Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for Yahweh has called for a famine. It will also come on the land for seven years.”
The woman arose, and did according to the man of God’s word. She went with her household, and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. At the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines. Then she went out to beg the king for her house and for her land.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Where thou canst find a commodious place to dwell,…
Where thou canst find a commodious place to dwell, where as is plenty.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 2Ki 8:1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose…
2Ki 8:1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
Ver. 1. Then spake Elisha.] Or, Elisha had spoken to the woman, so Junius rendereth it, sc., about the time of his raising her son to life: then he foretold her, by way of gratitude, this sore famine, the same, some think, with that spoken of by Joel, {Joe 1:1-20} which soon after began, and lasted seven years, which was an ordinary time for great famines, as Gen 41:27 2Sa 24:13 2Ki 4:38.
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Thou and thy household.] Her husband is not mentioned; either because he was now dead, or else so decayed through old age, that he left the ordering of all to his wife, whom he knew to be pious and prudent.
For the Lord hath called for a famine.] Invitavit: A metaphor, saith Vatablus, from such as invite others to a feast, Famines and the like public calamities are God’s guests, and come at his call.
Seven years.] Because the former famine of three years and a half did no good, now it is doubled.
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 vv1–3 Then: this particle of time may be understood either…
Then: this particle of time may be understood either particularly and definitely of the time next following the former history, or more generally and indefinitely (as it is frequently used) of the time in which Elisha and this Shunammitish woman lived. Possibly this might happen before the history of Naaman, 2Ki 5, or at least before the siege of Samaria, 2Ki 6; but this is not certain.
Unto the woman; expressing his gratitude for her former kindnesses, by taking special care for her preservation.
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Wheresoever thou canst sojourn; in any convenient place out of the land of Israel.
Hath called for a famine, i.e. hath appointed to bring a famine, or a great scarcity of provisions. This expression intimates that all afflictions are sent by God, and come at his call or command.
Seven years; a double time to the former famine under Elijah, Jam 5:17, which is but just and reasonable, because they were still obstinate and incorrigible under all the severe and succeeding judgments of God, and under the powerful ministry of Elisha, who confirmed his doctrine by glorious miracles. See Lev 26:21,24,28.
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 v1 Here we have,
Here we have,
I. The wickedness of Israel punished with a long famine, one of God's sore judgments often threatened in the law. Canaan, that fruitful land, was turned into barrenness, for the iniquity of those that dwelt therein. The famine in Samaria was soon relieved by the raising of that siege, but neither that judgment nor that mercy had a due influence upon them, and therefore the Lord called for another famine; for when he judgeth he will overcome. If less judgments do not prevail to bring men to repentance, he will send greater and longer; they are at his beck, and will come when he calls for them. He does, by his ministers, call for reformation and obedience, and, if those calls be not regarded, we may expect he will call for some plague or other, for he will be heard. This famine continued seven years, as long again as that in Elijah's time; for if men will walk contrary to him, he will heat the furnace yet hotter.
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II. The kindness of the good Shunammite to the prophet rewarded by the care that was taken of her in that famine; she was not indeed fed by miracle, as the widow of Sarepta was, but, 1. She had notice given her of this famine before it came, that she might provide accordingly, and was directed to remove to some other country; any where but in Israel she would find plenty. It was a great advantage to Egypt in Joseph's time that they had notice of the famine before it came, so it was to this Shunammite; others would be forced to remove at last, after they had long borne the grievances of the famine, and had wasted their substance, and could not settle elsewhere upon such good terms as she might that went early, before the crowd, and took her stock with her unbroken. It is our happiness to foresee an evil, and our wisdom, when we foresee an evil, and our wisdom, when we foresee it, to hide ourselves. 2. Providence gave her a comfortable settlement in the land of the Philistines, who, though subdued by David, yet were not wholly rooted out. It seems the famine was peculiar to the land of Israel, and other countries that joined close to them had plenty at the same time, which plainly showed the immediate hand of God in it (as in the plagues of Egypt, when they distinguished between the Israelites and the Egyptians) and that the sins of Israel, against whom this judgment was directly levelled, were more provoking to God than the sins of their neighbours, because of their profession of relation to God. You only have I known, therefore will I punish you, Amo 3:2. Other countries had rain when they had none, were free from locusts and caterpillars when they were eaten up with them; for some think this was the famine spoken of, Joe 1:3, Joe 1:4. It is strange that when there was plenty in the neighbouring countries there were not those that made it their business to import corn into the land of Israel, which might have prevented the inhabitants from removing; but, as they were befooled with their idolatries, so they were infatuated even in the matters of their civil interest.
III. Her petition to the king at her return, favoured by the seasonableness of her application to him. 1. When the famine was over she returned out of the land of the Philistines; that was no proper place for an Israelite to dwell any longer than there was a necessity for so doing, for there she could not keep her new moons and her sabbaths as she used to do in her own country, among the schools of the prophets, Kg2 4:23. 2. At her return she found herself kept out of the possession of her own estate, it being either confiscated to the exchequer, seized by the lord, or usurped in her absence by some of the neighbours; or perhaps the person she had entrusted with the management of it proved false, and would neither resign it to her nor come to an account with her for the profits: so hard is it to find a person that one can put a confidence in in a time of trouble, Pro 25:19; Mic 7:5. 3. She made her application to the king himself for redress; for, it seems (be it observed to his praise), he was easy of access, and did himself take cognizance of the complaint of his injured subjects. Time was when she dwelt so securely among her own people that she had no occasion to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host (Kg2 4:13); but now her own familiar friends, in whom she trusted, proved so unjust and unkind that she was glad to appeal to the king against them. Such uncertainty there is in the creature that that may fail us which we most depend upon and that befriend us which we think we shall never need. 4. She found the king talking with Gehazi about Elisha's miracles, Kg2 8:4. It was his shame that he needed now to be informed concerning them, when he might have acquainted himself with them as they were done from Elisha himself, if he had not been wiling to shut his eyes against the convincing evidence of his mission; yet it was his praise that he was now better disposed, and would rather talk with a leper that was capable of giving a good account of them than continue ignorant of them. The law did not forbid all conversation with lepers, but only dwelling with them. There being then no priests in Israel, perhaps the king, or some one appointed by him, had the inspection of lepers, and passed the judgment upon them, which might bring him acquainted with Behazi. 5. This happy coincidence befriended both Behazi's narrative and her petition. Providence is to be acknowledged in ordering the circumstances of events, for sometimes those that are minute in themselves prove of great consequence, as this did, for, (1.) It made the king ready to believe Gehazi's narrative when it was thus confirmed by the persons most nearly concerned: "This is the woman, and this her son; let them speak for themselves," Kg2 8:5. Thus did God even force him to believe what he might have had some colour to question if he had only had Gehazi's word for it, because he was branded for a liar, witness his leprosy. (2.) It made him ready to grant her request; for who would not be ready to favour one whom heaven had thus favoured, and to support a life which was given once and again by miracle? In consideration of this the king gave orders that her land should be restored to her and all the profits that were made of it in her absence. If it was to himself that the land and profits had escheated, it was generous and kind to make so full a restitution; he would not (as Pharaoh did in Joseph's time) enrich the crown by the calamities of his subjects. If it was by some other person that her property was invaded, it was an act of justice in the king, and part of the duty of his place, to give her redress, Psa 82:3, Psa 82:4; Pro 31:9. It is not enough for those in authority that they do no wrong themselves, but they must support the right of those that are wronged.
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 vv1–3 Then spoke Elisha unto the woman (whose son he…
Then spoke Elisha unto the woman (whose son he had restored to life),.... His hostess at Shunem, Kg2 4:8 the following he said to her, not after the famine in Samaria, but before it, as some circumstances show:
saying, arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn; with the greatest safety to her person and property, and with the least danger to her moral and religious character:
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for the Lord hath called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years: which Jarchi says was the famine that was in the days of Joel; it was, undoubtedly, on account of the idolatry of Israel, and was double the time of that in the days of Elijah.
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 vv1, 3 Elisha's advice to the Shunamite, ver. 1, 2. The…
Elisha's advice to the Shunamite, ver. 1, 2. The king restores her land, ver. 3-6. Elisha's prophecy to Hazael, and the death of Ben-hadad, ver. 7-15. The reign of Jehoram, ver. 16-24. Succeeded by Ahaziah, ver. 25-29.
Sojourn - In any convenient place out of the land of Israel. The Lord, &c. - Hath appointed to bring a famine. This expression intimates, that all afflictions are sent by God, and come at his call or command. Seven years - A double time to the former famine under Elijah, which is but just, because they were still incorrigible under all the judgments of God, and the powerful ministry of Elisha.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v1 Account of the sojourning of the Shunammite in the…
CHAPTER VIII
Account of the sojourning of the Shunammite in the land of the
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Philistines, during the seven years famine, 1, 2.
She returns, and solicits the king to let her have back her
land; which, with its fruits, he orders to be restored to her,
3-6.
Elisha comes to Damascus, and finds Ben-hadad sick; who sends
his servant Hazael to the prophet to inquire whether he shall
recover, 7-9.
Elisha predicts his death, tells Hazael that he shall be king,
and shows him the atrocities he will commit, 10-14.
Hazael returns, stifles his master with a wet cloth, and reigns
in his stead, 15.
Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, becomes king over Judah; his bad
reign, 16-19.
Edom and Libnah revolt, 20-22.
Jehoram dies, and his son Ahaziah reigns in his stead, 23, 24.
His bad reign, 23-24.
He joins with Joram, son of Ahab, against Hazael; Joram is
wounded by the Syrians, and goes to Jezreel to be healed,
28, 29.
NOTES ON CHAP. VIII
Verse 1. Then spake Elisha] As this is the relation of an event far past, the words should be translated, "But Elisha had spoken unto the woman whose son he had restored unto life; and the woman had arisen, and acted according to the saying of the man of God, and had gone with her family, and had sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years." What is mentioned in these two verses happened several years before the time specified in the third verse. See the observations at the end of the preceding chapter. 2Kg 7:17.
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 vv1–3 2Ki 8:1. Then spake Elisha — There is nothing…
2Ki 8:1. Then spake Elisha — There is nothing in the Hebrew for this particle of time, then. It is literally, And Elisha spake, or, as Houbigant renders it, had spoken. So 2Ki 8:2, The woman had arisen, and done, &c. He conjectures, from 2Ki 8:4, that this event happened before Gehazi was struck with the leprosy: this, however, is by no means certain. On the other hand, most commentators seem to be of opinion that it took place in the order in which it is recorded in the history, after the events related in the former chapter, and some think several years after. Unto the woman whose son he had restored to life — Manifesting his gratitude for her former kindness, by taking special care for her preservation. Go thou, and sojourn, &c. — In any convenient place out of the land of Israel. For the Lord hath called for a famine — Hath appointed to bring a famine upon the country, or a great scarcity of provisions. The manner of speaking intimates that all afflictions are sent by God, and come at his call. Seven years — A double time to the former famine under Elijah, which was but just, because they were still incorrigible under all the judgments of God, and under the powerful ministry of Elisha, who confirmed his doctrine by so many astonishing miracles.
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 vv1–3 The famine here recorded, and the conversation of the…
The famine here recorded, and the conversation of the monarch with Gehazi, must have been anterior to the events related in 2 Kings 5 since we may be sure that a king of Israel would not have entered into familiar conversation with a confirmed leper. The writer of Kings probably col ected the miracles of Elisha from various sources, and did not always arrange them chronologically. Here the link of connection is to be found in the nature of the miracle. As Elisha on one occasion prophesied plenty, so on another he had prophesied a famine.
Called for a famine - A frequent expression (compare the marginal references). God’s “calling for” anything is the same as His producing it (see Eze 36:29; Rom 4:17).
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 vv1, 3 Famine. God disposes of all things. (Calmet) --- Famine,…
Famine. God disposes of all things. (Calmet) --- Famine, &c., are his executioners. (Du Hamel) --- This dreadful visitation took place before the siege of Samaria, (Salien) and had even commenced when Eliseus raise the child to life; (chap. iv. 38.) so that we might translate, "Eliseus had spoken," &c. (Calmet)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 D.—The Influence of Elisha with the King, and his…
D.—The Influence of Elisha with the King, and his Residence at Samaria
2Ki_8:1-15
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1Then spake [Now] Elisha [had spoken] unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for [up] a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. 2And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. 4And the king talked [was just then talking] with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. 5And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life. 6And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left1 the land, even until now.
7And Elisha came to Damascus: and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither. 8And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? 9So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of [and—omit even of] every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son, Benhadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? 10And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto [tell] him [then], Thou mayst [shalt2] certainly recover [live]: howbeit the Lord hath 11shewed, me that he shall surely die. And he [Elisha] settled his countenance [, and gazed] steadfastly [at him], until he was ashamed [became confused]: and the man of God wept. 12And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children [in pieces], and rip up their women with child. 13And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, [What is then3 thy servant, the dog,] that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be [let me see thee] king over Syria. 14So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me [:] that [omit that] Thou shouldest [shalt] surely recover [live]. 15And it came to pass on the morrow, that he [Hazael] took a thick cloth [the blanket], and dipped it in [the] water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Ki_8:1. Then spake Elisha, &c., or, as it should read, Elisha had spoken; for what is told in 2Ki_8:2 took place long before the incident which is narrated in the 3d and following verses, and forms only the necessary introduction. The famine of four years’ duration is doubtless the same which is mentioned 2Ki_4:38. The years in which it falls among the twelve of Jehoram, it is impossible to fix. The advice which the prophet gave the woman to go into a foreign land, must have been founded upon peculiar grounds, since she did not belong to the poorer classes (2Ki_8:6 and 2Ki_4:8 sq.). Perhaps she had become a widow, as some suppose, and had lost, in her husband, her chief reliance in a time of distress. She chose the land of the Philistines as her residence, probably because it was near, and because the plains on the sea-coast did not suffer so much from scarcity as the mountainous country of Israel (Thenius). On her return, the woman found her property in the hands of strangers. We may suppose that it had been taken possession of, either by the royal treasury, as property which the owner had abandoned (Grotius, Clericus, and others), or by individuals, who had illegally established themselves in the possession of it, and who were not willing now to surrender it. She appeals, therefore, to the chief judge, the king.
2Ki_8:4. And the king talked with Gehazi, &c. Piscator, Sebast. Smith, Keil, and others, have felt compelled to assign this incident to a time previous to the healing of Naaman, because it is said (2Ki_5:27) that Gehazi and all his posterity were, from that time on, to be lepers, but here we find the king conversing with him. In general, there is no objection to this, for it is very doubtful if the narrative of the acts of Elisha presents them to us in their chronological order (see above. p. 45). The principal ground for this opinion, viz., Gehazi’s leprosy, has not compulsory force, for, although lepers were obliged to remain outside the city (2Ki_7:3, and the places there cited), yet it was not forbidden to talk with them (Mat_8:2; Luk_17:12). Naaman, the leper, was admitted to the palace of the king (2Ki_8:6), and, at a later time, such persons were not excluded even from attendance in the synagogues (Winer, R.-W.-B. i. s. 117). Gerlach thinks that the king could the more probably meet with Gehazi, for the very reason that the latter had not been for a long time in Elisha’s service. Jarchi and some of the other rabbis declare that the four lepers (2Ki_7:3) were Gehazi and his sons, but this is a purely arbitrary and unfounded notion. They were led to it probably by the desire of bringing the present incident into some connection with the preceding. Menzel also brings the story, 2Ki_8:1-6, into connection with that in chap. 7. by saying: “Great fear of the prophet took possession of the king from that time on” (i.e., from the death of the scoffer—2Ki_7:20—which Elisha had predicted). However, if this had been the ground of his interview with Gehazi, the story would certainly have had a different introduction from that in 2Ki_8:1-3. It is no cause for wonder that the king did not ask Elisha himself in regard to his acts, but obtained a recital of them from Gehazi. As he had been himself a witness of so many of the prophet’s acts, he was now curious to hear, from a reliable source, about those acts which Elisha had done quietly, in the narrow circle of his intimate associates, and in regard to which so many unreliable reports circulated among the people. To whom could he apply with more propriety for this information than to one who had formerly been the prophet’s familiar servant? Among these acts the restoration of the Shunammite’s son to life was the most important. By סרים, 2Ki_8:6, we must understand a high officer of the court, not necessarily a eunuch (cf. 1Ki_22:9). תְּבוּאָה can hardly mean the rent; it is rather the produce in kind, which must have been restored to her out of the royal stores.
2Ki_8:7. And Elisha came to Damascus, &c.: not into the city of Damascus, as is often assumed, for Hazael came out with camels to meet him (2Ki_8:9), so that the most it can mean is that he came into the neighborhood of the city. Perhaps the name Damascus stands for the whole province, as Samaria did. Keil, who follows the old expositors, thinks that Elisha clearly went thither “with the intention of executing the commission which had been laid upon Elisha at Horeb (1Ki_19:15) to appoint Hazael to be king of Syria,” but so important an object to the journey must have been specified in some way. To pass over the objection that that commission was given to Elijah and not to Elisha, and that there is nowhere any mention of its having been transferred to the latter, we observe that the prophet does not say here (2Ki_8:12): Jehovah has commanded me to anoint, or appoint, thee, Hazael, king of Syria, but: He has made me see that thou wilt be king of Syria, and that thou wilt do much evil to Israel. According to Ewald, Elisha went into voluntary exile for a time, on account of a disagreement between himself and Jehoram, who still tolerated idolatry, but the text does not say anything of this, and we are not compelled to assume anything of the kind. The prophet was already known and highly esteemed in Syria, as we see from the entire narrative, especially from 2Ki_8:7-8. He might very well, therefore, even without any especial ground, extend the journeys, which he made in the pursuit of his prophetical calling (2Ki_4:9), as far as Damascus. We may, nevertheless, suppose that it was done “by the instigation of the Spirit” (Thenius). The revelation, of which he speaks in 2Ki_8:10; 2Ki_8:13, he certainly did not receive until after his arrival in Syria. It was not the occasion of his journey thither.
2Ki_8:8. And the king said unto Hazael, &c. Josephus calls Hazael ὁ πιστότατος τῶν οἰκετῶν: perhaps he was also commander-in-chief of the army (2Ki_8:12). There is a tacit request in the question of Benhadad that the prophet would obtain his restoration to health, from Jehovah, by prayer. He who wished to consult a man of God did not come with empty hands (1Sa_9:7; 1Ki_14:3). The וְ before כָל, 2Ki_8:9, is hardly explanatory: “and in truth” (Keil); it is rather the simple conjunctive (Thenius). The messenger had a “gift in his hand,” and besides there were all kinds of other valuable articles and products from Damascus, which were carried by forty camels. A camel-load is reckoned at from 500 to 800 pounds, but it would be wrong to reckon the weight of these gifts accordingly at 20,000 to 32,000 pounds (Dereser). “The incident is rather to be estimated by the oriental custom of giving the separate parts of a gift to as many servants, or loading them upon as many animals as possible, so as to make the grandest possible display of it. Harmar, Beobb., ii. s. 29. Rosenmüller, Morgenland, iii. s. 17.” (Keil). “Fifty persons often carry what a single one could very well carry” (Chardin, Voyage, iii. p. 217). Nevertheless, the gifts were very important, and we see from their value in how great esteem Elisha stood among the Syrians. If he refused to accept any gift whatsoever at the healing of Naaman (2Ki_5:16), far less is it likely that he accepted these grand gifts in this case, where he had to bewail the misfortunes of his country (2Ki_8:11-12).
2Ki_8:10. And Elisha said unto him, &c. The keri gives לוֹ instead of לֹא after אֱמָר, and the Massoretes reckon this among the fifteen places in the Old Testament where לֹא is a pronoun, and not the negative particle. All the old translations, and some manuscripts also, present the keri. No one of the modern expositors but Keil has adopted לֹא, non; he accepts that reading as “the more difficult.” He rejects the makkeph between אמר and לא, joins לא with the following word חָיֹה, and translates: “Thou shalt not live, and (for) Jehovah hath shown me that he will die.” But וְ never means for, as it would here, if this interpretation were correct. It rather means here but, as it so often does, so that the sentence which begins with it forms a contrast to the one which precedes. This tells strongly against the chetib לֹא. A further consideration is that the infinitive before the verb (חָיֹה תִחְיֶה) always serves to strengthen the verbal idea (Gesen., Gramm., § 131, 2, a), and that, in this construction, the negative stands before the finite verb and not before the infinitive, cf. Jdg_15:13 (Ew., Lehrb., § 312, b). לֹא cannot, therefore, be connected with חָיֹה. Still less can it be taken as a negative with אמר, for Hazael says, 2Ki_8:14 : “He (the prophet) told me: ‘Thou shalt surely recover.’ ” This, therefore, was the answer of Elisha, which Hazael (suppressing the other words of the prophet) brought to the king; an answer such as the latter was eager to receive. If there is any case where the keri is to be preferred to the chetib, this is one. Nearly all the expositors, accordingly, agree in reading לוֹ, but their interpretations differ. Some translate, apparently with literalness: “Tell him:—Thou shalt recover;—but God hath shown me that he shall die,” and they suppose, accordingly, that Elisha consciously commissioned Hazael with a falsehood, either because he did not wish to terrify or sadden the king, that is, out of compassion (Theodoret, Josephus), or, because it was generally held to be allowable to deceive foreign enemies and idolaters (Grotius). Neither the one nor the other, however, is consistent with the dignity and character of the prophet, who here speaks in the name of Jehovah. It is impossible that the narrator, who only aims to advance the glory of the prophet, in all his stories about him, should have connected with his words a sense which would have made Elisha a liar. Other expositors, therefore, explain it thus: “Of thy illness thou shalt not die, it is not unto death;” but that he then added, for Hazael: “the king will lose his life in another way” (i.e., violently). Clericus (following Kimchi), J. D. Michaelis, Hess, Maurer, Von Gerlach, and others, agree in this interpretation. The form חָוֹה תִחְיֶה in the first member of the sentence, to which מוֹת יָמוּת in the second member corresponds, is a bar to this interpretation. The infinitive strengthens the verbal idea in both cases. It cannot serve with תִחְיֶה to tone down the verb (“as far as this illness is concerned, thou mayest preserve thy life”), and with יָמוּת to strengthen it. We must, therefore, translate: “Thou shalt surely live,” and: “He shall surely die.” Then the words can have no other sense than that which Vitringa has established in his thorough discussion of the verse (Observatt. Sac., i. 3, 16, pages 716–728): Vade et dic modo (κατ’ ἐπιτροπήν) ipsi: Vivendo vives; Deus tamen mihi ostendit, illum certe moriturum esse. So, likewise, Thenius: “Just tell him (as thou, in thy capacity of courtier, and according to thy character, wilt surely do): ‘Thou shalt surely recover;’ yet Jehovah hath revealed to me that he shall surely die” (cf. Roos, Fuszstapfen des Glaubens Abrahams, s. 831). [This exposition of the grammatical sense of the words is undoubtedly correct, but there is room for some scruple about the interpretation. Elisha seems to encourage the courtier to flatter the king with a delusive hope. This could at best be only a sneer, or irony. A clue to a better interpretation is given above. Note that the question is: “Shall I recover of this disease?” The answer seems to be measured accurately, and strictly to fit this question: “Go, say to him: Thou shalt surely live.” That is the answer to the question asked, and the infinitive has its full force. Thus the prophet promises a recovery from the illness. At the same time he sees farther, and sees that though the illness is not fatal, other dangers threaten Benhadad. He need not declare this, and in his categorical answer to the king he does not, but in an aside he does: “Nevertheless, Jehovah hath shown me that he shall surely die,” i.e., not of the disease, but by violence.—W. G. S.] Elisha, by his prophetical insight, had seen through the treacherous Hazael, just as he once saw through the plans of Benhadad (2Ki_6:12), and he now showed him that he knew the secret purpose which he cherished in his heart. He gave him to understand this, not only by his words, but also by the circumstance which is added in 2Ki_8:11 : “And he fixed his countenance steadfastly until he (Elisha) shamed him (Hazael),” i.e., he fixed his eyes steadily and sharply upon him, so that the piercing look produced embarrassment and made Hazael’s countenance fall. This detail is consistent with the above interpretation of 2Ki_8:10 and with no other. [“Jehovah hath shown me that he shall surely die,” says the prophet, and fixes his eyes upon the ambitious and treacherous courtier, who has already conceived the idea of murdering his master, until the guilty conscience of the latter makes him shrink from the scrutiny.—W. G. S.] The Sept. give a purely arbitrary rendering of 2Ki_8:11, thus: καὶ ἐστη ’Αζαὴλ κατὰ πρόςωπον αὐτοῦ, καὶ παρέθηκεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ τὰ δῶρα ἕως ᾐσχύνετο. The only possible subject of וַיַּעֲמֵד is Elisha, and the text says nothing about the presentation of the gifts. עַד־בּשׁ does not mean either: “remarkably long” (Ewald), nor: “In a (taking the words strictly) shameless manner” (Thenius), cf. on 2Ki_2:17. The man of God did not weep for Benhadad, nor for Hazael, but for his own countrymen, on account of the judgments which should be inflicted upon them by the hand of Hazael, as he himself declares in 2Ki_8:12.
2Ki_8:12. And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? The particular statements in Elisha’s reply must not be taken too strictly in their literal meaning. He only means to say: Thou wilt commit in Israel all the cruelties which are wont to be practised in the bitterest wars (see Hos_10:14; Hos_13:16; Isa_13:15 sq.; Nah_3:10 sq.; Psa_137:9; Amo_1:13 sq.). How this was fulfilled we see in chap 2Ki_10:32 sq.; 2Ki_13:3-4; 2Ki_13:7; 2Ki_13:22. In the 13th verse, where the proud Hazael, high in office, and already plotting to reach the throne, calls himself “thy servant, the dog,” he commits an extravagance which, in itself, shows us that he was not in earnest, and that his humility was hypocritical and false. “Dog” is the most contemptuous epithet of abuse, 1Sa_24:14; 2Sa_16:9 (Winer, R.-W.-B., i. s. 517). Elisha now declares openly to the hypocrite that which, in 2Ki_8:10-11, by word and look, he had only hinted at: “Jehovah hath shown thee to me as king of Syria,” i.e., I know what thou aimest at, and also what thou wilt become. The words by no means involve a solemn prophetical institution or consecration (anointing) to be king, such as, for instance, occurs in 2Ki_9:3; 2Ki_9:6, but they are a simple prediction (which, at the same time, probes Hazael’s conscience) of that which should come to pass. He means to say: As God has revealed to me Benhadad’s death, so has he also revealed to me thy elevation to the throne. Hazael, therefore, startled by the revelation of his secret plans, makes no reply to the earnest words of the prophet, but turns away.
2Ki_8:14. So he departed from Elisha, &c. Hazael makes the very reply to his master which the prophet had predicted that he would (2Ki_8:10). and we see from the words אָמַר לִי וגו still more clearly, that we must read לוֹ for לֹא in 2Ki_8:10. In the 15th verse וַיִּקַּח cannot have any other subject than the three verbs which precede, ויבא ,וילך, and ויאמר. It is not, therefore, Benhadad (Luther, Schulz, and others), but Hazael. Moreover, it is inconsistent with the entire context that Benhadad himself, in order to refresh himself, should have laid a cloth, dipped in water, upon his face, and then should have died from the effects of the repressed perspiration. מַכְבֵּר means, primarily, something woven, a woven fabric, but it is not a fly-guard (Michaelis, Hess, and others), nor a bath-blanket or quilt (Ewald); but a woven, and hence thick and heavy, coverlet (Sept. στρῶμα); the bed-coverlet. This, when dipped in water, became so heavy that, when spread over his face, it prevented his breathing, and so either produced suffocation, as most understand it, or brought on apoplexy, as Thenius suggests. Clericus correctly states the reason why Hazael chose just this form of murder: ut hominem facilius Suffocaret, ne vi interemtus videret. He would have the less opposition to fear, in mounting the throne, as he intended, if Benhadad appeared to have died a natural death. We have not, therefore, to think of strangulation, which Josephus states was here employed (τὸν μὲν στραγγάλῃ διέφθειρε). Philippson remarks that, in cases of violent fever, it is the custom in the Orient, according to Bruce, to pour cold water over the bed, and that this bold treatment was perhaps tried in the case of Benhadad, but with unfortunate results. This, however, is not at all probable. We may feel confident that no one will ever succeed in clearing Hazael from the crime of regicide, however much some have tried it. Ewald (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iii. s. 522 [3e Ausg. s. 561]), narrates the occurrence thus: “As the king was about to take his bath (?), his servant (?), we cannot now tell more precisely from what particular motive, dipped the bathing-blanket (?) in the warm (?) water, and drew it, before the king could call for help, so tightly together (?) over his head, that he was smothered.” Every one sees that the text says nothing of all that. [It is unnatural, of course, to introduce a new subject for ויקח. Also, it is not likely that the king committed suicide the day after he had shown so much anxiety about his life. Hazael alone remains, and so we translate. But Ewald refers the case to the usage in which an indefinite subject, one (Germ. man), must be supplied, § 294, b. He furthermore points to the article in המכבר, which refers to some well-known object, he thinks to a bath-blanket. This, then, would identify the subject as the servant who was assisting him in the bath. Again, Ewald observes that if Hazael were the subject he would not be mentioned again immediately afterwards (Geschichte, ed. iii. vol. III. s. 562 n. 2). These considerations are not, perhaps, strong enough to support the inferences which he draws from them, but they certainly are not contemptible.—W. G. S.]
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. This passage is not by any means arbitrarily inserted here in the course of the history of the kings. It stands in close and intelligent connection with what precedes and what follows. The first incident (2Ki_8:1-6) is not intended simply to prove “how God, by overruling slight circumstances, often brings about great blessings” (Köster); neither can it properly be entitled: “The Seven-year Famine,” or “The Restoration of the Shunammite’s Property.” It is rather intended to show the high estimation in which the king held the prophet. The king had been a witness of very many acts of Elisha, which forced from him a recognition of the prophet’s worth. In order to arrive at a still more complete estimate of him, he desires to learn from a reliable source all the great and extraordinary works which Elisha had accomplished, and of which he had already perhaps heard something by public rumor. He therefore applies to Gehazi for this information. While Gehazi was telling the story of the Shunammite, she herself came in and was able to ratify what he narrated. The king was so much carried away by the story, and by this marvellous meeting with the woman herself, that he, for the sake of the prophet, restored to her the property she had lost, and even added more than she ever could have expected. This story, therefore, shows us the effect which the acts of Elisha had had upon the king, and is perfectly in place here. Moreover, it forms the connection with what follows. In spite of all his recognition of Elisha as a prophet, still Jehoram “cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam and departed not therefrom” (2Ki_3:3). He still tolerated the disgraceful idolatrous worship in Israel, so that, before his end, Jehu could retort upon him: “What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” (2Ki_9:22). Therefore it was that the storm-clouds of divine judgment, which were to bring ruin to him, and to the entire house of Ahab, were already collecting. This judgment came from two directions, as the oracle 1Ki_19:15 sq. (see Exeg. notes thereon) had already predicted that it would come, both from without and from within; foreign invasion from Syria by Hazael, and domestic rebellion by Jehu. The second narrative above concerns Hazael; chap. 9. treats of Jehu. The main point in the second narrative (2Ki_8:7-15) is the announcement of the divine judgment which is to fall upon Israel by the hand of Hazael (2Ki_8:11-13). All the rest, both what precedes and what follows, is only introduction to this, or development of it. As God’s prophet in Israel (2Ki_5:8), Elisha had the painful task, which he performed with tears, of designating in advance the usurper Hazael as the one through whom the divine judgment should be inflicted, “in order that Israel might thereafter know all the more surely that Jehovah had prepared this chastisement, and that it was His hand which laid this scourge upon apostates” (Krummacher). [As the whole series of incidents, of which this is one, is told in order to show the greatness of the prophet, so it seems more consistent to see the aim of this one in the intention to show that Elisha foreknew and foretold Hazael’s crime and usurpation, and the misery which he inflicted upon Israel.—W. G. S.]
2. The first narrative (2Ki_8:1-6) contains, besides the chief point, which has already been specified, a series of incidents which form a marvellous web of divine dispensations. The restoration of the Shunammite’s property, with which it ends, is connected by a chain of intervening incidents with the famine predicted by the prophet, with which it begins. The restoration of the property presupposes its loss; this the temporary absence from the country; that took place by the advice of the prophet, and this advice was founded upon the scarcity which God had inflicted as a punishment, and which He had revealed beforehand to the prophet. It was especially the marvellous, divinely ordered, meeting of the Shunammite and Gehazi in the presence of the king, which influenced the latter to his unexpected decision. This meeting was, for the king, a seal to the story of Gehazi, and for the Shunammite a seal upon her faith and trust in the prophet. Once she declined any intercession of the prophet with the king on her behalf (chap, 2Ki_4:13); now she found that she received help, for the prophet’s sake, even without his immediate interference. Krummacher: “God does not always help by startling miracles, although His hands are not tied from even these. More frequently His deliverances are disguised in the more or less transparent veil of ordinary occurrences, nay, even of accidents. This and that takes place, which at the time we hardly consider worthy of notice; but let us wait until these slight providential incidents are all collected together, and the last thread is woven into the artistic web.”
3. What is here told us about king Jehoram presents him to us from his better side. His desire to learn all of Elisha’s acts, still more the way in which he was ready at once to help the distressed Shunammite to the recovery of her property, testify to a receptivity for elevated impressions, and to a disposition to yield to them. By the fact that he recognized all that was extraordinary in the person of the prophet, and yet that he did not desist from his false line of conduct, he showed that, in the main point, the relation of himself and of his people to Jehovah, nothing good could any longer be expected of him. His better feelings were transitory and, on a broad and general survey, in effectual. He continued to be a reed, swayed hither and thither by the wind, easily moved, but undecided and unreliable, so that finally, when all the warnings and exhortations of the prophet had produced no effect, he fell under the just and inevitable judgment of God.
4. The second narrative (2Ki_8:7-15) relates, it is true, the fulfilment of the oracle in 1Ki_19:15, but it shows, at the same time, that that oracle cannot be understood in its literal sense (see the Exeg. notes on that passage), for it is historically established here that Hazael, who now appears for the first time in the history, was not anointed king of Syria by either Elijah or Elisha, though he does appear as the divinely-appointed executor of the judgments which God had decreed against Israel. Jehovah “shows” him as such to the prophet, and the latter, far from seeking him in Damascus and anointing him, or even saluting him, as king, gives the usurper, who comes to meet him with presents and hypocritical humility, to understand, both by his manner and his words, that he sees his treacherous plans, and he tells him, with tears, what God had revealed, that he should be the great enemy and oppressor of Israel. Thereupon Hazael departs, startled and embarrassed, without a word. This is the clear story of the incident as this narration presents it to us. There is no room, therefore, for any supposition that Hazael was anointed by the prophet. On the other hand, it is an entire mistake, on the part of some of the modern historians, to see in the conduct of Elisha only the “enmity of the prophets of Jehovah” towards Jehoram and his dynasty, and to make Elisha a liar and a traitor, as Duncker (Geschichte des Alterthums, i. s. 413) does, when he says: “At a later time [after the siege of Samaria by Benhadad, chap. 6.] Elisha spent some time among the enemies of his country, in Damascus. Here Benhadad was slain by one of his servants, Hazael, at the instigation of Elisha. Hazael then mounted the throne of Damascus and renewed the war against Israel, not without encouragement from Elisha.” In like manner Weber (Gesch. des Volkes Israel’s, 236) remarks: “This opportunity [the illness of Benhadad] appears to have been taken advantage of by the prophet to bring about a palace revolution, as a result of which the king of Damascus was murdered on his sick-bed, by means of a fly-net (?).” Such misrepresentation of history can only be explained by the neglect or ignorance of the Hebrew text. When will people cease to make modern revolutionary agitators of the ancient prophets? According to Köster (Die Proph., s. 94) the sense of the entire story is this: “A prophet may not allow himself to be restrained from proclaiming the word of Jehovah, by the possibility of evil or crime which may result from it.” This thought, which is, at best, a very common-place one, and which might have been presented more strikingly and precisely in a hundred other ways, is entirely foreign to the story before us.
5. The prophet Elisha appears, in this second narrative, in a very brilliant light. As he had forced recognition of his own worth from the king of Israel, so he had attained to high esteem with the king of Syria. The rude, proud, and unsubmissive Benhadad, the arch-enemy of Israel, whose undertakings Elisha had often frustrated, who had once sent an armed detachment to capture him, shows him, as soon as he hears of his presence in his country, the highest honors. He sends out his highest officer with grand gifts to meet him, calls himself humbly his son, and sends a request to him that he will pray to God on his behalf. This in itself overthrows the notion that “Elisha’s celebrated skill in medicine” (Weber) led the king to this step. We are not told what produced this entire change in Benhadad’s disposition; but it is, at any rate, a strong proof of the mighty influence which Elisha must have exerted, both by word and deed, that he was held in so high esteem even in Syria, and that Benhadad himself bent before him. This reception, which he met with in a foreign land, was also a warning sign for Israel. He stands before us, high in worth and dignity in this occurrence also, both as man of God and prophet. He does not feel himself flattered by the high honors which are conferred upon him. They influence him as little as the rich gifts, which he does not even accept. At the sight of the man who, according to the purpose of God, was to be the scourge of his people, he is carried away by such grief that he, as our Lord once did, at the sight of Jerusalem moving on to its destruction, burst into tears for the people who did not consider those things “which belonged to their peace.” How any one can form the suspicion, under such circumstances, that Elisha stood in secret collusion with Hazael, to whose conscience he addresses such sharp reproofs, or can say: “Hazael at once commenced a war upon Israel, instigated by Elisha” (Weber), it is hard to understand.
6. This narrative leaves no room for doubt as to Hazael’s character, and especially is that labor thrown away which is spent upon the attempt to acquit him of the murder of Benhadad, or to represent his guilt at least as uncertain, for וַיָּמֹת, which follows the words: He (Hazael) “spread it on his face,” means, so that he died, as in 1Sa_25:38; 1Ki_2:46; 2Ki_12:21. At heart proud, haughty, and imperious, he affects humility and submissiveness; towards his master, who had entrusted him with the most important commission, he is false and treacherous. He shrinks from no means to attain his object. He lies and deceives, but, at the same time, he is cunning and crafty, and knows how to conceal his traitorous purposes. When, alarmed and exposed by the words of the prophet, he can no longer keep them secret, he marches on to the crime, although he seeks to execute it in such a way that he may not appear to be guilty. With all this he combines energy, courage, cruelty, and a blind hatred against Israel, as the sequel shows. On account of these qualities, he was well fitted to be, in the hand of God, a rod of anger and a staff of indignation (Isa_10:5). “The Lord makes the vessels of wrath serviceable for the purpose of His government” (Krummacher), and here we have again, as often in the history of redemption, an example of wickedness punished by wickedness, and of godless men made, without their will or knowledge, instruments of holiness and justice (see above, 1 Kings 22. Hist. § 6).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
2Ki_8:1-6. King Jehoram and the Shunammite. (a) The marvellous meeting of the two (the inscrutable and yet wise and gracious orderings of God, Isa_28:29; Isa_55:8-9); (b) the restoration of the property believed to be lost (a proof of the truth of Pro_21:1; and Psa_146:7; Psa_146:9; therefore, Psa_37:5).
2Ki_8:1-3. Krummacher: Famine, pest, war, and all other forms of calamity, form an army which is subject to the command of God, which comes and goes at His command, which is ready to attack or ready to retire as He may order, and which can assail no one without command. They are sometimes commissioned to punish, and to be the agents of the divine justice, sometimes to arouse and to bring back the intoxicated to sobriety, sometimes to embitter the world to sinners, and push them to the throne of grace, and sometimes to try the saints, and light the purifying fires about them.… So no man has to do simply with the sufferings which fall upon him, but, before all, with Him who inflicted them.—Seiler: It is not a rare thing for God to lead even a large number of persons at the same time away from a certain place, where some calamity would have befallen them with others. Do not abandon thy fatherland without being certain of the call of God: “Arise! Go,” &c, as Abraham was (Gen_12:1). Faith clings to the words in Psa_37:18-19. It is the holy duty and the noblest task of human government to help the oppressed, to secure justice for orphans, and to help the cause of the widow (Isa_1:17; Psa_82:3).
2Ki_8:4-6. The King’s Consultation with Gehazi. (a) The motive of it; (b) the effect of it.
2Ki_8:4. Osiander: That is the way with many great men; they like to hear of the deeds and discourses of pious teachers, and even admire them, but will not be improved by them (Mar_6:20; Act_24:24 sq.; Act_25:22; Act_26:28).—Krummacher: People are not wanting even now-a-days who, although they are strangers to the life which has its source in God, nevertheless have a feeling of interest and enthusiasm for the miraculous contents of the text. They read such portions of Scripture with delight.… Even a certain warmth of feeling is not wanting. What, however, is totally wanting, is the broken and contrite spirit, the character of a poor and helpless sinner.
2Ki_8:5. That the word which has been heard may not fall by the wayside, but take root in the heart, God, in His mercy, often causes special occurrences to take place immediately afterwards which bear testimony to the truth of the word.
2Ki_8:6. For the sake of the prophet the Shunammite was helped out of her misfortune, and reinstated in the possession of her property. The Lord never forgets the kindnesses which are shown to a prophet in the name of a prophet (Mat_10:41); He repays them not once but many times (2Ki_4:8-10). The word of God often extorts from an unconverted man a good and noble action, which, however, if it only proceeds from a sudden emotion, and stands alone, resembles a flower, which blooms in the morning, and in the evening fades and dies. True servants of God, like Elisha, are often fountains of great blessing, without their own immediate participation or knowledge.
2Ki_8:7-15. Elisha in Syria, (a) Benhadad’s mission to him; (b) the meeting with Hazael; (c) the announcement of the judgments upon Israel.
2Ki_8:7-8. Benhadad upon the Sick-bed. (a) The rebellious, haughty, and mighty king, the arch-enemy of Israel, who had never troubled himself about the living God, lies in wretchedness; he has lost courage, and now he seeks the prophet whom he once wished to capture, just as a servant seeks his master. The Lord can, with his hammer, which breaketh in pieces even the flinty rock, also make tender the hearts of men (Isa_26:16). Those who are the most self-willed in prosperity are often the most despairing in misfortune. Not until the end approaches do they seek God; but He cannot help in death those who in life have never thought of Him. (b) He does not send to ask the prophet: What shall I, poor sinner, do that I may find grace and be saved? but only whether he shall recover his health. (Starke: The children of this world are only anxious for bodily welfare; about eternal welfare they are indifferent.) It should be our first care in severe illness to set our house in order, and to surrender ourselves to the will of God, so that we may truthfully say with the apostle: “For whether we live,” &c. (Rom_14:8). The time and the hour of death are concealed from men, and it is vain to inquire about them.
2Ki_8:7. The man of God is come! That was the cry in the heathen city of Damascus, and the news penetrated even to the king, who rejoiced to hear it. This did not occur to Elisha in any city of Israel, Luk_4:24 sq. (Joh_1:11; Act_18:6). Blessed is the city and the country where there is rejoicing that a man of God is come!
2Ki_8:9-11. So much the times may change! He who once was despised, hated, and persecuted, is now met with royal honors and rich presents; but the one makes him uncertain and wavering just as little as the other. The testimonials of honor, and the praise of the great and mighty, the rich and those of high station, are often a much more severe temptation to waver for the messengers of the word of God, than persecution and shame. To be a true man of God is not consistent with vanity and self-satisfaction. The faithful messenger delivers his message without respect of persons, in season and out of season (2Ti_4:2). He who seeks for the honor which cometh only from God (Joh_5:44), will not let himself be blinded by honor before men (Act_14:14; Sir_20:31).
2Ki_8:10. However well a man may know how to conceal his secret thoughts and wicked plans, there is One who sees them, even long before they are put in operation; from whom the darkness hideth not, and for whom the night shineth as the day (Psa_139:2-12). He will sooner or later bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and reveal the secret counsel of the heart (1Co_4:5).
2Ki_8:11. He who has a good conscience is never disturbed or embarrassed if any one looks him directly in the eye; but a bad conscience cannot endure an open, firm look, and trembles with terror at every rustling leaf.
2Ki_8:11-12. Elisha weeps. These were not tears of sentiment, but of the deepest pain, worthy of a man of God, who knows of no greater evil than the apostasy of his people from the living God, the determined contempt for the divine word, and the rejection of the divine grace. Where are the men who now-a-days weep such tears? They were also tears of the most faithful love, which is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, vaunteth not itself, and is not puffed up. So our Lard wept once over Jerusalem (Luk_19:41), and St. Paul over Israel (Rom_9:1-3).
2Ki_8:13. Subserviency before men is always joined with falseness and hypocrisy. Therefore trust no one who is more than humble and modest. Hazael called himself a dog, while he plotted in his heart to become king of a great people.—Cramer: It is the way with all hypocrites that they bend and cringe, and humble themselves, and conceal their tricks, until they perceive their opportunity, and have found the key of the situation (2Sa_15:6).—Krummacher: There is scarcely anything more discordant and disgusting than the dialect of self-abasement, when it bears upon its face the stamp of affectation and falsehood.
2Ki_8:14-15. It is the curse which rests upon him who has sold himself to sin, that all which ought to awaken his conscience, and terrify and shock him out of his security, only makes him more obstinate, and pushes him on to carry out his evil designs (cf. Joh_13:21-30).
2Ki_8:15. The Lord abhorreth the bloody and deceitful man (Psa_5:7). He who, by treason and murder, ascends a throne, is no king by the grace of God, but only a rod of wrath in the hands of God, which is broken in pieces when it has served its purpose.
Footnotes:
[1]2Ki_8:6.—[The Masoretes write ה in עזבה as suffix without mappik, of which other examples occur (cf. 1 Kings 14; Isa_23:17). It might be punctuated as a perfect עָֽזְבָֽה. Ew. 247, d. and nt. 2.—Böttcher (§ 418, c) accounts for the omission of mappik by the accumulation of guttural and hissing letters: ע ,ז ,א.
[2]2Ki_8:10.—[I. e., give him that delusive hope, since he longs for it, and you, as a courtier, desire to gratify him. This is adopting the keri לוֹ. See Exeget.
[3]2Ki_8:13.—[כּי has the force of then. What then is thy servant, the dog, that, &c. The English translators rendered the sentence as if it were the same use of language as in 1Sa_17:43; 2Sa_3:8, but it is quite the contrary. Hazael calls himself a dog and asks how he can do great deeds. Goliath and Abner resent being treated as if they were contemptible, which they do not admit. מָה, even when it refers to persons, asks, not who? but what? i.e., what kind of one? (Böttcher. § 899. ζ.)—W. G. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–3 she . . . sojourned in the land of…
she . . . sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years--Their territory was recommended to her from its contiguity to her usual residence; and now that this state had been so greatly reduced, there was less risk than formerly from the seductions of idolatry; and many of the Jews and Israelites were residing there. Besides, an emigration thither was less offensive to the king of Israel than going to sojourn in Judah.
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 vv1, 3 THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN AGAIN, 2Ki_8:1-6.
THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN AGAIN, 2Ki_8:1-6.
1. The woman, whose son he had restored — The wealthy woman of Shunem. See 2Ki_4:8-27. This narrative shows other ways, besides the ones already recorded, in which Elisha proved a blessing to this woman. He advises her to go and sojourn in a foreign land during the coming famine, and after her return the influence of his former miracles for her is instrumental in the recovery of her lost possessions.
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The Lord hath called for a famine — “Famines do not come by chance, but they are messengers whom the Lord calls, and whom he sends to call his people to repentance.” — Wordsworth.
Seven years — A famine terrible by reason of its long continuance; just twice the duration of the drought foretold by Elijah in the days of Ahab. 1Ki_17:1. Compare Luk_4:25. This famine was quite probably identical with the dearth mentioned 2Ki_4:38.
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 vv1–3 Ch. 2Ki_8:1-6. The land of the Shunammite is restored…
Ch. 2Ki_8:1-6. The land of the Shunammite is restored to her by the king’s order for the sake of Elisha’s miracles (Not in Chronicles)
1. Then spake Elisha] R.V. Now Elisha had spoken. It is clear from verse 3 that Elisha’s advice was given at least seven years before the event narrated in these verses. Hence the necessity for the change of tense. It is probable that the accounts of Elisha’s work and influence are not related in their chronological order. The famine here spoken of was most likely the same to which allusion is made in 2Ki_4:38, and perhaps the conference of the king with Gehazi mentioned in verse 4 took place before the latter was smitten with leprosy. It is not however absolutely certain that Jehoram might not have an interview with Gehazi, though leprous. Bp Hall says of them: ‘I begin to think some goodness in both these. Had there not been some goodness in Jehoram, he had not taken pleasure to hear, even from a leprous mouth, the miraculous acts and praises of God’s prophet: had there not been some goodness in Gehazi, he had not, after so fearful an infliction of judgement, thus ingenuously recounted the praises of his severe master’.
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the woman, whose son he had restored] i.e. the Shunammite whose story is told in 2Ki_4:8-37.
sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn] Why such advice should be given to a woman, who from the history appears to have been in better circumstances than others, it is not easy to decide. As the husband is nowhere mentioned in this appeal to Jehoram, it may be that he, being already old when the son was restored to life, had in the meantime died. Then she may have fallen into some distress, and have been unable to dwell on the lands which her husband had cultivated.
the Lord hath called for a famine] Similarly the Lord is said to call for the sword against a land, Jer_25:29; Eze_38:21.
and it shall also come] Elisha, as the seer, foretells the duration of the dearth, as he had done the termination of the siege, and the consequent abundance in Samaria (2Ki_7:1). In both cases his words are directly referred to Jehovah.
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 vv1–3 (1-6) How the kindness of the Shunammite woman to…
VIII.
(1-6) How the kindness of the Shunammite woman to Elisha was further rewarded through the prophet’s influence with the king.
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(1) Then spake Elisha.—Rather, Now Elisha had spoken. The time is not defined by the phrase. It was after the raising of the Shunammite’s son (2Ki_8:1), and before the healing of Naaman the Syrian, inasmuch as the king still talks with Gehazi (2Ki_8:5).
Go thou.—The peculiar form of the pronoun points to the identity of the original author of this account with the writer of 2 Kings 4. Moreover, the famine here foretold appears to be that of 2Ki_4:38, seq., so that the present section must in the original document have preceded 2 Kings 5. Thenius thinks the compiler transferred the present account to this place, because he wished to proceed chronologically, and supposed that the seven years’ famine came to an end with the raising of the siege of Samaria.
For a famine.—To the famine. The sword, the famine, the noisome beasts, and the pestilence were Jehovah’s “four sore judgments,” as we find in Eze_14:21.
And it shall also come upon.—And, moreover, it cometh into.
Seven Years.—Perhaps not to be understood literally, any more than Dante’s
“O caro Duca mio che più di sette
Volte m’hai sicurtà. renduta.”—Inferno 8. 97.
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 vv1–3 Vers. 1-29. THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY OF THE…
Vers. 1-29. THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY OF THE SHUNAMMITE. THE KILLING OF BENHADAD BY HAZAEL; AND THE WICKED REIGNS OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH IN JUDAH.
Vers. 1-15. Elisha is still the protagonistes of the historical drama. The writer brings together in the present section two more occasions of a public character in which he was concerned, and in which kings also bore a part. One of the occasions is domestic, and shows the interest which Jehoram took in the miracles of the prophet, and in those who were the objects of them (vers. 1-6). The other belongs to Syrian, rather than to Israelite, history, and proves that the influence of Elisha was not confined to Palestine (vers. 7-15).
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Vers. 1-6. The sequel of the story of the Shunammite.
Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life. There is no "then" in the original, of which the simplest rendering would be, "And Elisha spake unto the woman," etc. The true sense is, perhaps, best brought out by the Revised Version, which gives the following: Now Elisha had spoken unto the woman, etc. The reference is to a time long anterior to the siege of Samaria. Saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine. A famine is mentioned in 2Ki_4:38, which must belong to the reign of Jehoram, and which is probably identified with that here spoken of. Elisha, on its approach, recommended the Shunammite, though she was a woman of substance, (2Ki_4:8) to quit her home and remove to some other residence, where she mighty, escape the pressure of the calamity He left it to her to choose the place of her temporary abode. The phrase, "God hath called for a famine," means no more and no less than "God has determined that there shall be a famine." With God to speak the word is to bring about the event. And it shall also come upon the land seven years. Seven years was the actual duration of the great famine, which Joseph foretold in Egypt, (Gen_41:27) and was the ideally perfect period for a severe famine. (2Ch_24:13) Many of the best meteorologists are inclined to regard the term of "seven years" as a cyclic period in connection with weather changes.
Vers. 1-6. All things work together for good to them that love God.
The piety of the Shunammite had been sufficiently shown in the previous record left us of her. (2Ki_4:8-37) The sequel of her story indicates how, in a wonderful way, events and circumstances seemingly fortuitous and unconnected work together for the advantage and happiness of one who lives virtuously, and seeks in all things to serve God and advance the cause of religion. "The series of incidents," it has been well said, "forms a marvelous web of Divine dispensations" (Bahr).
I THE FAME. This lies at the root of the whole. If God had not ordained a famine upon the land for it," and brought it about none of the other incidents would have been possible. The woman would not have lost her property, would have had no occasion to "cry" to the king, and would have come into no personal contact either with him or with Gehazi.
II THE PROPHET"S WARNING. The prophet, when so terrible a calamity as a seven years" famine impended over the land, might well have given all his thoughts to the general sufferings of the people, and have forgotten individuals. But God"s providence determines otherwise. Elisha bethinks himself of the Shunammite, albeit she is but a unit in the vast mass of suffering humanity, and warns her of the coming evil, bidding her quit the land and sojourn elsewhere. This advice, which she follows, is the second link in the chain.
III THE COINCIDENCE OF THE KING"S DESIRE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ELISHA WITH THE RETURN OF THE WOMAN TO HER OWN LAND. It was, humanly speaking, a pure accident that the curiosity of the king with respect to Elisha happened to be aroused just as the famine was over, and the woman, having returned from Philistia into the land of Israel, found her estate occupied by another. It was another accident that she bethought herself of appealing to the king, instead of having recourse to any other remedy.
IV THE COINCIDENCE OF GEHAZI BEING SPEAKING OF HER CASE EXACTLY AS SHE MADE HER APPEARANCE. Gehazi had scores of miracles to relate, and might have been discoursing of any one of them; but events were so ordered that it was of her child"s resurrection that he was telling the king, and not of any other miracle, when she came into the royal presence. This coincidence it was which so interested the king in her, that he at once gave the order for restoring her estate to her.
We may learn from the entire narrative,
(1) that our lives are divinely ordered;
(2) that nothing happens to us by mere chance;
(3) that events which seem to us, at the time when they happen, of the least possible importance, may be necessary links in the chain which Divine providence is forging for the ordering of our lives, and for the working out through them of the Divine purposes.
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN. Vers. 1-6. The Shunammite"s land restored.
The Bible has a good deal to say about the land question. There is one memorable passage in Isaiah (v. 8): "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth l" There is another memorable passage in the Epistle of St, James: "Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth." If such denunciations of oppression and wrong had been remembered, we should have had less of socialistic combinations and less of agrarian crime. In this passage we have
I A COMMAND OBEYED. Elisha"s command seemed a hard one. This woman of Shunem was to arise with her household, and leave her home and farm for seven years. He told her, indeed, that there was to be a famine in the land. But she might have wanted more proof. She might have said, "Well, I shall wait till I see some signs of the famine. It is a great hardship to have to get up in this way and leave my home, without any immediate reason. What if Elisha"s fears should turn out to be untrue? May not the famine be as bad anywhere else?" So men often reason when God gives them some command or points out to them the way of salvation. Lot lingered, when urged to depart out of Sodom, though the very angels of God had come to warn him of his doom. So men linger still, when urged to flee from the wrath to come. They linger, though every day is bringing them nearer to eternity. They linger, though they know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man may come. Whether it be the path of salvation or the path of Christian service which God calls us to tread, let us not linger, let us not hesitate to obey, but, like this woman of Shunem, let us do at once what God commands.
II LOSS INCURRED. This woman actually did suffer by her prompt obedience. She escaped the famine, indeed, but she lost her land. On this subject Dr. Thomson says, in "The Land and the Book," "It is still common for even petty sheikhs to confiscate the property of any person who is exiled for a time, or who moves away temporarily from his district. Especially is this true of widows and orphans, and the Shunammite was now a widow. And small is the chance to such of having their property restored, unless they can secure the mediation of some one more influential than themselves. The conversation between the king and Gehazi about his master is also in perfect keeping with the habits of Eastern princes; and the appearance of the widow and her son so opportunely would have precisely the same effect now that it had then. Not only the land, but all the fruits of it would be restored. There is an air of genuine verisimilitude in such simple narratives which it is quite impossible for persons not intimately familiar with Oriental manners to appreciate, but which stamps the incidents with undoubted certainty." We may incur loss from a worldly point of view by obeying a command of God. But which do we prefer worldly gain or a conscience at peace with God? Which less is greater the loss of a few pounds, or the loss of our heavenly Father"s smile? Even if we do lose by it it is best to do the will of God, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
III QUESTIONS ASKED. We are not told what led to this remarkable conversation which Jehoram had with Gehazi. Perhaps the time of famine had humbled him. Perhaps he was becoming penitent for his threat of taking Elisha"s life. Perhaps it was mere idle curiosity. But at any rate, here is the King of Israel inquiring of Gehazi, "Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done." Gehazi, at this time, loved to think and speak of Elisha. He had been a good master to him. His deeds were worth recording. And so Gehazi proceeds to tell the story of Elisha"s mighty deeds.
1. We ought to be ready to answer questions about our Master. They may proceed from curiosity, from wrong motives, Never mind. Our answer, given in a Christian spirit, may be the means of disarming ridicule. It may be an opportunity for us to tell the old, old story of the cross.
2. We ought not to be ashamed of our Master. He is "the chiefest among ten thousand... and altogether lovely." His Name is above every name. The Name, the life, the works, the words, of Jesus ought to be a favorite theme with us.
IV RESTITUTION MADE. When God"s time comes, how very easily he can fulfill his purposes! Gehazi had just reached that part of his story where Elisha restored the Shunammite"s son to life, when, to his astonishment and delight, the Shunammite herself appeared on the scene. She came with her petition to the king that he would cause her house and land to be restored. Gehazi, not, perhaps, very regardful of courtesy or etiquette, calls out in the fullness of his joy, "My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life." The king, whose feelings had already been touched by the pathetic narrative of the little lad carried home from the harvest-field to die, touched also by the entreaty of the woman for the restoration of her lost property, and perhaps recognizing the hand of Providence in the remarkable events of that day, gives orders that not only her land, but the fruits of it from the day she left, should be restored to her. That was wholesale restoration and restitution. Who shall say it was unjust? What a disgorging there would be, if all who have taken money or land from others by unlawful means, all who have extorted unjust rents, were compelled to restore their ill-gotten gains! The Shunammite had not suffered, after all, by her obedience. "No one hath forsaken houses, or lands, or father, or mother, or friends... but he shall receive a hundredfold more in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting. C.H.I.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-6. Topics for reflection.
spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life," etc. In these verses we have an illustration of the reward of kindness, the ignorance of royalty, and the influence of godliness.
I THE REWARD OF KINDNESS. "Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the laud of the Philistines seven years," Through Elisha this Shunammite woman obtained three great favors:
(1) the restoration of her son; (2Ki 4)
(2) direction for herself and family to leave their old home during the seven years" famine; and then, when she returned from the laud of the Philistines, where she had sojourned seven years;
(3) the restoration of her old home, which had either fallen into the hands of covetous persons, or been confiscated to the crown (ver. 6). These are confessedly signal favors; but why were they rendered? Undoubtedly on account of the kindness which this woman had manifested to Elisha, as recorded in the fourth chapter (vers. 8-10). She had shown him great hospitality, built a chamber for him in her own house, furnished it, and boarded and lodged him for a considerable time. Here, then, is the reward of kindness. Observe:
1. Kindness should always awaken gratitude. The very constitution of the human soul and the moral laws of God as revealed in Christ show this. Yet, alas! so far away has the human soul gone from its pristine state that real gratitude for favors is somewhat rare. So much so, indeed, that it often turns out that the person on whom you bestow the greatest favors turns out to be your opponent and foe. Seneca has truly said that "were ingratitude actionable, there would not be in the whole world courts enough to try the causes in." So common is it that it is almost a maxim that, if you would alienate a man from you, you should bestow on him favors. Shakespeare has compared it to the cuckoo
The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long That it had its head bit off by its young.
2. Gratitude will always requite favor s. The man who receives favors without some practical acknowledgment is an ingrate. "A man," says L"Estrange, "may as well refuse to deliver up a sum of money that is left him in trust, without a suits as not to return a good office without asking.
He that has nature in him must be grateful; "Tis the Creator"s primary great law, That links the chain of beings to each other, Joining the greater to the lesser nature, Trying the weak and strong, the poor and powerful, Subduing men to brutes, and even brutes to men. (Madan.)
II THE IGNORANCE OF ROYALTY. When the Shunammite woman had returned from the land of the Philistines, she made application to the king for the restoration of her house and for her land," whereupon the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done." Now, mark the ignorance of this King of Israel. He was so ignorant of Elisha the man who had been working such wonders in his country, delivering such sublime truths, and rendering such high service to the state, that he here inquires of the prophet"s servant concerning him. It was to his shame," says Matthew Henry, that he needed now to be informed of Elisha"s works, when he might have acquainted himself with them as they were being done by Elisha himself." Shame! that kings should be ignorant of the morally best and greatest men in their kingdom! Yet they have always been so, especially if the men, as in Elisha"s case, lived in poverty. They know all about the moral pigmies that live in splendid palaces, bear high-sounding titles, are lords of castles, and owners of broad acres. Such, they not only know, but will honor with their visits, consort with them, shoot with them, etc. But to go into the obscure home of a truly great man who blesses the country with his soul-quickening thoughts, and holds fellowship with Heaven, they would no more think of doing, than of traveling to the moon. Will it be always thus? Heaven forbid!
III THE INFLUENCE OF GODLINESS. When the king heard from Gehazi what Elisha had done, his majesty" (as we say) granted the woman her request. "And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now." It was the involuntary influence of Elisha that disposed the monarch to do all this. Who shall tell the good that even the involuntary influence of a godly man communicates to his age? The voluntary influence of a man"s life that is, the influence he exerts by intention and conscious efforts is truly insignificant compared with that stream of unconscious influence that goes forth from him, not only at all times through his life, but even after he has quitted this mundane sphere. "Though dead, he yet speaketh." "As a little silvery ripple," says Elihu Burritt, "set in motion by the falling pebble, expands from its inch of radius to the whole compass of the pool, so there is not a child not an infant Moses placed however softly in his bulrush ark upon the sea of time, whose existence does not stir a ripple gyrating outwards and on, until it shall have moved across and spanned the whole ocean of God"s eternity, stirring even the river of life and the fountain at which his angels drink. D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Vers. 1-6. The Shunammite and her lands.
This narrative is the sequel to the history of the Shunammite in 2Ki
4. It furnishes another instance of how God cares for and rewards his people.
I ELISHA"S WARNING. In chronological order this narrative seems to precede the cure of Naaman, while Gehazi was still the servant of the prophet. A famine of long duration was about to descend on the land, and Elisha gave timely warning to the Shunammite to take refuge somewhere else.
1. The good are often sharers in the calamities of the wicked. This famine was no doubt sent on Israel as a punishment for sin. God"s prophet foretold it, as Elijah had foretold the drought in the days of Ahah. (1Ki_17:1) Famines and similar calamities do not come uncalled for. They are instruments used by God in his moral government. (Eze_14:21 Am 4) And in the distresses brought upon the world by sin God"s people are often sharers. The innocent are involved in the sufferings of the guilty. (Eze_21:3, Eze_21:4) This lady of Shunem, now probably a widow, is compelled, by the approach of famine, to abandon home and lands and rural comfort for a sojourn among idolaters.
2. The good, notwithstanding, are marvelously protected amidst the calamities of the wicked. It was God"s mercy to this Shunammite, who in former days had befriended his prophet, which now led to her being warned beforehand. God"s rewards for kindness shown to his servants are not soon exhausted. It was sad to be involved in the famine, but it would have been sadder had she not received this warning to withdraw in good time. Thus God, by a special providence, cares for and watches over the interests of his people. He guides their steps, and is a Shield to them from trouble.
3. The good are provided for amidst the calamities of the wicked. The Shunammite was directed to sojourn with her household wherever she could find a refuge. She believed the word of the man of God, obeyed it, and went to sojourn in the land of the Philistines. There she abode for the seven years that the famine lasted, and during that period was sufficiently provided for. It was an act of faith on the part of the Shunammite to take this step, for she had nothing to go upon in regard to this famine but the prophet"s bare word. That, however, was held sufficient, and she left all to do as he had bidden her. God"s people are always safe in acting on his commands. When Elijah was sent to hide by the brook Cherith, the ravens were "commanded" to feed him; and when he was told to go from there to Zarephath, a widow woman was similarly c, commanded" to sustain him. (1Ki_17:4, 1Ki_17:8) As God provided for Jacob and his household in Egypt in a time of famine, so he prepares a provision for all his people who humbly trust him. "They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing". (Psa_34:10)
II THE SHUNAMMITE"S RETURN. At length, through the ceasing of the famine, the way was open for the Shunammite to come back. Her return was:
1. After long exile. Seven years had she been absent from the land of Jehovah. During that period she had lived amidst Philistine surroundings. Her spirit must often have been grieved at the idolatrous and heathenish sights she witnessed; for what moral communion could she have with the worshippers of Dagon? Nor could she now, as of old, saddle her ass, and repair to the prophet on sabbaths and new moons for consolation and instruction. Exile of this sort would be painful to her spirit, as it was to that of the psalmist. (Psa_42:4, Psa_42:6) God in his providence often thus deprives his people for a time of the privilege of ordinances, perhaps through sickness, perhaps through removal to new scenes, perhaps through the interposition of direct obstacles. There was in the Shunammite"s case a famine of the Word as well as of bread. These things try faith, and operate to the quickening of spiritual desire.
2. To meet a new trial. The Shunammite came back to her home, to find that, in her long absence, her house and lands had been alienated from her. Probably, as deserted by their owner, they had become the property of the crown (ver. 6). Or some neighboring proprietor may have possessed himself of the abandoned fields. In any case, it was a sore discovery for the Shunammite to make, on her return, that she could no longer obtain her own. The trial of coming back seemed almost greater than that of going away. Might not the same providence that had cared for her in Philistia have watched over her possessions at home? It was God who had called her thence: might he not have secured that, when she returned, she would get her own? The issue of this trial should encourage believers not too readily to distrust the Almighty. It came to be seen that God had been caring for her in her absence had, so to speak, been putting out her lands at interest for her, so that, when they were restored, she "received her own with usury". (Mat_25:27)
III THE SHUNAMMITE"S APPEAL. The most striking part of the story is yet to come. Having no other remedy, the Shunammite appealed to the king, as first magistrate, to restore to her her lands. "She went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land." We note concerning her appeal:
1. Its justice. The Shunammite had a good and just cause. Kings and magistrates are set to administer justice. Yet it is possible that, but for the circumstances next narrated, the impoverished lady might have cried long enough before her possessions were restored to her. It is difficult to get the holders of unlawfully acquired property especially in land to yield up again their title to it. The cry of the poor does not always penetrate, as it should do, to the ear of justice.
2. Its providential opportuneness. It is God"s prerogative to maintain the cause of the oppressed, (Psa_9:4, Psa_9:9, Psa_9:10) and he was preparing the way for this cause being heard. The circumstances are remarkable, showing how entirely all events are in the hand of God, how what we call accidental conjunctures are really providences, and how, without overriding human freedom, all things, even the most ordinary, are working together for good to those who love him.
(1) It happened that, just as the Shunammite approached, her son being with her, to present her prayer, the king and Gehazi, Elisha"s servant, were talking together of the wonderful works of the prophet. "Tell me, I pray thee," said the king, "all the great things that Elisha hath done." Jehoram, though a wicked man, (2Ki_9:22) had yet, as we have formerly seen, a certain susceptibility to good in him. His was a divided nature. He had a reverence and respect for Elisha; he knew the right; he took pleasure in hearing of Elisha"8 wonderful deeds. Yet he never took God"s Law truly into his heart. How many are like him! (Eze_33:30-33)
(2) In particular, Gehazi was relating to the king how Elisha had restored the dead son of the Shunammite to life. How singular, we say, that this should have been the subject of conversation at that very moment! But it was God who ordered that this should come about. We find a very similar instance in the case of King Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther. He could not sleep, and ordered the chronicles of his kingdom to be read before him. It was the night when Haman"s plot was ripe for the destruction of Mordecai, but the passage read was that which told how Mordecai had made known a conspiracy against the king"s life. This saved him, and led to Haman"s own destruction. (Es 6) The wheels within wheels in God"s providence are truly marvelous. He lifts up one and casts down another by the simplest possible means.
(3) As Gehazi was speaking, the Shunammite and her son stood before them, and cried to the king. No doubt in great surprise, Gehazi said, "My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life." The ear of the king was now effectually gained.
3. Its success. The woman, being asked to state her plea, did so, and her request was at once granted. Not only were her house and land restored to her, but recompense was made for all the fruits of the field since the day she had left it. Thus she received back in abundance all she possessed. She not only got justice, but generosity. How good it is to be a friend of God! "If God be for us, who can be against us?". (Rom_8:31) With him for our Advocate, what need we fear? Having given this woman the greater gift, in reward for her kindness to his prophet, he does not withhold from her any lesser gift. So may the believer reason, if God "spared not his own Son," etc. J.O. (Rom_8:32)
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 v1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman.
2Ki_8:1-6
Then spake Elisha unto the woman.
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The potent influence of a good man
I. His counsel is valuable, and gratefully acted upon. Here we see how the kindness shown by the Shunammite receives still further reward. There is nothing so fruitful in blessing as kindness. In the great dilemmas of life we seek counsel, not from the frivolous and wicked, but from the wise and good. A good man has the destiny of many lives in his hands; a word from him has great weight.
II. His beneficent acts are the theme of popular conversation (2Ki_8:4). A good action cannot be hid. Sooner or later it will emerge from the obscurity in which it was first done, and become the talk of a nation, until it reaches even royal ears. All good actions do not attain such distinguished popularity. There were many good things that Elisha said and did of which history takes no notice. A good act may be remembered and applauded for generations, while the name of the actor is unknown.
III. His holy and unselfish life is a testimony for Jehovah in the midst of national apostasy. In the darkest night of national apostasy, Israel was favoured with an Elisha, whose divinely-illumined life threw a bright stream of light across the gloom. How deplorable the condition of that nation from which all moral worth is excluded!
IV. His reputation is the means of promoting the ends of justice (2Ki_8:5-6). There was surely a Divine providence at work that brought the suppliant Shunammite into the presence of the king at the very moment when Gehazi was rehearsing the great works of Elisha. Justice triumphed; her land and all its produce for the seven years were restored to her. It requires power to enforce the claims of justice, and the highest -kind of power is goodness. The arrangements of justice are more likely to be permanent when brought about by the influence of righteous principles, than when compelled by physical force. The presence of a holy character in society is a powerful check upon injustice and wrong. (G. Barlow.)
Beneficence of the Christian life
The other summer, says Dr. Abbott, while sailing along the shores of the Sound, I landed at a little cove; there was a lighthouse tower and a fog-bell, and the keeper showed us the fog-bell, and how the mechanism made it strike every few minutes in the darkness and in the night when the fog hung over the coast; and I said, That is the preacher; there he stands, ringing out the message of warning, ringing out the message of instruction, ringing out the message of cheer; it is a great thing to be a preacher. We went up into the lighthouse tower. Here was a tower that never said anything and never did anything--it just stood still and shone--and I said, That is the Christian. He may not have any word to utter, he may not be a prophet, he may not be a worker, he may achieve nothing, but he stands still and shines, in the darkness and in the storm, always, and every night. The fog-bell strikes only on occasion, but all the time and every night the light flashes out from the lighthouse; all the time and every night this light is flashing out from you if you are Gods children.
Permanent effects of godliness
Sir Wilfred Laurier has recently given a very striking testimony to the powerful influence of the Puritan spirit. He was asked why he was absolutely, in the best sense of the word, an Imperialist. Sir Wilfred replied that when he was a boy he was brought up in the home of a God-fearing Scottish farmer, at whose family worship he was present every morning and night. He was struck by the catholicity of spirit of the farmer, but still more by the fact that the farmer took the affairs of his house, his neighbourhood, and all his country in the presence of the Almighty, and sought His blessing upon all. This experience implanted in Sir Wilfreds heart an abiding conviction that an empire based on such community of spirit was made by God to lead the world. Here is the influence of a humble family worship determining the destinies of an empire. The lowly farmer in Scotland little realised how far-reaching the ministry of his family altar would be. Little did he know that while he was praying and worshipping in apparent obscurity he was moulding the thoughts and feelings of a great statesman, and so shaping the policy of states. What a dignity this gives to the home altar, and what solemnity surrounds the lowly acts of family worship! It can be said of these humble ministries that their lines are gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Hartley Aspen.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 (Circa B.C. 886)
THE SHUNAMMITE AND HAZAEL
2Ki_8:1-15
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(Circa B.C. 886)
"Our acts still follow with us from afar,
And what we have been makes us what we are."
-GEORGE ELIOT
THE next anecdote of Elisha brings us once more into contact with the Lady of Shunem. Famines, or dearths, were unhappily of very frequent occurrence in a country which is so wholly dependent, as Palestine is, upon the early and latter rain. On some former occasion Elisha had foreseen that "Jehovah had called for a famine"; for the sword, the famine, and the pestilence are represented as ministers who wait His bidding (Jer_25:29; Eze_38:21). He had also foreseen that it would be of long duration, and in kindness to the Shunammite had warned her that she had better remove for a time into a land in which there was greater plenty. It was under similar circumstances that Elimelech and Naomi, ancestors of Davids line, had taken their sons Mahlon and Chillon and gone to live in the land of Moab; and, indeed, the famine which decided the migration of Jacob and his children into Egypt had been a turning-point in the history of the Chosen People.
The Lady of Shunem had learnt by experience the weight of Elishas words. Her husband is not mentioned, and was probably dead; so she arose with her household, and went for seven years to live in the plain of Philistia. At the end of that time the dearth had ceased, and she returned to Shunem, but only to find that during her absence her house and land were in possession of other owners, and had probably escheated to the Crown. The king was the ultimate, and to a great extent the only, source of justice in his little kingdom, and she went to lay her claim before him and demand the restitution of her property. By a providential circumstance she came exactly at the most favorable moment. The king-it must have been Jehoram-was at the very time talking to Gehazi about the great works of Elisha. As it is unlikely that he would converse long with a leper, and as Gehazi is still called "the servant of the man of God," the incident may here be narrated out of order. It is pleasant to find Jehoram taking so deep an interest in the prophets story. Already on many occasions during his wars with Moab and Syria, as well as on the occasion of Naamans visit, if that had already occurred, he had received the completest proof of the reality of Elishas mission, but he might be naturally unaware of the many private incidents in which he had exhibited a supernatural power. Among other stories Gehazi was telling him that of the Shunammite, and how Elisha had given life to her dead son. At that juncture she came before the king, and Gehazi said, "My lord, O king, this is the very woman, and this is her son whom Elisha recalled to life." In answer to Jehorams questions she confirmed the story, and he was so much impressed by the narrative that he not only ordered the immediate restitution of her land, but also of the value of its products during the seven years of her exile.
We now come to the fulfillment of the second of the commands which Elijah had received so long before at Horeb. To complete the retribution which was yet to fall on Israel, he had been bidden to anoint Hazael to be king of Syria in the room of Benhadad. Hitherto the mandate had remained unfulfilled, because no opportunity had occurred; but the appointed time had now arrived. Elisha, for some purpose, and during an interval of peace, visited Damascus, where the visit of Naaman and the events of the Syrian wars had made his name very famous. Benhadad II, grandson or great-grandson of Rezin, after a stormy reign of some thirty years, marked by some successes, but also by the terrible reverses already recorded, lay dangerously ill. Hearing the news that the wonder-working prophet of Israel was in his capital, he sent to ask of him the question, "Shall I recover?" It had been the custom from the earliest days to propitiate the favor of prophets by presents, without which even the humblest suppliant hardly ventured to approach them. The gift sent by Benhadad was truly royal, for he thought perhaps that he could purchase the intercession or the miraculous intervention of this mighty thaumaturge. He sent Hazael with a selection "of every good thing of Damascus," and, like an Eastern, he endeavored to make his offering seem more magnificent by distributing it on the backs of forty camels.
At the head of this imposing procession of camels walked Hazael, the commander of the forces, and stood in Elishas presence with the humble appeal, "Thy son Benhadad, King of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?"
About the kings munificence we are told no more, but we cannot doubt that it was refused. If Naamans still costlier blessing had been rejected, though he was about to receive through Elishas ministration an inestimable boon, it is unlikely that Elisha would accept a gift for which he could offer no return, and which, in fact, directly or indirectly, involved the death of the sender. But the historian does not think it necessary to pause and tell us that Elisha sent back the forty camels unladen of their treasures. It was not worthwhile to narrate what was a matter of course. If it had been no time, a few years earlier, to receive money and garments, and olive-yards and vineyards, and men-servants and maid-servants, still less was it a time to do so now. The days were darker now than they had been, and Elisha himself stood near the Great White Throne. The protection of these fearless prophets lay in their utter simplicity of soul. They rose above human fears because they stood above human desires. What Elisha possessed was more than sufficient for the needs of the plain and humble life of one whose communing was with God. It was not wonderful that prophets should rise to an elevation whence they could look down with indifference upon the superfluities of the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, when even sages of the heathen have attained to a similar independence of earthly luxuries. One who can climb such mountain-heights can look with silent contempt on gold.
But there is a serious difficulty about Elishas answer to the embassage. "Go, say unto him"-so it is rendered in our Authorized Version-"Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the, Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die."
It is evident that the translators of 1611 meant the emphasis to be laid on the "mayest," and understood the answer of Elisha to mean, "Thy recovery is quite possible; and yet"-he adds to Hazael, and not as part of his answer to the king-"Jehovah has shown me that dying he shall die,"-not indeed of this disease, but by other means before he has recovered from it.
Unfortunately, however, the Hebrew will not bear this meaning. Elisha bids Hazael to go back with the distinct message, "Thou shalt surely recover," as it is rightly rendered in the Revised Version.
This, however, is the rendering, not of the written text as it stands, but of the margin. Every one knows that in the Masoretic original the text itself is called the Kthib, or "what is written," whereas the margin is called Qri, " read." Now, our translators, both those of 1611 and those of the Revision Committee, all but invariably follow the Kethib as the most authentic reading. In this instance, however, they abandon the rule and translate the marginal reading.
What, then, is the written text?
It is the reverse of the marginal reading, for it has: "Go, say, Thou shalt not recover."
The reader may naturally ask the cause of this startling discrepancy.
It seems to be twofold.
(I) Both the Hebrew word, lo, " not" (alo), and the word lo, to him, have precisely the same pronunciation. Hence this text might mean either "Go, say to him, Thou shalt certainly recover," or "Go, say, Thou shalt not recover." The same identity of the negative and the dative of the preposition has made nonsense of another passage of the Authorized Version, where "Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before Thee according to the joy of harvest," should be "Thou hast multiplied the nation, and increased its joy." So, too, the verse "It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves," may mean "It is He that hath made us, and to Him we belong." In the present case the adoption of the negative (which would have conveyed to Benhadad the exact truth) is not possible; for it makes the next clause and its introduction by the word "Howbeit" entirely meaningless.
But-
(II) this confusion in the text might not have arisen in the present instance but for the difficulty of Elishas appearing to send a deliberately false message to Benhadad, and a message which he tells Hazael at the time is false.
Can this be deemed impossible?
With the views prevalent in "those times of ignorance," I think not. Abraham and Isaac, saints and patriarchs as they were, both told practical falsehoods about their wives. They, indeed, were reproved for this, though not severely; but, on the other hand, Jael is not reproved for her treachery to Sisera; and Samuel, under the semblance of a Divine permission, used a diplomatic ruse when he visited the household of Jesse; and in the apologue of Micaiah a lying spirit is represented as sent forth to do service to Jehovah; and Elisha himself tells a deliberate falsehood to the Syrians at Dothan. The sensitiveness to the duty of always speaking the exact truth is not felt in the East with anything like the intensity that it is in Christian lands; and reluctant as we should be to find in the message of Elisha another instance of that falsitas dispensativa which has been so fatally patronized by some of the Fathers and by many Romish theologians, the love of truth itself would compel us to accept this view of the case if there were no other possible interpretation.
I think, however, that another view is possible. I think that Elisha may have said to Hazael, "Go, say unto him, Thou shalt surely recover," with the same accent of irony in which Micaiah said at first to the two kings, "Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king." I think that this whole manner and the tone of his voice may have shown to Hazael, and may have been meant to show him, that this was not Elishas real message to Benhadad. Or, to adopt the same line of explanation with an unimportant difference Elisha may have meant to imply, "Go, follow the bent which I know you will follow; go carry back to your master the lying message that I said he would recover. But that is not my message. My message, whether it suits your courtier instincts or not, is that Jehovah has warned me that he shall surely die."
That some such meaning as this attaches to the verse seems to be shown by the context. For not only was some reproof involved in Elishas words, but he showed his grief still more by his manner. It was as though he had said, "Take back what message you choose, but Benhadad will certainly die"; and then he fastened his steady gaze on the soldiers countenance, till Hazael blushed and became uneasy. Only when he noted that Hazaels conscience was troubled by the glittering eyes which seemed to read the inmost secrets of his heart did Elisha drop his glance, and burst into tears. "Why weepeth my lord?" asked Hazael, in still deeper uneasiness. Whereupon Elisha revealed to him the future. "I weep," he said, "because I see in thee the curse and the avenger of the sins of my native land. Thou wilt become to them a sword of God; thou wilt set their fortresses on fire; thou wilt slaughter their youths; thou wilt dash their little ones to pieces against the stones; thou wilt rip up their women with child." That he actually inflicted these savageries of warfare on the miserable Israelites we are not told, but, we are told that he smote them in all their coasts; that Jehovah delivered them into his hands; that he oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. {2Ki_10:32; 2Ki_13:3; 2Ki_13:22} That being so, there can be no question that he carried out the same laws of atrocious warfare which belonged to those times and continued long afterwards. Such atrocities were not only inflicted on the Israelites again and again by the Assyrians and others, {Isa_13:15-16 Hos_10:14; Hos_13:16 Nah_3:10} but they themselves had often inflicted them, and inflicted them with what they believed to be Divine approval, on their own enemies. {See Jos_6:17-21 1Sa_15:3 Lev_27:28-29} Centuries after, one of their own poets accounted it a beatitude to him who should dash the children of the Babylonians against the stones. {Psa_137:9}
As the answer of Hazael is usually read and interpreted, we are taught to regard it as an indignant declaration that he could never be guilty of such vile deeds. It is regarded as though it were "an abhorrent repudiation of his future self." The lesson often drawn from it in sermons is that a man may live to do, and to delight in, crimes which he once hated and deemed it impossible that he should ever commit.
The lesson is a most true one, and is capable of a thousand illustrations. It conveys the deeply needed warning that those who, even in thought, dabble with wrong courses, which they only regard as venial peccadilloes, may live to commit, without any sense of horror, the most enormous offences. It is the explanation of the terrible fact that youths who once seemed innocent and holy-minded may grow up, step by step, into colossal criminals. "Men," says Scherer, "advance unconsciously from errors to faults, and from faults to crimes, till sensibility is destroyed by the habitual spectacle of guilt, and the most savage atrocities come to be dignified by the name of state policy."
"Lui-meme a son portrait force de rendre hommage,
Il fremira dhorreur devant sa propre image."
But true and needful as these lessons are, they are entirely beside the mark as deduced from the story of Hazael. What he said was not, as in our Authorized Version, "But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" nor by "great thing" does he mean "so deadly a crime." His words, more accurately rendered in our Revision, are, "But what is thy servant, which is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" or, "But what is the dog, thy servant?" It was a hypocritic deprecation of the future importance and eminence which Elisha had prophesied for him. There is not the least sense of horror either in his words or in his thoughts. He merely means "A mere dog, such as I am, can never accomplish such great designs." A dog in the East is utterly despised; {1Sa_24:14; 2Sa_9:8} and Hazael, with Oriental irony, calls himself a dog, though he was the Syrian commander-in-chief-just as a Chinaman, in speaking of himself, adopts the periphrasis "this little thief."
Elisha did not notice his sham humility, but told him, "The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be King over Syria." The date of the event was B.C. 886.
The scene has sometimes been misrepresented to Elishas discredit, as though he suggested to the general the crimes of murder and rebellion The accusation is entirely untenable. Elisha was, indeed, in one sense, commissioned to anoint Hazael King of Syria, because the cruel soldier had been predestined by God to that position; but, in another sense, he had no power whatever to give to Hazael the mighty kingdom of Aram, nor to wrest it from the dynasty which had now held it for many generations. All this was brought about by the Divine purpose, in a course of events entirely out of the sphere of the humble man of God. In the transferring of this crown he was in no sense the agent or the suggester. The thought of usurpation must, without doubt, have been already in Hazaels mind. Benhadad, as far as we know, was childless. At any rate he had no natural heirs, and seems to have been a drunken king, whose reckless undertakings and immense failures had so completely alienated the affections of his subjects from himself and his dynasty, that he died undesired and unlamented, and no hand was uplifted to strike a blow in his defense. It hardly needed a prophet to foresee that the scepter would be snatched by so strong a hand as that of Hazael from a grasp so feeble as that of Benhadad II. The utmost that Elisha had done was, under Divine guidance, to read his character and his designs, and to tell him that the accomplishment of these designs was near at hand.
So Hazael went back to Benhadad, and in answer to the eager inquiry, "What said Elisha to thee?" he gave the answer which Elisha had foreseen that he meant to give, and which was in any case a falsehood, for it suppressed half of what Elisha had really said. "He told me," said Hazael, "that thou shouldest surely recover."
Was the sequel of the interview the murder of Benhadad by Hazael?
The story has usually been so read, but Elisha had neither prophesied this nor suggested it. The sequel is thus described. "And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it" in "water, and spread it on his face so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead." The repetition of the name Hazael in the last clause is superfluous if he was the subject of the previous clause, and it has been consequently conjectured that "he took" is merely the impersonal idiom "one took." Some suppose that, as Benhadad was in the bath, his servant took the bath-cloth, wetted it, and laid its thick folds over the mouth of the helpless king; others, that he soaked the thick quilt, which the king was too weak to lift away. In either case it is hardly likely that a great officer like Hazael would have been in the bath-room or the bedroom of the dying king. Yet we must remember that the Praetorian Praefect Macro is said to have suffocated Tiberius with his bed-clothes. Josephus says that Hazael strangled his master with a net; and, indeed, he has generally been held guilty of the perpetration of the murder. But it is fair to give him the benefit of the doubt. Be that as it may, he seems to have reigned for some forty-six years (B.C. 886-840), and to have bequeathed the scepter to a son on whom he had bestowed the old dynastic name of Benhadad.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 2Ki_8:1. Then spoke Elisha—The pluperfect tense: Now Elisha had…
ELISHA IN DAMASCUS
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
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2Ki_8:1. Then spoke Elisha—The pluperfect tense: Now Elisha had spoken. This section dates prior to chapters 5 and 6, but is given here as an introduction to the narrative which follows.
2Ki_8:4. And the king talked—Was (that moment) talking. Note the coincidence. While talking; at that very moment “beheld the woman!” (2Ki_8:5). God times incidents with precision; “things work together”, interweave (Rom_8:28).
2Ki_8:6. King appointed a certain officer—סָרִיס. Its primary meaning is a eunuch; its secondary, a court minister. All the fruits of the field since, &c.—The word תְּבוּאָה is better rendered “fruits” or produce, than rent; yet it has also the meaning, gain, profits (Pro_3:14).
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_8:1-6
THE POTENT INFLUENCE OF A GOOD MAN
I. His counsel is valuable, and gratefully acted upon. The Shunammite had good reason to respect the word of Elisha. She had evidence of the sympathy and power of the prophet in the restoration of her dead son. When, therefore, he warned her of the coming famine, and advised emigration, she and her son promptly obeyed. The result showed the wisdom of the advice, and justified their confidence in the prophet; they were preserved during the years of famine, and received again the property they had relinquished. Here we see how the kindness shown by the Shunammite receives still further reward. There is nothing so fruitful in blessing as kindness. In the great dilemmas of life we seek counsel, not from the frivolous and wicked, but from the wise and good. A good man has the destiny of many lives in his hands; a word from him has great weight. With what profound reverence and loving obedience should we accept the words of Him who bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought! who maketh the devices of the people of none effect, and whose counsel standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations (Psa_33:10-11).
II. His beneficent acts are the theme of popular conversation. “The king talked with Gehazi, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done” (2Ki_8:4). A good action cannot be hid. Sooner or later it will emerge from the obscurity in which it was first done, and become the talk of a nation, until it reaches even royal ears. All good actions do not attain such distinguished popularity. There were many good things that Elisha said and did of which history takes no notice. A good act may be remembered and applauded for generations, while the name of the actor is unknown. Who can tell how much bloodshed was spared, in the already too bloody battle of the military at Nanci, during the French revolution of 1790, by the bold, heroic woman who screamed to the wild, unmanageable mutincers not to fire the second cannon, and who made her screams effectual by flinging a pail of water on the dangerous engine. Her name is unknown, but history immortalises the deed. The more a good man is known and appreciated, the greater interest is taken in all the details of his life. Indeed, there is danger in magnifying the most ordinary sayings and doings into undue significance and importance. The nation that can sing of the exploits of its heroes “in the brave days of old” should also be forward in extolling the noble efforts of good men in modern times. If the age of chivalry is past, the spirit of chivalry lives and burns in the breasts of not a few in our day.
III. His holy and unselfish life is a testimony for Jehovah in the midst of national apostasy. The life of Elisha, if less bold, fierce, and meteorlike in its manifestations than that of Elijah, was more profoundly impressive in its influence for good. The idolatrous Jehoram was smitten with admiration for the gentle-mannered prophet, and must be convinced of the superiority of Elisha’s God. But the better feelings of the king were transient; he was too closely wedded to his idolatry to thoroughly break away from it, and, with constant calls and warnings to return to his allegiance to Jehovah, he drifted towards the doom in which all his house was to be involved. As every star in the firmament declares the glory of God, as every flower of earth reveals some feature of the Divine beauty, so every holy life testifies of the character of God. Human goodness is but a reflection of the Divine. In the darkest night of national apostasy, Israel was favoured with an Elisha, whose divinely-illumined life threw a bright stream of light across the gloom. How deplorable the condition of that nation from which all moral worth is excluded! The modern doctrine of Nihilism aims at this. A zealous propagandist of this rank materialism lately defined their teaching thus:—“Take heaven and earth, state and church, kings and God, and spit upon them; that’s our doctrine!” This is plain enough. And what would they substitute for God, the soul, and moral law? A wild, conscienceless demagogy, without belief or scruple, giving the rein to brute humanity, keeping open house for every appetite and lust. Such would be the condition of the nation bereft of living witnesses for God and truth.
IV. His reputation is the means of promoting the ends of justice (2Ki_8:5-6). There was surely a Divine providence at work that brought the suppliant Shunammite into the presence of the king at the very moment when Gehazi was rehearsing the great works of Elisha. During her absence of seven years her estate was occupied by others, and ordinarily it would be a most difficult proceeding to dislodge the occupants. She wisely went direct to the highest authority, and while the influence of Elisha’s reputation was fresh upon the mind of the king, for his sake the prayer of the Shunammite was immediately granted. Justice triumphed; her land and all its produce for the seven years were restored to her. It requires power to enforce the claims of justice, and the highest kind of power is goodness. The arrangements of justice are more likely to be permanent when brought about by the influence of righteous principles, than when compelled by physical force. The presence of a holy character in society is a powerful check upon injustice and wrong.
LESSONS:—
1. Goodness is not inherited, but divinely bestowed.
2. A good man is not always himself conscious of the value and extent of his influence.
3. It is an unspeakable blessing to a nation to possess men of eminent goodness.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_8:1-3. Famine, pest, war, and all other forms of calamity, form an army which is subject to the command of God; which comes and goes at His command; which is ready to attack, or ready to retire, as He may order; and which can assail no one without command. They are sometimes commissioned to punish and to be the agents of the Divine justice, sometimes to arouse and to bring back the intoxicated to sobriety, sometimes to embitter the world to sinners and push them to the throne of grace, and sometimes to try the saints and light the purifying fires about them. So no man has to do simply with the sufferings which fall upon him, but, before all, with Him who inflicted them—Krummacher.
2Ki_8:1. Lessons taught by famine. I. That God has entire control over the productive powers of nature.
2. That God may permit famine as a judgment on account of national sins.
3. That a time of famine should induce national humiliation and repentance.
4. That the extremity of human suffering is the opportunity for magnifying the Divine power and goodness.
—It is a long famine that shall afflict Israel. He upon whom the spirit of Elijah was doubled, doubled the punishment inflicted by his master. Three years and a-half did Israel gasp under the drought of Elijah; seven years’ dearth shall it suffer under Elisha. The trials of God are many times more grievous for their sharpness than for their continuance. This scarcity shall not come alone; God shall call for it. Whatever be the second cause, He is the first. How often, how earnestly, are we called to repentance, and stir not! The messengers of God fly forth at the least beck, and fulfil the will of His revenge upon those whose obedience would not fulfil the will of His command.—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_8:2. No nation was more opposite to Israel than the Philistine, none more worthily odious; yet there does the Shunammite seek and find shelter. Even the shade of these trees that are unwholesome may keep us from a storm. Everywhere will God find room for His own. The fields of the Philistines flourish, while the soil of Israel yields nothing but weeds and barrenness. Not that Israel was more sinful, but that the sin of Israel was more intolerable. The offers of grace are so many aggravations of wickedness. No pestilence is so contagious as that which hath taken the purest air.
2Ki_8:3. She that found harbour among Philistines finds oppression and violence among Israelites; those of her kindred, taking advantage of her absence, had shared her possessions. How often does it fall out that the worst enemies of a man are those of his own house! Both our fears and our hopes do not seldom disappoint us. It is safe trusting to that stay which can never fail us, who can easily provide us both of friendship in Palestine and justice in Israel. We may not judge of religion by particular action; the very Philistine may be merciful when an Israelite is unjust; the person may be faulty when the profession is holy.—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_8:4-6. What is here told us by king Jehoram presents him to us from his better side. His desire to learn all of Elisha’s acts, still more the way in which he was ready to help the distressed Shunammite to the recovery of her property, testify to a receptivity for elevated impressions and to a disposition to yield to them. By the fact that he recognised all that was extraordinary in the person of the prophet, and yet that he did not desist from his false line of conduct, he showed that, in the main point, the relation of himself and of his people to Jehovah, nothing good could any longer be expected of him. His better feelings were transitory and ineffectual. He continued to be a reed swayed hither and thither by the wind, easily moved, but undecided and unreliable, so that, finally, when all the warnings and exhortations of the prophet had produced no effect, he fell under the just and inevitable judgment of God.—Lange.
2Ki_8:5. How happily does God contrive all events for the good of His own! This suppliant shall fall upon that instant for her suit when the king shall be talking with Gehazi, when Gehazi shall be talking of her to the king: the words of Gehazi, the thoughts of the king, the desires of the Shunammite. shall be all drawn together by the wise providence of God into the centre of one moment, that his oppressed servant might receive a speedy justice. Oh, the infinite wisdom, power, mercy of our God, that insensibly orders all our ways, as to His own holy purposes, so to our best advantage!—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_8:6. The word of God often extorts from an unconverted man a good and noble action, which, however, if it only proceeds from a sudden emotion, and stands alone, resembles a flower which blooms in the morning and in the evening fades and dies True servants of God, like Elisha, are often fountains of great blessing, without their own immediate participation or knowledge.
—The widow may thank Elisha for this. His miracle wrought still, and puts this new life in her dead estate: his absence did that for the preservation of life which his presence did for restoring it from death. She who was so ready to expostulate with the man of God upon the loss of her son might, perhaps, have been as ready to impute the loss of her estate to his advice. Now that for his sake she is enriched with her own, how does she bless God for so happy a guest! When we have forgotten our own good turns, God remembers and crowns them. Let us do good to all while we have time, but especially to the household of faith.
—The true spirit of obedience. I. Seen in a ready belief in the Divine word. II. Seen in the willingness to abandon home and property at the Divine call. III. Puts the soul and all earthly things under the Divine care. IV. Has restored more than was abandoned.
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.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 2Ki 8:7-15
2Ki 8:7-15
From this history some points of instruction may be derived.
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I. You cannot predict, from a man’s early natural disposition, what he will be capable of. Nothing will save a man but firm habits, steadfast principles, and the grace of God in confirmation of them.
II. Men are capable of a course at which their whole nature revolts. But it must be through a gradual reduction to a lower condition. Men in evil courses are like persons who go down winding stairs. The upper stairs hide the lower ones, so that they see only three or four steps before them. Men go down courses of pleasure, vice, and crime, seeing only one or two steps in a whole career. This is the reason and philosophy of keeping aloof from courses which lower the moral tone of the mind. It is the early steps which lead a man to wrong under such circumstances.
III. We are all of us either advancing from strength to strength to appear before God, or we are, consciously or unconsciously, drifting further and further from the early period of innocence, from the early honour, from the early faith. Let us take heed. Let us call God to our side and yield ourselves to His will. By prayer, by faith, and by reliance on the power of God, live so that, at whatever hour the Son of man may come, He shall find you ready and willing to depart and be with Christ, which is better than life.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 4th series, p. 413.
References: 2Ki 8:7-15.—A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 287. 2Ki 8:9.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 25. 2Ki 8:13.—S. Greg, A Layman’s Legacy, p. 142; J. Fordyce, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 323. 2Ki 8:16-29.—Parker, vol. viii., p. 196. 2Ki 8:19.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 116. 2Ki 8:28. 2Ki 9:15.—A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 287.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Elisha and the Shunammite. Elisha and Hazael. Reigns of…
Elisha and the Shunammite. Elisha and Hazael. Reigns of Jehoram and Ahaziah of Judah
1. Then spake Elisha] The occasion is not indicated, all the stories related of Elisha in this and the three preceding chapters being disconnected. A famine] Perhaps the same as that referred to in 2Ki_4:38.
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2. The land of the Philistines] This was a corn-growing district, near the still more productive country of Egypt.
3. To cry unto the king] Her property, being vacant during her absence, had seemingly passed to the crown: cp. 2Ki_4:6.
7. To Damascus] It is possible that Elisha in thus visiting the Syrian capital was carrying out a commission of Elijah's (1Ki_19:15). For Ben-hadad see 2Ki_6:24.
8. Hazael] one of Benhadad's servants.
10. Say unto him] Elisha presumably meant that the disease from which Benhadad was suffering was not a fatal one, but that he would die by other means. Some suppose that Elisha spoke ironically (like Micaiah in 1Ki_22:15).
11. Until he was ashameda] Hazel became discomposed under the prophet's gaze, being conscious of a guilty purpose.
12. The evil, etc.] described in 2Ki_10:32; 2Ki_13:3, 2Ki_13:22; Amo_1:3, Amo_1:4.
13. But what, etc.] RV 'but what is thy servant, which is but a dog,' the expression 'a dog' being a term of contempt (1Sa_17:43; 1Sa_24:14). Hazael meant that he could scarcely credit that so great a destiny was in store for one so humble as himself.
16. Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah] an accidental repetition of the words 'Jehoshaphat king of Judah,' that follow.
18. He did evil.. Lord] This does not imply that he abandoned altogether the worship of the Lord, since he made offerings to the Temple (2Ki_12:18).
19. A light] see 1Ki_11:36; 1Ki_15:4. In consequence of the divine promises made to David, Jehoram's sins were not punished by the overthrow of his dynasty but by other means.
20. Edom revolted] in the reign of Jehoshaphat Edom had been subject to Judah and ruled by a viceroy (1Ki_22:47). Its success in throwing off the yoke of Judah is alluded to in Gen_27:40.
21. Zair] This place is only mentioned here, and the Vulgate reads Seir, another name for Edom. The people.. tents] The people referred to is the people of Judah.
Joram, when surrounded by the Edomites, cut his way through them and escaped, but his army was defeated and dispersed. The verse accounts for the successful revolt of Edom.
22. Yet] RV 'so': see 2Ch_21:10. Unto this day] The writer whose materials the author of Kings is here drawing upon must have lived before the destruction of the Judaean kingdom. Libnah] situated in the lowland. Its revolt was perhaps aided by the Philistines: cp. 2Ch_21:16-17;
23. The rest.. Joram] see 2 Chronicles 21, which relates both the public and personal losses sustained by the king.
24. Ahaziah] in 2Ch_21:17 called Jehoahaz.
26. Two and twenty] in 2Ch_22:2; 'fortytwo.' Daughter of Omri] strictly she was 'grand-daughter' of Omri. The terms 'son' and 'daughter' were used not only of remote descendants but even of successors who were not blood-relations; e.g. Jehu in the Assyrian inscriptions is called 'the son of Omri.'
28. He went with Joram] Ramoth Gilead at this time was in the hands of Israel, but threatened by Syria (2Ki_9:14).
29. Ramah] i.e. Ramoth Gilead.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Elisha’s Powerful Influence at Court
Elisha’s Powerful Influence at Court
v. 1. Then spake Elisha, more exactly, he had spoken, for this incident had happened some years before, unto the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn, journeying to any country where the famine would not be so severe;for the Lord hath called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
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v. 2. And the woman, apparently a widow at that time, arose, and did after the saying of the man of God; and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines, which was near, and whose fertile lands ’vere usually not struck so heavily with scarcity, seven years.
v. 3. And it came to pass at the seven years’ end that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines; and she went forth to cry unto the king, the chief judge, the highest court, for her house and for her land. Her property had either come into the possession of the crown, or some persons had illegally established themselves in the possession of her inheritance.
v. 4. And the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done, he was anxious to know more about the personal life of the great prophet.
v. 5. And it came to pass, by the direction of God, as he was telling the king how he, Elisha, had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house and for her land, her plea was brought to the king’s attention at just this opportune moment. And Gehazi said, My lord, 0 king, this is the woman and this is her son, who had accompanied his mother, whom Elisha restored to life.
v. 6. And when the king asked the woman, she told him, she made her complaint. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, giving the adjustment of her case into the hands of one of his eunuchs, saying, Restore all that was hers, all her property, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now; she was to receive an amount of grain and produce equal to the full crop borne by her fields during her absence. The king had been so impressed with the recital of Elisha’s deeds that he at least showed the woman the justice which she demanded. In a similar way even hardened sinners are occasionally stirred by evident works of God and try to do right for a time. But if one has become accustomed to sin and disobedience, it is only true repentance which is able to work a renewal of heart.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 This word is used here to mark a break…
Now
This word is used here to mark a break in the main story line. Here the author starts to tell a new part of the story.
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the woman whose son he had restored to life
The story of this woman and her son is found at 2 Kings 4:8.
he had restored to life
"he had caused to become alive again"
Arise, and ... arose and she obeyed the word of the man of God
To arise here is for a person to stop what he is doing ad begin to do what he needs to do. AT: "Do as I say, and ... she did what the man of God had told her to do"
the man of God
"Elisha, the man of God"
translationWords
Elisha
restore
life
household
Yahweh
call
famine
obey
word
God
Philistines
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 v3 8:3 getting back her house and land: Her property…
8:3 getting back her house and land: Her property might have been held in trust or confiscated.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.