C K 3:1-3. Events. Personal.
K 3:4-8:15. Events. Political.801 to 788 B.C.
2 Kings 3)
1 Now Jehoram (= whom Yahaveh has exalted) the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah (18 = bondage), and reigned twelve years (= Governmental completeness).
2 And he wrought the evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother(Jezebel, who lived through the whole his reign [9:30]): for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made (or statue [cp. 10:18]. 1 Kings 19:18. Others remained [10:26,27]).
3 Nevertheless he cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin (see 1 Kings 14:16); he departed not therefrom.
K L O 3:4-27. War with Moab. Mesha.
P 4:1-7. Elisha. Creditor and widow.
M Q 4:8-37. Shunamite.
R 4:38-44. Famine. Miraculous supplies.
N 5:1-27. Mission to Elisha (Naaman).
L P 6:1-7. Elisha. Residence and axe-head.
O 6:8-23. War with Syria.
M R 6:24-7:20. Famine. Miraculous supplies.
Q 8:1-8. Shumanite.
N 8:7-15. Mission to Elisha (Ben-hadad).
O o 4,5. Mesha's rebellion.
p q 6-9-. Allies advance.
r s -9. Exigence.
t 10-25. How met.
o 26-. Mesha's defeat.
p r s -26. Exigence.
t 27-. How met.
q -27. Allies retie.
4 And Mesha (= freedom) king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered to the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.
5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead (cp. 1:1. He and his son Ahaziah both died in the same year [800 B.C.]), that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
6 And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel.
7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me: will you go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up (cp. 1 Kings 22:4): I [am] as you [are], my People as your People, [and] my horses as your horses.
8 And he said (i.e. Jehoram), Which way shall we go up? (either by crossing Jordan north of the Dead Sea and attacking Moab from the north; or by Edom, which was under Judah [1 Kings 22:47) And he answered (i.e. Jehoshaphat), The way through the wilderness of Edom.
9 So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass (= made a circuit. Cp. Acts 28:13) of seven days' journey:
and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them.
t u 10. Trouble of the three kings.
v w 11,12. Elisha. Help sought.
x 13-. Reproof.
u -13. Trouble of the three kings.
v x 14. Reproof.
w 15-25. Elisha. Help given.10 And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!
11 But Jehoshaphat said, [Is there] not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? (a similar question asked before by Jehoshaphat [1 Kings 22:7) And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here [is] Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah (fig., put for being an attendant).
12 And Jehoshaphat (some codices add "king of Judah") said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? (see 2 Sam.16:10) get you to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of thy mother.
And the king of Israel said to him, Say not so: for the Lord has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
14 And Elisha said, [As] the Lord of host (Yahaveh Sabaioth) lives, before Whom I stand (implying Elisha's priesthood), surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you (Jehoram was wicked within himself [v.2], as well as being the son of Ahab. Elisha less austere later [ch. 6]).
w S 15,16. Means. S 17-25. Ends.
15 But now bring me a harper. And it came to pass, when the harper played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him (some codices read "the Spirit").
16 And he said, Thus says the Lord, Make this valley (a dry water-course) full of trenches.
S T y 17. Water. Prophecy.
z 18,19. Victory. "
T y 20. Water. Fulfillment.
z 21-25. Victory. "17 For thus says the Lord, 'You all shall not see wind (ruach), neither shall you all see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that you all may drink, both all you, and your cattle, and your beasts.'
18 And this is [but] a light thing in the sight of the Lord: He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.
19 And you all shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and spoil every good piece of land with stones.
20 And it came to pass in the morning, when the meal offering (= gift offering) was offered up, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom (Elisha's 4th miracle. See 2:15), and the country was filled with water.
21 And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armor (Heb. gird a girdle), and upward, and stood in the border.
22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side [as] red as blood (implied as owing to the action of the sun. Equally a miracle):
23 And they said, This [is] blood: the kings are surely destroyed, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.
24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites (some codices read "still further", and connect this with entering. Others connect this word with smiting, and read still further smote", or "went on smiting"), even in [their] country.
25 And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: only in Kir-haraseth (= the city of the hill. The capital of Moab) left they the stones [in the wall] thereof; and till the slingers should surround and smite it.
26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through [even] to the king of Edom: but they could not.
27 Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him up [for] a burnt offering (recording a fact on which Misha was silent on the Moabite stone. See 1:1) upon the wall (i.e. the higher of the two). And there was great wrath against Israel (this led probably to Moab's subsequent success): and they departed from him (this expresses the failure of Israel's expedition, while Misha goes on to record his subsequent successes, which were great - all the cities taken by him being those belonging to Reuben and Gad), and returned to [their own] land.