Bible Commentaries

6. Elisha’s Prediction and Its Fulfilment

CHAPTER 7

1. Elisha’s prediction (2 Kings 7:1)

2. The unbelieving lord (2 Kings 7:2)

3. The four lepers and their discovery (2 Kings 7:3-8)

4. The day of good tidings (2 Kings 7:9-15)

5. The prediction fulfilled (2 Kings 7:16-18)

6. The death of the unbelieving lord (2 Kings 7:19-20)

When the worst had come, Samaria starving to death, the king in despondency, Elisha’s life threatened, then the mercy and kindness of God is revealed once more. The prophet announces the good news of salvation and deliverance. All is typical of the gospel of grace. The unbelieving lord who rejected the good news and refused to believe it represents those who reject the gospel. All in this chapter is intensely interesting and suggestive.

The great victory was accomplished by the Lord alone. His chariots had frightened the Syrian camp and put them to flight. The bread and the water, the silver and gold and raiment, all was His provision for a starving, dying people, and the four lepers in despair, facing certain death, were the first to discover God’s victory for them and the people. Their great need led them to find the needed salvation. Well may all this be applied to our Lord’s work for us and to the provision of the gospel. He alone worked out the great salvation and provided all, that sinners dying and lost (represented by the lepers) may come to eat and drink, without money and without price. It was a day of good tidings. Such is the still lasting day of salvation, the day of grace. The lepers who had their fill first and had tasted God’s great salvation, could not hold their peace. Through them the whole city hears of the provision made. And the people went out to see how wonderfully the prediction of Elisha had been accomplished. All enjoyed it. But the unbelieving lord perished, a warning that he that believeth not must die in his sins. The repetition at the close of this chapter of the words of the unbeliever recorded in the beginning of this story, is of solemn meaning. God is true to His Word, the Word which promises life to all who believe and which threatens eternal punishment to all who believe not. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

2 Kings 8:1-29

7. The Famine Predicted and Further Events

CHAPTER 8

1. The famine predicted (2 Kings 8:1-2)

2. The Shunammite’s land restored (2 Kings 8:3-6)

3. Elisha with Ben-hadad and Hazael (2 Kings 8:7-15)

4. Jehoram King of Judah (2 Kings 8:16-19; 2 Chronicles 21:5)

5. The Revolt of Edom (2 Kings 8:20-21; 2 Chronicles 21:8-10)

6. The Revolt of Libnah (2 Kings 8:22-23; 2 Chronicles 21:10)

7. Death of Jehoram (2 Kings 8:24; 2 Chronicles 21:19-20)

8. Ahaziah and Jehoram (2 Kings 8:25-29; 2 Chronicles 22)

The threatened judgment upon the house of Ahab is now rapidly approaching. Elisha, knowing the secrets of the Lord, predicts the seven years famine. “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). The Shunammite, that godly woman, is here introduced once more. As her husband is not mentioned she may have been a widow. Elisha warns her of the coming famine, and she heeded the warning and sojourned for seven years in the land of the Philistines. After her return all was restored unto her by the King. The introduction here of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, has drawn the fire of the critics. “As it is unlikely that the king would converse long with a leper, and as Gehazi is still called ‘the servant of the man of God,’ the incident may here be narrated out of order” (Expositor’s Bible). But not so. It is fully in order. Gehazi was known as the servant of Elisha and is mentioned by his former position so that all doubt about his personality might be removed. That the deposed servant was with the apostate king is of much interest and has its lessons.

“It seems to me that Gehazi stands here in a grievous position. Smitten by the hand of God, because his heart clung to earth, even in the presence of Jehovah’s mighty and long-suffering testimony, he is now a parasite in the king’s court, relating the wonderful things in which he no longer took part. This poor world grows weary enough of itself to lead it to take some pleasure in hearing anything spoken of that has reality and power. Provided that it does not reach the conscience, they will listen to it for their amusement, taking credit to themselves perhaps for an enlarged and a liberal mind, which is not enslaved by that which can yet recognize philosophically in its place. But that is a sad position, which makes it evident that formerly we were connected with a testimony, whilst now we only relate its marvels at court. Nevertheless God makes use of it; and it does not follow that there was no truth in Gehazi. But to rise in the world, and entertain the world with the mighty works of God, is to fall very deep” (Synopsis of the Bible).

Elisha after this went outside of Israel’s land to Damascus. Guided by the Lord, whom he served so faithfully, he paid a visit to the sick King of Syria. By referring to 1 Kings 19:15 we find that the commission to anoint Hazael, King over Syria, had been given to Elijah. There is no record from which we learn that Elijah had done so. And now Elisha meets Hazael, who came to him as the messenger of the sick King Ben-hadad, bringing costly presents. And the king asked the question, “Shall I recover of this disease?” The prophet’s answer was brief. The sickness itself was not fatal, he would certainly recover and yet the Lord had shown to him that the king should surely die. This meant while the sickness in itself would not result in Ben-hadad’s death, he should nevertheless die by other means.

Then Elisha’s countenance fell and the man of God wept. Then Elisha told Hazael he wept on account of the horrible atrocities which he would commit against the children of Israel. The fulfillment of Elisha’s prediction is found in 2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 12:17; 2 Kings 13:3. Weeping Elisha foreshadows our Lord weeping over Jerusalem when He saw what was to come upon the city He loved so well. And Hazael, with a mock humility, expressed surprise. But the prophet revealed the innermost thoughts of his wicked heart by telling him he would be king over Syria; this was his aim. And so he returned to Ben-hadad, bringing a mutilated message and murdered the king immediately after.

The record of the kings of Judah and Israel is now briefly given. All is fast ripening for the long threatened judgment. After the death of Jehoshaphat, his son Jehoram became sole ruler over Judah. He walked in the evil ways of the kings of Israel and the record tells the reason, “for the daughter of Ahab was his wife.” After him came his son Ahaziah. Again wicked Athaliah, his mother, is mentioned. (The marginal reading “grand-daughter” is correct. She was Ahab’s daughter and Omri’s grand-daughter.) His connection with Ahab is made prominent. He did evil also in the sight of the Lord and made an alliance with the son of Ahab, Joram (or Jehoram), who was still king in Israel. Joram was wounded by the Syrians and Ahaziah, King of Judah, visited him in Jezreel. Alas! the unholy alliance of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, with the wicked murderer, Ahab, King of Israel (1 Kings 22) had resulted in the marriage of his son with Athaliah, the wicked daughter of a wicked father. And Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, was dragged down by her and she became the ruination of her son Ahaziah. A dreadful harvest!