2 Kings13chapter 13

2 Kings 13:1

“In this chapter the history of the kingdom of Israel is traced through the two reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash. In 2 Kings 14 the history of Judah is resumed. In the three and twentieth year - Rather, the “one and twentieth year.” See 2Ki 13:10.”

2 Kings 13:3

“All their days - literally, “all the days.” Not “all the days” of the two Syrian kings, for Ben-hadad lost to Joash all the cities which he had gained from Jehoahaz 2Ki 13:25; but either “all the days of Jehoahaz” 2Ki 13:22, or “all the days of Hazael” - both while he led his own armies, and while they were led by his son.”

2 Kings 13:4

“In the extremity of his distress, Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and was heard, not on his own account (Ps 66:18; 15:8), but that of the ancient covenant with the patriarchs (2Ki 13:23).”

2 Kings 13:5

“And the Lord gave Israel a saviour,.... Not an angel sent by him, nor a captain raised up among them, nor the prophet Elisha, who predicted their deliverance, nor Jehoahaz himself, but his son Joash, 2Ki 13:25. so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; were not in subjection to them, nor harassed by them, nor in fear of them: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as before time; in peace and safety.”

2 Kings 13:5

“The Lord gave Israel a saviour - Not immediately on the repentance of Jehoahaz but after his death (see 2Ki 13:25). They went out from under the hand of the Syrians - i. e. they ceased to be oppressed by the Syrians; they shook off their yoke, and became once more perfectly independent. Tents - See 1Ki 8:66 note.”

2 Kings 13:6

“Nevertheless, they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked therein,.... Continued to worship the calves still, which was an instance of great ingratitude; the Syriac and Arabic versions read, "he departed not"; Jehoahaz the king: and there remained the grove in Samaria; which Ahab made there, 1Ki 16:33, neither Jehu nor his son had it cut down, though Baal was destroyed.”

2 Kings 13:6

“The grove also in Samaria - Asherah, or Astarte, remained in Samaria, and there was she worshipped, with all her abominable rites.”

2 Kings 13:7

“The meaning is that “he, the king of Syria” (2Ki 13:4 Hazael) limited the standing army of Jehoahaz. Like the dust by threshing - An expression not only employed metaphorically, and importing defeat, conquest, and grinding oppression Jer 51:33; Mic 4:12, but implying also the literal use of threshing-instruments in the execution of prisoners of war (marginal reference, and compare 2Sa 12:31).”

2 Kings 13:9

“And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers,.... Died, as they did: and they buried him in Samaria; where Omri, and all the kings of Israel, that descended from him, were buried: and Joash his son reigned in his stead; of whom a short account is given in the following verses.”

2 Kings 13:10

“In the thirty and seventh year - Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, was associated with his father in the government two years before his death. It is this association that is spoken of here. He succeeded him two years after, a little before the death of Elisha. Joash reigned sixteen years, which include the years he governed conjointly with his father. - Calmet.”

2 Kings 13:12

“Wherewith he fought against Amaziah - This war with Amaziah may be seen in ample detail 2 Chron. 25; it ended in the total defeat of Amaziah, who was taken prisoner by Joash, and afterwards slain in a conspiracy at Lachish. Joash took Jerusalem, broke down four hundred cubits of the wall, and took all the royal treasures, and the treasures of the house of God. See 2Ch 25:20-27.”

2 Kings 13:14

“Now Elisha was fallen sick - This is supposed to have taken place in the tenth year of Joash; and if so, Elisha must have prophesied about sixty-five years. O my father, my father - “What shall I do now thou art dying? thou art the only defense of Israel.” He accosts him with the same words which himself spoke to Elijah when he was translated; see 2Ki 2:12 (note), and the note there.”

2 Kings 13:14-19

“The particular application of them to Elisha, who, by his counsels and prayer, had obtained many glorious victories for Israel, shows that the king possessed some measure of faith and trust, which, though weak, was accepted, and called forth the prophet's dying benediction.”

2 Kings 13:14

“Elisha was aware that therefore he was loth to part with him because he looked upon him as the great bulwark of the kingdom against that common enemy, and depended much upon his blessings and prayers in his designs against them.”

2 Kings 13:15-18

“His laying his hands upon the king's hands was to represent the power imparted to the bow shot as coming from the Lord through the medium of the prophet. His shooting the first arrow eastward--to that part of his kingdom which the Syrians had taken and which was east of Samaria--was a declaration of war against them for the invasion.”

2 Kings 13:16

“And he said unto the king of Israel, put thine hand upon the bow, and he put his hand upon it,.... His left hand: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands; on both his hands, which were put, the one on the bow, the other on the arrow (m); hereby signifying, that though the king would draw the bow in battle, the Lord, whom the prophet represented, would give the success; and that it would be by his help, and through his blessing on his arms, that he would obtain victory over his enemies. (m) See Virgil. Aeneid.”

2 Kings 13:16-17

“The arrow of deliverance is his. He shoots out his arrows, and the work is done, Ps. xviii. 14 . " Thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, where they are now encamped, or where they are to have a general rendezvous of their forces, till thou have consumed those of them that are vexatious and oppressive to thee and thy kingdom." (2.) To strike with the arrows,”

2 Kings 13:17

Eastward - Syria of Damascus lay partly east, but still more north, of the holy land. The arrow was to be shot, eastward, not so much against Syria itself as against the scene of the recent Syrian successes, Gilead 2Ki 10:33, which was also to be the scene of Joash’s victories over them. Aphek is almost due east from Shunem, where it is not unlikely that Elisha now was. The arrow ... - literally, “An arrow of deliverance from the Lord, and an arrow of deliverance against Syria; and thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, even to consuming.”

2 Kings 13:18

“Smite upon the ground - As he was ordered to take his arrows, the smiting on the ground must mean shooting arrows into it. He smote thrice, and stayed - The prophet knew that this shooting was emblematical: probably the king was not aware of what depended on the frequency of the action; and perhaps it was of the Lord that he smote only thrice, as he had determined to give Israel those three victories only over the Syrians.”

2 Kings 13:19

“The unfaithfulness of man limits the goodness of God. Though Joash did the prophet’s bidding, it was without any zeal or fervour; and probably without any earnest belief in the efficacy of what he was doing. Compare Mar 6:5-6. God had been willing to give the Israelites complete victory over Syria 2Ki 13:17; but Joash by his non-acceptance of the divine promise in its fulness had checked the outflow of mercy; and the result was that the original promise could not be fulfilled.”

2 Kings 13:20

“Moabites invaded - The mentioning this immediately on the death of Elisha intimates, that the removal of God's faithful prophets, is a presage of judgments approaching.”

2 Kings 13:21

“After this, another law is published. It says, "Whatever soul touches anything unclean, or the carcass of unclean beasts, and conceals it and is defiled, or if he touches the uncleanness of [a person] or anything unclean by which he is defiled," and so forth. These, to be sure, are observed by the Jews indecently and uselessly enough. And why should one who, for example, touches a dead animal or the body of a dead person be held to be impure? What if it is the body of a prophet?”

2 Kings 13:21

“They cast the man - Rather, “they thrust the man.” The graves of the Jews were not pits dug in the ground, like ours, but caves or cells excavated in the side of a rock, the mouth of the cave being ordinarily shut by a heavy stone. Stood up on his feet - Coffins were not used by the Jews. The body was simply wrapped or swathed in grave-clothes (compare Luk 7:15; Joh 11:44). This miracle of Elisha’s after his death is more surprising than any of those which he performed during his lifetime.”

2 Kings 13:21

“And it may, perhaps, have a reference to Christ, by whose death and burial the grave is made to all believers a safe and happy passage to life. It likewise intimated that though Elisha was dead, yet, in virtue of the promises made by him, Israel's interests, though they seemed quite sunk and lost, should revive and flourish again.”

2 Kings 13:22

“But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. That he reigned alone, at least, before he took his son Joash to reign with him.”

2 Kings 13:23

“And the Lord was gracious to them,.... To Israel, notwithstanding their apostasy from him, and the idolatry of the calves they were guilty of: and had compassion on them; being in oppression and distress: and had respect unto them; looked upon them with an eye of pity and mercy: because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; made so long ago he still remembered: and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet; or suffered them to be carried captive into another land, as he afterwards did in the times of Hoshea.”

2 Kings 13:23

“The writer regards the captivity of Israel as God’s “casting them out of His sight” (see 2Ki 17:18, 2Ki 17:20); and notes that this extreme punishment, though deserved, was by God’s mercy not allowed to fall on them as yet.”

2 Kings 13:23

“It was of the Lord's mercies that they were not consumed, because he would not destroy them as yet. He foresaw they would destroy themselves at last, but as yet he would reprieve them, and give them space to repent. The slowness of God's processes against sinners must be construed to the honour of his mercy, not the impeachment of his justice.”

2 Kings 13:24

“So Hazael the king of Syria died, and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. This was Benhadad the third; the first of this name was of the Damascene kings; but though the kingdom was now in another family, yet this name, being respectable with the Syrians, was retained in it.”

2 Kings 13:25

“The cities which ... - Probably cities west of the Jordan, since the tract east of that river was conquered, mainly if not wholly, in the reign of Jehu 2Ki 10:33.”

2 Kings 13:25

“This was a great kindness to the cities themselves, which were hereby brought from under the yoke of oppression, and to the whole kingdom, which was much strengthened by the reduction of those cities. Thrice Joash beat the Syrians, just as often as he had struck the ground with the arrows, and then a full stop was put to the course of his victories.”