2 Kings 6
DOYLYeasy is it for that Almighty hand to effect those things which surpass all the reach of human conceit! Bp. Hall. — thou shalt see it, — but shalt not eat] The Almighty hates to be distrusted. This lord of Israel will rue his unbelief: the sight will be yielded to him for conviction, the enjoyment will be denied to him for punishment. Bp. Hall.
2 Kings 6:2
- — a lord on whose hand the king leaned] A lord, who was a principal favourite with the king, answered with a sneer of derision.
— if the Lord would make windows in heaven.] It is a foolish and injurious infidelity, to question a possibility, when we know the message is from God. How
the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
2 Kings 6:3
- — there were four leprous men] Lepers were thrust out of the city, as anciently out of the camp, Levit. xiii. 46; xiv. 3; but they placed themselves as near to the gate of the city as they could, for fear of the enemy. It hence appears, that, although these Israelites were gross idolaters, they yet observed the ceremonial law. In cases of extreme necessity, lepers might enter into the city, as appears from ver. 4. Bp. Patrick.
2 Kings 6:6
- For the Lord had made &c.] This is a striking proof that God has always in readiness the means of executing His purposes, however difficult in all human appearance.
How easily can the Almighty confound the power of the strong, the policy of the wise! God strikes a panick terrour into the hearts of these Syrians. He will not vouchsafe to use any substantial stratagem against them. Nothing but an empty sound scatters them, and sends them home, deprived of their property, laden with shame, half dead with fear. Bp. Hall.
— kings of the Hittites.] Though the greatest number of these people had been destroyed by the Israelites under Joshua, yet many had fled to remote parts, and some to the countries bordering on Canaan, where in process of time they grew numerous and powerful.
Before CHRIST about 802.
2 Kings 6:12
- — But Elisha, the prophet] It is probable that Naaman, on his return to Samaria, spread the fame of Elisha so much in the court of Syria, that some of the great men might have the curiosity to make further inquiries respecting him; and, hearing of several of his miraculous works, they might thence conclude, that he could tell the greatest secrets, as well as perform such wonders as were related of him; and that therefore, in all probability, he was the person who gave the king of Israel intelligence of all the schemes which had been contrived to entrap him. Bp. Patrick.
2 Kings 6:13
- — in Dothan.] A city in the tribe of Manasseh, not far from Samaria.
2 Kings 6:16
- And he answered, Fear not:] How undaunted is the courage of faith! Elisha sees all this, and yet sits in his chamber so secure, as if the hosts which surrounded him had been only the guard of Israel for his safe protection. Bp. Hall.
2 Kings 6:17
- — Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes,] O Lord, do Thou so give light and strength to the eyes of this my servant, that he may discern this spiritual aid, which Thou hast provided for our succour and rescue. Bp. Hall.
Elisha prayed to God to give his servant a sight of the heavenly powers that were placed in his defence; when immediately the man saw his master and himself surrounded with a vast angelick host, like a train of fiery chariots and horses, to destroy his enemies. Pyle.
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.
2 Kings 6:18
- — smote them with blindness] Such a blindness that they could only see to a short distance before them. Bp. Wilson.
2 Kings 6:22
- — Thou shalt not smite them:] As if he had said, These are God’s captives, not thine; and, if they were thine own, their blood could not have been shed without cruelty. Though in the hot chases of war, executions may be justifiable, yet, in the coolness of deliberation, it can be no other than inhuman to take those lives which have been yielded to mercy. Bp. Hall.
Besides the humanity and charity of the advice here given by Elisha, there was this prudence and policy in the kind treatment of the Syrians, that, by this means, their hearts might be softened towards the Israelites, so that upon their return they might proclaim the power and goodness of the God of Israel; and not only be afraid themselves, but dissuade others from opposing a people who had so invincible a Protector. Stackhouse.
— set bread and water before them,] O noble revenge of Elisha, to feast his persecutors, to provide a table for those who had provided a grave for him! These Syrians had come full of bloody purposes against Elisha. He sends them back full of good cheer and jollity. Thus should a Prophet punish his pursuers. No vengeance but this is fit for Christian imitation. Bp. Hall.
2 Kings 6:23
- — the bands of Syria came no more] It appears from the next verse, that the king of Syria soon after-
A great famine in Samaria. Before CHRIST about 892.
that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
2 Kings 6:25
- — an ass’s head — for fourscore pieces of silver.] If we reckon these pieces of silver, or shekels, at fifteen pence a piece, they amount to five pounds sterling; a vast price for so small a quantity of meat and that unclean, according to the law, Levit. xi. 26. However, in times of famine and extreme necessity, the Jews themselves were absolved from the observation of the law. There do not want instances in history, where other people, on similar occasions, have been reduced to the like distress, if that be true which Plutarch relates, that, in Artaxerxes’s war with the Cadusii, an ass’s head could scarcely have been purchased for sixty drachms, or two pounds five shillings of our money. Stackhouse, Calmet
— the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung] The cab is one of the smallest measures among the Hebrews. The Hebrew word, translated “dove’s dung,” is so rendered by a great number of the old versions; but it is hard to believe that such can be the true sense; and Bochart has rendered it extremely probable, that fitches or lentiles are here meant, which, although a very common food, were yet sold at this dear price. Bp. Patrick.
Or, allowing the received translation, it may be supposed that the dove’s dung was used as a manure, which was useful in producing vegetables. Sir J. Chardin tells us, that in Persia they have a multitude of dovehouses, which they keep up, more for the manure which they produce, than for any thing else. Harmer.
The general opinion of writers, since Bochart, has been, that a kind of chickpeas or tare is here meant, which has very much the appearance of dove’s dung, and may thence have received its name. In Arabick writers, the words Kali and Ugren signify both the dung of pigeons, and chickpeas. Great quantities of chickpeas are sold in Cairo to the pilgrims going to Mecca. Fragments to Calmet.
Otherwise, by the term translated “dove’s dung,” may be meant a plant, called by botanists Ornithogalum, (ornithogalum umbellatum) and by us Beth-lehem’s Star. This plant bears a flower which resembles in colour the dung of doves and other birds, and it thence
This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.
2 Kings 6:29
- So we boiled &c.] The circumstances here related were a terrible effect of the Divine vengeance, which Moses had long before told the Israelites was to fall upon them, Deut. xxviii. 53, &c. if they rebelled against God. Stackhouse.
2 Kings 6:30
- — he rent his clothes; &c.] He did this, out of excessive grief and horreur at the woman’s recital. Bp. Patrick.
2 Kings 6:31
- — if the head of Elisha] He thus vents his anger against Elisha, probably because he supposed he had not made use of his interest and prayers to God, to free them from this sad calamity. Bp. Wilson. Instead of being penitent, Jehoram is furious, and turns his rage from his own sins against the holy Prophet. But what had the righteous Elisha done? Perhaps, that we may imagine some colour for this displeasure, he had foreshortened this judgment; but the Israelites justly deserved it. Perhaps he might have averted it by his prayers, but their want of repentance disabled him. Perhaps he persuaded Jehoram to hold out the siege, though through severe suffering, but he himself foresaw the deliverance. In all this, how had Elisha forfeited his head? But such is the fashion of the world: the wicked blame the innocent, and will revenge their own sins on others’ uprightness. Bp. Hall.
— Elisha the son of Shaphat] He calls him thus by way of contempt, as meaning to say, This worthless fellow of a mean family. Bp. Wilson.
2 Kings 6:32
- — Elisha sat in his house.] By “his house,” some interpreters understand the school where the sons of the Prophets met to be instructed; and by “the elders,” his chief scholars, who under his instructions applied themselves to the study of Divine things. But by “the elders” it seems more reasonable to understand some principal persons of the city, who were sitting with him,
2 Kings 6:33
- — and he said, Behold, this evil &c.] Either the messenger spake in the name of the king, or the king himself may have come and spoken for himself. He said, he could not but acknowledge that the Lord had brought them into this distress: but impatiently added, he had waited so long in vain, that he had no hope left, since they were driven to such extremities. Bp. Patrick. He answered in a despairing manner, Do you not see to what height of misery we are come? it is the hand of God which has brought us to this extremity; worse we cannot be: to what purpose is it to expect any favour from Him, who has thus plagued us, and suffered us, without relief, to fall into so hopeless a condition? Bp. Hall.
Chap. VII. ver. 1. — To morrow about this time &c.] God was pleased that Elisha should foretell this deliverance and this plenty, that all might know they proceeded from God, and that the inhabitants of Samaria might give to God the glory. This was also a very extraordinary instance of the Divine goodness and long-suffering towards the people engaged in idolatry, and a cruel and impious prince. Ostervald.