John Wesley

Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself.

“But the words may be rendered, through the battlements (or through the lattess in the battlements) of the roof of the house. Where, standing and looking through, and leaning upon this lattess, it broke, and he fell down into the court or garden.”

Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.”

“Let fire, &c. - Elijah did this, not to secure himself, he could have done that some other way: nor to revenge himself, for it was not his own cause that he acted in: but to prove his mission, and to reveal the wrath of…”

So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken.

“In the second year from that time, when Jehoram was thus made vice-king in his father's stead; this Jehoram, Ahab's son, began to reign: and in the fifth year of the reign of this Jehoram son of Ahab, which was about the twenty- fourth year…”

Then the sons of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?”

“In the kingdom of Judah they had priest and Levites, and the temple service. The want of these in the kingdom of Israel, God graciously made up by these colleges, where men were trained up and employed, in the exercises of religion, and whither good…”

“Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master.

“Strong men - Able to take such a journey. Lest, &c. - They thought, either that God had not finally taken him away from them, but only for a time; or that God had only taken away his soul, and that his body was cast…”

Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please note, our lord, that the city’s location is good, as you can see.

“Barren - Either it was so originally, at least, as to that part of the city where the college of the prophets was: or, it became so from the curse of God inflicted upon it, when Hiel rebuilt it.”

“Bring me a new bowl,” he replied, “and put some salt in it.” So they brought it to him,

“A new cruse - That there might be no legal pollution in it which might offend God, and hinder his miraculous operation. Put salt - A most improper remedy; for salt naturally makes waters brackish, and lands barren.”

From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go…

“Children - Or, young men: as this Hebrew word often signifies. It is more than probable they were old enough to discern between good and evil.”

Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD.

“Children - This Hebrew word signifies not only young children, but also those who are grown up to maturity, as Gen. xxxii, 22, xxxiv, 4, xxxvii, 30, Ruth i, 5.”

So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and after they had traveled a roundabout route for seven days, they had no…

“King of Edom - That is, the vice-roy under Jehosaphat, 1 Kings xxii, 47, here called king: because that word is sometimes used for any prince or chief ruler.”

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here? Let us inquire of the LORD through him.”

“Poured water - Who was his servant; this being one office of a servant: and this office was the more necessary among the Israelites, because of the frequent washings which their law required.”

Jehoshaphat affirmed, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

“The word, &c. - He is a true prophet. Which Jehoshaphat might easily understand, because being a good man, many would be ready to inform him of.”

Elisha, however, said to the king of Israel, “What have we to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and of your mother!”

“What have I, &c. - I desire to have no discourse with thee. Get thee - To the calves, which thou after thy father's example dost worship; and to the Baals which thy mother yet worshippeth by thy permission; let these idols whom thou worshippest…”

The next morning, at the time of the morning sacrifice, water suddenly flowed from the direction of Edom and filled the land.

“The meal-offering - That is, the morning sacrifice: which doubtless was attended with the solemn prayers of God's people. At this time Elisha joined his prayers with the prayers of God's people, especially those at Jerusalem.”

They destroyed the cities, and each man threw stones on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree.

“Kir-haraseth - This was the royal city of the Moabites, into which the remnant of the Moabites were gathered, where also their king was with them. The stones - The walls and buildings of this city only were left; their whole country being destroyed.”

So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall.

“On the wall - That the besiegers might see it, and be moved by it. There was, &c. - Or, great trouble or repentance upon Israel, the Israelitish king and people (who was the first cause of the war, and had brought the rest into…”

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD.

“Prophets - Who, though they were wholly devoted to sacred employment, were not excluded from marriage, any more than the priests and Levites.”

She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.”

“We are never straiten'd in God, and in his power and bounty, and the riches of his grace. All our straitness is in ourselves. It is our faith that fails, not his promise.”

And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out.

“Bed of the man of God - Being apt to believe, he that so soon took away what he had given, would restore what he had taken away. By this faith women received their dead raised to life.”

When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet.

“Withal, she intimated, what she durst not presume to express in words, that she desired him to go along with her. Let her alone - Disturb her not, for this gesture is a sign of some extraordinary grief.”

Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”

“She said - This child was not given to me upon my immoderate desire, for which I might have justly been thus chastised, but was freely promised by thee in God's name, and from his special favour.”

Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response.

“Neither voice - Neither speech, nor sense, nor any sign of life, in the child. This disappointment might proceed from hence, that Elisha having changed his mind, and yielded to her importunity to go with her, did alter his course, and not join his fervent…”

Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand.

“Grew warm - Not by any external heat, which could not be transmitted to the child's body by such slight touches of the prophet's body; but from a principle of life, which was already infused into the child, and by degrees enlivened all the parts…”

Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven…

“He walked - He changeth his postures for his own necessary refreshment, and walked to and fro, exercising his mind in prayer to God.”

Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”

“Elisha sent - Which he did, partly, to exercise Naaman's faith and obedience: partly, for the honour of his religion, that it might appear he sought not his own glory and profit, but only God's honour, and the good of men.”