Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” He led them to Samaria.
Parallel Translations
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Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” He led them to Samaria.
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And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.
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And Elisha said unto them: 'This is not the way, neither is this the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek.' And he led them to Samaria.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 6:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Samuel 16:18-19 Hushai said to Absalom, “No; but whomever Yahweh, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, I will be his, and I will stay with him. Again, whom should I serve? Shouldn’t I serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so I will be in your presence.”
- Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
- Mark 8:34 He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
- Luke 9:23 He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
- Luke 24:16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Thus he did being led by the Spirit of…
Thus he did being led by the Spirit of God, and not because he sought his own revengeance, but only to set forth the glory of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 6:19 And Elisha said unto them, This [is]…
2Ki 6:19 And Elisha said unto them, This [is] not the way, neither [is] this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.
Ver. 19. This is not the way, neither is this the city.] Here the prophet doth not equivocate; much less doth he tell an officious lie, as Tostatus holdeth he did; but useth a mere ambiguity of speech, This is not the city, sc., of Samaria, where Elisha dwelleth, but of Dothan, whence he is now come out; This is not the way, sc., to find Elisha, for he was now going to Samaria. By an answer not much unlike, Athanasius was, once at least, delivered from those cut-throats that pursued him.
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 This is not the way, neither is this the…
This is not the way, neither is this the city, to wit, where you will find the man for whom you seek; which was very true, because he was now come out of the city; and if they had gone on in that way into the city, they had found that Elisha was gone thence. There is indeed some ambiguity in his speech, and an intention to deceive them, which hath ever been esteemed lawful in the state of war, as appears from the use of stratagems.
I will bring you to the man whom ye seek; and so he did, though not in such manner as they expected and desired.
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He led them to Samaria; which seemed to them to be some small and ordinary city; their senses being still deluded by a Divine operation.
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 the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when…
And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them,.... The Syrian army thus in his hands:
my father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? he speaks with great reverence and respect to the prophet, whom at other times he neglected and despised; and the repetition of his words shows the eagerness of his mind to fall upon his enemy when they where at a disadvantage.
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 19. I will bring you to the man…
Verse 19. I will bring you to the man whom ye seek.] And he did so; he was their guide to Samaria, and showed himself to them fully in that city.
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 6:19. Elisha said, This is not the way,…
2Ki 6:19. Elisha said, This is not the way, &c. — Elisha does not speak this in answer to an inquiry made by the Syrians respecting the way to Dothan; if he had, his words would have contained a falsehood, from which they are clear, because he does not say, This is not the way to Dothan — This is not the city of Dothan: but he uses a feint or stratagem, (which has always been allowed in war,) and that against enemies who sought his life, from whom he was delivered only by a miracle, and whom, nevertheless, he afterward treated very humanely and kindly. Indeed, his expressions are ambiguous; but in that ambiguity he intended their benefit; and the very wonderful manner in which, unknown to themselves, he brought them into Samaria, and the generosity with which he treated them there, were sufficient to have given them high ideas of the God of Israel, whose prophet he was, and thereby to have brought them to the worship of the true God, which might have proved an infinite and everlasting blessing to them. I will bring you to the man whom you seek — And so he did, though not in such a manner as they expected and desired.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain This is not the way, neither is this the…
This is not the way, neither is this the city--This statement is so far true that, as he had now left the place of his residence, they would not have got him by that road. But the ambiguity of his language was purposely framed to deceive them; and yet the deception must be viewed in the light of a stratagem, which has always been deemed lawful in war.
he led them to Samaria--When they were arrived in the midst of the capital, their eyes, at Elisha's request, were opened, and they then became aware of their defenseless condition, for Jehoram had received private premonition of their arrival. The king, so far from being allowed to slay the enemies who were thus unconsciously put in his power, was recommended to entertain them with liberal hospitality and then dismiss them to their own country. This was humane advice; it was contrary to the usage of war to put war captives to death in cold blood, even when taken by the point of the sword, much more those whom the miraculous power and providence of God had unexpectedly placed at his disposal. In such circumstances, kind and hospitable treatment was every way more becoming in itself, and would be productive of the best effects. It would redound to the credit of the true religion, which inspired such an excellent spirit into its professors; and it would not only prevent the future opposition of the Syrians but make them stand in awe of a people who, they had seen, were so remarkably protected by a prophet of the Lord. The latter clause of Kg2 6:23 shows that these salutary effects were fully realized. A moral conquest had been gained over the Syrians.
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 19. I will bring you to the man —…
19. I will bring you to the man — There was a sort of irony in these words of Elisha, which virtually treated the enemy with derision. He brought them indeed to the man they sought, but not in the place nor under the circumstances in which they would fain have found him.
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 19. This is not the way, neither is this…
19. This is not the way, neither is this the city] i.e. the way to Elisha, and the city where you shall find him.
I will bring you to the man whom ye seek] But you shall find him in a place where you shall not be able to arrest him. Thus does Elisha use the glamour, or hallucination, under which these men were cast, to secure his own safety.
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But [R.V. and] he led them to Samaria] That there he might make himself known unto them; and they, still under the influence which had been supernaturally cast over them, followed him without alarm till they were within the walls of the strongly fortified royal city.
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 (19) This is not the way, neither is this…
(19) This is not the way, neither is this the city.—These words pre-suppose, according to Josephus, that the prophet had asked them whom they were seeking, and that they had replied, “The prophet Elisha.” Thenius and Bähr accept this. Keil says, “Elisha’s words contain a falsehood, and are to be judged of in the same way as every ruse by which an enemy is deceived.” Thenius declares that “there is no untruth in the words of Elisha, strictly taken; for his home was not in Dothan (where he had only stayed for a time), but in Samaria; and the phrase ‘to the man might well mean ‘to his house.’ “ Surely it is easier to suppose that the “dazing” had caused the Syrians to go wandering about in the valley at the foot of the hill, vainly seeking to find the right way up to the city gate. (Comp. Gen. 50100, “They wearied themselves to find the door.”) If the prophet found them in this plight, his words would be literally true.
The man whom ye seek.—An irony.
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Bring you.—Lead you.
But he led.—And he led (or, guided).
To Samaria.—Heb., Shômĕrônâh. The Assyrian spelling is Shâmerîna; and this, compared with the Greek Σαμάρειαν, suggests that the original name was Shâmirîn (“the warders”). The final ô in the present Hebrew form may be due to confounding y with w.
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 Elisha said unto them, This is not the…
And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city. This was clearly "an untruthful statement" (Keil), if not in the letter, yet in the intent. Elisha meant the Syrians to understand him to say, "This is not the way which ye ought to have taken if ye wanted to capture the Prophet Elisha, and this is not the city (Dothan) where you were told that he was to be found." And so the Syrians understood him. In the morality of the time, and, indeed, in the morality of all times up to the present, it has been held to be justifiable to deceive a public enemy. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. It could only be through the miraculous delusion for which Elisha had prayed, and which had been sent, that the Syrians believed the first comer in an enemy"s country, followed him to the capital without hesitation, and allowed him to bring them inside "the walls. But for the delusion, they would have suspected, made inquiries of others, and retreated hastily, as soon as the walls and towers of Samaria broke on their sight.
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 And Elisha said unto them, This is not the…
2Ki_6:19
And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way.
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The guidance of life
The prophet went boldly into their midst, as Alfred went into the camp of the Danes, and to the confused men he said, This is not the place, and this is not the city. He misdirected them, and led them to Samaria, exactly the place where they did not wish to be. Now, Elisha did all this with a generous purpose: and his action stands redeemed by the magnanimity that he cherished. But isnt it a picture of much of that misleading and misdirection that is perpetually befalling us in life?
I. Mistaken routes! This is not the way, and this is not the city! Isnt it true of thousands of men that they are under an illusion on that point? You know there must be the one path in life that is best for a man. There must be one path for a man through this world that is better than any other, a path that suits him better, in which he realises his personality, and in which he will render the best service to the community. There must be one path that is best. But is anything more clear than the fact that a great number of men in this world have never got into that path, and live without plan and without purpose? Isnt it true of multitudes of lives that they are altogether misdirected, aimless, purposeless? Mr. Seton, the great traveller, adverts in one place to the difficulty of keeping in a straight direction. There is a tendency in men always to turn imperceptibly to the right hand or to the left. So in Australia you will set out in the morning for some particular settlement in the distance. All day you travel along believing that you are in the right path. You are delighted, about sunset, to see the settlement, but when you arrive you find it is the place you left in the morning. You have taken a circuit, you have wandered. Isnt that a picture of multitudes of lives? They wander in the wilderness. There is a picture of wandering, drifting--an aimless, purposeless life! And I say it is a picture of the life that multitudes live. The last thing in their life that they think about is a programme--a progress. Mistaken routes!
II. Treacherous guides! How many men and women, at every street-corner, who are ready to attract you into pathways that lead to death. This is not the way, they say--the way to the Sunday school--this is not the city. What is then? The racecourse, they tell you, the theatre; and so they lead you to Samaria. There was a case given in the papers, of a shipwreck on the coast of Australia, whilst under the direction of an able pilot. It was a most mysterious incident, but when they came to examine the pilot they found that he was blind. The ship had been under the direction of a blind pilot. They have established a rule now to examine the vision of pilots every few months. Blind pilots! There are plenty of them about. They are only too ready to give you the direction. Some of them would mislead you from ignorance, some from malice, a great many for the sake of interest. In our great cities we have blind pilots to steer you into the fogs of unbelief and pessimism and atheism; blind pilots to lead you into practices and pleasures which destroy the soul. Treacherous guides! blind guides! What else? Fatal goals. And he led them into Samaria. They opened their eyes with astonishment to find themselves in Samaria. And a great many people open their eyes with astonishment, as they get further on in life, at the particular places at which they have arrived. They start life with design and with exalted hopes, but a few years afterwards how many find that instead of arriving at Jerusalem, they have arrived at Samaria.
III. The Divine Guidance. Look at all nature to-day! It is a wonderful assistance to us on this point. Look at inanimate nature! Look at the great beautiful world! How is it that this world is such a vision of order and loveliness? Oh! you say, it is because every atom has its place, has its task, and the world at large is so magnificent, so superb, so musical, because the individual atoms on which it is built are properly adjusted and rightly ordered. The magnificence of the whole is the consequence of a just disposition of the atom. Scientists tell us that every atom has its characteristics, its place, its service, and the grandeur of the world is the result of the well-ordered atom. I had almost said that if an atom were out of its place, the balance of the world would be broken, nay the world itself would be broken. Do you think that every atom that makes this planet is justly disposed, and yet God takes no care of a man? Can you believe for a moment that there is a government over elections, and not a government over souls? It is not a question of theology. A man is shut up to it by the very science of our age, that there is nothing accidental but that a great law pervades all nature, directing and controlling, and shaping everything to a splendid consequence. And if you leave inanimate nature, and come to what I may call instinctive life, you see just the same. Look at birds--your migratory birds! Is there anything more astonishing than the way in which they understand their pathway, and their goal. That does not look like chaos. And it is almost more wonderful still with insects. A great French naturalist says that he sometimes takes insects in a dark box for miles and miles. They know nothing about the direction in which he is going. They have never been there before, and yet when he returns after releasing them he finds them there. How is it? Well, he says, it is because they have a topographical consciousness. Topographical consciousness! That explains it. And so they find their way back in that deft and astonishing manner. Almost more wonderful still is it with the butterfly. If there is a fantastic creature in the world it is the butterfly. It moves zigzag, arbitrarily here and there, and away yonder over the garden-wall. You say it is all arbitrary. No! it is not. Butterflies know their way about. They move in one given direction. Moths and butterflies are said to come from Southern France, and even from Central Africa; and these dainty delicate creatures find their way across seas, and continents. Doesnt it look as if, after all, there were a great Thinker at the back of things? Butterfly, bee, bird, all have a singular instinct of direction. Now what I want to say to you is this (and I always like to find a naturalistic basis for a spiritual doctrine)--do you think that there is a law to guide a bird from Africa through the veiled heavens; a law to guide an insect across a country; a law that pilots a moth for thousands of miles; and that there is no law that governs the individual life of humanity? You cant think it. Look up to God for guidance in all the questions of your creed. There are plenty of people to give you a creed, but no man gets the whole truth that way. Each man must go to God for himself, and the Spirit of God shall guide you into all truth. And in all earthly things seek that guidance. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.