John Wesley

Yet may the LORD forgive your servant this one thing: When my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my arm, and I…

“Rimmon - A Syrian idol, called here by the LXX, Remman, and Acts vii, 43, Remphan. My hand - Or, arm, upon which, the king leaned, either for state, or for support.”

Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, while not accepting what he brought.

“This Syrian - A stranger, and one of that nation who are the implacable enemies of God's people.”

But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you?

“Olive yards, &c. - Which Gehazi intended to purchase with this money: and therefore the prophet names them, to inform him, that he exactly knew, not only his outward actions, but even his most secret intentions.”

Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and your descendants forever!” And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous—as white as snow.

“For ever - That is, for some generations; as that word is often used and as may be thought by comparing this with Exod. xx, 55. (?) White - Which is the worst kind of leprosy, and noted by physicians to be incurable.”

Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.”

“He saw, &c. - Fire is both dreadful and devouring: that power which was engaged for Elisha, could both terrify and consume the assailants.”

“Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow?

“Set bread - Give them meat and drink, which may refresh and strengthen them for their journey. This was an action of singular piety and charity, in doing good to their enemies, which was much to the honour of the true religion; and of no…”

Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.

“Ben-hadad - He whom Ahab wickedly spared, now comes to requite his kindness, and to fulfil that Divine prediction. Ben- hadad was a name very frequent among the kings of Syria, if not common to them all.”

So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of…

“Famine in Samaria - Probably the siege was so sudden, that they had no time to lay in provisions. Pieces - Supposed to be shekels; and the common shekel being valued at fifteen pence of English money, this amounts to five pounds.”

He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”

“Whence shall I help thee - Dost thou ask of me corn or wine, which I want for myself? If God does not, I cannot help thee. Creatures are helpless things without God.”

While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD.

“This evil - This dreadful famine, which is now so extreme, that women are forced to eat their own children. The Lord - Hath inflicted it, and (for ought I see) he will not remove it.”

And that is just what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

“And so it fell out, &c. - See how heinously God resents our distrust of his power, providence and promise! Whenever God promises the end, he knows where to provide the means.”

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can.

“The Lord, &c. - Hath appointed to bring a famine. This expression intimates, that all afflictions are sent by God, and come at his call or command.”

So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand, go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, ‘Will I recover from…

“Inquire of the Lord,&c. - In his health he bowed down in the house of Rimmon; but now he tends to inquire of the God of Israel.”

Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that in fact he will die.”

“Howbeit - Here is no contradiction: for the first words contain an answer to Benhadad's question, shall I recover? To which the answer is, thou mayest, notwithstanding thy disease, which is not mortal.”

“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

“A dog - So fierce, barbarous, and inhuman. King - And when thou shalt have power in thy hand, thou wilt discover that bloody disposition, and that hatred against God's people, which now lies hid from others, and possibly from thyself.”

In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat succeeded his father as king of Judah.

“Jehoram - Jehoram was first made king or vice-roy, by his father divers years before this time, at his expedition to Ramoth- Gilead, which dominion of his, ended at his father's return.”

And Jehoram walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done.

“This unequal marriage, though Jehoshaphat possibly designed it as a means of uniting the two kingdoms under one head, is here and elsewhere noted, as the cause both of the great wickedness of his posterity, and of those sore calamities which befel them.”

Yet for the sake of His servant David, the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

“But when the Messiah, was once come, there was no more need of any succession, and the scepter might and did without any inconvenience depart from Judah, and from all the succeeding branches of David's family, because the Messiah was to hold the kingdom forever…”

“Harness!” Joram shouted, and they harnessed his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his own chariot, and met Jehu on the…

“Portion of Naboth - The very sight of that ground was enough to make Jehu triumph and Joram tremble. The circumstances of events are sometimes so ordered by Divine providence, as to make the punishment answer the sin, as face answers face in a glass.”

When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel…

“He mentions not Joram's, but his mother's sins; because they were more notorious and infamous: and because they were the principal cause why God inflicted, and he was come to execute these judgments. The way of sin can never be the way of peace.”

When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!”

“He died - The history is briefly and imperfectly described here, and the defects supplied in (the book of Chronicles, is great part written for that end, to supply things omitted in the book of Kings) out of both it may be thus compleated: he…”

As for the rest of the acts of Jehu, along with all his accomplishments and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the…

“Left none - In that place and kingdom; for he did leave some of the royal seed of Judah. Rechab - A Kenite, 1 Chron. ii, 55, and a man of singular prudence and piety.”

When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

“She destroyed - This was the fruit of Jehoshaphat's marrying his son to a daughter of that idolatrous house of Ahab. And this dreadful judgment God permitted upon him and his, to shew how much he abhors all such affinities.”

But Jehosheba daughter of King Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered.

“Bed-chamber - Which was in the house of the Lord. So that it was one of those chambers adjoining to the temple, that were for the uses of the priests and Levites only: which made it more proper for this purpose.”

a third shall be at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards. You are to take turns guarding the temple—

“The guard - Either, 1. the king's guard. Or, 2. the guard of the temple; this gate was in the south-side. So, &c.”