But Elisha sat... with him. — Rather, Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. This shows the important position which the prophet occupied at the time. The elders, who were the nobles and chiefs of Samaria, were gathered round him in his house to learn the will of Jehovah, and to receive comfort and counsel from his lips. (Comp. the way in which Zedekiah and his princes consulted Jeremiah during the last siege of Jerusalem — Jeremiah 21:1-2; Jeremiah 38:14, seq.)
And the king sent a man. — To behead the prophet, according to his oath.
From before him. — Comp. 2 Kings 5:16; 2 Kings 3:14; 1 Kings 10:8. One of the royal attendants — probably a soldier of the guard — is meant.
But ere. — “But” is wanting in the Hebrew. (The conjunction wĕ has, perhaps, fallen out after the preceding w.)
He said to the elders. — Elisha foreknew what was about to happen. (Comp. 2 Kings 5:26.) The he is emphatic: “He (the prophet) said.”
This son of a murderer. — Referring to Ahab’s murder of Naboth (1 Kings 21:19) and the prophets of Jehovah; as if to say, “The son takes after his father” (filius patrissat). At the same time, we must not forget the idiom by which a man is called a son of any quality or disposition which he evinces. (Comp. “son of Belial,” “sons of pride,” “sons of wickedness;” 2 Samuel 7:10; Job 41:34).
Hold him fast at the door. — Literally, press him back with the door. The door opened inwards, and the prophet bade his friends the elders hold the door against the messenger of death.
Is not the sound... behind him? — Elisha’s reason for bidding the elders hold the door. He foresaw that Jehoram would hasten in person after his messenger, to see that his savage order was carried out. (Bähr and Keil think, with Josephus, that Jehoram repented, and hurried off to restrain the sword of his minister.)