter. "Let him come now to me." The proof that there was a prophet, and behind the prophet a living, wonder-working God, in Israel, would be seen in deeds. Why does the sinner rend his clothes, and despair of help? Is Christ not able to save? Does he not invite him to come?
2. Naaman comes to Elisha.
(1) He seeks cleansing.
(2) Yet with unhumbled heart.
His horses and chariot drive up to Elisha"s door. The great man has no thought of descending to ask the prophet"s blessing. He waits till he comes out to him. He is the man of rank and wealth, whom Elisha should feel honored in serving. But Elisha does not come out. Not in this spirit are cures obtained at the hand of God. Naaman must be taught that gold, silver, horses, chariots, rank, avail nothing here. To be saved the highest must become as the humblest. Pride must be expelled. (Php_3:7, 8)
II THE MODE OF CURE.
1. Elishas direction. Instead of himself appearing, Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman, directing him to wash seven times in Jordan, and he would be clean. The means of cure was:
(1) Simplicity itself. Nothing could be simpler or more easy than to bathe seven times in Jordan. Any leper might be glad to purchase cleansing by plunging in a river. God"s way of salvation by Christ is characteristically simple. It involves no toilsome pilgrimages, no laborious works, no protracted ceremonies. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved". (Act_16:31)
(2) Symbolical. Jordan was the sacred stream of Israel; bathing was the Levitical mode of the purification of a leper; (Lev_14:8, Lev_14:9) seven was the sacred number. Leprosy, as the type of sin, was fitly cleansed by these purificatory rites. That which answers to the bathing in the spiritual sphere is the washing of regeneration, and of renewing of the Holy Ghost". (Tit_3:5)
(3) In its very simplicity, fitted to humble the proud heart. As.we are immediately to see, it humbled Naaman. It did not strike him as a sufficiently great thing to do. Thus many are offended by the very simplicity of the gospel. It seems treating them too much like children to ask them simply to believe in the crucified and risen Savior. Their intellectual eminence, their social greatness, their pride of character, are insulted by the proposal to efface themselves at the foot of the cross.
2. Naaman"s anger. "Naaman was wroth, and went away." The causes of his anger were:
(1) His expectations were disappointed. He thought the prophet would have shown him more respect; would have employed impressive words and gestures; would have given the cure more eclat. Instead of this, there was the simple command to wash in Jordan. What a down-come from the imposing ceremonial he expected! Men have their preconceived ideas about religion, about salvation, about the methods of spiritual cure, which they oppose to God"s ways. They say with Naaman, "Behold, I thought, He will surely do this or that. The Jews rejected their Messiah because he was" as a root out of a dry ground"; (Isa_53:2) they rejected Christianity because its spiritual, unceremonial worship did not accord with their sensuous ideas. Others reject the gospel because it does not accord with the spirit of the age, is not sufficiently intellectual, philosophical, or aesthetical. God reminds us, "My thoughts are not your thoughts," etc. (Isa_55:8)
(2) He was required to submit to what seemed to him a humiliation. He was told to bathe in the waters of Jordan, a stream of Israel, when there were rivers as good, nay, better, in his own country, to which, if bathing was essential, he might have been sent. "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus," etc.? It seemed like a studied slight put upon his native rivers, an intentional humiliation put upon himself, to require him to go and bathe in this local stream. How often does wounded pride rebel at the simple provisions of the gospel, because they involve nothing that is our own, that reflects glory on self, or allows glory to self! This is the very purpose of the gospel. "Where is boasting, then? It is excluded". (Rom_3:27) Things are as they are, that no flesh should glory in his presence". (1Co_1:29) When Christ"s atonement is extolled, the cry is, "Have we not rivers, Abanas and Pharpars, of our own?" "Naaman came with his mind all made up as to how he was to be healed, and he turned away in anger and disgust from the course which the prophet prescribed. He was a type of the rationalist, whose philosophy provides him with a priori dogmas, by which he measures everything which is proposed to his faith. He turns away in contempt where faith would heal him" (Sumner).
3. Naamans obedience. Thus a second time the blessing was nearly missed this time through his own folly and obstinacy. But, fortunately, aremonstrance was addressed to him, and he proved amenable to reason.
(1) The remonstrance of his servants. They, looking at things through a calmer medium, and with Jess of personal pique, saw the situation with clearer eyes. They addressed him soothingly and affectionately. They touched the core of the matter when they said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?" It was Naaman"s pride that had been offended. But they pointed out to him, in very plain terms, the folly of his conduct. Was it not a cure he wanted? And if it was, then, surely, the simpler the means prescribed the better. Why quarrel with the conditions of cure because they were so simple? The same reasoning may be applied to the gospel. It is the simplicity of its arrangements which is the beauty of it. If men really wish to be saved, why quarrel with this simplicity? Surely the simpler the better. Would men not he willing to do "some great thing" to obtain peace with God, pardon of sin, renewal and purity of heart? How much more, then, when it is said, "Wash, and be clean"?
(2) The washing in Jordan. Naaman"s ire had cooled. He felt the force of what his servants urged. He might prefer Abana and Pharpar, if he liked; but it was Jordan the prophet had named. If he did not choose to submit to bathe in this river, he must go without the cure altogether. "Neither was there salvation" (Act_4:12) in any other river than this one. This decided him. He went down without further parley, bathed seven times in Jordan as directed, and, marvel of marvels, "his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." So speedy, sure, and complete was the reward of his obedience. As effectual to procure salvation and spiritual healing is the look of faith to Jesus, the appropriation of the merit of his blood, the spiritual baptism of the Holy Ghost.
III NAAMAN"S GRATITUDE AND PIETY. What joy now filled the heart of the newly cleansed Naaman! How clearly he saw his former folly! How glad he was that he had not allowed his anger to prevail against the advice of his servants and his own better reason! At once he returned to Elisha; and it was very evident that his heart was overflowing with gratitude, and that he was a changed man. Like the leper in the Gospel, he returned "to give glory to God". (Luk_17:17, Luk_17:18) Gratitude is most becoming in those who have received great mercies from God. Salvation awakens joy; gratitude prompts to consecration not in order to salvation, but as the result of it, man becomes "a new creature". (2Co_5:17) We observe:
1. His acknowledgment of God. "Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel." This is not a comparative statement, but an absolute one. Naaman is convinced that the gods of the heathen are nullities, and that the God of Israel is the only true God. He was brought to this acknowledgment through the great miracle God had wrought upon him. It is God"s mighty acts in and for men which give the best evidence of his existence.
2. His offer of reward. It was no longer the heathenish notion of purchase, but a pure motive of gratitude, which led Naaman to press the wealth he had brought upon Elisha. The prophet, however, had no desire for his goods. With an emphatic asseveration, he declared that he would accept nothing.
(1) He must keep his act free from the possibility of misconception.
(2) A miracle of God must not be vulgarized by being made the occasion of money presents.
(3) Naaman"s instruction must be completed by teaching him that money gifts do not pay for spiritual blessings. Yet Naaman"s motive was a right one. It is right also that, from the motive of gratitude, we should consecrate our wealth to the Lord"s service.
1. His determination to worship. If he cannot persuade Elisha to accept gifts, he himself will become a suppliant, and ask a favor from the prophet. He entreats that he may be permitted to take with him two mules" burden of earth of the Holy Land, that he may form an altar for the worship of Jehovah; for he is resolved henceforth to worship him only. This was granted. His altar would connect his sacrifices with the land which God had chosen as the place of his special habitation. Real religion will express itself in acts of worship. It will not content itself with cold recognition of God. It will build its altars to Jehovah, in the home, in the closet, in the church, and in the chief places of concourse.
2. His religious scruple. One point alone troubled him. In attending his royal master, it would be his duty to wait on him in his state visits to the temple of Rimmon, and, as his master leaned on his hand in bending before that idol, he would be under the necessity of seeming to bend before it, and yield it obeisance also. He asked that the Lord might pardon him in this thing. Elisha bade him go in peace.
(1) His act was not really worship, nor did he mean it to pass for such either before the king or the other worshippers.
(2) "An idol is nothing," and, if he understood that clearly, his conscience would not be "defiled". (1Co_8:4-7) There is need for great care, even in outward acts, lest they expose the doer to misconception, or hurt the consciences of others. Life, however, is woven of intricate threads, and it is impossible but that in public, social, and official positions the Christian will sometimes find himself in situations of all the concomitants of which he can by no means approve. It will not do to say of these that it is his duty at all hazards to come out of them; for it is frequently through his duty that he is brought into them, and to escape them entirely he would require to "go out of the world". (1Co_5:10) If active participation in anything sinful is sought to be forced on him as if Naaman were required actually to bow the knee in worship to Rimmon then he must refuse. J.O. (Da 3)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Elisha talks to the King of Israel about Naaman.
Read full note →
Why have you torn your clothes?
Elisha uses this rhetorical question to emphasize to the king that he does not need to be distressed and tear his clothes. AT: "There is no need to be distressed and tear your clothes." (See: Rhetorical Question)
your flesh will be restored
This can be written in active form. AT: "your flesh will be well" (See: Active or Passive)
you will be clean
this means that he will no longer be unclean. A person who God considers spiritually unacceptable or defiled is spoken of as if the person were physically unclean. God considers a person who has leprosy as being defiled and unclean. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Elisha
God
king
kingdom of Israel
word
know
prophet
horse
chariot
messenger
Jordan River
flesh
restore
clean
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 5:8 Elisha had no respect for King Joram (3:14),…
5:8 Elisha had no respect for King Joram (3:14), but he sent the message because of the opportunity for a testimony to the Lord’s power.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.