1. In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the 2 son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did 3 that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of 4 Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. And the anger of the 5 LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, 6 and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, continually. And Jehoahaz besought the 7 LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the 8 king of Syria oppressed them. (And the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out 9 from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as before- 10 time. Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, wherewith he 11 made Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the Asherah also in Samaria.) 12 For he left not to Jehoahaz of the people save fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thou- 13 sand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in thresh- 14 ing. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not 15 written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoahaz slept with his 16 fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his stead. 17 In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz 18 to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. And he did that which was evil 19 in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, 20 wherewith he made Israel to sin: but he walked therein.

Verses 12 and 13 transferred below, following verse 25.

14. Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died: and Joash the king of Israel 15 came down unto him, and wept over him, and said, My father, my father, the chariots of 16 Israel and the horsemen thereof! And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows: and he 17 took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the 18 bow: and he put his hand upon it. And Elisha laid his hands upon the king’s hands. And 19 he said, Open the window eastward: and he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot: and he 20 shot. And he said, The LORD’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria: for 21 thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take 22 the arrows: and he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground: 23 and he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou 24 shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst con- 25 summed it: where as now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

20. And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at 21 the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. 22, 23 And Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But the LORD was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them 24 from his presence as yet. And Hazael king of Syria died; and Ben-hadad his son reigned in 25 his stead. And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash smite him, and recovered the cities of Israel. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the 13 kings of Israel? And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Of the other kings in Jehu’s dynasty only brief notices appear. His son Jehoahaz reigned seventeen years; had wars with Syria, for a while disastrous, destructive; but subse- quently, when he besought the Lord for help, he found deliverance and peace (verses 3-5, 22, 23). It fell to his son Joash to stand and weep over the aged prophet Elisha in his last sick- ness, and to give utterance to his emotions in words borrowed from Elisha’s own lips as he saw Elijah ascend: “O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” The dying prophet aroused himself sufficiently to give the king some prophetic announcements bearing on the then pending issues of his wars with Syria, in which the measure of the king’s success turned upon the reach and compass of his faith. At this point the historian records that the bones of Elisha imparted life to a dead body thrown in hastily upon them (verse 20) —so wonderfully was the miraculous element blended with his whole life, extending even to his decaying bones. The demand for miracles, resulting from the great decline of faith, especial- ly in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, is a point worthy of special notice. The ministry of prophets, and particularly of the miracle- working prophets, Elijah and Elisha, was the chief agency employed of God to resist and eradicate Baal-worship from the land and to bring the people back to a living faith in Israel’s God. Other prophets in considerable number had important work to do in this special field; but miraculous agency seems to have been chiefly limited to these two men.

Two prophets whose writings have come down to us, Hosea and Amos, fall within the long reign (forty-one years) of Jeroboam II., son and successor of this Joash. Their writings show how solemnly they expostulated with and how earnestly they rebuked both the people and their king for their sins; how tenderly they entreated them to turn to their compas- sionate Father to find mercy; and yet with how little avail. If these written exhortations fairly represent the oral preaching of the prophets in Israel, it must have been wonder- fully pungent, searching, thrilling, and ought to have been full of moral power. H. C.—Never more clearly than in this period, during the dynasty of Jehu, does it appear how the prophet, as the messenger of God, combined the twofold function of preaching to his own and, in a sense, to every future generation, and of intimating the wider purposes of God in the future. There is not in the prophetic utter- ances recorded any one series of admonitions, warnings, or even denunciations which does not lead up to an announcement of the happy prophetic future promised. In this respect prophecy has the same fundamental character- istic as the Book of Psalms, in which, whatever the groundnote, every hymn passes into the melody of thanksgiving and praise. This sim- ilarity is due to the fact that, in their scriptural aspect, the progress of outward teaching and the experience of the inner life are ever in ac- cordance. On the other hand, there is not in the prophetic writings any utterance in regard to the future which has not its root, and, in a sense, its starting point in the history of the time. The prophet, so to speak, translates the vernacular of the present into the Divine lan- guage of the future, and he interprets the Di- vine sayings concerning the future by the well- known language of the present. As between his teaching and his prediction, so between the history of the present and that of the future there is not a gap: they are one, because through both runs one unswerving purpose which gradually unfolds what from the first had been infolded. And so history and prophecy also are one, because God is one. And so also, if we would rightly understand them, must we study not so much prophecies as isolated utterances, but as prophecy in its grand harmonious historical unity. A. E.

1-9. The biblical text seems here somewhat involved, in part from the mixture of remarks by the writer with the historical notices extracted from existing documents. The following appears its real order. The usual notice (verse 1) of the accession of Jehoahaz, and of the duration of his reign is followed by a general description of the character of that monarch (in verse 2): as doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and continuing the wrongful religious institutions of Jeroboam. Then we have in verse 3 a notice of the Divine punishment of these sins in the surrender of Israel to Hazael, king of Syria, and to Benhadad, his son and successor. The following verse (verse 4) marks the repentance and prayer of Jehoahaz, occasioned by these calamities, and God’s gracious answer, although not in the immediate present (see verses 22-25). Verses 5 and 6 form a parenthesis. Possibly it may begin with verse 4. The reference to the wars of Benhadad in verse 3, which can only apply to the time of Jehoahaz, may be rather of a general character (see verses 22 and 25). In any case the continuous historical notices, or extracts, recommence with verse 7, which describes the depressed condition of the kingdom under Jehoahaz, while verses 8 and 9 record, in the usual form, the death of Jehoahaz and the accession of his son, Jehoash (or Joash). Thus, as already stated, verses 5 and 6, if not also verse 4, form an intercalated notice, telling on the one hand how God had heard the prayer of Jehoahaz by raising up “a saviour” to Israel (verse 5), and, on the other hand, how this gracious interposition did not really affect the spiritual state of Israel (verse 6). They not only continued in the sins of Jeroboam, but “there stood the Asherah also in Samaria.” This parenthetic notice must be considered as of a general character: “the saviour” raised up being in the first place Jehoash (verse 25), and finally and fully Jeroboam II. (2 K. 14: 25-27). Sayce.

3. Now first were the anticipations of Elisha on his introduction to Hazael near Damascus fully realized; now first did all those evils which his prophetic soul had presaged come on the unhappy Israelites. Invasions of their land fell upon them year by year, accompanied with all the horrors of the most savage and cruel warfare. G. R.

4. A prayer wrung from the king, not by the sense of his sin, but by the intolerable pressure of affliction, might have been thought undeserving of an answer. But the Lord is very pitiful, and welcomes the faintest approach of the sinner unto Him. He does not thrust the suppliant away, but seeks, by giving him tokens of His grace, to ripen his imperfect desires into real repentance. Accordingly, Jehoahaz met with a gracious response. God promised a saviour to the land, and ultimately raised one up in the person of Joash, who, but for his want of perseverance, would have completely delivered the nation from the Syrians. The work which he left undone was finished by his son, Jeroboam II. Thus God shows Himself ready to hear the cries even of the worst of men. None need despair in calling on Heaven when Jehoahaz was listened to in such dire straits. J. O.

Assuredly no better evidence could be afforded us that even in our furthest decline we may still turn to God, nor yet that prayer—even by Jehoahaz, and in that state of Israel—shall not remain unanswered. Yet, though the prayer was immediately heard, as in the judgment pronounced upon Ahab (1 K. 21: 27-29), its immediate manifestation was delayed. These are precious practical lessons to all time, and the more valuable that they are in such entire accordance with God’s dealings as declared in other parts of Revelation, exhibiting the harmony and inward unity of Holy Scripture. Sayce.

As soon as any relenting is shown, as soon as the king acknowledges God’s hand in His punishment, and turns to Him and entreats His aid, even although he does not put a stop to the practices by which God’s anger has been provoked (verse 6), yet the Divine compassion is stirred. “The Lord hearkened unto him” (verse 4). A saviour is given, in the Divine counsels, if not at once in fact. The nation’s fall is arrested, its life prolonged. Hammond.—O faithful Christian, if God heard Jehoahaz, how much more will He hear thee, if thou callest upon Him! The Lord gave Israel a deliverer, but Jehoahaz did not live to see him. God hears the cry of those who earnestly call upon Him, and helps them; but the time, and place, and manner of His aid are retained in His own discretion. Do not despair if thy prayer does not seem to be heard, and the Lord delays His assistance. He knows that fitting season as well as He knows what is useful to us. Starke.

6. There remained the grove.** One would have thought that, in such a reformation as that of Jehu, there would have been a clean sweep, or, at any rate, that Ahab’s pet idolatries would have gone. But no! evil is terribly persistent. No reformation ever sweeps away at once all that it was intended to sweep away. “The grove remains.” How many heathen superstitions survived the supersession of heathenism by Christianity! How many iniquitous laws continue in all countries after every attempt that is made to reform the laws! The result is partly through the fault of the reformers, who cease their efforts while much still remains to be done; but it is also caused in part by the tenacity of life which the things that need to be swept away possess in themselves. And as evil is thus persistent in communities, so is it also in the character of individuals. A man makes a great effort at self-reformation, changes his rules of conduct, his habits, the whole method of his life, as he thinks; but in some corner there still lurks a remnant of the old leaven, which shortly reasserts itself, and too often leavens the whole mass with its corrupting influence. The lesson to be learned is watchfulness and perseverance. By care, by consideration, and by constant effort, the persistency of evil may be met and counteracted. God’s Holy Spirit is always ready to assist our endeavors; and whether in a community or in an individual, continued effort, divinely aided, will prevail at last.

7. The meaning seems to be that Hazael limited the standing army of Jehoahaz to fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, not that he slew the entire military population except this small remnant. The policy of limiting the forces to be maintained by a subject-king was one known to the Romans, and has often been adopted in the East. It is still a part of our own policy in the government of India. The limitation left the country at the mercy of all its neighbors. Hammond.

Jehoahaz reigned seventeen years (incomplete), from the twenty-first year of Joash, king of Judah, to his thirty-seventh year (verse 10). He left his crown to his son, Jehoash, or Joash, to whom he had given the same name as that borne by the contemporary Jewish sovereign. This act would seem to imply that the friendly relations which had subsisted between the two kingdoms during the rule of the house of Omri were for a time resumed. But old jealousies were allowed to prevail; and the opportunity for alliance being suffered to slip, it was not long ere the ancient hostility once more showed itself (2 K. 14: 8-14), and came to such a head, that henceforth the two sister nations continued estranged during the remainder of their joint existence. G. R.

Verses 10-25.

The writer passes from the reign of Jehoahaz, Jehu’s son, to that of Joash, Jehu’s grandson, which he seems to have intended at first to despatch in the short space of four verses (verses 10-13). He afterward, however, saw reason to add to his narrative, first, an account of an interview between Joash and Elisha, shortly before the death of the latter (verses 14-19); secondly, an account of a miracle wrought soon afterward by means of Elisha’s corpse (verses 20, 21); and thirdly, a brief notice of Joash’s Syrian war (verses 22-25). Hammond.

Jehoash (or Joash), the twelfth king of Israel, and the third of the line of Jehu, began to reign, in conjunction with his father Jehoahaz in the thirty-seventh year of Joash, king of Judah (R.C. 841), and alone two years later (R.C. 839); his entire reign lasted sixteen years. There is an apparent discrepancy between his character and his actions. It would seem as if the calf-worship of Jeroboam had become so inveterate in Israel that a king who practised it might yet be chosen as a deliverer from foreign oppression if he did not serve Baal; or it may be that God willed to give Israel a final opportunity of restoration, irrespective of the character of the king, “and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet” (verse 23). We find Jehoash received with favor when he visited Elisha upon his death-bed, and he mourned over him in his own words when he lost Elijah, “O my father! my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!” The prophet assured him of victory over the Syrians by significant actions. He bade him shoot an arrow from the open window toward Syria, and himself laid his hands with the king’s upon the bow, as if to give Divine power to the shot, which he called “the arrow of Jehovah’s deliverance from the Syrians,” who were to be smitten in Aphek. Then he bade the king strike the ground with the arrows. The three strokes signified three victories; and the prophet was angry with the king for not striking five or six times, as he would then have consumed them utterly. The whole was a parable of the co-operation of human effort with the Divine counsels. It was fulfilled by three great victories which Jehoash gained over

Benhadad III., the son Hazael, and by which he recovered the cities which Hazael had taken from his father. Meanwhile, Elisha died, and a last miracle was wrought by his remains. A man was about to be buried in the same rock in which the prophet’s sepulchre was hewn, when the bearers were alarmed by the approach of one of the predatory bands of Moabites that now infested Israel. They thrust the body hastily into the first open tomb in the face of the rock. It was that of Elisha, and upon touching his remains, the dead man came to life and stood upon his feet. All these events happened in the early years of Jehoash. The other great event of his reign was the conquest of Jerusalem which is related under the reign of Amaziah, king of Judah. He died, was buried in the royal sepulchre at Samaria, and was succeeded by his son Jeroboam II., the greatest king of Israel. P. S.

10. In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah.** Three years before his death, since he reigned forty years (chap. 12:1). The two Joashes were thus contemporary monarchs for the space of three years. Hammond.

12,13. It is difficult to account for the occurrence of these verses in this place. They recur, with little variation, in the next chapter (verses 15 and 16). Keil rightly notes that they are here too early, since the whole remainder of the chapter is devoted to the acts of the king whose reign they bring, as it were, to a close; while in the next chapter they are altogether out of place, since they needlessly interrupt the history of the Jewish monarchs. According to ordinary laws of historical composition, they should form the closing paragraph of the present chapter. B. C.—Hence they are transferred to the close in the above text. B.

14-19. Jehu reigned twenty-eight years, his son Jehoahaz seventeen years, and his grandson Joash sixteen years. Because these three kings “departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin,” during their three reigns the Lord delivered Israel “unto the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and of Benhadad,” his son. Many times through that long period had God heard the intercession and employed the agency of Elisha in behalf of a people, whom He seemingly “could not give up.” Once more, upon the prophet’s dying bed, He heeds his last intercession for the guilty nation, and by Elisha’s act and word gives another pledge of “deliverance from Syria.”

14. Joash weeps over the dying Elisha.** In spirit resembling the disciple whom Jesus loved, like John, Elisha lived to a great age. Like him, too, his ministry for the greater part of sixty years was a quietly leavening influence. Upon the court and people he had exerted a helpful and blessed force, year by year. Beside his direct interposition for their deliverance from siege and assault, to all these kings he had been as a living conscience, preventing their utter lapse into defiant rejection of God. Now and then they had even been moved to beseech the Lord (verse 4). By steadfast, wise supervision of evangelists, sent forth from the schools of the prophets, and by his own personal teaching, he had aided the people. Thus the knowledge of God had been more widely diffused, and the faith of true worshippers of Jehovah had been strengthened, confirmed and made more fruitful. It was not strange then that the king, who knew what Elisha had been to Israel for three-score years, should come down from his palace to the prophet’s abode to express his grief, and to seek the last counsel from the man of God. If there was selfishness in his lament there was sincerity in his respect and veneration. With an intense feeling and truth he repeated the affectionate eulogy of Elisha over Elijah’s departure. Elisha left no successor to whom he could go for help in his need. No other had been entrusted with the power of miracle. No other had such prevalent might in intercession with God. To whom, then, could Joash look when Elisha is taken from Israel? “Thou, the defence of Israel, art to take thy heavenward flight!” B.

Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. Elisha, who was grown to manhood before the death of Ahab (1 K. 19:19), must have been at least eighty years old at the accession of Joash. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him. The visit of a king to a prophet, in the way of sympathy and compliment, would be a very unusual occurrence at any period of the world’s history. The act of Joash certainly implies a degree of tenderness and consideration on his part very uncommon at the time, and is a fact to which much weight should be attached in any estimate that we form of his character. Hammond.

The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. It is impossible to imagine that Joash now by a mere coincidence spoke the exact words at the deathbed of Elisha, which Elisha himself had spoken when he was about to lose Elijah. He must have known the circumstances of Elijah’s removal, which were perhaps already entered in the

“book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel;” and he must have intended to apply to Elisha his own words on that solemn occasion. “Alas!” he probably meant to say, “thou too art about to leave us, and to follow Elijah—thou who hast been since his departure that which he was while he remained on earth, the true defence of Israel.” B. C.

15-19. Elisha’s last ministry, a pledge of God’s deliverance.** To the very last Elisha’s heart, like Elijah’s, beat fervently for the honor of God and the welfare of his people. His last word shall be an encouragement. Partly by symbolical action he declares that God will give Joash victory over the Syrians. By bidding the king “take bow and arrows, to put his hand upon the bow,” and afterward to shoot, Elisha intimates that God will still work for Israel, and through Joash himself, if only he be obedient and determined. The Syrians were now masters of the country east of Jordan. Therefore the course of the arrow is through a window opening eastward. Through Elisha’s hands upon the king’s, the act of the king derives its authority from Elisha’s God. The promise of success and deliverance is His. And it is explicit: “Thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.”

Joash desired the fulfilment of God’s promise; but he lacked that concentrated earnestness of faith and energy of will which still burned in the soul of Elisha. The sharpness and decision of the prophet’s whole symbolic action ought to have roused an intensely eager purpose. But instead of this, when he is bidden to hit the ground with the remaining arrows, although knowing that this sign also meant conflicts and victories, he smites but thrice. A half faith and a half will is all that he can give back to the old prophet’s fiery enthusiasm for God and for God’s people. What wonder Elisha is vexed with his half-heartedness, and reproves his slack hand! Then Joash fully learns what faith and determination have to do with success. Had he shot all the arrows, he had smitten Syria in her strongholds, till Syria’s power was finally broken. Now he shall smite only the army of Syria within the bounds of Israel. This he subsequently did. “Three times did Joash beat Benhadad, the son of Hazael, and recovered the cities of Israel” (verse 25). But Syria remained as a scourge to Israel. B.

16. Put his hands upon the king’s hands.** So that the shooting should be, or at least appear to be, the joint act of himself and the king. The intention was, no doubt, as Keil says, “to show that the power which was to be given to the bow-shot” was not the king’s own power, but “came from the Lord through the mediation of His prophet.” Hammond.

17. The action declares:** 1. That deliverance in trouble is from God only. As He alone can give it, so He is the true Source from which to seek it. 2. God employs human agency in His deliverances. The bow and arrows were the symbols of the human instrumentality. Joash had to put his hands upon the bow. It was he who shot the arrow. It was he who was to smite the Syrians. Man has his part given him in all God’s works of deliverance on earth. 3. The human agent could only succeed as God strengthened him. Elisha put his hands upon Joash’s, signifying that the power to gain the predicted victories came from God. J. O.

18. And stayed.** Joash struck with the arrows against the floor three times and then paused, thinking he had done enough. He did not enter into the spirit of the symbolical act, which represented the smiting and slaying of enemies. Perhaps he had not much faith in the virtue of the symbolism.

19. Elisha was angered at the lukewarmness of Joash, and his lack of faith and zeal. He himself, from his higher standpoint, saw the greatness of the opportunity, the abundance of favor which God was ready to grant, and the way in which God’s favor was stinted and narrowed by Joash’s want of receptiveness. Had the king been equal to the occasion, a full end might at once have been made of Syria, and Israel might have been enabled to brace herself for the still more perilous struggle with Assyria, in which she ultimately succumbed. If he had been earnestly desirous of victory, and had had faith in the symbolical action as divinely directed, he would have kept on smiting till the prophet told him it was enough. Hammond.—The unfaithfulness of man limits the goodness of God. Our Lord “could do no mighty work” in one city, “because of their unbelief” (Mark 6: 5, 6). God had been willing now to give the Israelites complete victory over Syria—victory “even to consuming” (verse 17); but Joash by his non-acceptance of the Divine promise in its fulness had checked the outflow of mercy; and the result was that the original promise could not be fulfilled. B. C.

We learn: 1. Very trivial actions often reveal a great deal of character. 2. We often have not from God because we ask not. These shootings of the arrows were at once prayers for victories from God and pledges of victories.

Joash, as it were, asked for only three victories, and he only got three. Had he asked for more, he would have got more. Had Abraham not ceased pleading for Sodom when he did, he might have got a yet further extension of grace for that doomed city. It is never in God we are straitened in our prayers; it is only in ourselves. 3. It displeases God that we do not ask more from Him. His controversy with us is not that we ask too much, but that we do not ask enough. Joash missed the full blessing by stopping in his asking. J. O.

Be reminded from the story of one great fact of the kingdom of heaven, a fact on which the holy Master constantly spoke, saying, “According to thy faith be it unto thee”—the fact that according to the measure of our trust will be the measure of our blessing. There was a blessing for Joash from the dying prophet—just as there is a blessing for you and for me from the living Prophet—if he could put his trust in him. Unless he could put his trust in him, the thing signified would not accompany the sign. “And Joash smote thrice.” That was the measure of the man’s confidence in the promise of God, and so it was the measure of the fulfilment of the promise too. And this has been the Lord God’s way in dealing with mankind. He that looks for great things from the hand of God—for great peace, for great nearness to the mercy seat, for great victory over self—he, through the merit of Christ, and he alone, shall do great things; but he who asks with an irresolute desire and a wavering heart, “let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.” Christ’s mercy, as one well says, like water in a vase, takes the shape of the vessel that holds it. On the one side the grace is infinite: it is given to every man according to the measure of the gift of Christ, with no limit but His unlimited fulness. On the other hand, the amount which we practically receive from the store is at each successive moment determined by the measure, and the purity, and the intensity of our faith. On Christ’s side there is no limit but infinity; on our side there is no limit but capacity, and the capacity of each one of us is settled by our better desires. The word to us is, “Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.” “According to thy faith be it done unto thee.” Anon.

We pray for nothing less than Christ’s great glory, and it is possible to ask too little. We have prayed and have received; but have we prayed or received in any measure corresponding to the exceeding great and precious promises ises of Him with whom we have to do? the merits and sufferings of Him whose death and righteousness are our plea? or the boundless compassion of Him who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not? We are not straitened in God; but we are straitened in our desires, our purposes, our believings. Here all is narrow; there—in the heart of God—all is wide. We have not, because we ask not. J. W. A.

20, 21. Elisha’s death and burial, and the after-miracle. As Elisha had lived among the people, so he died among them. King and nobles and people took part in his public and honorable burial. God so ordered it that the influence of his stainless character and the teaching of his helpful, ministering life, might be thus recalled and freshly impressed. Two generations had he faithfully served in his sixty years of ministry for God. And in all his history we read no word of reproach nor hint of defection, from the mouth of God. Enoch-like he walked with God, yet he was not translated. For God would add to the witness of even so prolonged a life the testimony of a tranquil and triumphant death. No more completely-rounded life, none more human and more exemplary, do we read in the Inspired Records. And after death and burial, even in his sepulchred body, God honored this faithful servant as He never honored any beside. Briefly as the incident is narrated, the purpose of the record is clear; and its suggestions are grand and impressive. Within a year the land was invaded by raiding parties from Moab, on the east of Jordan. One of these bands was seen in the distance by a small funeral train bearing a dead man to the grave. They chanced to be passing the hill-side tomb of Elisha. Hurriedly they bore the body into the tomb and laid it down in contact with that of the prophet. Instantly the dead man came to life and rose to his feet. That life should come to the dead from the dead was a marvel never heard of before, a work clearly wrought by the direct power of God. And such a miracle had a worthy purpose. It manifestly conveyed a posthumous testimony to the Divine mission and life-work of the departed prophet. By it God authenticated Elisha’s teachings afresh, as by a voice from heaven; and intimated that He would have them remembered and heeded by His people. By it, too, He substantiated and sealed Elisha’s prophetic promises and warnings, with a sanction so solemn seeking to give them vividness and persuasive force over the hearts of king and people. Further, while distinctly hinting the fact of a future resurrection of the body, this miracle vividly suggested the reality of another life in which God was still the God of the living Elisha. So God would encourage the hopes of believing Israelites by the glimpse of a rest remaining for His people; that they might “endure as seeing Him who is invisible,” who would finally reward their fidelity in a future immortal life. And upon the heedless, unbelieving multitude the same stupendous reality was solemnly impressed, that they, too, might be led to due care and preparation for its experience. For these immediate effects upon the living generation, and to convey these suggestions of a bodily resurrection and a future life to all generations, God added this miracle of life from Elisha’s lifeless body to His previous testimonies in the translation of Enoch and Elijah. B.

20. And Elisha died.** The longest and most useful life thus comes to its close. It is well when, on a death-bed, one can look back on a life which has been spent in the service of God. The certainty of removal by death from the scene of their labors should animate those who are still in the vigor of their powers to work while it is to-day, and should lead those who enjoy the presence and services of good men to prize and honor these servants of God while they are here. From the side of the saint himself death is not a calamity, but a gain. “He rests from his labors, and his works follow him.” J. O.

21. He revived and stood up on his feet.** To make a dead corpse the source out of which vitality shall leap forth to fresh energy is to surpass all that the most lively fancy could imagine of wonderful, and almost to reconcile contradictions. God willed at this time to show that He could effect even this marvellous thing—make death give life to that which was recently dead—educe from one dead in Him the vital power that should resuscitate and reanimate another also dead, and make a tomb—the place of death—the scene of the transformation! Hammond.

This miracle was the immediate work of God, and concurred with the translation of Elijah, to keep alive and confirm, in a degenerate and infidel age, the grand truth of a bodily resurrection, which the translation of Enoch was calculated to produce in the antediluvian world, and which the resurrection of Christ, in a glorified body, fully illustrated. Hales.—This great miracle, though very briefly related, was a decided proof of his mission, and a confirmation of all his prophecies. It was also a plain indication of another life after this; when Elisha died, there was not an end of him, for then he could not have done this. From operation we may infer existence. By this it appeared that the Lord was still the God of Elisha, therefore Elisha still lived, for he is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Elijah was honored in his departure, Elisha was honored after his departure. God thus dispenses honors as He pleases, but, one way or other, the rest of all the saints will be glorious (Isa. 11:10). H.—God set the seal on his prophetic work by making life-giving power to issue even from his grave. The miracle suggests to us the fact that from every good man’s grave there issues in an important sense a life-giving power. The influence of men does not die with them. On the contrary, it is often greater after their deaths than during their lives. J. O.

The good man’s influence lives after his body dies. The illustration of this truth, with such emphasis as even so sensuous a people could not resist, seems to have been one chief object of the miracle. The truths he had taught them and the spirit he had manifested would have more permanent effect because of such demonstration of God’s interest even in his dust. His influence would have quickening power, as his bones had power to bring to life the man who “revived and stood upon his feet” as soon as he touched these entombed relics of the prophet. Our posthumous influence does not receive enough of our thought. A man may be forgotten, his name may be unknown, and strangers may tread upon his grave or disturb his ashes to make room for their own dead, but the works he made in life will be seen and the power he possessed will be felt by those who follow him. J. Eells.—This narrative teaches us that the influence of faithful workers for the kingdom of God extends beyond the grave, and that frequently a cause for which men have labored and spent themselves is advanced by the departure from among us of those who have taken it in hand. Contact with the death of such a worker not unfrequently imparts life—the life of earnestness, the life of devotion, the life of Christian self-sacrifice—to those who did not possess it, or who possessed it only imperfectly and inefficiently before. G. Calthrop.

22. The author, having parenthetically related the extraordinary miracle wrought by the instrumentality of Elisha’s corpse, returns to the subject of the Syrian oppression. He had, in verses 14–19, dwelt upon the promises of victory given by the prophet to Joash. He is now bent on relating their fulfilment. But before doing so he recapitulates. Verse 22 refers back to verse 3, and verse 23 to verses 4 and 5.

23. And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them.** Even in His wrath God “thinketh upon mercy.” While He was still punishing Israel by the sword of Hazael, he was yet careful not to make a full end, not to allow the affliction to proceed too far. He still preserved the nation, and kept it in being. Hammond.

Because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That covenant was the main fact in the history of Israel. It underlies and governs all God’s dealings with them, past, present, and prospective. It was the remembrance of this covenant which led to the deliverance from Egypt; to the settlement in Canaan; and to God’s patient dealings with the nation amid their various rebellions, and under their constant provocations. God saved them, not for their righteousness’ sake, but for His own Name’s sake. He is the God of unchanging faithfulness. He bears long with men, if haply they will repent. Wherefore it is said, “He would not destroy them, neither cast He them from His presence as yet.” There is a limit, however, to Divine forbearance. The time came when, still remaining impenitent, they were cast away, though even then not forever. J. O.

23-25. At its close the narrative again returns to what is its key-note (in verses 4, 5). Again comes the record of the Lord’s compassion, of His faithful remembrance of the covenant with the Fathers, and of His merciful delay of that final punishment of Israel’s sin which would sweep them far from their land. It was as God had promised. Hazael was dead. Once and again—nay, three times—did Jehoash defeat Benhadad (III.), the son and successor of Hazael, and take from him those cities which had been captured in the reign of Jehoahaz. But as from the rock-hewn sepulchre of Elisha came attestation of his Divine mission, so comes there to us from the monuments of Assyria confirmation of this defeat of Benhadad in fulfilment of Divine promise. For whereas his father is repeatedly referred to as a bold warrior even against the overwhelming might of Assyria, Benhadad (III.) is not even mentioned. This is most significant; evidently his reign was smitten with weakness, and his power had been wholly broken. A. E.

Victory of Joash over Amaziah.

12. Fought against Amaziah.** Amaziah, king of Judah, had defeated the Edomites with great slaughter, and returned victorious with a large booty (2 Chron. 25: 9) to Jerusalem. Then, in the insolence of victory, the Jewish king sent a challenge to his Israelite brother, in the curt but perfectly clear phrase—“Come, let us look one another in the face.” Joash answered the challenger in true Oriental fashion, with a parable: “The thistle that was in Lebanon,” he said, “sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there came by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle” (2 K. 14: 9). To his parable he added a few words of advice: “Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?” But Amaziah had gone too far to draw back. Instead of “tarrying at home,” he marched out to attack his foe, and met him at Bethshemesh, not far from Jerusalem, where the two kings “looked one another in the face,” and fought a bloody battle. The host of Judah was discomfited before Israel, and fled away in confusion; Amaziah himself being taken prisoner upon the battlefield. Joash forthwith advanced upon Jerusalem, which, being quite unable to resist the conqueror, had to submit upon disgraceful conditions. A space of four hundred cubits (two hundred yards) in the northern wall was levelled (2 K. 14: 13). All the treasures contained in the Temple and in the royal palace, whether in the shape of bullion or of vessels, were considered to be forfeited, and were seized and carried off (ibid., verse 14). Hostages also were demanded and given—a new feature in the warfare of the time; after which Joash, having released Amaziah and restored him to his throne, returned in triumph, with his victorious army, to Samaria.

It would seem that Joash did not very long survive his great victory. His entire reign lasted only sixteen years, and the earlier part of it must have been occupied with the Syrian war. Amaziah did not, probably, ascend the Jewish throne till Joash’s fourth year, and then must have been for some considerable time engaged in his preparations against Edom (2 Chron. 25: 5-11). The Edomite campaign can scarcely have been fought earlier than his tenth or eleventh year, which was Joash’s thirteenth or fourteenth. Even if the battle of Bethshemesh took place in the year following, Joash can have survived it only for a year or two. He appears to have died peacefully in Samaria, and to have been buried there in the sepulchres of the kings. (See reign of Amaziah, Section 36.) G. R.

Other Distinctive Practical Teachings.

1. The measure of success in Christian conflict or work depends upon the measure of faith, of earnestness and perseverance. Feebleness of faith, fitfulness and inconstancy in action hinder effectiveness in warfare, and fruitfulness in achievement. Therefore obediently, with all the soul’s energy, and tirelessly, must Christ’s soldier and toiler struggle and endure to the end, as seeing Him who is invisible.

2. The time and circumstances of death are varied in God’s wise appointment. Sometimes He allots a briefer term of service, or summons with a sudden call. So He dealt with Elijah. To others, as to Elisha, He ordains a protracted period of usefulness, and a gradual approach to death. Each experience has its advantages, and God metes these out to every believer in His unerring wisdom and unfailing love. But His is the ordering, and of each life and of its close He makes the most and the best.

3. To all believers, especially to those who are charged with ministry in the Church of God, the example of Elisha is full of incitement to single-hearted fidelity. Such fidelity makes every believer’s life, like Elisha’s, a blessing to his community and nation. And such a life of blessing never dies out of the hearts that have been blessed. Through these hearts the blessing influence is transmitted to succeeding generations, and thus the believer “being dead yet speaketh,” even unto the end of time. B.

In the Old Testament, we may study both God and man by an “inductive method.” We may learn what God is, and what He will do for and with men, by seeing what He was, and what He did, in the days of patriarchs and prophets. We may discover what fate will attend the various forms of human conduct, by seeing to what they led in that olden time. We may know what are the possibilities of human endeavor, and what men, by the grace of God, may do and be, by learning what the ancient men of God, of whom the world was not worthy, became and achieved. We may discover what are the elements and the fashioning powers of a noble and godly life by studying the development and the character of the grand and saintly souls of the Old Testament age. S. Burnham.

15th of Amaziah to 14th of Uzziah, of Judah.