2 Kings 7

1. And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell before thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and made the iron to swim. And he said, Take it up to thee. So he put out his hand, and took it.

That the schools of the prophets had special buildings for their accommodation is not only inferable from the necessities of the case, but is touchingly indicated here, as we read that

“the sons of the prophets” came to Elisha to say that their accommodations for students’ rooms were too strait, and proposing to go to Jordan and its timbered bottoms, and take thence every man his beam [pole], and fit up more such humble accommodations for their shelter. He said, “Go;” but they quietly suggest that he go with them; and, like a true and faithful father-prophet, he went. It was fortunate that he did; for so he was on hand to bring the iron axe-head to the surface when by accident it had sprung from its helve and fallen into the Jordan. The cry, “Alas, master, for it was begged!” brought Elisha’s miracle-working power at once to their aid. They were too poor to buy their axes. This man had to beg his—ask it, as the Hebrew signifies—yet never in the sense of borrow. It is the word used in the history (Ex. 3:22; 11:2) of the Israelites asking jewels and goods of the Egyptians—which was by no means “borrowing.” All in all, this is a very pleasant inside view of college life in those ancient schools of the prophets—antedating by a few thousand years the experiences of some prophet schools of our age which have struggled upward from the humblest beginnings amid many privations, and not a little morally wholesome manual toil, and occasionally some cheering tokens of a helping power from above. H. C.

1. The place where we dwell with thee.** Literally, “the place where we sit before thee”—i.e., “the place where we assemble, and sit to hear thy teaching.” Elisha did not, properly speaking, “dwell with” the sons of the prophets. He only visited them in circuit, staying a short time at each place where a “school” was established.

5. The axe-head.** Literally, “the iron.” The Jews used iron for the heads of axes at a very early date. (See De. 19:5.) They probably acquired a knowledge of the smelting process in Egypt, where iron was employed at least from the time of the third Rameses. For it was borrowed. This is part of the wood-cutter’s exclamation, not a remark of the author’s. The wood-cutter shows the axe-handle to Elisha, and cries, “Alas, my lord, and it a borrowed one!” He merely made the natural exclamation of a man to whom such a misfortune had happened.

6. And he cut down a stick and cast it in thither.** It has been suggested that no miracle is here intended, but that Elisha, seeing the axe-head at the bottom of the river, thrust in a long stick, and adroitly passing it through the hole designed to receive the handle, lifted the axe-head to the surface. But there are two objections to this. First, it is not the natural sense of the words, which imply that the prophet threw the wood into the water; and secondly, the sacred writers do not record mere acts of manual dexterity. Made the iron to swim. His action, though it could no more naturally produce such a result than salt could purify a spring or meal remove the noxious character of poisonous herbs, yet had the effect which he intended. The iron rose to the surface, and remained there.

No doubt there is something startling in the trivial character of this miracle, and of the few others which resemble it. We are apt not to be satisfied unless there is clearly seen by us to be a dignus vindice nodus in each case of miraculous interposition. But we really know very little as to the laws which govern the exercise of miraculous powers, where such powers have been committed by God to a mere mortal. It is possible that they may sometimes, like natural gifts, be so much under their possessor’s control that he can exercise them, or not exercise them, at pleasure. And it may depend on his discretion whether they are exercised in important cases only, or in trivial cases also. Elisha had evidently great kindness of heart. He could not see a grief without wishing to remedy it. And it seems as if he had sometimes used his miraculous power in pure good nature, when no natural way of remedying an evil presented itself. B. C.

In this miracle God did not do all. There was water, air, sky and iron. Instead of these four concourses there were five, one of which was Jehovah’s will. Why did the iron sink? It was heavier than the water; gravity pulled it down. Why did it swim? This excess of gravity might have been counteracted by a lifting up with a string or a stick; but God simply interpolated a new transient force equal to the excess of the specific gravity of the iron over the water, and acting in a direction opposite to that of gravity, and the iron floated. This is also true of the most complex of miracles, as the rising of Lazarus from the dead. It was not simply to arrest decay, but to make the atoms of the body go back to healthy action, as in life. God simply changed the conditions by a new Divine force, and the atoms acted as in his growing youth and manhood.

How different the miracles of the Bible from other miracles! They were certain definite events, not done in the dark nor in a corner, but in the clear light of day, where everybody could see them. They were repeated under varying circumstances, before many witnesses, and under the inspection of the senses—sight, touch, hearing. A. A. Hodge.

8. Now the king of Syria warred against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are coming down. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. And the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed-chamber. And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host with horses and chariots was round about the city. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. And he led them to Samaria. And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them : wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 23 And he prepared great provision for them : and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

8-23. THE chronic hostility which subsisted between the Israelitish and the Syrian kingdoms soon broke out again in war. In this, as in other instances, Syria was the aggressor. The invaded kingdom was delivered, not through “the sword and the bow” (verse 22) of its king, but once more through the interposition of Elisha. J. O.—Incursions, on the side of Syria and of Israel, were of constant occurrence during almost the whole period of the monarchy of Jehoram. “The Syrians went out by companies, and brought away captives out of the land of Israel,” and the Israelites no doubt retaliated, and from time to time sent their plundering expeditions into Syria, and took booty and prisoners. But before Jehoram had been on the throne many years a more threatening system of attack was organized by the second Benhadad, and attempts were for a second time made to push the war to extremities, and to effect the subjection of Samaria to the Syrian yoke. The enterprising monarch of Syria led a series of expeditions into the Israelite territory with the hope of surprising and cutting off detachments or of otherwise gaining some considerable advantage; but his expectations were frustrated after a manner for which he found it hard to account—his designs seemed to be penetrated, his intentions known. Suspecting treachery among his officers, he was met by the assurance that the Syrian ranks harbored no traitor, but that Elisha, by his supernatural powers, was able to penetrate and expose all his plans. Under these circumstances, he sought to obtain possession of Elisha’s person; and having learned that the prophet was residing in a small Israelite town called Dothan, he sent an army thither to take him. Elisha, though angelic hosts surrounded him, was instructed to yield, and obeyed. He induced the Syrians to accompany him to Samaria, under a strange species of illusion; after which he delivered them over to Jehoram, whose first impulse was to put them to death. This impulse Elisha checked. The king, he said, should rather entertain his prisoners hospitably, release them freely and let them return to their own country. The advice was followed; and Benhadad appears to have been so far touched by the generous treatment of his soldiers, that for some considerable space he refrained from further hostilities against the Israelites. But some years later he suddenly invaded Israel and laid siege to Samaria. G. R. (See next Section.)

8-13. Elisha foils the ambuscading schemes of the Syrian king. At several points successive ambuscades were laid to entrap the king of Israel. But Elisha, by special supernatural vision, faithfully forewarned Jehoram upon each occasion, and the king escaped the peril. Naturally the Syrian king was surprised at the seeming disclosure of his secret plans, and inferred treachery on the part of his own officers. Upon investigation at a called council, he was informed by one who had learned the fact in some way, that Elisha the prophet had revealed all his very thoughts to the king of Israel. At once he sends out spies to discover the place where Elisha was tarrying. They return with the intelligence that he is at Dothan. This was a small town upon a hill, about eleven miles north of Samaria. B.

8. Then the king of Syria warred against Israel.** It may seem strange that, so soon after sending an embassy to the court of Samaria, and asking a favor (chap. 5 : 5, 6), Benhadad should resume hostilities, especially as the favor had been obtained (chap. 5 : 14); but the normal relations between the two countries were those of enmity (chap. 5 : 2), and a few years would suffice to dim the memory of what had happened. Hammond.

9. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel—Jehoram (2 K. 3 : 1), or Joram, as he is likewise called (2 K. 8 : 25), the son of Ahab. How little regard Elisha had for this ungodly monarch is plain from his language to him on a former occasion (2 K. 3 : 13), when he sought the prophet’s aid in a time of great peril, and from his speaking of him (2 K. 6 : 32) as “this son of a murderer.” And how alienated the king was from the prophet appears not only from the fact that it was not he, but one of his servants, who suggested the application to the prophet when the armies of the three kings were in danger of perishing (2 K. 3 : 11), and that he did not direct Naaman to him until the prophet himself volunteered in the case (2 K. 5 : 8), but that, in the straits to which Samaria was reduced afterward in a siege, instead of soliciting the intercession of the prophet, he ordered him to be put to death (2 K. 6 : 31). It is perhaps significant that he is here spoken of not by name, but simply by his office. The message of the prophet was addressed to the king of Israel. He was for the time the head and representative of the people of God, and it is for the safety and the welfare of Israel that the prophet is concerned, not for the personal advantage of Joram. W. H. G.

Elisha is a thousand scouts. He sends word to the king of Israel of the projects, of the removes, of his enemy. More than once had Jehoram saved both his life and his host by these close admonitions. It is well that in something yet a prophet may be obeyed. What strange state-service was this which Elisha did, besides the spiritual! The king, the people of Israel owe themselves and their safety to a despised prophet! The man of God knew and felt them idolaters; yet how careful and vigilant is he, for their rescue! If they were bad, yet they were his own; if they were bad, yet not all; God had His number among their worst: if they were bad, yet the Syrians were worse. The Israelites misworshipped the true God; the Syrians worshipped a false. That if it were possible he might win them, he will preserve them; and if they will needs be wanting to God, yet Elisha will not be wanting to them: their impiety shall not make him undutiful. Bp. H.

12. And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed-chamber: The cure of Naaman’s leprosy was doubtless widely known in Syria. Such a miracle wrought upon the general of the army and the favorite of the king could not be a secret. And many other evidences of Elisha’s supernatural power may also have been generally reported. W. H. G.

14, 15. The encompassing Syrian host, and the servant’s great fear. Secretly and by night this little city was invested by a considerable company of Syrians, with horses and chariots and footmen. This great company of hostile warriors met the gaze of Elisha’s new and untried servant, as he went forth early in the morning upon the wall. The imminence of the peril pressed sorely upon his inexperienced heart, and with small faith in God or His prophet, he hastens with the alarming news to Elisha. Yet had he some faith with his fear; for he asks, “How shall we do?”

16, 17. The answer and the prayer of Elisha. Calm and undaunted in spirit, with the unwavering courage of implicit faith in Jehovah, Elisha hears his servant’s appeal. And quietly he assures the young man of God’s absolute invincible protection. He sees the gathered hosts of God, outnumbering far the human array and girded with the might of omnipotence, now as ever interposed for his deliverance. How sublime the contrast here of human fear and human faith—fear of man and faith in God! In this we read the first grand lesson of the incident.

But Elisha adds to his assurance a fervent prayer for the same elevation of faith to be imparted to his servant. He asks that a spiritual vision may be given to the mind of the man. And there, as he stood in the prophet’s secluded chamber, the Lord gifted him with supernatural mental vision. To the actual scene he had just beheld, now reproduced upon the eye of the mind, the Divine Spirit added a sublime picture of a vaster host of fiery chariots intervening between Elisha and his foes—a multitude filling the city, and the hill upon which it lay. The end of the vision was the enlargement and confirmation of the man’s faith. And this is the second grand lesson of the incident under review. Faith comes through the spiritual vision of God. The power of spiritual sight is imparted by His Spirit. The Holy Ghost alone unseals the eyes of the understanding, to behold the wondrous things of God—of His law, of His grace and love. The marshalled hosts of God were around Elisha, but the young man saw them not until a Divine illumination was imparted to him. So the sublime facts of God’s presence, of His providence and redemption—all truths disclosed in type and history, in psalm and prophecy in the Old Testament, and fulfilled by Christ and the Holy Spirit—all have intense reality. But the sense of that reality comes alone through the apprehension of faith. And the vision of faith is the gift of God. It is the work of His quickening, illuminating Spirit. And this Divine gift is bestowed, this Divine work inwrought in every soul, in answer to the prayer of those who, like Elisha, already believe and live. B.

Elisha’s servant quakes at the Syrian army, no fear invades the prophet. He saw, and caused his man to see, a greater Deliverer above. So it is with men in the time of trouble; if their eyes be fixed on earth, their enemies appear great, and God that is so high seems little. Let our eyes be in heaven, and from thence look down upon our enemies, God will then appear mighty, our foes weak and contemptible. Adams.

16. Fear not: for they that be with us are

more than they that be with them, is the perfectly fearless word of Elisha at Dothan. It gets echo and emphasis in Paul’s perfectly fearless word at Corinth: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Old Testament and New Testament agree in this, that a true faith allies us to God. And alliance with God means majority and might and victory. H. Johnson.

As stood the prophet with his servant in the midst of two opposing hosts, gathered for his destruction and deliverance, so stands every human soul. In the midst of two opposing hosts, both of whom, the enemies as well as friends, are invisible save to the vision of faith, a vision divinely given in answer to prayer. Satan and his hosts of evil daily, hourly arrayed against me. God and His hosts of good daily, hourly arrayed for me. This is the one grand reality of our life against which our eyes are closed, the reality which God alone can enable us to behold. B.

There is no contrast in modern life so great as the contrast between the two standards under which the whole world ranges itself to-day. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan—these two stand over against each other in irreconcilable hostility; and yet the subjects of both meet and intermingle in the world, often without knowing to which of the two kingdoms one another belongs. The two kingdoms are spiritual kingdoms, and their soldiers do not always wear a visible uniform by which they may be distinguished. But the distinction, though not always visible, is there; and its consequences reach into eternity. No other contrast of life matters so much—whether we are rich or poor, ignorant or intelligent, refined or uncultivated, is a question which may chiefly affect this life; but the distinction between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom is one whose consequences will affect each of us untold ages after the other contrasts of this life shall have been forgotten. H. C. T.

17. Some have tried to explain away the record of spiritual appearances as due to the natural surroundings of romantic scenery working on an excited imagination. Dothan lends itself to no such fantastic solution. A wide, rich plain, lying on the natural highway from Syria across Jordan by Bethshean to Samaria, with a smooth, round-topped hill at its south-eastern edge, beneath which is a copious spring, precious to the shepherds, and many dry cisterns, into one of which Joseph may have been cast, lends no aid to the imagination. The ancient city, now marked by grass-grown mounds, covered the summit of the hill. On its slopes the Syrians could not camp. They beleaguered it by encircling it with their camp on the rising ground beyond the base of the mount. It was on the open space all round the city that the hosts of Jehovah were revealed interposing between Benhadad’s troops and the prophet. Tristram.

The horses and chariots mean warlike force. Still, what the servant sees is not a material, it is a spiritual reality, taking a form which assures him of God’s sure protection, through the agencies of these ministers of His who do His pleasure, and at a time when all was dark to the eye of flesh. Liddon.—The servant of Elisha, until his eye was divinely opened, saw nothing but the hosts of the enemy surrounding Dothan and cutting off escape; but as soon as Divine light fell on him, he beheld a new spiritual world. He was now the enlightened one, the man of opened eyes; while the Syrians, who gloried in their strength, were smitten with blindness, and led captive by a single unarmed man. His mind had drawn in a great lesson. The chariots of fire, indeed, and horses of fire, were, in one sense, unreal; that is, they were not of flesh, nor obvious to human sense: they were unearthly powers, who assumed a form by which they could make an impression of truth on the distrustful, fleshly mind of the prophet’s servant. There were no chariots there, nor horses; but there were spiritual hosts, who showed themselves before the imagination of the young man to be more than a match for the army of besiegers. Thus a great truth from heaven, a reality as lasting and as wide as the universe, was taught him, that, beyond our eyes and ears, a majestic, spiritual world is moving on in silence; that an unseen God has infinite, unseen resources; that the causes and issue of things lie outside of the horizon of the senses; that immense agencies may be at work in all stillness and without the slightest show, of which the worldly mind does not so much as dream. If there are hosts of foes of God, there is a God of hosts above them. T. D. W.

In the state of light the soul can see that to which it was previously quite blind. The prophet’s servant imagined that his master and himself were left alone, but when his eyes were opened he saw the mountain to be filled with chariots and horses of fire. As great a wonder is often wrought in our own days. A man is living among us seeing nothing beyond a contracted circle of earth and earthly interests—thinking, perhaps, that few care for him, and that he needs to look to no one but himself— that he is isolated and alone or almost so—but the Spirit touches him, the scales fall from his eyes, the curtain is withdrawn from the spiritual world, and the intense light of Divine truth, with gradual dawn or sudden flash, lights up the amphitheatre by which he is surrounded, and he beholds that he is in the midst of eternities—at once a spectacle to and a spectator of another and grander universe. R. Flint.

The Gospel comes to recreate and strengthen our faith in things and persons unseen and eternal; it comes to rebridge the great gulf which we have fixed between the seen and temporal, and the unseen and eternal, and to draw us in thought and affection over the bridged chasm. It comes to make real and substantial to us the invisible. It seeks to make us walk by faith, not by sight—to live for, fight for, work and suffer and die for invisible interests and beings; and to reveal them (if that were possible) would be to subvert its objects. Our invisible helpers must remain invisible. They are here. They are real. We need but a spiritual vision, an all-conquering faith to see them, to realize their presence, to banish our fears, to make us ever calm and serene. Faith says in all the way, “Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” J. Drummond.

This manifestation has several features of resemblance to that given to Jacob in his most defenceless hour, when he saw beside his unprotected camp of women and children “God’s host,” and in a rapture of thankful wonder named the place “Mahanaim”—“Two Camps.” The sight teaches us that God’s messengers are ever near, and then most near when needed most. It tells us, too, that they come in the form needed. They are warriors when we are ringed about by foes, counsellors when we are perplexed, comforters when we mourn. Their shapes are as varied as our needs, and ever correspond to “the present distress.” They come in power sufficient to conquer. There was force enough circling the prophet to have annihilated all the Syrians. True, they did not draw their celestial swords, but they were there, and their presence was enough for the triumphant faith of the guarded men. What living thing could come through that wall of fire? Our eyes are blinded, and we need to have them cleared. We look so constantly at the things seen that we have no sight for the unseen. Worldliness, sin, unbelief, sense and its trifles, time and its transitorinesses, blind the eyes of our mind; and we need those of sense to be closed, that these may open. The truest vision is the vision of faith. It is certain, direct and conclusive. The world says, “Seeing is believing;” the Gospel says, “Believing is seeing.” If we would but live near to Jesus Christ, pray to Him to touch our blind eyeballs, and turn away from the dazzling unrealities which sense brings, we should find Him “the Master-light of all our seeing,” and be sure of the eternal, invisible things with an assurance superior to that given by the keenest sight in the brightest sunshine. When we are blind to earth, we see earth glorified by angel presences, and fear and despair and helplessness and sorrow flee away from our tranquil hearts. If, on the other hand, we fix our gaze on earth and its trifles, there will generally be more to alarm than to encourage, and we shall do well to be afraid, if we do not see, as in such a case we shall certainly not see, the fiery wall around us, behind which God keeps His people safe. A. M.

Prayer is a cold and heartless thing in numbers of instances because men see nothing of Him to whom prayer is addressed, nothing of God, nothing of Jesus, nothing of the spirit-world around the throne, nothing of the majesty, the beauty, the glory which encircles God, such as is possible, really possible to our finite and purblind gaze—nothing of the everlasting worship which surrounds Him, nothing of the ministers of His that do His pleasure. Liddon.

18. The investing company of Syrians smitten with blindness at the prayer of Elisha. With his now assured servant Elisha goes down to the Syrian camp in the plain below. As he approaches his prayer is uttered, “Smite this people, I pray Thee, with blindness.” For his servant he had asked sight, a clear, mental impression of things invisible. Upon this Syrian cohort he prays that a mental delusion or bewilderment (concerning things visible) may fall. Not a bodily blindness, but such a dazing of the senses as utterly to bewilder and paralyze the ordinary judgment. The object of Elisha was to hinder their recognition of him, and to lead them (as he did) to Samaria. And this prayer of Elisha, also, was instantly answered. The Lord smote the Syrians with such blindness, and thus prepared the way for Elisha’s further interposition in behalf of Israel. B.

He that prayed for the opening of his servant’s eyes to see his safeguard prays for the blinding of his enemies, that they might not see to do hurt. As the eyes of Elisha’s servant were so shut that they saw not the angels when they saw the Syrians, so the eyes of the Syrians shall be likewise shut, that when they see the man they shall not see the prophet. To all other objects their eyes are clear: only to Elisha they shall be blind—blind, not through darkness, but through misknowledge. They shall see and mistake both the person and place. Bp. II.

19-23. Going boldly into their midst he bids them follow him to the city where the man they seek has his dwelling. Then he leads them eleven miles to Samaria. Whatever question may be raised respecting the precise truthfulness of the prophet’s assertion to them, finds its most satisfactory solution in these two facts: that God seems to have directed the prophet’s action in the whole matter; and that Elisha’s use of his simple stratagem intimates a kind temper and purpose toward the Syrians. When their blinding bewilderment was removed, at Elisha’s prayer, they found themselves captives in the midst of the capital city, Samaria. Jehoram would then have fallen upon and destroyed them. But the prophet nobly rebukes the king. “Thou wouldst not slay those thou overcomest in fair conflict. Much less shouldst thou harm these whom God has put in thy power. Rather treat them kindly and generously; and release them to their master.” Yet these Syrians had been exclusively seeking this very prophet. There was prudence and policy, as well as kindness and nobleness, in Elisha’s conduct. His generous treatment, together with their own sharp experience, served to put a stop at least for a time to the warfare against Israel. B.

19. Justly now might Elisha say, “This is not the way, neither is this the city,” wherein Elisha shall be described. He was in Dothan: but not as Elisha. He shall not be found but in Samaria, neither can they have any guide to him but himself. No sooner are they come into the streets of Samaria, than their eyes have leave to know both the place and the prophet. The first sight they have of themselves is in the trap of Israel. Bp. II.

Elisha meant the Syrians to understand him to say, “This is not the way which ye ought to have taken if ye wanted to capture the prophet Elisha, and this is not the city (Dothan) where he is to be found.” And so the Syrians understood him. In the morality of the time, and, indeed, in the morality of all times up to the present, it has been held to be justifiable to deceive a public enemy. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. It could only be through the miraculous delusion for which Elisha had prayed, and which had been sent, that the Syrians believed the first comer in an enemy’s country, followed him to the capital without hesitation, and allowed him to bring them inside the walls. But for the delusion they would have suspected, made inquiries of others, and retreated hastily, as soon as the walls and towers of Samaria broke on their sight.

20. And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.** Their delusion was dispelled—they returned to their proper senses, and, seeing the size and strength of the town, recognized the fact that they were in Samaria, their enemy’s capital, and so were helpless. Hammond.

Elisha, in promising to bring them to the man whom they wanted, undertook no more than he performed. Only when the Lord opened their eyes, they found they were not in Dothan, but in Samaria. This is one way in which God frequently discomfits wicked men, pouring confusion into their counsels. They “grope for the wall, like the blind, and grope as if (they) had no eyes: (they) stumble at noonday as in the night; (they) are in desolate places as dead men” (Isa. 59: 10). They are granted the desires of their hearts, but after a fashion of God’s own; and in such a way as to lead to their final discomfiture. J. O.

22. “Thou shalt not smite them: wouldst thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow?” As if he said, “These are God’s captives, not thine; and if they were thine own, their blood could not be shed without cruelty. If it be victory thou aimest at, overcome them with kindness; set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink.” Oh, noble revenge of Elisha, to feast his persecutors! To provide a table for those who had provided a grave for him! These Syrians came to Dothan full of bloody purposes to Elisha; he sends them from Samaria full of good cheer. Thus should a prophet punish his pursuers. No vengeance but this is heroical, and fit for Christian imitation; “If thine enemy hunger, give him bread to eat; if he thirst, give him water to drink, and the Lord shall reward thee.” Bp. II.

23. Faith in God puts enemies in our hands, but not for vengeance. Elisha in the might of his faith captures those who sought to capture him, and in capturing their persons he would capture their hearts. He has them treated by his king with kindness, and then, unharmed, they are sent back to their master, taught that the God of Elisha and of Israel is not only a mighty but a gracious and forgiving God. This is faith’s way. It “worketh by love.” H. Johnson.

The king of Israel hath done that by his feast which he could not have done by his sword. The bands of Syria will no more come by way of ambush or incursion into the bounds of Israel. Bp. H.—The Syrian raids, which had hitherto been frequent, perhaps almost continuous (chap. 5: 2), now ceased for a time, and the kingdom of Israel had a respite. Hammond.

The incident impressively illustrates the sublime expression of Paul in 2 Cor. 4: 17, 18. The unseen agencies of the eternal world ever surround the believer. He abides under the shadow of the Almighty. He is entrenched within the impregnable camp and guarded by the invisible cohorts of God. With clear, high thoughts of this encompassing Divine presence, whom can he fear? “If God be for him, who can be against him?” Only let him look more steadfastly and trustingly upon the things which are not seen, only let him realize that he is “kept by the power of God,” and, like Elisha he shall abide calm and undaunted in the midst of the beleaguering hosts of evil, assured of daily deliverance through the period of continuing peril, and at length of “an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

The incident further discloses the privilege and office of the clear-visioned and strong-hearted believer in behalf of the feeble-sighted, the fearful and faint in spirit. Not only by his example, but by his fervent prayer, may the believing soul help to impart vision and reinforce the courage and faith of the half-seeing, the timid, and the doubting. What Elisha achieved by his prayer for his servant may be accomplished by every Elisha-like disciple according to the measure of his faith in God’s promise and working.

Further, in the opening of the eyes of the prophet’s servant, and in the dimming of the vision of the prophet’s foes, we find an effective illustration of Christ’s words in John 9: 39. “I am come into the world,” He said, “that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind.” To those who know and feel their spiritual darkness, who desire and gladly welcome Him as the light of life, He imparts the clear vision and the blessed experience of faith. But from the spiritually blind who think they see, who therefore reject His offered light, He withholds all quickening grace. Thus, in judgment, the darkness is sealed upon their hearts forever. B.

6: 24 And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the wine-press? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; (now he was passing by upon the wall;) and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall

32 stand on him this day. But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how, this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: is not the sound of his 33 master’s feet behind him? And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; why should I wait for the 7:1 LORD any longer? And Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD: thus saith the LORD, To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two meas- 2 ures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. 3 Now there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to 4 another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall 5 live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the outermost part of the camp of 6 the Syrians, behold, there was no man there. For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, 7 and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and 8 fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried thence 9 also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, punishment will 10 overtake us: now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s household. So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses 11 tied, and the asses tied, and the tents as they were. And he called the porters; and they 12 told it to the king’s household within. And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, 13 When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive, and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are consumed:) and 14 let us send and see. They took therefore two chariots with horses; and the king sent 15 after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in 16 their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. And the people went out, and spoiled the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and 17 two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. And the king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spake when the 18 king came down to him. And it came to pass, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall 19 be to-morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria; and that captain answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? and he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof: 20 it came to pass even so unto him; for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

The siege of Samaria. Unwarned by the failure of previous attempts, Benhadad was soon engaged in a new war on Israel. The fresh invasion was made the occasion of a fresh deliverance, more wonderful than any of the preceding, but not before Samaria had been reduced to the most desperate straits. J. O.

A considerable interval succeeded the inroad of the Syrian bands, recounted in the preceding section. But at length the same king Benhadad comes against Israel with a great army. Through a plundered and wasted country, he reaches, surrounds, and lays siege to the capital city. The siege is protracted until there is great famine in Samaria. Jehoram, excited with the suffering of the people, becomes enraged against Elisha. Either he thought that Elisha’s threats and prayers had brought the sore evil upon them, or that the prophet had forborne to use his prevalent intercession with God for their relief. He does not realize that his and his people’s sins have brought upon them humiliation and calamity. These sins were the proper objects of his wrath, and not the good prophet. The messenger sent by Jehoram to kill Elisha was arrested by command of the foreseeing prophet. At the same moment the king himself comes in to Elisha with a bitter complaint against Jehovah. Then the prophet speaks words of hope and promise, which are only doubtingly received by the king and his attendants.

On that very afternoon deliverance came by miracle, from God alone. He used an empty sound—as harmless a thing as can be conceived—sending it through the air on either side the Syrian camp. Simply the noise of great hosts advancing from afar struck the besieging army with an utter overwhelming panic. Not only did they flee on the instant, but to give completeness to God’s deliverance and supply to Israel, they left behind the horses and asses upon which they might more swiftly and safely have fled. The discovery was made by four lepers outside the city gate. With starvation on every other side, they determine to trust the mercy of the Syrians. They find absolute silence and desertion in the rich and splendid camp. After satisfying their hunger and securing abundance of gold and silver and raiment, late in the evening they make their way back to the city gate and tell their story. The porters carried the tale to those that were within, and so it reached the king. B.

While Jehoram paid a certain amount of respect to Elisha, as the prophet of Jehovah, he nevertheless allowed the worship of Baal to continue in the capital (chap. 10 : 18-28), if not elsewhere, and maintained the calf worship also at Dan and Bethel (chap. 3 : 3). He had suffered himself to be guided by Elisha in rerespect of the Syrian prisoners captured by the prophet (verse 23), and had evidently been in communication with him on the subject of the present siege, had probably been exhorted by him to repentance, and promised that, if he would wait upon Jehovah, in due time there should be deliverance. The prophet’s words had made some impression on him; he had to a certain extent turned to God, had put sackcloth upon his loins, not ostentatiously, but secretly (verse 30), had borne the privations of the siege without murmuring, had refused to surrender the town, and looked to Jehovah to deliver it. But there was no depth in his penitence, no surrender of the heart and the will to God, no firm and rooted faith in God’s truthfulness and in the certain accomplishment of His promises. A single incident of the siege—a horrible one certainly, but not without a parallel in other sieges—shattered the whole fabric of his repentance and his resolution, turned him against the prophet and against Jehovah, caused him to threaten the prophet’s life, and to make up his mind that he would follow his own course and not wait for the Lord any longer (verse 33). He thus revealed the true state of his heart and soul, showed his spiritual unsoundness, revealed himself as one whose character was rotten at the core, who had never turned to Jehovah in sincerity and truth. What wonder, then, that God had not granted the deliverance promised to true faith and true penitence, that a half repentance had not availed with Him? So it had been with Ahab; so it would always be with all those who, after Jehoram’s example, should be half-hearted in religion, should at once “fear the Lord and serve their own gods” (chap. 17 : 33)—own for masters both God and mammon. A half repentance is useless. Nothing avails but to turn to God with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength. Hammond.

24. And it came to pass after this—probably some considerable time after, when the memory of Jehoram’s kind act had passed away—that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host. A contrast is intended between the inroads of small bodies of plunderers and the invasion of the territory by the monarch himself at the head of his entire force. And went up. However Samaria was approached from Syria, there must always have been a final ascent, either from the Jordan valley or from the Plain of Esdraelon. And besieged Samaria. Josephus says that Jehoram was afraid to meet Benhadad in the open field, since his forces were no match for those of the Syrian king, and therefore at once shut himself up within his capital, without risking a battle. The walls of Samaria were very strong.

28. And the king said unto her, What aileth thee?** Probably, as Bähr suggests, the woman explained to the king that she did not appear before him to beg food, but to claim his interposition as judge in a case in which she considered herself to be wronged. Such an appeal the king was bound to hear; and he therefore asks, “What aileth thee?"—i.e., “What is thy ground of complaint?” Then she tells her story. Hammond.

33. It has been proposed to change “messenger” into “king,” the two words being in Hebrew nearly alike, and the speech with which the chapter ends being only suitable in the mouth of the king, whose presence is moreover indicated in verses 2 and 17 of the next chapter. Jehoram bursts into the prophet’s presence with a justification of the sentence he has pronounced against him. “Behold this evil—this siege with all its horrors—is from Jehovah—from Jehovah, whose prophet thou art. Why should I wait for Jehovah—temporize with Him—keep, as it were, on terms with Him by suffering thee to live—any longer? What hast thou to say in arrest of judgment?” B. C.

7:1, 2. The separation of these verses from the preceding narrative is most unfortunate. They are an integral part of it, and form its climax. In answer to the king’s attempt upon his life, and hasty speech in which he has threatened to renounce Jehovah, Elisha is commissioned to proclaim that the siege is on the point of terminating, the famine about to be within twenty-four hours succeeded by a time of plenty. There is thus no reason for the king’s despair or anger. Hammond.

The promise came from Elisha when all seemed desperate. The wonderfully vivid narrative in the previous chapter, tells a pitiful tale of women boiling their children, of unclean food worth more than its weight in silver, of a king worked up to a pitch of frenzy and murderous designs, and renouncing his allegiance to Jehovah. Elisha had counselled resistance, and the woman’s story was the result. “God do so to himself, and more also, if the prophet’s head stood on him an hour longer.” He could blame the prophet, but all his sorrow had not taught him the first step toward a better mind by blaming himself. Meanwhile Elisha was quietly sitting in his house with the elders of the city, who had come, we may suppose, to take counsel with him. Suddenly turning to them, he told them that the king—a true son of Ahab, the murderer of the prophets and of Naboth, and himself now bent on murder—had sent a messenger to behead him. They must refuse him admission; for the king would be sorry for his command as soon as he had given it, and would follow in haste to prevent its execution. It was indeed so. While the soldiers still parleyed with the elders outside the door, the king appeared, his fury gone, his spirit changed. “Behold,” said he to Elisha, “this evil is of the Lord. He has willed that we open the gates to the Syrian. Why should I wait for deliverance any longer?” The horrors he had heard seemed to tell him that hope of aid from God was vain; that surrender was inevitable. What had the prophet to say? “Hear the word of the Lord,” replied he. “To-morrow, about this time, a seah—that is, a peck—of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two pecks of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.” “What!” said the officer on whom the king leaned, “if God make windows in heaven, and rain down flour and barley, that may be, but not otherwise.” “You will see it,” answered Elisha, “but will taste neither.” . . . Note the precision and confidence of the promise. The hour of the fulfilment and the price of flour and the cheaper barley are stated. Man’s promises are vague; God’s are specific. Mark, too, the entire silence of the promise as to the mode of its fulfilment. Probably Elisha knew as little as any one how it was going to be accomplished. The particularity and vagueness combined are remarkable. A. M.

3-16. The mode in which Elisha’s prophecy of relief and deliverance was fulfilled is now set forth. Four lepers, excluded from the city, and on the point of perishing of hunger, felt that they could be no worse off, and might better their condition, if they deserted to the Syrians. They therefore drew off from the city at nightfall, and made for the Syrian camp. On arriving, they found it deserted. The entire host, seized with a sudden panic, had fled about the time that they began their journey. The lepers’ first thought was to enrich themselves by plunder; but after awhile it occurred to them that, unless they hastened to carry the good news to Samaria, inquiry would be made, their proceedings would be found out, and they would be severely punished. So they returned to the capital, and reported what they had discovered. Jehoram, on receiving the news, feared that the Syrians had prepared a trap for him, and declined to move. He consented, however, to send out scouts to reconnoitre. The scouts found evident proof that the entire army had actually fled and was gone, whereupon there was a general raid upon the camp and its stores, which were so abundant that Elisha’s prophecy was fulfilled ere the day ended. Hammond.

3. Now there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate. By the Mosaic law, lepers were regarded as ceremonially unclean, and excluded from all association with others, and, in the language of the statute, were required “to dwell alone without the camp” (Lev. 13:46; Num. 5:2, 3). The form of expression makes it plain that this law was enacted in the wilderness while Israel occupied a camp, and before they reached settled habitations in Canaan. It thus affords ocular demonstration of the falsity of that critical hypothesis which would assign the law to a much later date. Moreover, the fact that these lepers were outside of the city shows that this law was in existence, and that it was observed even in the apostate kingdom of the ten tribes. W. H. G.

6. The Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise. Keil truly remarks that we cannot say whether the miracle by which God now wrought deliverance for Samaria consisted in a mere illusion of the sense of hearing—parainel to the illusion of the sense of sight by which Elisha had been recently delivered (chap. 6:19, 20); or whether there was any objective reality in the sound. He adds with equal truth that the determination of this question is a matter of no importance. “The Divine causality is the same in either case.”

The kings of the Hittites. The Hittites, who are found in early times far to the south in the country about Hebron (Gen. 23:7), and who afterward inhabited the central table-land of Judea (Josh. 11:3), seem to have retired northward after the occupation of Palestine by the Israelites. They are found among the Syrian enemies of the Egyptians in the monuments of the nineteenth dynasty (about n.c. 1300), and appear at that time to have inhabited the valley of the Upper Orontes. In the early Assyrian monuments they appear as the most powerful people of northern Syria, dwelling on both banks of the Euphrates in the country along its course from Bir to Balis. In this tract they form a great confederacy under a number of petty kings, while at the same time there is a second confederacy of their race farther to the south, which seems to inhabit the anti-Lebanon between Hamath and Damascus. These southern Hittites are under the dominion of twelve kings. They are in the time of Benhadad and Haza-el a powerful people, especially strong in chariots; and generally assist the Syrians against the Assyrians (“Ancient Monarchies,” vol. ii., pp. 361-63). The Syrians seem now to have imagined that these southern Hittites had been hired by Jehoram. B. C.

Monumental research has not only proved the truth of the events recorded in Scripture, it also proves that the account of these events must have been written by contemporaries. On no other hypothesis is the minute accuracy which distinguishes it to be explained. This accuracy has lately been illustrated by a startling and unexpected discovery. Besides the small Hittite tribe settled in the south of Judah, of whom we hear so much in connection with the lives of the patriarchs, reference is more than once made in the Books of Kings to Hittites living in the north of Syria. Solomon, we are told, imported horses from Egypt, which were sold again to “all the kings of the Hittites” and the kings of Aram or Syria (1 K. 10:29). Again, when God had sent a panic upon the Syrian army which was besieging Samaria, the soldiers of Benhadad supposed that “the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians.” Objectors to the historical truth of the Old Testament narrative declared that these allusions to northern Hittites destroyed its credibility. No Hittites in the north of Syria were known to classical writers; and the Hittites of Genesis lived in the southern part of Judea. But first the Egyptian and then the Assyrian monuments proved that not only did Hittite tribes inhabit the very district to which the notices in the Books of Kings would assign them, but also that they were once a very powerful and important people. In the time of the great Egyptian monarch, Rameses II., the oppressor of the children of Israel, they contended on equal terms with the Egyptians themselves; the Egyptian king was glad finally to secure a peace by marrying a Hittite princess. For several centuries they successfully withstood the power of Assyria; and it was not until the reign of Sargon that their capital, Carchemish, was at last taken by storm, and the last Hittite sovereign replaced by an Assyrian governor. In the age of the Exodus they had carried their arms across Asia Minor as far as the shores of the Ægean, and the empire they founded in Asia Minor has left remains in the neighborhood of the river Halys, as well as on the sculptured rocks of Lydia. They had invented a peculiar system of pictorial writing, and their art, though based on Babylonian models, was also of a peculiar kind. The early art of Greece was indebted to it, and through the art of Greece the art of modern Europe as well. The site of their northern capital, Carchemish, was discovered at a place now called Jerabids, on the Euphrates, by Mr. George Smith. Since then the ruins of Carchemish have been partially explored, and some of the Hittites monuments disinterred among them are now in the British Museum. Carchemish, however, was not the only capital the Hittites possessed. The Bible speaks of their “kings” in the plural, and in agreement with this we find from the Egyptian inscriptions that they had also a southern capital on the Orontes, called Kadesh. Sayce.

7. The Egyptians advancing from the south, and the Hittites from the north, the Syrians apprehended that they might be surrounded and all chance of retreat cut off. They accordingly fled with precipitation by the only route which they supposed was left open to them, eastward to the Jordan (verse 15), that they might make their way as speedily and directly as possible to Damascus, whence they had come. Fled in the twilight. Everything was accurately adjusted, in the plan of God, to effect His purpose, and bring to pass what He had declared through Elisha. W. H. G.

Not long before, Elisha’s servant saw chariots and horses, but heard none; now, these Syrians hear chariots and horses, but see none: that sight comforted his heart; this sound dismayed theirs. The Israelites heard no noise within the walls; the lepers heard no noise without the gates; only the Syrians heard this noise in their camp. What a scorn doth God put upon these presumptuous Aramites! He will not vouchsafe to use any substantial stratagem against them. Nothing but an empty sound shall scatter them, and send them home empty of substance, laden with shame, half dead with fear. The very horses that might have hastened their flight are left tied in their tents. Their very garments are a burden. All is left behind save their very bodies, and those breathless for speed. Bp. H.

12. The king’s fear of stratagem and ambuscade in the seeming retreat. Not surprising when we remember how large his experience had been of this Syrian style of warfare. Jehoram had the report of the lepers only. He had not heard the noise of an oncoming host which filled the ears of the besiegers. And he had no reason to look for God’s favor, though it had been promised him. The very consciousness of his evil-doing and disbelief only made his belief and expectation of good the more difficult. Doubt of God’s mercy and distrust of His promises root themselves naturally in a guilty heart and a disquieted, suspicious conscience.

13-15. A sensible suggestion of one of his officers acted upon. “Send men upon the few remaining horses, and trace the course of the Syrian host. All the men and the horses are dying fast. We may well risk these to ascertain the truth of the matter.” So two chariots were sent forth to search out the track of the besieging army. They went on until they came in view of the Jordan, “and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels which the Syrians had cast away in their haste.” The effects were evident, though none knew the cause of so complete a panic. As rapidly drove the now rejoicing messengers back over the twenty and more miles they had traversed, and told the king. And with the morning light the imprisoned, famished people of Samaria went forth to liberty and abundance. B.

15. They went after them unto Jordan.** The Syrians had fled probably by the great road which led from Samaria to Damascus through Geba, En-gannim, Beth-shean, and Aphek. This is the route assigned to Holofernes in Judith. It crosses the Jordan at the Jisr Mejamia, about thirty-five miles northeast of Samaria. B. C.

16-19. Elisha’s word of promise and his prophecy of judgment fulfilled in order. The tents of the Syrians were spoiled. And so enormous was the amount of grain in store, that in its sale that day in the city gate the low scale of prices predicted by Elisha was accurately realized. Thus was his word of promise made good. And thus was God glorified in His merciful interposition again in behalf of His chastened people. But Elisha had been moved of God to utter a prediction of judgment against one who dared deride his promise of Divine deliverance. A high official of the court in personal attendance upon the king the day before had openly expressed his disbelief in Elisha’s prediction of speedy and complete relief. “As soon expect a rain of flour and barley from heaven,” he had mockingly said to the prophet. “Thou shalt see it,” rejoined Elisha, “but thou shalt not eat thereof.” Now, when the people were bringing the grain from the Syrian camp into the city, this same lord was appointed by the king to collect a toll upon the food. It would seem that the people were indignant at the imposition of such a tax at such a time, when many within the city were still starving. This led to violence against the king’s collector. “And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.” This statement occurs twice, and the whole previous incident is cited to emphasize the fact of God’s judgment upon his disbelief, as solemnly foretold by Elisha. The people were God’s agents of judgment in crushing the proud man who had scorned His power. B.

The writer’s intention is to lay special stress on the fulfilment of Elisha’s prophecy; and to emphasize the punishment that follows on a lack of faith. The concluding passage of the chapter is, as Bähr says, “a finger of warning to unbelievers.” Hammond.

20. The people trod upon him in the gate, and he died.** Twice is his death recorded; twice does the Holy Spirit bid us mark it. And we learn this from it, that the punishment of unbelief is sure, is great, is beyond expectation dreadful. Faith “gives glory to God.” Unbelief robs Him of His glory. It “makes Him a liar.” It slights His goodness, it asperses His wisdom, it impeaches His sovereignty, it denies His power. There is not one of His perfections at which it does not strike. And then it is the parent of every other sin. It keeps alive all our corruptions; it strengthens and covers them. We are taught also here the misery of unbelievers. They are living now in a world of mercy. They hear too of greater mercies than any which the world affords; of mercies, such as angels in their innocence never received or perhaps thought of. But what is written on them all? “Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” C. Bradley.

Unbelief which rejects God’s plain promises because it does not see how they can be fulfilled is common enough still, and is as unreasonable as it is impertinent. Elisha was as ignorant as this nobleman of the means, but his faith fixed its eyes on the faithful word, and trusted, while sense, self-conceit, and worldliness, a mole pretending to have an eagle’s eye, declared that to be impossible which it could not see the way to bring about, and thereby exposed only its own blind arrogance. A. M.

Unbelief is the same to-day as in Jehoram’s time. God may give us deliverance ten times, and yet when, for the eleventh time, danger arises, unbelief denies that God can or will help. Unbelief is a desperate scholar, and the reason for this is that it does not want to learn. No man so blind as he who will not see; and unbelief will not see because it shuts its eyes tight against all evidence. All Elisha’s previous miracles were now of no avail. Schauffler.

Is not the sentence on this scoffing lord the very sentence pronounced ever on unbelief? In his case, it was fulfilled by the crowd that pressed, in their ravenous hunger, through the gate, and trod him down; but in ordinary cases, in our days, the natural operation of unbelief is to shut men out from the fruition of which faith is the necessary and only condition. It is no avenging and arbitrarily imposed exclusion, but the necessary result of self-made disqualification, which brings on the unbeliever the doom, “Thou shalt not eat thereof.” To have eyes opened at last to our own folly, and to see the rich provision of God’s table when it is too late, will be a chief pang of future retribution, as it sometimes is of present godlessness. A. M.

This tragic conclusion of the story seems designed to impress these definite truths: that God notes all distrust of His promise and power; that He resents and punishes positive scornful disbelief of His positive promises; that His truthfulness ensures the execution of His threatenings equally with His promises; and that he that hardeneth himself against God “shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy!”

The incident of the lepers (verses 3-10) is full of valuable suggestion. They also are agents of God’s providence. Their part in the working out of this result shows how God puts in and finishes every minute detail essential to the completion of His design. The Syrian camp needed to be occupied by nightfall, or the store of provision might have been rifled by famishing beasts. And the starving people of Samaria had imminent need of the food. So the lepers are moved to go out to the deserted camp at twilight, yet they reason and determine and act really of their own impulse, and seemingly of that alone. But the Divine is here, as everywhere, blended with the human agency in the production of the event. They go, they behold, they satisfy their hunger and their greed for spoil; and then their consciences are stirred, and they return and tell the story. So God secures the getting and the giving of the necessary information.

We add, in conclusion, that the same essential truths are taught in all these Old Testament lessons. The incidents vary, but in each we see God acting in behalf of or upon His people, and dealing with His enemies. Outwardly and indirectly through providences (here interpreted to us), and directly through His prophet by His Spirit. Now against and now with His people, sometimes even with His enemies. But with both often tarrying in His long-suffering mercy, waiting to be gracious.

In the end always bringing deliverance to His own who trust Him, and executing judgment against those who wilfully disbelieve and reject His grace. Are not these the chief facts here taught in the story of individuals and the history of peoples? And are they not the supreme facts of all time and of every personal history? B.