2 Kings
2 Kings 3
1Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. 2He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, but not like his father, and like his mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3Nevertheless he held to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He didn’t depart from them. 4Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he supplied the king of Israel with the wool of one hundred thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand rams. 5But when Ahab was dead, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel. 7He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?”
He said, “I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 8He said, “Which way shall we go up?”
He answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.” 9So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched for seven days along a circuitous route. There was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. 10The king of Israel said, “Alas! For Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”
11But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of Yahweh here, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him?”
One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here.”
12Jehoshaphat said, “Yahweh’s word is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother.”
The king of Israel said to him, “No, for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” 14Elisha said, “As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you. 15But now bring me a musician.” When the musician played, Yahweh’s hand came on him. 16He said, “Yahweh says, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’ 17For Yahweh says, ‘You will not see wind, neither will you see rain, yet that valley will be filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your other animals. 18This is an easy thing in Yahweh’s sight. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. 19You shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’ ”
20In the morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
21Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, young and old, and stood on the border. 22They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23They said, “This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the plunder!”
24When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land attacking the Moabites. 25They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone, and filled it. They also stopped all the springs of water, and cut down all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth all they left was its stones; however the men armed with slings went around it, and attacked it. 26When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew a sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. 27Then he took his oldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
Commentary
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What others are saying
5 commentators · 63 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Jehoram, the son of Ahab, and brother of Ahaziah, is here upon the throne of Israel; and, though he was but a bad man, yet two commendable things are here recorded of him: - I. That he removed his father's idols. He did evil in many things, but not like his…
Jehoram has no sooner got the sceptre into his hand than he takes the sword into his hand, to reduce Moab. Crowns bring great cares and perils to the heads that wear them; no sooner in honour than in war. Now here we have, I. The concerting of this expedition…
I. We have here the divine gift of both those things which God had promised by Elisha - water and victory, and the former not only a pledge of the latter, but a means of it. God, who created, and commands, all the waters, both above and beneath the firmament…
John Gill27
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah,.... So that the two years of the reign of his brother Ahaziah were not complete, only part of the seventeenth and part of the eighteenth of…
And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Was guilty of idolatry: but not like his father, and like his mother; his father Ahab, and his mother Jezebel: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made; he did not destroy it, only removed it…
Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin,.... He closely adhered to the worship of the calves set up by him: he departed not therefrom: that being a piece of state policy, to keep up the division of the two…
Adam Clarke20
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
He put away the image of Baal - He abolished his worship; but he continued that of the calves at Dan and Beth-el.
Was a sheepmaster - The original is נקד naked, of which the Septuagint could make nothing, and therefore retained the Hebrew word νωκηδ: but the Chaldee has מרי גיתי marey githey, "a sheepmaster;" Aquila has ποιμνιοτροφος; and Symmachus, τρεφων βοσκηματα; all…
My people as thy people - We find that Jehoshaphat maintained the same friendly intercourse with the son, as he did with the father. See Kg1 22:4.
Keil & Delitzsch1
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
War of Joram, in Alliance with Jehoshaphat, against the Moabites. - Kg2 3:4, Kg2 3:5. The occasion of this war was the rebellion of the Moabites, i.e., the refusal to pay tribute to Israel since the death of Ahab. Mesha the (vassal-) king of Moab was a…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown12
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
MESHA, KING OF MOAB, REBELS. (Kg2 3:4-5) Mesha king of Moab, &c.--As his dominions embraced an extensive pasture country, he paid, as annual tribute, the wool of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams. It is still common in the East to pay…
king of Moab rebelled--This is a repetition of Kg2 1:1, in order to introduce an account of the confederate expedition for crushing this revolt, which had been allowed to continue unchecked during the short reign of Ahaziah.
ELISHA PROMISES WATER AND VICTORY OVER MOAB. (2Ki. 3:6-24) King Jehoram . . . numbered Israel--made a levy from his own subjects, and at the same time sought an alliance with Jehoshaphat, which, as on the former occasion with Ahab, was readily promised (Kg1…
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