And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
There came a writing to him from Elijah. There have been various efforts made toward as explanation of this singular occurrence. Some have thought that that prophet's translation having taken place in the reign of Jehoshaphat, the name of Elijah has, by the error of a transcriber, been put for that of Elisha. That opinion, however, is not supported by any manuscript authority. Grotius considered that the letter had come directly from the invisible world. Cajetan conjectured that some other Elijah was intended. But 'the writing' х miktaab (H4385)] was in all probability a written prophecy rather than a letter; and in that case it might very well have been written by Elijah, as, according to the best chronological reckoning, Jehoram must have arrived at maturity before the venerable prophet's departure; and as he had exhibited deplorable proofs of an utterly irreligious and wicked character, it pleased the spirit of prophecy to dictate this letter, which was probably committed to Elisha, or some other prophet, to be delivered to the king at a particular crisis, when the writing would make the deepest impression on his mind.
Henderson ('On Inspiration,' p. 145) remarks, 'that the Hebrew text х Wayaabo' (H935) 'eelaayw (H413) miktaab (H4385) mee-'Eeliyaahuw (H452) hanaabiy' (H5030)] does not necessarily imply that the letter was written by the prophet at the time of its delivery. [The preposition, mi-, connects with miktaab (H4385), a writing, more readily than with the verb bow' (H935), and refers to Elijah as its author, so that it may have been composed years before it reached the hands of the wicked monarch whom it was designed to reprove.']