THE DEATH OF ELISHA
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2 Kings 13:1. Jehoahas, the son of Jehu, began to reign over Israel—Here the historian turns from the records of Judah to those of Israel. The date—“three and twentieth year”—does not accord by two years with that given in 2 Kings 13:10, as the corresponding year of the reign of Joash [or Jehoash], king of Judah; but copyist’s blunders in Hebrew numerals occurred so easily.
2 Kings 13:4. The Lord saw the oppression of Israel—He allowed the Syrians to become His scourge for Israel’s guilt in apostatizing from His worship.
2 Kings 13:5. The Lord gave Israel a saviour—Not a supernatural saviour—angel or prophet—but in both the kings Joash and Jeroboam He gave them a מוֹשִׁיע, “saviour,” from the Syrians, for the former recovered all the lost cities (2 Kings 13:25), and the latter restored all the old boundaries of Israel (2 Kings 14:25).
2 Kings 13:6. But walked therein—Who? Jeroboam or Israel? בָּהּ הָלַךְ—“walked he” (Jeroboam), or “walked it” (Israel). There remained the grove—Comp. 1 Kings 16:33.
HOMILETICS OF 2 Kings 13:1-13
NATIONAL DECAY
IN this paragraph we have grouped together the history of the two sister kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Their condition is alike. They are both dragged down to the same level. The same evil that has been so fatal to Samaria is now prevalent in Jerusalem. The same dark record is true of both—a record of apostasy, intensified corruption, and rapid decay of national prestige. In the case of Judah, one bright ray relieves the gloom; there are indications of repentance and return; but it seems more a desire to be delivered from calamities that have become intolerable, than a genuine effort to reform. Observe—
I. That national decay is the inevitable result of religious apostasy (2 Kings 13:2-3). Religion exalts a nation by exalting the individual. It is equally the basis of private virtue and public faith; of the happiness of the individual and the prosperity of the nation. When God is honoured, the nation is blessed; but when He is forsaken and despised, suffering and disaster follow. “True religion,” says Burke, “is the foundation of society. When that is once shaken by contempt, the whole fabric cannot be stable nor lasting.” How strikingly is this illustrated in the history of the Jewish kingdom!
II. That national decay is hastened by the devastations of continuous war (2 Kings 13:3-7). War exhausts the sources of a nation’s strength, and destroys its noblest sons. It is a waste of blood and treasure. If it does not utterly obliterate the nation, it puts back for years its progress and advancement. A strong nation may recover with surprising rapidity the damage inflicted by a single war; but the strongest nation cannot long survive the sufferings of uninterrupted warfare. Nor is it always evident which suffers most—the victorious or the vanquished. No greater calamity can happen to a nation than to be given up to the horrors and ravages of war.
Oh world!
Oh men! what are ye, and our best designs,
That we must work by crime to punish crime,
And slay, as if death had but this one gate!—Byron.
III. That national decay may be arrested for a time by humiliation and prayer (2 Kings 13:4-5). We may here trace the influence of Elisha upon king Jehoahaz. It was a familiar teaching in the lips of the prophet that the nation’s troubles were brought about by forsaking God, and the only way of deliverance was to be found in returning to Him in penitence and prayer. “Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto him.” The grip of the Syrian was relaxed, the terror of war passed away, and once more peace and security were restored. The Lord has no pleasure in sights of suffering, even where suffering is most deserved. His compassion is touched with the cry of the helpless, and He is swift to save.
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.
For what are men better than sheep or goats,
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer,
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round world is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.—Tennyson.
IV. That national decay cannot be prevented while temptations to apostasy are allowed to exist. “There remained the grove also in Samaria (2 Kings 13:6). The incompleteness of the reforming work of the father became a snare to the son (chap. 2 Kings 10:29).The seductions of idolatry led the people away from the worship of Jehovah, and from the path of virtue and uprightness. No nation can rise to its true purity and strength until every public enticement to evil is abolished. There is no safety with idols, but in their destruction.
Still they plead and still they promise; wilt thou suffer them to stand?
They have pleasures, gifts, and treasures, to enrich thee, at command.
Heed not thou, but boldly strike them; let descend the faithful blow.
From their wreck and from their ruin first will thy true riches flow.—Trench.
LESSONS:—
1. The blessing of God is the strength and glory of a nation.
2. When that blessing is forfeited by unfaithfulness the nation sinks into ruin.
3. Prayer for Divine help should be followed by reformation of life.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2 Kings 13:2-3; 2 Kings 13:11. A bad example. I. Transmits its baneful influence to succeeding generations. II. Is all the more potent for evil when found in persons in the highest station. III. Is no excuse for any who do evil—does not absolve from personal responsibility. IV. Rouses the anger of God against all who imitate it. V. Cannot be followed without suffering and chastisement.
2 Kings 13:4. Adversity. I. A sharp spur to devotion. II. Appeals to the Divine compassion. III. Affords an opportunity for the gracious exercise of Divine power.
—The house of correction is the fittest hospital for those cripples whose legs are lame through their own laziness.—Fuller.
God alone
Instructeth how to mourn. He doth not trust
This higher lesson to a voice or hand
Subordinate. Behold! He cometh forth!
O sweet disciple—bow thyself to learn
The alphabet of tears.—Sigourney.
—Prayer—I. An evidence of repentance. II. Should be addressed to the Being whom we have offended. III. Secures the Divine compassion and help. IV. The best method of obtaining victory over our enemies.
—Repentance is God’s choicest and deepest gift; repentance for our habitual dreariness and coldness, for that shallowness of heart which overtakes us when we are surrounded with the tokens of His presence, when we are partakers of the ordinances of His grace; which those very privileges seem to produce in us; from which troubles, individual or national, cannot of themselves deliver us. Divines may have infinite refinements about the mode, degrees, and effect of repentance. That one phrase of Scripture, “turning to God,” contains all that we can say of it. Man, thou art living, moving, having thy being in One whom thou art habitually forgetting. That forgetfulness makes thee forget thy brethren; yea, and in the truest sense forget thyself. Thou dost not know what thou art, whither thou art tending. All the earth is a riddle to thee. Thy fellow-men are hindrances in thy way. Thou art thine own great curse and terror. Recollect from whom come the thoughts and impulses of the mind and will within thee; who can make those thoughts and impulses an order instead of a chaos. Turn round to the light which is ever sending flashes into the midst of thy darkness. Ask that instead of such momentary appearances, from which thou shrinkest as from a guilty thing surprised, it may penetrate thee and possess thee, and become thy constant habitation. When thou yieldest thyself to its transforming energy, thou wilt not bear to see the earth lying crushed under the weight of its sins and oppressions. Thou wilt believe in thy heart and declare with thy lips that in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, in the church which God has set up, in the people who believe in His love, there is a prophecy of deliverance for the universe.—F. D. Maurice.
2 Kings 13:5. The Lord gave Israel a temporal saviour in its hour of physical need; to us He has given a spiritual Saviour, who can and will save us out of the hands of the greatest of all our enemies. Many a one prays, like Jehoahaz, in his time of distress; and when the trouble is past, the good impulses quickly disappear.
2 Kings 13:7. No nation is so great and mighty that God cannot take away its might, and make it so small and slight that it is only like dust which the wind scatters (Psalms 18:42).—Lange.
2 Kings 13:12. War-like valour. I. Not the highest kind of valour. II. Called into exercise by the extremities of a nation. III. Is of no avail when opposed to Divine chastisements.