2 Kings 13

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIII. Ver. 1—25. The reigns of Jehoahaz and Joash his son, in Israel.— The iliness and death h of Elisha.—This Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu, whose life and actions we have just reviewed, and whose evil example he followed in supply his, i. e. the days of Jehoahaz; for the remark does not apply to his son Joash, who was victorious: see ver. 25. There is, however, no supplement needed; the original “ all days,” means * every day;” 1. e. continually, and is so rendered by Dr. mea he a Ver. 5. A saviour.—That is, a ¢ eliverer, namely, Joash.——As before time. –Reckoning back, “ the day before yesterday.” i Our version gives the cor- Heb. to the king; “ he walked.”——There remained the grove aiso.—* This and such like places confirm Se/den’s opinion, that by groves in such places are meant, not natural groves, but images so called.”—Dr.

Wail. But may it not mean real groves, with idols, Baal, Astarte, &c., beneath their shade? Ver. 7. Neither did, &¢.—Houbigant, Dathe, and others, place t!. is verse between the 4th, and 5th, which makes the sense much clearer. Dr. Kennicore remarks, that if the copyists omitted a line or a verse, they were afraid to interline it, for fear of spoiling the sale of their MSS., and therefore inserted it Made them like the dust by threshing.—The Hebrews, (like other eastern nations,) threshed by treading out the comwith cattle, by which means the straw was beaten all to pieces. which is here alluded to. See Shaw’s Ver, 10. In the thirty and seventh year—{Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, wus associated with his father in the government two years before his death, 11 is this association that is spoken of i here.

Joash reigned sixteen years, which include the years he governed conjointly with his father, ]–Ragster. 16 And he said to the king of Israel, * Put B. C. thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon x ¢,.8.12, the king’s hands. 17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, t The arrow of 2 Ge.17.2..5. the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Ps. 106.45. Syrians in " Aphek, till thou have consumed a face. 18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Isb Ge.6.3. rael, Smite upon the ground. -And he smote ce returned and took.

thrice, and stayed. 19 And the man of God was wroth with him, d ver.18,19. and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or A. M, 3165. six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till B. C. 839. thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou a c.13.10. shalt smite Syria bwt * thrice. 20 J And Elisha died, and they buried him. b 2Ch.25.1, And the bands of the Moabites invaded the ¢ 0.12.3. land at the coming in of the year. d c.12.20. 21 And it came to pass, as they were burye De.24.16. ing a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre f Eze.18.4, of Elisha: and when the man * waslet down, or, th. and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, & rock. and stood up on his feet.

h Jos.15.38. 22] But Hazael * king of Syria oppressed A. M. 3173. Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. B. C. 826. 23 And the Lorv was gracious unto them, i 2Ch.25.17, and had compassion on them, and had ¥ respect unto them, because of his covenant j 2Sa.214. with * Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would worshipping the golden calves. In consequence of this, Lord continually delivered Israel into the hands of Hazael hands of his son Ben-hadad. Upon king of Syria, and into the seeing this, Jehoahaz seems to have been in some degree humbehalf of Israel.; The Lord bled, and besought the Lord in therefore raised them up a deliverer in the person of Joash his who took back the cities which they had wrested from son,: his father’s lifehis father.

This was probably begun during taken into time, and might be the occasion of his being government with him. death of Jehoahaz, the young king Joash Soon after the wept over him, saying, visited Elisha in his last sickness, an ‘O my father! my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsehave been a proverbial expresmen thereof!’ This seems to sion, (the same that the prophet himself had used to his master, ‘ne. that he considered him as, under Elijah, (2 Kings 2:12).) implying, Elisha, as God, the guardian and protector of the country. appears from the following incidents, must have been at this dim-sighted: he is thought to have time very old, feeble, and The action related is prophesied above threescore years.

Having directed the king to clearly symbolical and prophetic. when he had placed the arrow upon take a bow and arrows the string, the prophet placed his own hands on the king’s, and e. toward the country beyond bade him shoot eastward, 7. Ver.16. Put thy hand.—i. e- back it with thy hand, so as to command it with all thy force, as in riding a i hold. Ver. 17. Aphek.—Their strong Di See (1 Kings 20:26, 30). and note. —— The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance.—It was an ancient custom to shoot an arrow, or cast a spear, into (or toward) the country intended to be invaded. So when Alexander had arrived or. the coasts of Iona, he threw a dart into (or toward) Persia: and Turnus, in Virgil’s Eneid, thus gives the signal of attack:— “Who first (he cried) with me the foe will dare?

Then hurl’d a dart, the signal of the war.” —Pitt’s Virg. Ver. 20. Elisha died.—The characters of this prophet and his master Elijah, are beautifully drawn bythe author of Ecclesiasticus, ch. xlviii. 1— that the Valley of Salt