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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>2 Kings 6 Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/2_kings/61.htm" /><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cardo&subset=greek-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_kings/6.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/2_kings/6-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Cambridge</a> > <a href="../2_kings/">2 Kings</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_kings/5.htm" title="2 Kings 5">◄</a> 2 Kings 6 <a href="../2_kings/7.htm" title="2 Kings 7">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-1.htm">2 Kings 6:1</a></div><div class="verse">And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.</div>Ch. <a href="/context/2_kings/6-1.htm" title="And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with you is too strait for us....">2 Kings 6:1-7</a>. Elisha causeth an axe lost in the river to float (Not in Chronicles)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">1</span>. <span class="ital">And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha</span>] There is nothing to indicate which out of the various prophetic communities is here spoken of. But by the proposal which follows, that they should go to the Jordan, and bring from thence each man his beam, we may conclude that the place was not far from the river. The station nearest to the Jordan of which we are told is Jericho, and it may be that there the company had grown beyond their buildings.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the place where we dwell with</span> [R.V. <span class="bld">before</span>] <span class="ital">thee</span>] The R.V. is correct, and gives more truly the picture of Elisha’s relation to these societies. From the other parts of the history we can gather that he made visits to the several settlements from time to time. And when he arrived, and while he remained, the members were about him as scholars around a teacher. They sat before him (<a href="/2_kings/4-38.htm" title="And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.">2 Kings 4:38</a>). Hence the preposition in this verse.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">is too strait for us</span>] The religious activity of the prophetic schools must have been very great during the life of Elisha, and must also have produced its effect upon the life of the nation. We cannot regard these societies merely as retreats from the world, where the servants of Jehovah retired in despair. Such families as that at Shunem, spoken of in the last chapter, must have been of frequent occurrence. And the increase of the number of prophets may be taken as a sign that true religion was growing in the land. ‘It is a good hearing that the prophets want elbow-room.’ (Bp Hall.)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-2.htm">2 Kings 6:2</a></div><div class="verse">Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.</div><span class="bld">2</span>. <span class="ital">take thence every man a beam</span>] The Jordan valley was well timbered. We see from this, as from previous passages, that these men did for themselves such work as they required. Here they are ready to be their own carpenters. Naturally such a body would neither wish for, nor be able to erect, anything but a building of the simplest sort.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">make us a place there</span>] They propose to provide entirely new quarters in a new spot in the valley of the Jordan.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-3.htm">2 Kings 6:3</a></div><div class="verse">And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.</div><span class="bld">3</span>. <span class="ital">go with thy servants</span>] It seems as though they contemplated a removal all at once. In Eastern countries little is thought of camping out in the open country; and this the society were prepared to do while their humble shelter was in preparation. Elisha’s presence would give countenance and encouragement to the workers.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-4.htm">2 Kings 6:4</a></div><div class="verse">So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.</div><span class="bld">4</span>. <span class="ital">when they came to Jordan</span>] From what follows we see that they went close to the river. Probably the timber would be best grown at the water’s edge.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-5.htm">2 Kings 6:5</a></div><div class="verse">But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.</div><span class="bld">5</span>. <span class="ital">a beam</span>] The Hebrew noun has the article, the force of which may be ‘<span class="ital">his</span> beam’, that one to which he was specially devoting himself.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the axe head</span>] Literally ‘the iron’. The word is the same as in verse 6. But the iron part of the hatchet is the head.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">it</span> was <span class="ital">borrowed</span>] When the whole society were to turn wood-cutters, it was not likely that axes would be in readiness for every one. This man had borrowed his, and was, as a good man would be, more troubled about its loss than if it had been his own.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-6.htm">2 Kings 6:6</a></div><div class="verse">And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast <i>it</i> in thither; and the iron did swim.</div><span class="bld">6</span>. <span class="ital">He cut down a stick, and cast</span> it <span class="ital">in thither</span>] The account is extremely simple, and does not at all fit with the explanations of those who would represent Elisha as holding the stick and when he had put it into the hole for the handle, thus raising the iron from the bottom. The stick is cast on the surface of the water.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and the iron did swim</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">and made the iron to swim</span>. The voice of the Hebrew verb requires the rendering of R.V. The stick cast into the river was the outward symbol which the prophet used, as a sign of what was to be miraculously brought to pass. The iron was to float as the piece of wood did. In the same manner the salt at Jericho, and the meal at Gilgal, were signs the one of the purity, the other of the wholesomeness, which was to be wrought in the bad water, and the noxious pottage.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-7.htm">2 Kings 6:7</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore said he, Take <i>it</i> up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.</div><span class="bld">7</span>. <span class="ital">Therefore said he</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">And he said</span>. The conjunction is the simple copulative, and nothing more is needed in the English.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">he put out his hand, and took it</span>] Elisha here wrought, as on previous occasions, for the help of the sons of the prophets. Now however his power is exercised for an individual, while in the other cases recorded, it was for the benefit of the whole society. Critics have objected that there is no adequate reason for the exercise of supernatural power, but the loser of the axe was sorely troubled ere he came to Elisha, as his cry ‘Alas! master’ shews. There was no chance of supplying what was lost except with some miles of journey, and perhaps poverty was an obstacle too. Beside which the whole community would be encouraged, when by this act Elisha made clear to them that they had God’s blessing on their new undertaking.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-8.htm">2 Kings 6:8</a></div><div class="verse">Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place <i>shall be</i> my camp.</div><span class="bld">8–23</span>. Elisha makes known the King of Syria’s plans. The soldiers sent against Elisha are smitten with blindness, and he leads them into Samaria (Not in Chronicles)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">8</span>. <span class="ital">Then</span> [R.V. <span class="bld">Now</span>] <span class="ital">the king of Syria warred against Israel</span>] Whether this was before the cure of Naaman or after we have no indication. It is clear however that Syria was a most formidable adversary to Israel at this period. The inroads described first in this chapter appear to have been made by bands of plunderers, of course with the knowledge and under the direction of the king. But when Benhadad (see verse 24), who probably was the king here alluded to, gathered all his host and came and besieged Samaria the warfare was of a different kind. Josephus calls the Syrian king ‘Adad’.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-9.htm">2 Kings 6:9</a></div><div class="verse">And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.</div><span class="bld">9</span>. <span class="ital">And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel</span>] As against Syria, the power of Elisha would be most naturally exerted in favour of Israel. In spite of the strong language used against Jehoram (<a href="/context/2_kings/3-13.htm" title="And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? get you to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said to him, No: for the LORD has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab....">2 Kings 3:13-14</a>) and his family on account of their sins, God’s prophet had still much hope of the nation, and as we have seen in several instances, not without good reason. His action here saves not only the king, but the people also.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">are come</span> [R.V. <span class="bld">coming</span>] <span class="ital">down</span>] They were lying or intending to lie in ambush ready to spring upon and capture any that came in their way. Josephus says the king of Israel was starting on a hunting party when Elisha warned him.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-10.htm">2 Kings 6:10</a></div><div class="verse">And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.</div><span class="bld">10</span>. <span class="ital">sent to the place</span>] A single messenger, against whom the Syrians would do nothing, would be enough to find out whether the prophet’s warning were true.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">not once nor twice</span>] i.e. but several times.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-11.htm">2 Kings 6:11</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us <i>is</i> for the king of Israel?</div><span class="bld">11</span>. <span class="ital">Therefore</span> [R.V. <span class="bld">And</span>] <span class="ital">the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled</span>] Because he saw on all these occasions that the opportunity he had looked for was taken away. He appears to have been acting on information which told him of expected movements of the forces of Israel. When his design was frustrated over and over again it was natural to think of treachery among his own people.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-12.htm">2 Kings 6:12</a></div><div class="verse">And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that <i>is</i> in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.</div><span class="bld">12</span>. <span class="ital">Elisha, the prophet that</span> is <span class="bld">in</span> <span class="ital">Israel</span>] This mention of Elisha points to such a knowledge of him as might have been gained through Naaman’s cure. It may however be that communications of other kinds passed between Syria and Israel, and that in some of these the precise nature of Elisha’s conduct was described. Nothing in the story of Naaman could suggest that Elisha gave information to the king of Israel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-13.htm">2 Kings 6:13</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, Go and spy where he <i>is</i>, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, <i>he is</i> in Dothan.</div><span class="bld">13</span>. <span class="ital">go and spy</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">see</span>. The original is the ordinary verb rendered ‘see’ in other places.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">that I may send and fetch him</span>] And thus put an end to the source of information enjoyed by the king of Israel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Dothan</span>] Only mentioned in the canonical books of the O.T. here and in the history of Joseph (<a href="/genesis/37-17.htm" title="And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.">Genesis 37:17</a>). In the book of Judith (<a href="/2_kings/4-6.htm" title="And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said to her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.">2 Kings 4:6</a>; <a href="/2_kings/7-3.htm" title="And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?">2 Kings 7:3</a>; <a href="/2_kings/7-18.htm" title="And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:">2 Kings 7:18</a>; <a href="/2_kings/8-3.htm" title="And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land.">2 Kings 8:3</a>) it occurs in the account of Holofernes’ campaign against Bethulia. It was not far from Shechem. It appears from this narrative that Elisha had a residence there. According to Jerome the place was twelve Roman miles north of Samaria. We can see from this history that the Syrians were able at this time to penetrate very far into the country of Israel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-14.htm">2 Kings 6:14</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.</div><span class="bld">14</span>. <span class="ital">a great host</span>] Greatness is comparative. Here was a company such as could be led by Elisha to Samaria, and fed easily when they reached that city. But no doubt they were formidable when employed for the capture of a single man of peace like Elisha, and they had taken up their position by night.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">compassed the city about</span>] i.e. beset all the gates, so that none could escape without their knowledge.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-15.htm">2 Kings 6:15</a></div><div class="verse">And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?</div><span class="bld">15</span>. <span class="ital">the servant</span>] The word is the same which in <a href="/2_kings/4-43.htm" title="And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus said the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.">2 Kings 4:43</a> was rendered ‘servitor’. It is the special and more personal servant. Hence the R.V. puts ‘or, minister’ in the margin.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a host compassed the city both with horses and chariots</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">an host with horses and chariots was round about the city</span>. The words are not the same in Hebrew as in the previous verse where ‘compassed’ was used. Literally ‘an host and horses &c.’ The horses and chariots were in addition to the footmen, who alone were spoken of in verse 14.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-16.htm">2 Kings 6:16</a></div><div class="verse">And he answered, Fear not: for they that <i>be</i> with us <i>are</i> more than they that <i>be</i> with them.</div><span class="bld">16</span>. they <span class="ital">that</span> be <span class="ital">with us</span>] Elisha speaks as a man whose eyes are opened, and who in consequence is sure of Jehovah’s protection, whether he beholds the angelic host about him or not.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-17.htm">2 Kings 6:17</a></div><div class="verse">And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain <i>was</i> full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.</div><span class="bld">17</span>. <span class="ital">open his eyes</span>] To the servant there was need of a more manifest vision, and for this Elisha prays, and God vouchsafes to grant it, that the servant may become as confident as his master. It is not that the troops may be gathered that Elisha prays, they are there already, but that the servant may have a seeing eye bestowed upon him to discern how well he and his master are protected.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the mountain was full</span> of <span class="ital">horses and chariots of fire</span>] Just as in chapter <a href="/2_kings/2-11.htm" title="And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.">2 Kings 2:11</a> we read of appearances so described. It is not necessary that we suppose the vision to have been of literal horses and chariots. The heavenly host was seen encamped about God’s servant in such wise as to disperse all fear.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">round about Elisha</span>] The enemy compassed the town all round, but there was an inner circle filled by God’s army. Dothan stood on an eminence and so the summit could thus be encircled, and the barrier against the Syrians appear complete.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-18.htm">2 Kings 6:18</a></div><div class="verse">And when they came down to 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.</div><span class="bld">18</span>. <span class="ital">And when they came down to him</span>] As the words stand, ‘they’ must refer to the Syrian troops, and to understand the sentence we must suppose that Elisha and his servant, the latter encouraged by the heavenly vision, had come forth from the city and been able to pass the gate. After this the Syrians followed them, and on their approach Elisha prayed that they might be smitten with blindness. Some have however thought that ‘to him’ is an error for ‘to them’, and have referred the verb to Elisha and his servant. Thus the sense would be: ‘When Elisha and his servant came down to the enemy, as they were emboldened to do, then Elisha prayed &c.’ But there is no such great difficulty in understanding the existing text, as to warrant us in accepting a conjecture which seems only supported by one, the Syriac, version. It was quite in the character of Elisha to go forth with his now courageous servant, and the Syrians at first would let them pass out so far that they might be surrounded directly by the waiting troops.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness</span>] What seems to have been sent upon the men was an illusion which prevented them from seeing correctly what was before them. Josephus explains it as a mist (<span class="greekheb">ἀχλὺς</span>) whereby they were prevented from recognising Elisha. The word, which is plural in form, occurs only here and in <a href="/genesis/19-11.htm" title="And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.">Genesis 19:11</a>. It denotes the seeing of something unreal instead of the true image. Thus these men could go with Elisha to Samaria, not knowing to what place he was leading them.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-19.htm">2 Kings 6:19</a></div><div class="verse">And Elisha said unto them, This <i>is</i> not the way, neither <i>is</i> this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.</div><span class="bld">19</span>. <span class="ital">This</span> is <span class="ital">not the way, neither</span> is <span class="ital">this the city</span>] i.e. the way to Elisha, and the city where you shall find him.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">I will bring you to the man whom ye seek</span>] But you shall find him in a place where you shall not be able to arrest him. Thus does Elisha use the glamour, or hallucination, under which these men were cast, to secure his own safety.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">But</span> [R.V. <span class="bld">and</span>] <span class="ital">he led them to Samaria</span>] That there he might make himself known unto them; and they, still under the influence which had been supernaturally cast over them, followed him without alarm till they were within the walls of the strongly fortified royal city.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-20.htm">2 Kings 6:20</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these <i>men</i>, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, <i>they were</i> in the midst of Samaria.</div><span class="bld">20</span>. <span class="ital">open the eyes of these men</span>] i.e. give them again the true perception of what is round about them. The prayer has been twice used by Elisha in this narrative, but for two different kinds of illumination. His servant was enabled to look beyond material surroundings and to recognise that there is a spiritual world in close proximity to the natural, that God and His ministers are not far from every one of us. To these Syrian soldiers natural sight was restored, after their eyes had been for a time holden (cf. <a href="/luke/24-16.htm" title="But their eyes were held that they should not know him.">Luke 24:16</a>) that they might be brought into the power of the king of Israel. God has brought the enemy of His prophet into a snare.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">behold</span>, they were <span class="ital">in the midst of Samaria</span>] Apparently, as Josephus says, brought where the king of Israel, with his troops, might fall upon them, and slay them, had it been permitted. At once they would see that they were prisoners, instead of making a prisoner; and their minds would be as full of the expectation of death, as Jehoram’s was of eagerness to kill them.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-21.htm">2 Kings 6:21</a></div><div class="verse">And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite <i>them</i>? shall I smite <i>them</i>?</div><span class="bld">21</span>. <span class="ital">My father</span>] The form of address is strange from the mouth of the king even though he be described (<a href="/2_kings/3-2.htm" title="And he worked evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made.">2 Kings 3:2</a>) as better than his father and his mother. It is however one more token of the great influence exercised in Israel by the prophets Elijah and Elisha. In the present instance Jehoram could hardly undertake to smite the prisoners brought into his hands by the prophet without Elisha’s consent, though his repeated question ‘Shall I smite them? Shall I smite them?’ shews how eager he was to destroy them.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-22.htm">2 Kings 6:22</a></div><div class="verse">And he answered, Thou shalt not smite <i>them</i>: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.</div><span class="bld">22</span>. <span class="ital">wouldest thou smite</span> those <span class="ital">whom thou hast taken captive</span>] The prophet points out that the men are not even captives whom the king himself has taken. Had they been so, yet the laws of war would have forbidden their slaughter at such a time and in cold blood. Much more is it unlawful to slay these, who are God’s prisoners. Some have preferred to take the sentence as not interrogative. ‘Those whom thou hadst taken prisoners thou mightest be allowed to slay, but not these.’ <a href="/deuteronomy/20-13.htm" title="And when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:">Deuteronomy 20:13</a> sanctions the slaying prisoners of war; but it is doubtful whether the grammar of the original in this verse can be taken as anything but interrogative.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">set bread and water before them</span>] It is manifest that the prophet was setting forth a higher degree of humanity than was usual towards prisoners. We need not therefore be surprised, if in the former clause of the verse he does not speak according to the sterner precept of Deuteronomy, which was laid down in order that the idolaters might be exterminated from Canaan.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-23.htm">2 Kings 6:23</a></div><div class="verse">And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.</div><span class="bld">23</span>. <span class="ital">he prepared great provision for them</span>] We can see from the use of the phrase ‘bread and water’ in other passages that the words embrace all kinds of food, and hence that Elisha’s injunction was equivalent to saying ‘Feed them well, and let them go’. Cf. for the phrase <a href="/deuteronomy/23-4.htm" title="Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.">Deuteronomy 23:4</a>; <a href="/1_kings/18-4.htm" title="For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)">1 Kings 18:4</a> and <a href="/1_samuel/25-11.htm" title="Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men, whom I know not from where they be?">1 Samuel 25:11</a>. In the last passage the extent of meaning in the words may be estimated by the gifts which, in verse 18, Abigail takes to David and his men.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the bands of Syria</span>] i.e. these marauding parties, protected by the king of Syria’s authority.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">came no more</span>] The generous treatment had its effect. Josephus (<span class="ital">Ant.</span> IX. 44) says ‘King Adad was wonderstruck at the strange occurrence, as well as the manifestation and the power of the God of the Israelites, and at the prophet in whom the divine spirit was so manifestly present, hence he determined through fear of Elisha no longer to attack the king of Israel secretly, but decided to make open war’.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-24.htm">2 Kings 6:24</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.</div><span class="bld">24–31</span>. Benhadad besieges Samaria. The city suffers terribly from famine, and the king threatens to put Elisha to death (Not in Chronicles)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">24</span>. <span class="ital">Ben-hadad</span>] Probably the same king who was defeated and submitted himself to Ahab (1 Kings 20).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">went up, and besieged Samaria</span> Josephus explains that Jehoram did not feel himself a match for Benhadad, and so shut himself up in Samaria, relying for protection on the security of its walls.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="25"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-25.htm">2 Kings 6:25</a></div><div class="verse">And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was <i>sold</i> for fourscore <i>pieces</i> of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five <i>pieces</i> of silver.</div><span class="bld">25</span>. <span class="ital">a great famine in Samaria</span>] The walls were protection enough, but the enemy lay outside, and the provisions came to an end.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">an ass’s head</span>] This would not, except in dire extremity, be taken for food, but they were in such straits in Samaria that 80 shekels of silver were now given for it.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a kab</span>] So R.V. The measure is not mentioned elsewhere, but is said to have been the sixth part of a <span class="ital">seah</span>, which is more frequently spoken of. The kab is put as an equivalent to the Greek <span class="greekheb">χοῖνιξ</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">dove’s dung</span>] Supposed by some to be the name of a very worthless kind of pulse, which in ordinary times nobody dreamt of eating, but of which now a small quantity fetched a large price. That excrement has been used for food in times of famine we have examples (Joseph. <span class="ital">B. F.</span> v. <a href="/2_kings/13-7.htm" title="Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing.">2 Kings 13:7</a>), but that dove’s dung should have been specially gathered for this purpose would be very strange. There could be but so small a supply. It appears better therefore to take the words as the name of some vegetable. The Germans call ‘assafœtida’ <span class="ital">Teufelsdreck</span> = devil’s dung. Josephus says, without any warrant, that this ‘dove’s dung was bought by the people instead of salt’.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="26"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-26.htm">2 Kings 6:26</a></div><div class="verse">And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.</div><span class="bld">26</span>. <span class="ital">the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall</span>] Making the necessary rounds to see that the watch was kept up, and everything done that could be done for the security of the city. Josephus says he was afraid lest some one should let in the enemy. The wall must have been furnished with a breast-work so that the inhabitants could pass along without being in much danger, and it would be open on the inner side. Hence any one within could see and speak to those who were passing along, as this woman did. In some cases dwelling-houses were built into the wall, and must have had a passage through them.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="27"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-27.htm">2 Kings 6:27</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?</div><span class="bld">27</span>. If <span class="ital">the Lord do not help thee</span>] There is some difficulty here. The word rendered ‘if … not’ is that which in Hebrew is generally put with an imperative = ‘Let not’. So that the sense would be ‘May the Lord not help thee’. So the LXX. But such a wish could hardly have come at such a time into the king’s mind. The R.V. (marg.) attempts to keep the imperative force thus, ‘Nay, let the Lord help thee’. This comes a little nearer the sense of the English versions. But there is no warrant for separating the negative particle in this way from its verb. Perhaps it is best to explain the negative particle, as if the verb belonging to it were suppressed. Thus ‘Do not (cry to me); the Lord must help thee; for I cannot’. In this way the sense given in the English versions would be the correct force of the words.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?</span>] i.e. with anything to eat or to drink. The supply of both was utterly spent, as the whole city knew. For the expression cf. <a href="/hosea/9-2.htm" title="The floor and the wine press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.">Hosea 9:2</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="28"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-28.htm">2 Kings 6:28</a></div><div class="verse">And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.</div><span class="bld">28</span>. <span class="ital">What aileth thee?</span>] The woman’s cry is not stopped by his answer. She has more to speak about than to ask him for food.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">This woman said unto me</span>] It would appear as if she had brought her neighbour along with her, that what she deemed justice might be done her at once. That they should be brought to such hardships and horrors as are here described had been foretold to Israel in early times (<a href="/leviticus/26-29.htm" title="And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall you eat.">Leviticus 26:29</a>; <a href="/context/deuteronomy/28-53.htm" title="And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the LORD your God has given you, in the siege, and in the narrow place, with which your enemies shall distress you:...">Deuteronomy 28:53-57</a>); cf. also Lament. <a href="/2_kings/2-20.htm" title="And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.">2 Kings 2:20</a>; <a href="/2_kings/4-10.htm" title="Let us make a little chamber, I pray you, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in thither.">2 Kings 4:10</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/5-10.htm" title="Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the middle of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds.">Ezekiel 5:10</a>. Josephus relates the like dreadful sufferings in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus (<span class="ital">B. J.</span> 6:3. 4).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">my son</span>] According to the history the children were both sons. Josephus represents only one of them as a boy.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="29"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-29.htm">2 Kings 6:29</a></div><div class="verse">So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.</div><span class="bld">29</span>. <span class="ital">she hath hid her son</span>] So hath famine changed the nature of those whom Jeremiah calls ‘the pitiful women’. The king cannot answer such an appeal, though starvation have made the mother feel that it is a just one.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="30"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-30.htm">2 Kings 6:30</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, <i>he had</i> sackcloth within upon his flesh.</div><span class="bld">30</span>. <span class="ital">and he passed by upon the wall</span>] The R.V. places these words in a parenthesis rendering (Now he was passing by upon the wall).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the people looked</span>] At such an appeal many would congregate beside the two persons concerned in the matter.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>he had <span class="ital">sackcloth within upon his flesh</span>] Cf. the action of his father Ahab (<a href="/1_kings/21-27.htm" title="And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.">1 Kings 21:27</a>) when God threatened him with punishment after the murder of Naboth. But neither in one case nor the other does the sorrow appear to have worked any good result. ‘I find his sorrow, I find not his repentance. The worst man may grieve for his smart, only the good heart grieves for his offence’ (Bp Hall). The result of Jehoram’s anguish seems to have been only rage against Elisha.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="31"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-31.htm">2 Kings 6:31</a></div><div class="verse">Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.</div><span class="bld">31</span>. <span class="ital">if the head of Elisha … shall stand on him this day</span>] We must suppose that Elisha had not been wanting in admonitions to both king and people during this terrible siege, and the anger of Jehoram was great because the prophet, who had wrought so mightily in the war with Moab, and on many another occasion which the king would know of, had done nothing to save the nation in this great calamity. This is the explanation of Josephus (<span class="ital">Ant.</span> IX. 4. 4) and the feeling is what was to be expected in a son of Jezebel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="32"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-32.htm">2 Kings 6:32</a></div><div class="verse">But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and <i>the king</i> sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: <i>is</i> not the sound of his master's feet behind him?</div>Chs. <a href="/2_kings/6-32.htm" title="But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?">2 Kings 6:32</a> to <a href="/2_kings/7-2.htm" title="Then a lord on whose hand 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, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat thereof.">2 Kings 7:2</a>. A messenger is sent to put Elisha to death. Elisha foretells a sudden plenty in Samaria (Not in Chronicles)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">32</span>. <span class="ital">But Elisha sat in his house</span>] His counsels had been productive of little result, but he is less disturbed than others, having a ground for his trust which they had not found.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and the elders sat with him</span>] These must be understood to be the chief men of the city, who had come for his advice, having no other helper to flee unto.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and</span> the king <span class="ital">sent a man</span>] One of those who were in waiting to obey his orders and who had heard his threat against Elisha.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">he said to the elders</span>] i.e. Elisha, divinely forwarned of the impending danger, explains to his companions what the king’s design against him was.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">this son of a murderer</span>] ‘Still is Naboth’s blood laid in Jehoram’s dish’ (Bp Hall). The prophet speaks as though the messenger were already in sight, so vivid is his own spiritual consciousness of what the king has set afoot.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">hold him fast at the door</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">hold the door fast against him</span>. The literal rendering is given on the margin of R.V., ‘Thrust him back with the door’. The doors in Oriental houses mostly opened outwards, so that if pushed from within they would come against any one that stood on the outside, and drive him backwards. Beside knowing of the king’s threat, Elisha seems to have been aware that he had almost immediately changed his purpose, and was hurrying after the messenger to prevent his order from being executed. Hence he explains to the elders that the king’s footsteps are to be heard close upon those of his servant. When they supposed, as they would from the fulfilment of the first part of his words, that Elisha knew exactly what was coming, they would be ready, although they were Jehoram’s servants, to stop the messenger so long as to see whether the king did really arrive. That the king did come we learn from <a href="/2_kings/7-17.htm" title="And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people stepped on him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.">2 Kings 7:17</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="33"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/6-33.htm">2 Kings 6:33</a></div><div class="verse">And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil <i>is</i> of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?</div><span class="bld">33</span>. <span class="ital">while he yet talked with them</span>] He had hardly explained his knowledge and his wish before action became necessary. The messenger arrived, and we must understand that the king also arrived immediately afterwards, and so the execution of Elisha was stayed, and Jehoram was shewn to be in some degree penitent for his hasty threat.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and he said</span>] The words which follow must be the words of the king. He has reached Elisha’s house and countermanded his first order. Now his thought is of what shall be done next. The people are at the direst extremity, and God, who has allowed this evil to come upon the nation, gives His prophet no message of relief. In this conviction he is of the mind that Samaria shall be surrendered. Hence his language, ‘This evil is of the Lord’ and He allows it to continue, ‘why should I wait for the Lord any longer?’<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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