Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. Every man's death is occasioned by some disease, and so was Elisha's. But in intimating it there seems a contrast tacitly made between him and his prophetic predecessor, who did not die. Joash ... came ... and wept over his face - visited him where he was lying ill of this mortal sickness, and expressed deep sorrow, not from the personal respect he bore for the prophet, but for the incalculable loss his death would occasion to the kingdom.
My father, my father ... - (see the notes at 2 Kings 2:12.) These word seem to have been a complimentary phrase, applied to one who was thought an eminent guardian and deliverer of his country; and the particular application of them to Elisha, who by his counsels and prayers had obtained many glorious victories for Israel, show that the king possessed some measure of faith and trust, which, though weak, was accepted, and called forth the prophet's dying benediction.