2 Kings 2:14

And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters,.... He wrapped it together, as Elijah had done, and smote the waters in like manner, to make trial whether he had the same

And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

Where is the Lord God of Elijah? who at Elijah’ s request divided these waters, and is as able to do it again; and hath given me his spirit and office; and therefore I humbly beg, and confidently expect, his assistance in this matter. They parted; but these words after Where is the God of Elijah? are by many rendered otherwise, and that agreeably to the Hebrew, even himself? or, even the same? (which words they join with the former, as an emphatical addition, or repetition, which is usual in fervent prayers. But they may be rendered without an interrogation, thus, Surely he, is, to wit, here present, and ready to help me. Or, Surely he is the same, to wit, to me, that he was to Elijah, as able and willing to work for me as for Elijah. Then the following words they render, as they are in the Hebrew,) and he smote the water, and it was divided. By which repetition it may seem that he smote it twice, and that at the first smiting the success did not answer his desire and expectation; which God so ordered, partly to keep him in a modest and humble sense of his own insufficiency, that he might not be puffed up with the great gifts which he had now received; compare ; and partly to stir him up to a more lively exercise of faith and prayer, which followed God’ s denial or suspension of his help, as it is here expressed; which also was attended with desired success.

2 Kings 2:14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where [is] the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.Ver. 14. Where is the Lord God of Elijah?] These are words of invocation and faith, rather than of doubt and of diffidence. Some render it, Where is the Lord God of Elijah, even He? and make Aph-hu - even He - to be one of God’ s attributes. See Weemse’ s "Exposition of the Moral Law," p. 162, and A Lapide, in loco.

(14) Where is the Lord God of Elijah?—Has He left the earth with His prophet? If not, let Him now show His power, and verify the granting of my request (2 Kings 2:9). The words are a sort of irony of faith. Elisha “seeks” Jehovah as the only source of power. (Comp. Jeremiah 2:6; Jeremiah 2:8, where the priests and prophets are blamed for having recourse to idols, instead of asking, “Where is Jehovah?”) And when he also had smitten.—The Hebrew is, also (or, even) he—and he smote. There is clearly something wrong. The LXX. does not render the Hebrew ‘aph hϋ’ “also he,” but copies the words in Greek (αφφω). Keil connects them with the foregoing question, “Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah, even He?” Thenius objects that this use of ‘aph is doubtful, and supports Houbigant’s correction, ’ηphτ, an enclitic then—“Where, then, is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? and he smote,” &c. Perhaps ’κphτh (“where”) was the original reading: “Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? Where?”—an emphatic repetition of the question. Or it may be that the words ’aph hϋ’ wayyakkeh should be transposed: “and he smote—he also (like Elijah),” &c. The Vulgate has the curious renderings, “And with the cloak of Elias which had fallen from him, he smote the waters, and they were not divided; and he said, Where is the God of Elias now also? And he smote the waters, and they were divided,” &c. Such also is the reading of the Complutensian LXX.; but the variation is simply an old attempt to account for the twofold “and he smote the waters.”

Verse 14. Where is the Lord God of Elijah?] The Vulgate gives a strange turn to this verse: Et percussit aquas, et non sunt divisae; et dixu, Ubi est Deus Eliae etiam nunc? Percussitque aquas, et divisae sunt huc et illuc. "And he smote the waters, but they did not divide; and he said, Where is the God of Elijah even now? And he struck the waters and they were divided hither and thither." The act of striking the waters seems to be twice repeated in the verse, though we get rid of the second striking by rendering the second clause, when he also had smitten the waters: which has the same Hebrew words as the first, and which we translate, he smote the waters. The Vulgate supposes he smote once in vain, perhaps confiding too much in his own strength; and then, having invoked the God of Elijah, he succeeded. This distinction is not followed by any of the other versions; nor is the clause, et non sunt divisae, "and they divided not," expressed by the Hebrew text.

14. and smote the waters] He acts upon the faith that he would receive from God the power which he had desired. He is in a degree to represent Elijah and therefore he acts as Elijah had done. After these words the Complutensian text of the LXX. gives καὶοὐδιῃρέθη, ‘and they were not divided’. This is represented also in the Vulgate ‘percussit aquas et non sunt divisζ’. To explain this it has been said that at first Elisha took the mantle, and wrapping it together smote the waters, without any words, expecting the virtue to make itself apparent at once. When no effect was thus produced he then called upon Jehovah and the waters parted asunder. As there is no warrant in any Hebrew text for the words added in the Greek and Latin it is needless to point out that the above explanation is of no authority. Where is the Lord God [R.V. the God] of Elijah?] The question does not imply any doubt of God’s presence, of which Elisha had so lately seen a manifestation; but should rather be explained as an entreaty for His power to shew itself and give a foretaste of the spirit of Elijah which had been promised. ‘As if he had said: Lord God, it was thy promise to me by my departed master, that if I should see him in his last passage, a double portion of his spirit should be upon me. I followed him with my eyes in that fire and whirlwind; now therefore, O God, make good thy gracious word unto thy servant: make this the first proof of the miraculous power wherewith thou shalt endow me. Let Jordan give the same way to me as it gave to my master’ (Bp Hall). But at this point there is a difficulty in the Hebrew text. Immediately following the question just noticed come two words ΰַ ?σΞδεּ ?ΰ which the Massoretic pointing connects with what follows, and which the A.V. (and many later authorities) renders by ‘he also’. The next word in the Hebrew=‘and he smote’. It is apparent at once that the collocation ‘he also and he smote’ can only by an act of some violence be rendered ‘and when he also had smitten’. But if the Massoretic text be adhered to, this is the only solution, and it has been retained in the text of the R.V. by the rule which fixed the accepted text as that which was to be translated. On the margin however the Revisers give ‘the God of Elijah, even He?’ thus combining the two Hebrew words which cause the difficulty with the first portion of the sentence, and continuing ‘And when he had smitten &c.’ This, though not without some awkwardness, for ΰַ ?σΞδεּ ?ΰ nowhere else is found in the sense of ‘even he’, yet seems better than the solution of the A.V. The LXX.

Where ... - Some prefer, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah, even he? And when he had smitten, etc.” Or, according to others, “now when he, etc.” Elisha’s smiting of the waters seems to have been tentative.

14. Smote the waters — Elisha’s first miracle is identical in nature with the last of Elijah, and so the spirit and power of the father rests upon his spiritual son, and by him continues active in the world.