THE SECOND BOOK
OF
THE
Kings
THE SECOND BOOK |
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CHAPTER 1[c. 3148 since creation/852 B.C.E.]1. Then, after the death of Akh'av, Moav began to rebel against Israel, Moav had been subdued by David (2 Shmu'el 8), but the subjugation would have transferred to the Northern Kingdom, because it was Re'uven's territory that the Moavites would perceive as encroaching on their own.2. and Akhazyah fell through the lattice-work that was in his roof-chamber at Shomron, and was injured, so he sent messengers and told them, "Go, enquire of Baal-z'vuv, the elohim of Eqron, whether I will survive this injury!" Lattice-work: Probably in a window rather than in the roof itself, with a long fall to the ground. If his broken bones were not set properly, fragments would cause internal lacerations and infection. But the term for "lattice-work" can also mean a "snare", so there is an undercurrent of falling into the trap his father had set. (1 Kings 21:29) Baal-z'vuv: a Filistine deity, "master of the flies", worshipped because it ostensibly kept the population of flies in check. Some link it to Zeus Apomuios (the "fly-averter" or "flycatcher" of Greek mythology.) It is thought by others to be simply a pejorative play on the name Beel-zevul ("Baal/the owner is exalted"), often associated with haSatan. (16th-century demonologist John Wier considered him of even higher rank than haSatan, but still a part of a "trinity" that included haSatan and Ashtoreth. Yahshua spoke of Beelzebul as the "Prince of Demons" in Mat. 12:24; compare Mat. 10:25; Markus 3:22; Luqa 11:15-19) But there is an intriguing theory that may tie more of the elements of this chapter together. It will be discussed below. Eqron was one of the five major Filistine cities, and one of the two inland ones, the other being Gath. The Filistines were increasing in power at this time because Israel was already beginning to be tied up by incursions from the Assyrians. At this time Eqron consisted of only the upper portion of Tel Miqne--about ten acres. It would become more prominent later when the Assyrians moved permanently into the southern Levant, but prior to that its prominence fluctuated inversely with the prominence of Gath.3. Then a messenger of YHWH said to Eliyahu of the sojourners, "Get up! Go and meet the messengers of the king of Shomron, and say to them, "Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel [that] you are going to enquire of Baal-z'vuv, the elohim of Eqron? Of the sojourners: or, the Thishbite (Thishbi). But Thishbi appears to be related to the word "sojourners" (thoshvey), possibly a shortened version of "the sojourners of Gil'ad", as in the context in which he is first introduced in 1 Kings 17. Without the vowel points, there is no difference in spelling. Gil'ad was not actually part of Israel proper, though it was given to Gad because it was requested as a pastureland. So Eliyahu came to the kings of Israel as somewhat of an outsider--at least from outside the mainstream of the culture by this time, like his antitype Yochanan the Immerser (Mat. 11:14), who came out of the wilderness identifying people as sinners in need of repentance. Shomron: a shorthand for the whole northern kingdom of Israel, as this is where its throne was at the time. Eliyahu intercepted them before they could ever get to their intended goal. Is it because there is no… : literally, Is it from a lack, there not being…? YHWH was insulted! He is saying, in essence, "And what am I? Swiss cheese?!" Yet many are much more influenced than they realize by the Marcionite heresy, which taught that the benevolent "god" Jesus had overpowered and unseated that vengeful Hebrew Elohim, YHWH. And YHWH is offended by that as well. Notice that Eliyahu does not cast his pearls before swine. He appeals only to the widespread notion that a deity is tied to a locality (probably the reason Izevel, who certainly did not have any allegiance to YHWH, superstitiously gave her sons names that included YHWH's name in them). He did not say anything about the fact that YHWH was the maker of heaven and earth and far superior to Baal-z'vuv. He only asks whether Akhazyah thinks Israel's Elohim has left the country.4. "So therefore, this is what YHWH says: 'You will not come down from the bed onto which you have gone up, because you will definitely die.'" Then Eliyahu departed. Akhazyah may have thought YHWH always had something bad to say, and wanted to go where he thought he might find a more favorable response. It may be because he realized that listening to YHWH would change his whole life, and would certainly offend his mother, Izevel. But he should not have avoided the judgment he knew YHWH would bring, because it would track him down regardless. Had he submitted to it voluntarily, he might have at least avoided the disgrace and might have received a more compassionate response. But now he is given no hope at all. And why did he need to know in advance? Did he think that could somehow enable him to control the outcome? In Acts 3 we have an account of a blind beggar sitting as at a gate to the Temple whose name, in the Greek translation, means "belonging to the right time or season". It is a waste of time to seek answers out of season, but because he remained as close as he could to YHWH's House and His people, he was in the right place when the means of healing came to him. Akhazyah, instead, looks where there are no true answers. His recovery or his death would not be automatic or accidental in any case; the outcome would depend on his own actions, so why did he go seeking a prophet rather than a priest?5. When the messengers returned to [Akhazyah], he said to them, "What's this? You've come back?!" 6. And they told him, "A man came up to meet us, and told us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you, and say to him, "This is what YHWH says: 'Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel [that] you are going to enquire of Baal-z'vuv, the elohim of Eqron? Therefore, you will not come down from the bed onto which you have gone up, because you will definitely die.'"'" 7. So he said to them, "What distinguishing marks did the man have who came up to you and spoke these words to you?" What distinguishing marks: or, what right? (What "order" did he belong to?) The term is usually used of justice or judgment; thus it means discrimination.8. And they told him, "A man--a master of hair with a leather belt tied around his waist." And he said, "That's Eliyahu of the sojourners!" David Eid connects Baal-z'vuv to a god called Zibab in Arabic even after Islam was established. But it probably stemmed from the much more ancient Ugaritic Il-zeboba, which was symbolized by a giant, red, thick-haired mouse that could subdue enemies by roping them (possibly with its tail). The Filistines might have being given it credit for capturing the Ark of the Covenant in battle, for YHWH sent a plague of mice on them thereafter (2 Shmu'el 5), since they liked this mouse so well! The Arabic root for Zibab means "hair", so this is seen as a thick-haired god. Zibab's consort is Terq, which means a palm tree, but also means "prophecy" in Arabic. (Possibly the reason D'vorah sat under a palm tree, per Judges 4:5.) This is probably why Akhazyah sent to this god in particular for a prophecy. The way these messengers describe Eliyahu is, in Hebrew, ish baal-saar, which could be taken as "a man of [this very] 'hairy lord'" they were going to seek. So they thought its spokesman knew they were coming and met them on the way! His leather belt might have, to them, represented this "roping" aspect of the mouse. His dress, which was apparently as bizarre to them then as it would be to us today, along with the fact that they could see he was very hairy, suggests that all he wore was a waistcloth tied on with a belt. A brute in a loincloth is not one whom people would expect to have a right to address a king, and would have been an insult to the king, which is the fitting response to his insulting YHWH. Esau was also born with a red, hairy "mantle" already on his body, suggesting that he was meant to be the prophet in his family, but he forsook this calling and preferred to satisfy his belly instead. Eliyahu may also have been a Nazirite, they we are not told this directly.9. So he sent him a captain of fifty with his fifty [soldiers]. When he went up to him, there he was, sitting on top of the mountain. And he said to him, "O man of the elohim, the king has said, 'Come down!'" It is easy to see why this "ape" of a man would not receive any respect from the king.10. But Eliyahu answered and said to the captain of fifty, "And if I am a man of Elohim, fire will come down from the skies and consume you and your fifty!" And fire came down from the skies and consumed him and his fifty. Notice his play on the words, "come down". Eliyahu is toying with him: "You didn't specify what you want to come down, so fire is what will come down!"11. But he sent back to him another captain of fifty along with his fifty. When he answered, he said to him, "O man of the elohim, this is what the king says: 'Come down at once!'" Joseph Good calls him "the dumbest man in the Bible", who, seeing 51 grease spots where the first soldiers had stood, does exactly the same thing.12. But Eliyahu answered and said to them, "If I am a man of Elohim, fire will come down from the skies and consume you and your fifty!" And the fire of Elohim came down from the skies and consumed him and his fifty. There is another play on words here in Hebrew, possibly as a mnemonic device: "Man of Elohim" is ish-haElohim, and "fire of Elohim" is esh-Elohim. The latter could also mean a fire so disproportionately greater than what is normally seen that it is labeled with this extremely superlative description.13. But he sent back to him a captain of a third [company of] fifty along with his fifty. But when the third captain of fifty arrived, he bowed down on his knees right in front of Eliyahu and begged him for favor, and said to him, "O man of Elohim, please let my life and the life of your servants, these fifty, be of [some] value in your eyes! This captain is not so gullible, but also realizes he is at Eliyahu's mercy, because he has orders to carry out as well.14. "Indeed, fire came down from the skies and consumed the first two captains of fifty along with their fifties, but now, let my life be of [some] value in your eyes!" He saw the pattern and knew that the same would take place unless YHWH had mercy on him through Eliyahu.15. And the messenger of YHWH told Eliyahu, "Go down with him; don't be afraid of his presence." So he got up and went down with him to the king, This messenger may have been Elisha, Eliyahu's understudy, who was also a prophet. Priests, though, were the ones designated to be YHWH's messengers. (Mal'akhi 2:7) Don't be afraid of his presence (or face): It is one thing to insult him from a distance, but another thing to be as brave to his face. But the word for "fear" also means "respect", and YHWH may be telling him it is safe to continue mocking the king who has flouted His authority. This captain clearly respected Eliyahu's presence, as he rightly should.16. and told him, "This is what YHWH says: 'Since you have sent messengers to enquire of Baal-z'vuv, the elohim of Eqron, is it because there is no Elohim in Israel, whose word you can inquire of? Therefore, you will not come down from the bed onto which you have gone up, because you will definitely die.'" 17. And die he did, in agreement with the word of YHWH that Eliyahu had spoken, and Y'horam became king in his place in the second year of Y'horam the son of Y'hoshafat, the king of Yehudah, because he had no son. The line of Akh'av had not yet ended with him. Y'horam was another son of Akh'av. (8:16) YHWH had said He would destroy every male heir of Akh'av's (1 Kings 21:21), but again in His justice He gives Y'horam an occasion to prove for himself that he deserves this judgment, rather than simply destroying him for his father's or brother's sins. The parallel passage (8:16), however, says the southern Y'horam became king in the fifth year of the northern Y'horam's reign, so there was clearly a period of co-regency between Y'hoshafat and Y'horam before Y'hoshafat died. Here we have somewhat of a mirror image--an evil Y'horam and a righteous king with the same name. In Jewish tradition, when a righteous man has the same name as someone evil did, he rescues this name from disgrace (especially pertinent when YHWH's name is attached to that name, as it is here).There would be one other brief occasion, between 798 and 796 B.C.E. when both the northern and southern kingdoms would have kings with the same name (Y'ho'ash). The El-Amarna letters tell us that Y'hoshafat had made his son co-regent when he had gone to fight alongside Akh'av. (1 Kings 22) Josephus tells us Akh'av's son was named for his brother-in-law.18. Now the rest of the things that Akhazyah did, aren't they recorded in the book of the chronicles belonging to the kings of Israel? Again this scribe thinks enough has been said about this evil king, and does not want to waste any more ink on him. CHAPTER 21. Now what took place at YHWH's bringing Eliyahu up [into] the heavens in a tornado was that Eliyahu and Elisha began to walk from Gilgal,Tornado: or tempest, storm; traditionally a whirlwind, though these are not common in Israel today. Immanuel Velikovsky points out that "in the ninth century, as a result of cosmic events, the electrical charge of this planet was highly affected. The ionosphere above the earth was charged to such an extent that leaps of discharge occurred from a cloudless sky. As I proved in Ages in Chaos, the letters found in the Egyptian State Archive of el-Amarna originated in the ninth century, and a very considerable portion of them was written by Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat king of Jerusalem, and their generals. The corresponding texts of the Scriptures prove a very high grade of trustworthiness, even in transmission of orations and dialogues, ascribed to historical personages. This fact encourages to approach with credence the stories of Elijah and Elisha, interwoven in the same parts of the Book of Kings."2. and Eliyahu said to Elisha, "Please stay here, because YHWH has sent me to Beyth-El." But Elisha said, "[As surely as] YHWH is alive and your soul is alive, if I leave you…" So they went down to Beyth-El. Gilgal was the place Y'hoshua renewed the covenant by circumcising everyone who had been born since the Exodus, and Israel became one again. Now he is sent to Beyth-El, another place very significant in the nation's history.3. Then [some] "sons of the prophets" who were in Beyth-El came out to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today YHWH is taking your master from [being] over your head?" And he said, "I, too, know; keep [it] quiet!" Sons of the prophets: an idiom for their students, i.e., prophets-in-training. It may be that he did not want them to attract a crowd, or did not want word to get back to Izevel, lest she celebrate, or just did not want to be reminded that his master was leaving. Or they may have heard Eliyahu, like Yahshua, preparing his followers for the time when he would be gone, and specifically telling their more direct teacher to honor Elisha as "in charge" as they had honored him, to spare Elisha the grief, as Eliyahu was apparently inside while Elisha waited outside for him to finish his business there. He may be telling them to be quiet, because they were not meant to affect the outcome lest YHWH relent from the vision He had given them, since a prophet's words are like something chiseled in stone; they ought not say too much or play around with words, because their words are especially powerful.4. And Eliyahu said to him, "Elisha, please stay here, because YHWH has sent me to Y'rikho." But he said, "[As surely as] YHWH is alive and your soul is alive, if I leave you…" So they came into Y'rikho. He was going back the same way he had come! Y'rikho is very close to Gilgal. So Elisha could have met him on his way back and then gone on from there with him; he would not technically have had to go up to Beyth-El with him, but he wanted to make sure he did not miss Eliyahu on the way back. Eliyahu had already called his loyalty into question once, and he wanted to be sure to pass whatever test this was. Eliyahu was offering to let him stay at each place, possibly to be the new headmaster of the school, where he could be served, but he chooses to remain and serve his master as long as he is still there to be served.5. Then [some] "sons of the prophets" who were in Y'rikho approached Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today YHWH is taking your master from [being] over your head?" And he said, "I, too, know; keep [it] quiet!" Here was his second witness to the veracity of the vision he himself had also apparently seen. Y'rikho was another place YHWH had done a great work, and it was at places like this and Beyth-El--places of major significance in Israel's common history--that the schools of the prophets were based.6. Then Eliyahu said to him, "Please stay here, because YHWH has sent me to the Yarden." But he said, "[As surely as] YHWH is alive and your soul is alive, if I leave you…" So they both walked [on]. 7. Then fifty men from among the "sons of the prophets" went and stood opposite them, afar off, while both of them stood above the Yarden. 8. Then Eliyahu took [off] his magnificent garment, rolled it up, and struck the waters, and they were divided, this [part from] that, and both of them crossed over on dry [ground]. Magnificent: splendid, glorious, noble, majestic. Apparently he had not been wearing this when the king's messengers came for him (1:8), unless this garment was also hairy like that of Yochanan. (See below.) Z'kharyah 13:3-4 shows that at least after this it had become common for prophets to wear robes of coarse hair. This crossing may very well have taken place at Beyth-Abarah, the place Y'hoshua had led the whole nation across on dry ground (Y'hoshua 3), and where Eliyahu's anti-type, Yochanan (Mat. 17:12; Luqa 1:17), would do his immersing (Yochanan 1:28). It would be an especially potent witness for him to be where his prototype had actually walked. And he had witnesses, like the stones Y'hoshua had set at the spot he crossed over. 9. And what took place as they were crossing [was] that Eliyahu said to Elisha, "Ask what I can do for you before I am taken away from you." So Elisha said, "Then please let there be a double opening of your spirit to me." Double opening: often called a "double portion", which would be the inheritance of the eldest son in a family. Eliyahu had indeed adopted Elisha as a son (see verse 12) when he had left his own parents behind to follow him (1 Kings 19:19-21) But what if the son is an only child? How can he receive a double portion? Only by receiving twice as much as the father had to leave to him! And Elisha was indeed credited with twice as many miracles as Eliyahu, though the last one did not occur until after he had died, and a man who was being buried was thrown against his bones hurriedly when a marauding band came along, and came back to life!10. And he said, "You have picked a difficult thing to ask! If you see me taken away from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be." Difficult: It was hard enough for Eliyahu to grant this wish, but possibly harder for anyone to receive such a job. He already had this authority, but he had to see for himself the Kingdom where Eliyahu was going in order to understand his job properly and therefore have all the power he needed to carry it out. A glimpse of what was to be would be enough to give him this courage. It is all there waiting, but the hard thing is to see it, and the only thing that can put one in a position to see it is being a servant. It is often the servants in a great household who know the house better than the master, because they are the ones who pay attention to all the details. Serving can give you more privileges than even a leader has, if remaining a leader is his only focus.11. Then it took place as they continued to walk and were talking: lo and behold, a chariot of fire and fiery horses made a separation between the two of them, and Eliyahu went up to the heavens in a tornado! It never says Eliyahu climbed aboard the chariot, only that it obscured him from Elisha's view or at least access, possibly so it would not take both of them. The key to understanding what this was is in Y'hezq'El (Ezekiel) 1:4, where we again see a chariot and a whirlwind. The whole scenario it is part of represents the four-sided camp of Israel--the whole nation gathered together again. This is the role of the Eliyahu who is to come (Mal. 4:5)--to turn the hearts of the children back to their fathers and vice versa (note verse 12), lest YHWH strike the earth with a curse--as Eliyahu had already done once before. If we have to see this tornado as something paranormal, we could look at it as a "wormhole" by which Eliyahu was taken directly into the Kingdom, as often takes place when a person has a strong vision of the Kingdom, though usually it is by means of death, unlike Eliyahu, who does not die because he needs to come back, at least in some sense.12. And Elisha did see [it], and he [started] clamoring, "My father! My father! The chariot of Israel and its war-horses!" When he could not see him anymore, he grabbed his cloak and started tearing it into two pieces. My father: Eliyahu does not seem to have had a natural heir, at least who followed in his footsteps. War-horses: or horsemen, possibly corresponding with the four human forms in Y'hezq'El 1:5ff. In Israel, chariots were not meant to be so much for military purposes, though many kings disobediently multiplied them. The righteous Israelite we see riding a chariot is Yoseyf (Gen. 41:43) And what they called out in front of him had the word "father" in it. At this time what is known as Israel is the part also known as the House of Yoseyf. When Yoseyf sent for his father, the spirit of Yaaqov revived when he saw the carts Yoseyf sent (Gen. 45:27), for he recognized them as the ones he had seen in his vision of the two camps (Gen. 32:2), one of which was the camp of all of Israel united in the wilderness, where the leaders of the tribes brought carts full of offerings for use in the Tabernacle. (Numbers 7:2) This reminded him of who he was called to be, and he rose to the challenge. Now Israel is riddled by paganism, and Eliyahu steps from that age directly into the age when Israel will again be united. By making his own cloak unusable, Elisha was saying, This is not who I am anymore"--burning his bridges and symbolizing that he was discarding his own identity or role for Eliyahu's:13. Then he picked up Eliyahu's magnificent garment, which had fallen off him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Yarden. Immanuel Velikovsky writes: "The occurrence of the phenomenon known as ball lightning was denied until very recent time, actually measured in decades. Today, the phenomenon belongs into textbooks. A ball of fire is seen sometimes moving rather slowly and then exploding… The detail about the mantle of Elijah that was left behind, instead of detracting from the verisimilitude of the Biblical episode, tends to support it. It is a well-known phenomenon that a wire may evaporate when an electrical discharge strikes it, yet its envelope of fabric (an insulator) remains intact. Here is what may have [taken place]: Traveling afoot on the east side of the Jordan, Elijah and Elisha were approached by a lightning ball that separated them; next it exploded, consuming Elijah, yet leaving his mantle unscathed, thus making it appear that it was a fiery chariot that approached them and then carried Elijah 'by a whirlwind into heaven.' It is not claimed here that this was the end of Elijah, only that such a phenomenon could be natural, though very unusual."14. Then he took Eliyah's magnificent garment, which had fallen off him, and struck the waters, and said, "Where is YHWH, the Elohim of Eliyahu--how much more Himself?" When he struck the waters, they were divided, this [part from] that, and Elisha crossed over. 15. And when the "sons of the prophets" who were at Y'rikho saw him on the other side, they said, "The spirit of Eliyahu has come to rest on Elisha!" And they came to welcome him, and bowed themselves on the earth to him. Come to rest: settled, found repose, found its home. Welcome: or simply, meet. Bowed: showing their loyalty and willingness to serve under his leadership.16. And they said to him, "Look! There are with your servants fifty men, capable sons. Please let them go and search for your master, in case the wind of YHWH has picked him up and thrown him onto one of the mountains or into one of the valleys!" But he said, "You don't have to send [them]." Capable sons: or, sons of an army.17. But they kept pressing him until he was embarrassed, so he said, "Let [them] go!" So they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days, but did not find him. Embarrassed: They probably made him to feel that he really did not care whether his master was found because then he could remain in charge, or did not want him to receive a decent burial. He had apparently seen a vision that they had not, and they, who are Eliyahu's "sons" as well, are like Keyfa who was trying to dissuade Yahshua from going to his death, when he knew it had to take place. (Mat. 16) Even in modern Israel, there is such a sense that there is no closure without a body being found that they are willing to release a hundred terrorists from prison to recover one man whom they know is dead. They would like to honor Eliyahu by building his tomb, but Elisha knew his body would not be found.18. When they came back to him (while he was remaining at Y'rikho), he said to them, "Didn't I tell you [that] you did not have to go?" Verse 11 said they had continued to walk for some distance after crossing the Yarden. Straight ahead from where they crossed over would have been Mt. Nevo, from which Moshe was also carried away into the Kingdom without a trace. (Deut. 34:6)19. Then the men of the city said to Elisha, "Please, look here! The location of the city is excellent, as my master [can] see, but the waters are unpleasant, and the ground is causing miscarriage! The location is excellent: Y'rikho is a huge oasis in an otherwise-barren part of the Aravah, with thousands of palm trees still today. It is far enough from the Yarden to escape flooding, but has a spring, which figures prominently in this account. Causing miscarriage: or simply barrenness, possibly of humans and livestock; possibly only of the crops. This was, after all, a cursed place (Y'hoshua 6:26) despite its excellent situation.20. So he said, "Bring me a new scooping-bowl, and put salt in it." So they brought it to him. Scooping-bowl: from a word that means to prosper or bring success, so just the word he used would automatically make them optimistic about whether this would work.21. And he went out to the source of the waters, and threw the salt in there, and said, "This is what YHWH says: 'I have [fully] healed these waters; death and miscarriage will no longer come from there.'" There was some kind of chemical reaction. But the picture is also important. Yahshua said we are the salt of the earth. (Mat. 5:13) The Torah is called water (Eph. 5:26) If we are not faithful to remain "salty", the Torah becomes unfruitful because there is no one to carry it out.22. And the waters have been healed to this day, just like the word that Elisha spoke. And to our own day, the site of this spring is known and marked.23. So he went up from there to Beyth-El. And while he was on the way up, some little lads came out from the city and started making fun of him. And they said to him, "Ascend, baldy! Ascend, baldy!" Ascend: possibly an allusion to Eliyahu's ascent in the whirlwind. I.e., "Let's see you do it, too!" They were probably even less sincere than Herod, who wanted to see Yahshua do a miracle or two. He may not have normally been bald, but might have been keeping the custom of shaving one's head when mourning, which was allowed of other Israelites but not priests. After all, his adopted "father" had been taken from him and he would not see him again in this life, at least. Normally an Israelite would not go about with his head uncovered so that they could even see whether he was bald or not, but when mourning it was customary to do so. (Lev. 10:6)24. So he turned to look behind him, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of YHWH. Then two bears came out of the forest and tore some of the children open--42 of them! YHWH had told Eliyahu, "[Anyone who] is allowed to escape from the sword of Khaza'El, Yehu will kill, and whoever escapes from the sword of Yehu, Elisha will kill."(1 Kings 19:17) The first two had not done their killing yet, so apparently Elisha was just bringing instant judgment on a people who had not even taught their children to respect a prophet of YHWH--for though his first two miracles had more positive results, Elisha's judgment begins literally in the "House of Elohim". Cursed: literally, made light (of), treated them as insignificant or trifling. Such mockery should not emanate from a place named for Elohim. "Judgment must begin with the house of Elohim!" (1 Kefa/Peter 4:17) Does it seem unfair that children so young should be punished for expressing their natural amusement? Yet "even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure or whether it be right." (Prov. 20:11) Their parents should have trained them to be more respectful toward one who was clearly mourning. Aside from the fact that he was a prophet (which they might not have known), he was the wrong man to make fun of. Israel is to mourn with those who mourn (Rom. 12:15), not mock them. So Elisha seems to have no regrets about this conscious decision he made to assert his authority--the "double portion" which was already beginning to show up. He does not even say YHWH was offended; Elisha had the power to do this, and the parents of these children received what they deserved for not training them better. The first time a word with the numeric value of 42 appears in Scripture, it is haGadol--the elder (son)--one who should be more respected.25. And from there he went on to Mount Karmel, and from there he went back to Shomron. Was he retracing Eliyahu's steps to try to better fill his place? Though it is not magic, there is a certain power to going back to places where our predecessors stood strong, if only to work that strength more deeply into us. That is one reason there is such benefit to going back to visit the Land of Israel when possible, even while we still dwell in exile. CHAPTER 31. Now Y'horam the son of Akh'av became king over Israel in Shomron in year 18 of Y'hoshafat the king of Yehudah, and he reigned 12 years.2. And he did what was wrong in YHWH's eyes, only not like his father or his mother. While he did remove Baal's standing-stone, which his father had made, He was not as bad as they had been, so he was allowed to last longer than his brother, but he still had a curse dangling over his head.3. he nonetheless adhered to the sins of Yarav'am the son of N'vat, who had caused Israel to miss the target; from that he did not turn aside. Adhered: The first use of this term in Scripture is of Adam clinging to his wife--a very deliberate adherence. The sins of Yarav'am were making molten images of other elohim and casting YHWH behind his back. (1 Kings 14:9) Other kings had taken on the worship of different elohim, but Yarav'am had made two golden calves and probably called them both by the name YHWH, as the people in Aharon's time had done, while in reality he had turned away from YHWH. While Y'horam was no longer worshipping Baal, he was at best recognizing YHWH in a way foreign to the Torah. This has strong overtones of the Protestant Reformation, which removed idolatry to a certain extent, but did not go far enough, still retaining the idea of a plurality of Elohim, which in some ways is worse.4. Now Meysha the king of Moav was a breeder of sheep, and he had relinquished to the king of Israel 100,000 plump he-lambs and 100,000 woolly rams. 5. But what took place when Akh'av died was that the king of Moav began to rebel against the king of Israel, 6. so Y'horam went out in that day from Shomron and mustered all of Israel. He must not have gotten very far with his rebellion during Akhazyah's reign.(1:1)7. And he went and sent [word] to Y'hoshafat the king of Yehudah, saying, "The king of Moav has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to Moav to make war?" And he said, "I will go up. My people are the same as your people; my horses are the same as your horses." He remembered that Israel had once been part of the same nation as Yehudah. He understands that the kingdom is supposed to be united, but it should be under his family, and he keeps following the lead of the northern king. The cooperative approach sometimes works, and it is often appropriate to be at peace with a neighbor who is not encroaching on anything under one's jurisdiction, but he did not inquire of YHWH as to whether this was the wise thing to do. Y'horam is his brother-in-law, so he seems to have gone along with his ideas without serious questioning.8. So he said, "Which way shall we go up?" And he said, "[By] way of the wilderness of Edom." They would be circling around and attacking from the south instead of the north or west, where Moav would expect them, so the element of surprise would give them the advantage. At this time the main way into Moav would have been either around the northern end of the Dead Sea or from the area of Matsada, because by the dimensions Josephus gives, the Dead Sea had not yet spilled over to begin forming the southern portion, and would have ended around Matsada. This Israelite alliance would instead go further down the Aravah and approach from somewhere in the direction of Sela (Petra).9. So the king of Israel went with the king of Yehudah and the king of Edom, and they were circling around [for] seven days' journey. Then there came to be no water for the camp or for the animals that were at their feet. Since they would be coming through Edom, the wise thing to do was to enlist Edom as an ally. Edom may have even asked to join in once he was asked permission to enter through his land. He made tikkun (repair) for the actions of his ancestor, who refused to let Moshe and the congregation of Israel pass through his land. (Numbers 20:14ff) Yaaqov and Esau were reunited at least temporarily, but for a dubious purpose, for it was against a common cousin. Nogah HaReuveni thinks the "circling around" means going around the Dead Sea rather than wandering aimlessly. Animals: possibly horses and donkeys used to transport their gear, but possibly also cattle (v. 17) to eat along the way, probably taken as an afterthought because they seem to have made this campaign as a knee-jerk reaction as soon as they found out the expected tribute was not coming (possibly having already made plans for how to use it all). They might not have prepared adequately for the journey or even made a thorough battle plan.10. So the king of Israel said, "Alas! Because YHWH has summoned these three kings [together] to deliver them into the hand of Moav!" He saw YHWH as having set a trap for them. He regarded YHWH as a strong but hostile power. He clearly believed in YHWH, but had little love for Him, especially since he probably knew of the curse on the House of Akh'av. Maybe he thought he would at least not have to face death alone, but would at least be permitted to perish among peers.11. But Y'hoshafat said, Is there no prophet of YHWH here by whom we can enquire of YHWH?" And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shafat, who poured water on the hands of Eliyahu, is here!" Always his brother's conscience, Y'hoshafat had a penchant for seeking prophets, as he well should, while the kings of Israel tended to be pessimistic in crises. But he should have sought one before they set out. Poured water on the hands: i.e., "waited on him hand and foot". This may have been an idiom similar to that English one, and it may have been literal. In any case, he was someone who did not serve from a distance, but was a personal attendant. This does not seem as flattering as calling one a prophet in his own right, but to be associated with Eliyahu was a tremendous compliment. Apparently Elisha had come along with the northern army because he knew Y'hoshafat would be part of it.12. And Y'hoshafat said, "There is a word [from] YHWH with him." So the king of Israel, Y'hoshafat, and the king of Edom went down to him. Y'hoshafat understood that there had to be something to one who had been a servant to someone as awe-inspiring as Eliyahu, which may have given him an even better recommendation than being a prophet himself. In fact, we are not told that he had ever prophesied before this. Why would he need to, if he lived with Eliyahu? It would almost have been disrespectful to prophesy while Eliyahu was still around.13. But Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What do you and I have [in common]? Go to your father's prophets or your mother's prophets!" But the king of Israel said, "No, because YHWH has summoned these three kings, to hand them over to the king of Moav!" He had some chutzpah to dare to be so sarcastic when speaking to a prophet of YHWH! But like his father with Eliyahu, he probably simply did not wish to deal with Elisha.14. So Elisha said, "[As surely as] YHWH [Commander] of Armies, before whom I stand, is alive, if it were not for the fact that I can bear the presence of Y'hoshafat the king of Yehudah, I would [not even] give you any consideration or even look at you! Had Y'hoshafat not been along, Y'horam would have had no covering from YHWH. He "stayed dry" only because Y'hoshafat "shared his umbrella". It worked out this time, but Y'hoshafat had taken on someone else's problem, though it might have been Y'horam's time to "get wet". Who knows whether there might not have been a major turning point in Israel if Y'hoshafat had not held back the judgment that was due Y'horam? Y'hoshafat would have to pay a price for aligning himself with someone who was not righteous (2 Chron. 19), though he had at least set up courts in Yehudah that judged according to Torah even if he himself was not "practicing what he preached", but had been partial to his own relative here, and this did count for much in YHWH's estimation.15. "But now, bring me a musician!" And indeed, when the musician played, the hand of YHWH did come over him, Musician: specifically someone who plays a stringed instrument--like David had been. Prophets usually sang out their prophecies, and each prophet had his own particular style. The word for "musician" here denotes one who plays a melody that does not necessarily have any words set to it. He probably asked him to play the melody by which Eliyahu typically prophesied, to set him in the right frame of mind to hear from YHWH after his contempt for Y'horam had been so inflamed. It would have seemed like Eliyahu whispering in his ear. YHWH was now "laying His hand" on him to ordain him into this role as well.16. and he said, "This is what YHWH says: 'Make this wadi [full of] dug-out ditches!' Wadi: or arroyo--a dry riverbed through which water would flow seasonally. They might have expected to find at least a little bit of water at this juncture to replenish their supplies, but there might have been an especially-dry year.17. "Because this is what YHWH says: 'You will not see wind and you will not see rain, but this wadi will be filled with water, so that you can drink--[both] you and your livestock as well as your [other] animals.' 18. "And this is the easy [part] in the eyes of YHWH; He has also delivered Moav into your hand. 19. "And you must strike every walled city, and every choice city, and fell every beneficial tree, and stop up all the springs of water, and mar every fine parcel [of land] with stones." He provided not only a prophecy but a battle plan. YHWH did indeed have plans for them here, but not the ones Y'horam had envisioned--or He may have simply acted on Y'hoshafat's behalf since he had presumed to put himself in such a position. But why was YHWH so intent on bringing such complete destruction on Moav, after He had told Israel not to distress them (Deut. 2:9)? That was at the time of Moshe, but this was centuries later, after they had not only tempted Israel to sin (Num. 25:1), but for so long offered up their children for pragmatic purposes (Num. 21:29), culminating in the extremism we will see below. 20. Then what took place in the morning when the grain offering was going up was that, lo and behold, waters came from the direction of Edom, and the land was filled with water! Since they were in a dry river bed, but did not see rain (v. 17), it appears that it had rained further "upstream" in Edom, and the water rushed down from some distance away. The translator has been in a similar situation where he had to wait for flooding near the Dead Sea to clear up when it had not rained locally, but rather up at Yerushalayim, some 15 or more miles away. This was indeed a simple thing for YHWH (v. 18), though it benefited the men and beasts greatly. The ditches (v. 16) were to retain that water for drinking, since the flow would not be continuous.21. Now when all of Moav had heard that the kings had come up to fight them, they cried to one another for help--from every one [able to] put on armor and upward, and they took their stand on the border. 22. When they rose up early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moavites saw the water [as] red like blood from the opposite side, The red soil washed down from Edom tinted the water itself red.23. and they said, "That is blood! The kings must have been attacked to [the point of] being laid waste, with each one striking down his fellow. So now, to the plunder, Moav!" SInce David had defeated Edom in a bloody battle a century earlier, there had been deep hatred between the two nations, and Moav would probably expect Edom to use this occasion to settle accounts with Yehudah. (Nogah HeReuveni) They were tricked by YHWH's own "smoke and mirrors", and they took the bait. They made a hasty assumption.24. When they came to the camp of Israel, Israel rose up and attacked Moav, and they started taking flight before them. So they came into it to strike Moav down. Rose up: Israel might have even seen the lure YHWH had set up, and played along with by feigning death. Or they may have simply been asleep, as it was dawn, though for the sun to rise over the high mountains in Moav, it must already be fairly high in the sky. Into it: that is, the border of Moav (v. 21).25. And they destroyed the cities, and on every piece of fine land [each] man flung his stone and filled it up. And they stopped up every spring of water, and felled every beneficial tree, until its stones were left [only] Qir-Kharaseth--but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it. They were doing exactly as YHWH said--and apparently having a lot of fun doing it! Qir-Kharaseth means "wall of broken pieces of pottery". It was common for slingers to be a major part of an attack on the city wall, as depicted in Assyrian reliefs of the siege of Lakhish. The ballistic slingstones found in abundance at Lakhish were three to four inches in diameter, and thousands of them slung at the same part of the wall could weaken it enough to breach it, and one breach was all that was needed to conquer a city.26. Now when the king of Moav saw that the battle was stronger than he was, he took with him 700 men who draw the sword to break through to the king of Edom, but they were not able. 27. So he took his own son--the firstborn who was to replace him as king--and offered him up as a [burnt] offering on the wall. And great splintering anger came over Israel, so they broke camp from above him and returned to the Land. They were doing exactly as YHWH said--and apparently having a lot of fun doing it! Qir-Kharoseth means "wall of broken pieces of pottery". It was common for slingers to be a major part of an attack on the city wall, as depicted in Assyrian reliefs of the siege of Lakhish. The ballistic slingstones found in abundance at Lakhish were three to four inches in diameter, and thousands of them slung at the same part of the wall could weaken it enough to breach it, and one breach was all that was needed to conquer a city.26. Now when the king of Moav saw that the battle was stronger than he was, he took with him 700 men who draw the sword to break through to the king of Edom, but they were not able. 27. So he took his own son--the firstborn who was to replace him as king--and offered him up as a [burnt] offering on the wall. And great splintering anger came over Israel, so they broke camp from above him and returned to the Land.
CHAPTER 41. And a [certain] woman from among the wives of the "sons of the prophets" cried out to Eliyahu for help, saying, "Your servant, my husband, has died, and you know that your servant feared YHWH. But the creditor has come to take both of my boys as slaves for himself!"Josephus, the Chaldean translation, and rabbinic tradition say she was the widow of none other than Ovadyah, the man who had hidden 100 prophets from Izevel in caves (1 Kings 18:4), and had used up all of his resources to support them, which is why he was now in debt. If this were the case, it would be clear how Elisha, who was a relative newcomer there, would be familiar with this man's righteousness. The Torah allows a man to sell himself into slavery or could sell his daughter to someone as a wife to pay a debt, but no provision is made for a creditor to come and forcibly take any fellow Israelite's children as slaves. (Lev. 25:39-55) The two sons can also be seen as a picture of the two houses of Israel whom the serpent to which our mother, Chawwah, became indebted, tried to claim for itself. But a remedy has been provided:2. So Elisha said to her, "What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a [small] jug of oil!" Elisha did not rail against those who were not keeping Torah, since very few were and it would have been futile in this climate, but rather focused on finding a solution. If she pays off the creditor, he will not oppress the family any longer. He needed to or chose to work with the resource that had already been provided, possibly to maintain her dignity and possibly because he could not pay the debt himself. This jug is particularly the type sometimes used for anointing, so while she had no food left in the house, she had not sold this one reminder of her late husband's calling. In the Northern Kingdom, which was now divorced from the Temple and the Levitical priesthood, for the most part, prophets filled the role of priests by necessity at this time. (See also verse 42.) Kings had a very poor relationship with prophets at this time, but apparently some was set aside in hope of a better day when there would be a righteous king again.3. So he said, "Go, request for yourself containers from the outside, from all of your neighbors--empty containers, [and] not a few! From the outside: Not containers that people would want for use inside their houses anymore, so they were probably also glad for someone to take them off their hands.4. "Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and behind your sons, and pour out [oil] into all these containers, and set aside [the ones that are] full." The door may have been shut to avoid the creditor seeing what they were doing, but it may have also been for a testimony to her sons that no oil was being introduced from outside, so that they could see that the provision was clearly from YHWH. Yahshua also taught his students their deepest lessons when they alone were with him.5. So she went out from [being] with him and shut the door behind her and behind her sons. They brought [the containers] over to her, and she poured [oil] out [into them]. The provision was there when she acted on his words and did as much as she was capable of doing.6. And it turned out that upon filling the containers, she said to her son, "Bring me another container!" But he told her, "There isn't another container!" Then the oil stopped [flowing]. The oil would not have flowed beyond what she originally had if she had not done what she could with the resources she had access to, yet it did not go beyond what would fill what was available. A little anointing (teaching) increases dramatically when we start pouring it out for others.7. So she came and told the man of Elohim, and he said, "Go and sell the oil and repay the debt, and you and your sons can live off the rest. She did not need to return the containers to their original owners, because they were apparently a gift and not a loan. She had enough for her immediate needs. But this was not to be a security that would prevent her from having to ask of YHWH again later, because there were other provisions set in place in the Torah for the maintenance of widows and fatherless children. However, they were probably not being carried out, at least in their fullness, so this may have provided enough to last until her boys were old enough to work for pay. And now that the oil was flowing again, more people might become Torah-observant again. 8. Now the day came when Elisha passed through by [way of] Shunem, and there was a wealthy woman there, and she prevailed on him to eat bread, so it turned out that whenever he passed through, he turned aside there to eat bread. Shunem means "their resting place" or "double rest", and it was located in the Yizre'el Valley between the city of Yizre'el (where Navoth's vineyard had been) and Mt. Tavor. It belonged to the tribe of Yissakhar, and Yaaqov himself had prophesied about Yissakhar in regard to a resting place and servanthood. (Gen. 49:14-15) This woman lived up to both callings. The Filistines had camped here against King Sha'ul, as it is in a wide valley that would easily accommodate an army camp (1 Shmu'el 28:4), and Avishag, who had kept David warm in his final days, was from here. (1 Kings 1:3ff) Wealthy: or important; literally, great or large.9. And she told her husband, "Please look here! I am convinced that the one who regularly passes by us is a holy man of Elohim. He was probably running a circuit between several schools, the jurisdiction over which he had inherited from Eliyahu, checking on the welfare of his students, and he may have frequented Mount Karmel (2:25; 4:25) because there was another school of the prophets there, though this is not certain.10. "Please, let's make a little walled rooftop chamber and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp there for him, so that whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there." Walled: or, of chalk limestone. Rabbinic writers have seen here a parallel to the ark of the covenant, the table of the Bread of the Faces, the incense altar, and the menorah in YHWH's sanctuary. Whether or not it was what she was trying to re-create, it met all of the needs of a traveling prophet in need of rest.11. And the day came when he arrived there, and he turned in to the rooftop chamber and lay down there. 12. And he said to Gehazi, his young [servant], "Call for this Shunemite [woman]." So he called for her, and she presented herself before him. 13. So he told him, "Please say to her, 'Look! You have gone to all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Should I speak to the king for you, or to the commander of the army?" But she said, "I am dwelling among my own people." Gone to all this trouble: literally, trembled with all this concern. She had not asked for anything, but neither had he asked for this wonderful lodging place, and he knew she deserved a reward. It is always best when both parties expect things only from themselves and anticipate the needs of others before they ask, though it is very rare today. Dwelling among my own people: It seems the king he was referring to was not the wicked Y'horam, but righteous Y'hoshafat in Yehudah, and that he may have even been offering to let her emigrate there, where she would fit in better as a worshipper of YHWH. He may have also been offering to have the army kill someone who was troubling her family. But she was committed to being a light to her own people for the "long haul". This is who she was and this was where she should serve. This is a great example to many today who think it would be easier to convert to Judaism than to help others return from the Northern Kingdom.14. And he said, "So what should be done for her?" And Gehazi said, "Regretfully, she has no son, and her husband is old." The age-old question was already being asked: "What do you give someone who has everything?" But she had no continuance.15. So he said, "Call for her." So he called for her, and she presented herself at the entryway. 16. And he said, "For this appointed season, according to the time of life, you [will be] cradling a son!" But she said, "Don't, my master, O man of Elohim! Don't disappoint your maid-servant!" Appointed season: Possibly one of the prescribed festivals. There are some possible clues throughout the rest of the chapter as to which it might have been. Time of life: This is the same terminology used when Sarah was told she would have a son. (Gen. 18:10) Disappoint: or, lie to, deceive. I.e., get her hopes up too high.17. But the woman did become pregnant and bear a son for this [same] appointed season, according to the time of life, just as Elisha had told her.
If his birthday fell during the harvest, the appointed season mentioned above might have been Sukkoth, especially since it was essentially a glorified sukkah (temporary dwelling place--though this one was used over and over) that the woman had just built for Elisha when he announced the boy's birth.19. But he said to his father, "My head! My head!" So he told the young [servant], "Carry him to his mother." Did he have a brain embolism? An aneurism? A stroke from the heat? Verse 35 offers another possible explanation.20. So he picked him up and brought him to his mother, and he sat on her knees until noon, then died. 21. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of Elohim, shut [the door] behind him, and went out 22. and called for her husband and said, "Please send me one of the young [servants] and one of the female donkeys, so that I can go quickly to the man of Elohim, then I will come back." Why a female donkey? Possibly because the Hebrew term for a female donkey, unlike that for the male, means "reliable", and she certainly needed reliability on this occasion!23. But he said, "Why are you going to him today? It's not a new [moon] and it's not a Sabbath." But she said, "Shalom!" This shows that it was common to visit the man of Elohim on these days, and it would be easy to find him on those days, when many people would gather for him to make the offerings that the priests were supposed to make, but were not doing in the North. Shmu'el often had done so as well. "Shalom" can be a greeting of either arrival or departure, but it really means "completeness"; i.e., "everything is all right". (v. 26.) She had apparently not even told her husband that their son was dead, so great was her faith that YHWH could still restore him to them even when it was too late. But she had to go through the proper channel--the one YHWH had used to bring this blessing into her life in the first place.24. When she had begun saddling the donkey, she said to her young [servant], "Drive [hard] and keep moving; don't hold back your riding for me, unless I tell you!" 25. And so she kept going and came to the man of Elohim at Mount Karmel. And what took place is that when the man of Elohim saw her, he said to Gehazi, his young [servant], "There's that Shunemite [woman]! 26. "Please run to meet here right away, and say to her, "Is [everything] well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the boy?" And she said, "Shalom!" She did not tell him anything, not expecting him to be able to do anything about the situation.27. But when she got to the man of Elohim on the mountain, she took hold of his feet, and Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of Elohim said, "Relax! [Leave] her [alone], because her emotion is bitter for her, but YHWH has kept it concealed from me and has not told me [about it]." 28. And she said, "Did I [ever] ask my master for a son? Didn't I say, 'Don't disappoint me'?" This allusion told him immediately what the problem was.29. So he said to Gehazi, "Tie the belt around your waist, take my walking-stick in your hand, and go! Though you may encounter a man, do not bend the knee to him, and though a man may bend the knee to you, don't answer him. Then lay my walking-stick on the lad's face." Tie the belt: He would need to pull his long, flowing robe up so he could have his legs free to run, and would have to secure it with a rope, belt, or sash. Bend the knee to him: a formal salute or greeting. He could allow nothing to detain him; it almost seems as if any delay would make the staff lose its "delegated authority". He needed to ignore potential distractions and get the job done. Elisha must have known that Gehazi would tend to be distracted from his assignments, as it is hard enough to focus on someone else's will when one is clearly his servant; today it is nearly unheard of, but Elisha had been this to Eliyahu. It is an honor to be even a representative of such a great man, and he was expected to act as Elisha would. Though YHWH had not told Elisha anything, he would rather not make the mistake of doing nothing, but acted as immediately as possible, sending a faster runner on ahead since he himself could not travel as quickly. He may not have even intended to go himself, as the next verse suggests:30. Then the lad's mother said, "[As surely as] YHWH is alive and your soul is alive, if I depart from you…!" So he got up and walked after her. She seems not to have trusted the results to Gehazi alone, as she had not even considered him worthy to pass a message on to Elisha (v. 26), yet she did not wish to leave the holy man, and he knew she needed to be with her son, so he consented to go along with her himself.31. And Gehazi did go on ahead of them and laid the walking-stick on the lad's face, but there was neither a sound nor a response, so he went back to meet him and reported to him, saying, "The lad showed no sign of waking up." Response: literally, attentiveness or inclining of the ears. Waking up: connotes being aroused abruptly. This teaches us that one cannot send his staff to do what he needs to do for himself! What should have been a reasonable expectation--that he would do what he was told--is rarely realistic, and especially when we see in the next chapter what kind of character Gehazi had. He obeyed, but he was serving for his own sake, not his master's. It must have seemed advantageous to serve someone so influential. (See v. 130 If wrongly motivated, authority to act was not enough. He did not have the same favor with YHWH that Elisha had, especially when death was what needed to be overcome. (Compare Mat. 17:19-21) Aharon's rod could not have had the same effect behind the veil in anyone else's hand, as only he was authorized to go there. Yahshua, in contrast, was amazed at the faith of a Gentile who believed he could heal from a distance. (Luk. 7:6-9)32. When Elisha arrived at the house, the boy was indeed dead, laid out on his bed. 33. So he went in and shut the door behind both of them, and prayed to YHWH. What could be a wiser thing to do at such a time?34. Then he went up and lay on top of the child and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and [the] palms of his [hands] on [the] palms of his [hands]. As he stretched himself over him, the child's flesh began to warm up. Stretched himself: or crouched. It seems he was giving him a form of artificial respiration.35. Then he came back and walked back and forth through the house, then went up and stretched out over him, and the lad sneezed as many as seven times, then the lad opened his eyes! Back and forth: literally, one here and one here. Sneezed: Could he have had a severe allergic or asthmatic reaction to being out in the field at harvest-time with all its chaff blowing around, giving him severe headaches and blocking his airway until it was now cleared? "Seven" suggests finality, so he may have been given permanent relief from this illness.36. So he called to Gehazi and said, "Call for this Shunemite!" So he called her and she came to him, and he said, "Carry your son away!" I.e., "Get him off my bed!" He was adding some humor to break the tension and bring relief.37. When she came in, she fell down on his feet and bowed herself on the ground, then picked up her son and went out.
Sitting: or, dwelling, staying; if he was teaching them, they would be more likely to be standing while he sat. It may be that the famine left them with no other place to go or no work to do in the fields. The second phrase literally says, "the famine [was] in the land."39. And one [of them] went out to the countryside to pick some herbs, and he found a wild vine and from it he picked some wild gourds, filling his outer garment [with them], and came and started slicing them into the caldron of soup, because they did not know. One of them: or simply, someone. Filling his outer garment: i.e., making a "lap" out of his robe so he could carry them as if in a bag. But not everything we find that appears to be food is actually nourishing to us:40. Then they poured [it] out for the men to eat, but as they started eating the soup, they cried out and said, "[There's] death in the caldron, O man of Elohim!" And they were not able to eat [it]. 41. But he said, "Then bring [some] flour!" When he had thrown it into the caldron, he said, "Pour [it] out for the people, and they can eat." And there was nothing harmful in the pot. Like Moshe with the bitter water (Ex. 15:23-25), there was some kind of chemical reaction that neutralized the poison. But there must be a deeper picture here. The first scriptural use of this word for "caldron", which sets the stage for later interpretation, was the "flesh pots of Egypt" (Ex. 16:3)--the land which put so much emphasis on death. The same word can also refer to thorns. (Yeshayahu 34:13) YHWH gave Yirmeyahu a vision of a caldron boiling over in the north (1:13) as a symbol of pending judgment. Nahum 1:10 ties the thorns to judgment as well. But the term is also used of one of the containers used to collect ashes from off the brazen altar at the Tabernacle. (Ex. 27:3) One was used to cook food for many people at a huge Passover celebration. (2 Chron. 35:13) Thus it is hard to pinpoint exactly what the pot is meant to symbolize. But that may be exactly the point--it can symbolize a variety of situations. In Lev. 10 we see a poison entering even into the Temple context. The "wild" vines were literally those from the "field". Yahshua said the field represents the world (Mat. 13:38), and Esau, who sold his birthright for what was in the pot, was called a man of the field. (Gen. 25:27) So something foreign was mixed in with what represents our birthright. This could potentially be a very dangerous situation, and would seem like all our work was wasted. Finely-ground flour is the major theme of the Counting of the Omer between Passover and Shavuoth. There it represents maturity, refinement, and readiness to be formed into community, for birds can no longer steal away a kernel from what is now ready to make into one single loaf of bread. (1 Cor. 10:17) In chapter 2 we were reminded how immaturity is a dangerous thing. But in any context, maturity and selflessness will overcome many potentially-harmful things that may have been of foreign origin but are not directly opposed to the Torah. Community makes the price of the birthright not only palatable but nourishing again. 42. Then a man came from Baal-shalishah and brought the man of Elohim firstfruits bread--20 loaves of barley and full ears of grain in its husk, and he said, "Give [it] to the people." And they ate. Baal-shalishah means "master of the three"--possibly an early manifestation of the pagan trinity. Elisha was a true master whose first concern, even before he ate, was feeding the people who were learning from him. The firstfruits are brought to him, in lieu of taking it to the priests, which they could not really do in the Northern Kingdom.43. And his servant said, "What? Can I set this before a hundred men?" But he said, "Give [it] to the people, and they will eat, because this is what YHWH says: 'Eat and have some left over!" A hundred: apparently this is how many were in this school. Apparently they are the same hundred whom Ovadyah spared from Izevel. (1 Kings 18:4) When we are feeding YHWH's people, even if it appears our cupboards will end up bare, there is always some left over.44. And he set it in front of them and they ate, and had some left over, according to what YHWH had said. Like the raising of the boy back to life and the woman who provided for his material needs, this is another precedent in Elisha's life for Yahshua's miracles of multiplying the loaves and fishes in a similar but much larger context, where physical food ran out while people were focusing on spiritual food. (Mat. 14:20; Mark 6:43) Yahshua's miracles were not, therefore, "original", but were following a pattern YHWH had set in place for how to recognize that someone was truly from Him. Of course, more miracles converged in Yahshua than in any other one man, but their purpose was to identify him as YHWH's anointed because they had indeed been known by Israel beforehand. (Deut. 13:2) CHAPTER 51. Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, had become a great man and lifted up of face before his master, because through him YHWH had brought deliverance to Aram, and the man was a war hero, [but was] a leper.Aram: or Syria. Lifted up of face: an idiom for being highly honored and respected. Josephus cites a tradition that Naaman was the one who had killed King Akh'av! Verse 2 would seem to support this possibility. Leper: suffered from tzara'ath, the disease for which instructions are given in Lev. 13 and 14.2. When the Arameans had gone out [in] marauding bands, they had taken captive from the Land of Israel a little girl, and she had come into the presence of Naaman's wife. Come into the presence: i.e., been chosen to be her slave. She seems to have come to like her captors, probably being treated well by them, because she wanted to help Naaman recover:3. And she said to her mistress, "If only my master [could be] in the presence of the prophet who is in Shomron! Then he could remove him from his [condition of] tzara'ath!" She does not say "remove it from him", as we would today. The perspective is different. His true self could leave behind this picture of selfishness.4. So [one of them] went in and reported to his master, saying, "The little girl who is from the Land of Israel said thus and so." His master: that is, Naaman's, i.e., the king. (v. 5) Chapter 6 reveals that this is still Ben-Hadad.5. So the king of Aram said, "Go ahead, come in, and I will send documentation to the king of Israel." So he went and took in his hand ten kikkars of silver, 6,000 [sheqels] of gold, and ten changes of clothes, Documentation: of his worthiness for this favor, i.e., a letter of recommendation. The kings of Aram and Syria would not have been on the best of terms at this time, with the Arameans making raids into the Land, but this was a favor for an individual that they were asking, and he did not want politics affecting that. A kikkar is 3,000 sheqels, and a sheqel is the equivalent of about 10 grams. So this would have been 300 kg., or 625 lbs., of silver. At today's prices, this would be almost $165,000. The measurement unit of gold is uncertain, but a kikkar would undoubtedly be too high. If it is indeed measured in sheqels, this would be worth about $1.8 million USD. The total value of all of these gifts would be about $2 million! This healing was worth a lot to Naaman!6. and he brought the letter to the king of Israel, [which] said, "Now then, as this letter comes to you, [as you can] see, I have sent my servant Naaman to you so that you will get him out of his kikkars!" He does not mention the prophet, probably assuming that any king would be in close contact with any prophet of the nation's deity, but only in Israel was this not the case. Because of the king's arrogance, there was a hostile relationship between him and the prophet. He does not want to appear underhanded by contacting the prophet directly, without going through the proper channels, which could start a war between the two nations, between whom there was clearly already tension.7. And upon reading the letter, what the king of Israel did was that he tore his garments and said, "Am I Elohim, to allow to die or to keep alive, that this [one] is sending to me to remove a man from his kikkars? Because just consider, please, and see how he is seeking an occasion [for himself] against me!" This king would have probably been Y'horam. There is a play on words here: "reading" is qara, and "tore" is qara'. Seeking an occasion: or, coiling himself, like a snake ready to squeeze the life out of its prey. As Y'horam saw it, if he failed, Aram would use this as an excuse to attack Israel.8. But when Elisha, the man of Elohim, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, what he did was send [word] to the king to say, "Why have you torn your garments? Please let him come to me, so he can know [firsthand] that there is a prophet in Israel!" He was very confident that YHWH would let Israel live up to its reputation as a light to the nations, despite Israel's condition in general, because there were a few who were still obeying Him. The king clearly did not put much stock in a prophet's ability to effect this cure, or it might not have even occurred to him that this might be his way out of the dilemma. So Elisha was probably trying to give the king an indirect message that he, too, needed to recognize that there was a prophet in Israel.9. So Naaman came with his horses and in his chariot, and stopped at the entrance to Elisha's house. 10. So Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying to go. "When you have washed seven times in the Yarden, your flesh will return to you, and you will be [ritually] pure." Ritual impurity, not illness as such, is the real issue with tzara'ath. By his seeming show of disrespect for such a wealthy man by sending only a servant and nearly ignoring him, Elisha hints at what his underlying problem--what occasioned his tzara'ath--probably is. His next actions will bring it out even more clearly:11. But Naaman was [very] displeased, and left, saying, "Look here! I said to myself, 'He will certainly come out and stand and call on the Name of YHWH his Elohim, and wave his hand toward the spot, and gather away the m'tzora'. M'tzora': literally, "the leprosied one", almost as if there was another person living in his body who needed to be "cast out", though he does not speak in terms of demons. Being used to entertainment and pomp, he did not understand that a prophet is set apart and would not even need to acknowledge a Gentile, no matter how prominent, nor is he out for showmanship.12. "Aren't the Avanah and Farpar, the rivers of Damaseq, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be pure?" And he turned away and left in a rage. 13. But his servants approached and spoke intensely to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you [to do] a grand thing, wouldn't you have done it? So then, since he has [only] told you, 'Wash and be clean'… [why not try]?" So then: The Hebrew term suggests a quick sigh of exasperation, disbelief at the ludicrousness of his pride, and a sense of the obvious point that he has run out of other options but has had the simple answer handed to him. I.e., what do you have to lose? Taking the prophet's word without even seeing him was part of the test.14. So he did go down and immersed in the Yarden seven times, just as the man of Elohim had said, and his flesh came back [to being] like the flesh of a little lad, and he was cleansed. Since a different remedy than that prescribed in Lev. 14 is ordered, we might surmise that what Naaman had was not true "leprosy" of the described there, but only the common disease that most closely resembles it, psoriasis. It is very similar to many of the symptoms of tzara'ath found in Leviticus 13, even down to the point of there being three common manifestations: H.D. Tacio writes, "In its typical form, psoriasis results in patches of thick red skin covered with silvery scales." It can also take the form of small, drop-shaped lesions or blisters of noninfectious pus. Symptoms can often be diminished by exposing the skin to bright sunlight. At 1,200 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the earth's surface. This creates a very unique climate that allows people to sunbathe for long periods of time without burning. Many people go there to treat psoriasis, and there are clinics there today expressly for its formalized treatment. Its water is said to have a therapeutic effect on the skin due to its high salt and mineral content. It has an extraordinarily high salt content of 33 percent. In comparison, the Great Salt Lake in Utah has 22 percent, and the oceans have 3 percent. (National Psoriasis Foundation) We might assume that the Yarden, which carries all these salts to the Dead Sea, is also high in these natural healing elements. Indeed, Immanuel Velikovsky notes that "the Jordan is rich with sulfur, magnesium, and brom salts, which enter the river at the Sea of Tiberias." Being a non-Israelite, was this all he needed to be cured of? Had he not come to Israel, possibly, but because he did come where more truth was available, he became responsible for more.15. Then he went back to the man of Elohim--he and his whole entourage--and approached and stood in front of him and said, "Please look here! I have come to realize that there is no Elohim anywhere in the world except in Israel! So now, please receive a blessing from [what is] with your servant." Entourage: literally, camp. Look here: Elisha was still apparently not paying him much attention. But he wanted to bear testimony that the ease by which YHWH could heal him had made it clear to him that YHWH was incomparable.16. But he said, "[As surely as] YHWH, before whom I stand, is alive, if I should receive…" Though he was urging him to take it, he kept refusing. If I should receive: This is the literary form that denotes an oath to not receive it. He acted on Avraham's precedent when offered wealth by the King of S'dom for doing something any kinsman should be willing to do for his relative.17. So Naaman said, "Please, won't you let your servant be given two mules' load of earth, because your servant will no longer make an ascending [offering] or slaughter to [any] elohim other than YHWH. Rather than staying to learn more about YHWH, and begging Elisha to be his teacher, he wanted to take some of the ground of Israel with him to make an altar to YHWH, and possibly to spread around it as well to bow down on, presuming YHWH might be more disposed to listen to a prayer that was coming from His own Land, wherever it might have been carried! But one cannot just take a little bit of Israel home with you for your own use! If something holy touches something unclean, it does not make the common thing holy, but the holy thing becomes unclean instead. (Haggai 2:11-14) It will just become part of Aram.18. "For this thing may YHWH forgive your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to bow himself there, while leaning on my hand [for support] I will have bowed myself [in the] temple of Rimmon. Bowing myself [in the] temple of Rimmon--please let YHWH pardon your servant in this matter!" Rimmon: the pomegranate-god of Aram, apparently associated with fertility because of the pomegranate's hundreds of seeds. But notice how quickly Naaman is proving that he was merely cured, but not cleansed, for he is already asking for a relaxing of the rules so that he can go on doing things his own way. He is sticking to his old loyalties. Instead of making a speech about how "saved" he was (v. 15), he should have asked Elisha, "What is my next step?" He does not appear to want to get closer to YHWH, but only to enjoy His benefits and revel in the facts about Him--from a distance.19. But he said to him, "Go on to completeness." When he had traveled a considerable stretch of land away from him, Go on to completeness: Many translate it, "Go in peace", as if he was letting him off the hook. Rather, the Hebrew wording suggests that, like Yahshua who cleansed ten lepers without any fanfare (Luke 17:11ff), he was encouraging him to go beyond mere healing to a full cleansing, as detailed in Lev. 14 (that is, go to the priest, the only one who can declare when he is clean), for though he feels he has a debt to YHWH that he must pay somehow, he does not even consider asking how YHWH would want it done. Though he has descended somewhat, he did not finish the job, because he tried to get around YHWH's authority once he did recognize it. He has made it clear that he is still "outside the camp" of Israel. If he had stayed at home, he might have only suffered from psoriasis, but since the text calls his ailment by the same term as that which originates from underlying spiritual causes, and he has come into the context of Israel, his disease has taken on the deeper meaning it has for Israel, and needed more than a simple cure. He is proving to still have the real "leprosy", though it no longer shows outwardly. But now there is no reason for him to have it, because he does not really want to know YHWH. It is taken away, but Elisha tells him to go ahead and leave, because in this state he cannot do any more for him. A considerable stretch of land: the same phrase used of how far there was left to go before Yaaqov was to arrive in Efrath, when Rachel began to give birth to Binyamin. (Gen. 35:16) It emphasizes the fact that while he had gone some distance, he was not yet very far away.20. Gehazi, the young [servant] of Elisha, the man of Elohim, said, "Look! My master has spared this Aramean, Naaman [by refraining] from receiving from his hand that which he brought. YHWH is [certainly] alive, because if I [just] run after him, I can get something from him!" He was crediting YHWH with motivating his greed for illegitimate gain, or at least saw YHWH as someone at his disposal to serve his selfish motives, rather than his being at YHWH's disposal. He thinks that since Naaman is a foreigner, he really should have paid something for such a blessing, and he wants to make sure some of that wealth is left in Israel.21. So Gehazi chased after Naaman. When Naaman saw [someone] running after him, he fell from the chariot [in order] to meet him, and said, "Is [everything] all right?" Fell: Apparently he stopped too quickly. (See verse 26.) Alt., dismounted. (Compare Gen. 24:64, where the same phrase is used.)22. And he said, "[All] is well. My master sent me to say, 'Lo and behold, just now two young [servants] have come from the sons of the prophets in the mountains of Efrayim! Please provide a kikkar of silver and two changes of clothes for them!" 23. And Naaman said, "Be pleased to accept two kikkars!" And he compelled him, and secured two kikkars of silver in two hollowed-out [containers] along with two changes of clothes, and he gave it to two of his young [servants], and they carried it ahead of him. Though he did not ask for all that Naaman offered, this was still worth $33,000--no small sum. But even if all he planned to keep for himself was the extra kikkar Naaman offered, and was not lying about some guests who needed hospitality (though verse 20 renders this doubtful), the longer he held onto it, human nature would make it likely that he would find excuses to hold onto even more--"tithe deductions", so to speak!24. When he arrived at the Ofel, he took them out of their hands and deposited [them] in the house, then he dismissed the men and they left. Ofel: probably a hill, based on a word for "swelling up" and it can also mean "acting arrogantly or presumptuously", and that is exactly what Gehazi was doing. Some identify this with the modern town of Afula at the western end of the Hill of Moreh in the middle of the Yizre'el Valley, which would be quite close to where Elisha lived, but far enough away that he could do things without Elisha seeing all he was doing. Did he go behind the hill to hide what he had taken, just like Akhan in Y'hoshua 7? Deposited: The word can also mean "entrusted (to someone) for care", as if depositing them in a bank for safe-keeping or entrusting them to an accountant. He may have had servants of his own, who guarded them.25. Then he went and presented himself to his master. And Elisha said to him, "Where [are you coming] from, Gehazi?" But he said, "Your servant didn't go anywhere!" Elisha uses the tactic YHWH employed with Adam, to make him think about where he really had been. But he not only usurps Elisha's authority by speaking in his name without truly representing him; he lies on top of it. Anywhere: literally, either here or there. Elisha works for YHWH, so Gehazi is really misrepresenting Him as well.26. But he said to him, "My heart did not go [along with it] when the man [was] overturned from upon his chariot [in order] to meet you! Is it a time to receive silver or to receive clothes--or [for that matter] olive trees or vineyards or flocks or herds or male or female servants? This may have been what Gehazi planned to buy with the silver. He may have intended to invest it in all of these things so that it would not be sitting in his house, obvious to Elisha if he came to visit, or so he would not have to explain how he suddenly became so wealthy. Gehazi liked to talk a lot, so Elisha knew well what he was likely to do with such wealth. More than that, he knew Gehazi was likely to do something like this, and when he looked for him, sure enough, he was gone. But to be a wealthy man was not his calling, and it made Naaman think he had paid Elisha after all, when this was not the message Elisha wanted to give him, since Israel is a generous Land, freely giving of the bounty YHWH has given it to any who will acknowledge Him. Yahshua said to give as freely as we receive, in the specific context of cleansing lepers. (Mat. 10:8)27. "So Naaman's tzara'ath will overtake you [and stick to] your descendants forever!" And he went out from his presence as leprous as snow. Since this is called "the tzara'ath of Naaman, maybe all he had was the same type of skin irritation Naaman had had. H.D. Tacio writes, "Psoriasis occurs when skins cells quickly rise from their origin below the surface of the skin [note the similarity to the description in Lev. 13:3] and pile up on the surface before they have a chance (sic) to mature." Faulty signals in the immune system cause skin cells to regenerate too quickly, which can be triggered by emotional stress--something Gehazi certainly would have experienced when Elisha called his bluff! Like the skin cells that rise too quickly for the body to deal with, Gehazi, who is called a "young man", wanted wealth that he did not yet have the maturity to handle, and this imbalance manifested itself in his body. There is no known cure. Swedish research even suggests a genetic link between psoriasis and heart disease (Medical News Today), but it is not contagious, so it still was supernaturally "transferred". And true to the curse placed on Gehazi here, the tendency to psoriasis can indeed be inherited. (HealthDay News) Unlike Naaman who might have only had a stigma attached to him for suffering from a disease which might have caused unsightly blemishes but was not deadly, Gehazi, being part of Israel, would be subject to the rules that apply to Israel, and would be a complete societal outcast. Worst of all, unlike most "lepers" in Israel, he was given no opening to repent. CHAPTER 61. Then the "sons of the prophets" said to Elisha, "Please take notice; the place where we are staying in your presence is too cramped for us.Even after Gehazi left, they felt too crowded! After he was cut loose from them, they should have been able to ascend, but instead they see the fact that Elisha proved he had real authority over Gehazi as an indication that he is watching them too closely. He is stricter than they want; he expects too much from a servant. But they cannot say this to his face, since they do not want to get leprosy as well, so instead they blame the size of their building. The word for "staying" here literally means sitting. The term for "place" is rooted in the word for "stand", yet they were sitting. No wonder they did not have enough room!2. "Please let us go as far as the Yarden, and each of us take one log, and make ourselves a place to live there." And he said, "Go." The Yarden may have had the biggest trees available for building, being a well-watered forest at that time, but if they wanted to Yarden means "descender"; they want to descend because they cannot live at a place with such a high standard, so they ask to build a different house--one in which they all have equal input. Each can point to the beam he placed into the house and say to the others, "What right do you have to tell me what to do?" They no longer want to be part of Elisha's house. It would be less responsibility for him, but a great loss to them.3. And one [of them] said, "Please accept [an invitation] to go with your servants." So he said, "I will go." Only one wanted Elisha to come be a part of this new house.4. So he went with them, and they came to the Yarden and cut down the trees. 5. But what took place when one [of them] was felling a log, the iron [axe-head] fell into the water, and he began to cry aloud and said, "Alas, my master! It was even borrowed!" Borrowed: He expected to be unable to pay the owner back. (Ex. 22:14) Iron tools were extremely valuable at this time, not having been a widespread phenomenon for very long.6. So the man of Elohim said, "Where did it fall [in]?" And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick and threw it there, and made the iron [axe-head] float, Did he simply dislodge it? Yet iron would not float to the surface on its own. The term for float is related to a term meaning "to cause waves", so it may have caused a wake that carried it close to the shore. Still this is unlikely. Elisha is the "warm-up" for Yahshua, who affected many more people, but did essentially the same miracles. But this time Elisha had the greater miracle. Yahshua walked on water, but people are made to float; iron is not. Elisha means "Elohim is salvation"; Yahshua means "YHWH is salvation", so they are parallel prophets in many ways. Since we are Yahshua's Body today, we are supposed to be the ones feeding the hungry and bringing the dead back to life.7. and he said, "Raise it up for yourself." So he put out his hand and took it. There is a picture behind this story. At this time in history (the late iron age), iron was usually associated with weapons, chariots, or the yoke of an enemy. The single stick is a picture of a united Israel. (Zkh.11:14; Y'hezq'el 37:16-19) A rod is also a picture of authority, and water symbolizes the Torah. The authority that comes from a united Israel can displace mighty things, and put the victory over Israel's enemies within our grasp. (Ovadyah 15-21; Yeshayahu 11:14) Below there is a parallel story, for the king of Israel was "building his own house", and armies came against him because of it, and again Elisha's servant asks, "What shall we do?" If the king had been joined to Yehudah instead of to other armies where the power seemed to be, he might have had more success. 8. Then the king of Aram started fighting against Israel. When he was making plans with his servants, saying, "At such and such a place will be my encampment," This king is still Ben-Hadad. Such and such: Heb., ploni almoni, which is what Ruth's "nearer kinsman" was called. It has the sense of "going to and fro" as well as being an esteemed personage. There he was a picture of haSatan, who, like Ben-Hadad, had once been on friendly terms with the one who was now his enemy (when he sent Naaman for healing).9. the man of Elohim sent [word] to the king of Israel, saying, "Be on [your] guard when passing through this place, because the Arameans are pressing down [and penetrating] there!" Though these two "brothers" were on bad terms with each other, they united against a common enemy. And in His incredible patience, YHWH is again giving this king an open door to repent.10. So the king of Israel sent [word] to the place of which the man of Elohim had told him and warned him, and [they were] protected there--and not one or two! Or, not once or twice. I.e., this was a repeated action on Elisha's part. Warned: the term means to shine a bright light on, much like a lighthouse does.11. And the heart of the king of Aram was tossed about as by a storm over this matter, so he summoned his servants and said to them, "Won't you inform me who from [those] belonging to us is for the king of Israel?!" Predictably, he assumed he had a "mole" from the enemy among his privy council, for he told his strategies to no one else.12. But one of his servants said, "No, my master the king, because Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom!" This servant may have been Naaman himself, and after he came back and put the piles of earth from Israel in his yard, he may have been under suspicion of being a traitor to Aram.13. So he said, "Go and find out where he is, so I can send and seize him." And it was reported to him, "There [he is] in Dothan!" Dothan is where Yoseyf was told his brothers were when he, too, was searching for them. (Gen. 37:17) That is the only other place Dothan is mentioned in Scripture. So is this suggesting that Elisha is the Aramean king's brother in some way? Lavan, Yaaqov's uncle, was from Aram; could he have been a descendant of this kinsman of Israel's? In any case, Dothan was located in Menashe's territory west of the Yarden, on the western slopes of the great mountain range of Israel, near where it bends westward into Mt. Gilboa, and as it makes the transition into foothills. It is 18 miles from the Yarden River, showing that Elisha did not, after all, accept the invitation from his one student to come live there among them. We only have evidence below of his having had one servant; it may have been the same one who invited him, then, seeing his companions were nothing in comparison to Elisha, stayed with him instead.14. So he sent horses, chariots, and a weighty army there, and they arrived by night and encircled the city, [cutting it off]. They were not there to kill him, but to capture him so they could have such a seer at their own disposal. Since Elisha was YHWH's representative, much as the Church has tried to do with YHWH's covenant with Israel, so it could be in the favored position.15. When the man of Elohim's attendant got up early and went outside, lo and behold, there was an army around the city [on every side], with horses and chariots! And his young [servant] said to him, "Alas, my master! What can we do?" 16. But he said, "Don't be afraid, because [those] who are with us are more numerous than [those] who are with them! 17. And Elisha prayed and said, "O YHWH, please open his eyes so he can see!" So YHWH opened the eyes of the young [man] and when he looked, lo and behold, the mountain range was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha! In computer terminology, Chuck Missler describes this as Elisha pressing the "reveal codes" or "reveal formatting" key so that what was behind the scenes but not usually needing to be seen now showed up! Of course, this gave him more confidence. But the same holds true for us if we are where YHWH wants us to be. Even the stars in the sky turned out to be Y'hoshua's and Baraq's allies when they needed help. (Y'hoshua 10:12ff; Judges 5:20)18. And they came down to him, and Elisha prayed to YHWH and said, "Please strike this people with [instant] blindness!" So He struck them with blindness, in agreement with Elisha's word. This is precisely the opposite of the advantage He gave to Elisha's servant. Like David, he prays that his enemies' eyes be darkened. (Psalm 69) The Christian game plan has been to convert enough enemies into friends so that there will eventually be a critical mass behind Yahshua so he can finally rule the world. But if YHWH instead makes those who are unrepentant completely blind, their judgment can come more swiftly than if they still have some faint connection to Him. Get them all the way into the darkness that they already prefer, and we can surround them easily and inform them of the only terms of peace.19. Then Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, and this is not the city; walk behind me and I will bring you to the man for whom you are searching!" And he walked them to Shomron! Over and over Elisha evidences a strong sense of humor.20. And what took place when they arrived [at] Shomron [was that] Elisha said, "O YHWH, open these [people]'s eyes, so that they can see!" So YHWH opened their eyes, and when they looked, lo and behold, [they were] inside Shomron! 21. And when he saw them, the king of Israel said to Elisha, "Should I attack? Should I attack, my father?" Y'horam is beginning to show more respect for Elisha, since he has proven so clearly that he has been looking out for this king's welfare. He is clearly awed by him, yet how fickle he turns out to be…22. But he said, "No, you shouldn't attack! Would you attack those whom you had taken captive with your sword or with your bow? Set bread and water before them so they may eat and drink and return to their master!" Israel is expected to be hospitable to its prisoners of war. It is a generous Land. This was "heaping burning coals" on the heads of their enemies. HE showed that he was in control and unafraid.23. So he prepared a big feast for them, and they ate and drank. Then he sent them away, and they went to their master, and never again did marauding bands from Aram enter the Land of Israel! He shamed them by his mercy, showing that having great power did not mean one had to be cruel to one's inferiors, as had been their attitude when they thought Israel was their inferior. 24. Yet it turned out that after the same, Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, assembled his whole army, and went up and began to besiege Shomron. Did he learn nothing? Like the Arabs today, he considered Israel's kindness to his army a sign of weakness, thinking he could use their to his advantage. So for Israel it was "out of the frying pan, into the fire."25. And there came to be great hunger in Shomron, and indeed, they besieged it until the head of a donkey came to [be sold] at 80 [sheqels of] silver and a quarter of a qav of dove droppings at five [sheqels of] silver. They could cook with the dove droppings--or were they eating them, as they were apparently doing with the donkey's head, kosher though it was not? If they resorted to worse things than this (verse 29), they have reached the point of eating anything that could conceivably be food. Donkeys had carried some merchandise into the city, and some merchants were probably trapped there by the siege, so they ate whatever they could find. Other animals would have still been in the field outside the city and inaccessible to the inhabitants. The besiegers would plunder them and consume their crops. Even if they had adequate stores of grain in the city, the population would swell to many times its normal size when the inhabitants of the countryside fled to the city for refuge when an enemy was coming, leaving behind their possessions because of the urgency of just surviving. Josephus says they used the dove droppings in place of salt.26. And what took place is that when the king of Israel was passing by atop the wall, a woman cried out to him for help, saying, "Rescue [us], my master the king!" What was the king doing on top of the wall? Wouldn't he be an easy target for archers from the besieging army? Josephus says he was reviewing his troops to make sure none of them was betraying the city to the enemy due to the desperation of hunger.27. But he said, "[If] YHWH doesn't rescue, from where can I rescue? From the threshing floor or the [excavated] wine press?" Most threshing floors and wine presses were outside the cities, but even if they were inside this city, there was nothing available to process on them.28. But the king said to her, "What do you have?" And she said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, so we can eat him today, and tomorrow we will eat my son!' 29. "So we cooked my son and ate him, and on the other day I said to her, 'Yield up your son, so we can eat him!' But she has hidden her son!" Hidden: or withdrawn. The nation has sunk to the depths predicted in Deut. 28:53 due to rejecting YHWH's word.30. And what took place when the king heard the woman's words was that he tore his garments, and as he was passing by atop the wall, the people looked, and lo and behold, inside [the clothes] there was burlap on his flesh. Tore his garments: a sign of mourning at the state of affairs things had descended to. Burlap: a symbol of deep repentance. He had been trying to buy YHWH's favor, but unlike he king of Ninveh under Yonah, he did not repent publicly. This was not enough, so he decided that YHWH was simply not listening to his pleas:31. And he said, "May Elohim do the same to me, and add more of the same, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat will remain on him today!" He knew Elisha had spared many who probably became this same army. He could have prevented this whole fiasco if he had let the king kill them. The Aramean general he had healed might even have been the one leading this siege! But Israel had brought this "famine" upon themselves. This king is walking in the ways of Izevel, and was undoubtedly hungry enough to eat Elisha after he was dead. 32. Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him when [the king] sent a man from his presence. [It was] before the messenger got to him when he said to the elders, "Do you see that this son of a murderer has sent [someone] to take away my head? Watch! As the messenger arrives, shut the door and press him at the door; isn't the sound of his master's feet [close] behind him?" Press: either squeeze, crush, or hold him tightly.33. While he was still speaking with them, indeed the messenger came down to him. And he said, "Indeed, this is the trouble from with YHWH; why should I expect anything more from YHWH?" He was speaking the king's mind. YHWH did not give him what he wanted, but the way he now puts his foot down to insist that he is the king and wants YHWH to accommodate him without any reciprocation on his part shows that he never really expected anything from YHWH after all. But he gave up too soon… CHAPTER 71. So Elisha said, "Listen to the word of YHWH! This is what YHWH says: 'About this time tomorrow, a seah of wheat will [be sold] at a sheqel, and two seahs of barley at a sheqel in the gate of Shomron!"Compare and contrast Revelation 6:6. A seah is a third of an eyfah, a dry measure equivalent to 3 gallons or 14 liters. This is an extremely low price. In the gate: There would usually be a large open square just inside the gate complex that served as a marketplace for traveling merchants as well as those from within the city. There may have even been stalls set into the gate complex itself which served as shops.2. But the third [officer], on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of Elohim and said, "[Even if] YHWH [were] making lattices in the sky, could this thing come about?" And he said, "Watch! You will see [it] with your eyes, but you will not eat from there!" This third officer was probably the one sent to kill Elisha. He did not, because he was restrained by several men. (6:32) Leaned: i.e., depended. At least there is unity in that the officer agrees with his master's assessment of the situation! It did seem unbelievable, but the king made no such final judgment on the matter. Once YHWH spoke, he did not put it past Him like the officer did. Elisha replies in cryptic language to one who clearly does not have ears to hear. As soon as he gave the prophecy, the fulfillment was set in motion. 3. Now there were four men--lepers--at the entrance to the gate, and [each] man said to his fellow, "What are we sitting here until we die [for]? YHWH provided for the city by having them outside. Entrance to the gate: The gate of a city was not just a simple set of doors, but a complex of passageways and side-rooms which included customs-houses, judgment halls, and additional defenses to repel an attack. During a siege, the lepers would not be cared for in any way, and they were not permitted back into the city without clearance from a priest. (Lev. 14) And no one was coming out from the city to feed them now, as they normally would. With no priests to declare them unclean and authorize their quarantine, it might have been Elisha who had filled that role as he had often done in recent accounts.4. "If we say, 'Let's go into the city', the famine is in the city, and we will die there, and if we sit here, we will die. So now, let's go and fall into the camp of the Arameans; if they let us live, we will survive, and if they kill us, we would have died [anyway]." Either way, they would be no worse off, and an execution would be an easier death than starvation. Could these lepers have been Gehazi and his sons, thinking they might find Naaman himself again and hope he remembered him? Verse 8 might be an argument in favor of this theory. Famine: symbolic of the whole northern Kingdom at this time, who, until Elisha spoke, had been experiencing a "famine of the word of YHWH." (Amos 8:11)5. So they rose up at twilight to come into the Aramean camp, and, lo and behold, there was not a man [there]! 6. (Now YHWH had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses--the sound of a huge army, and they said to one another, "Look! The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to come against us!") YHWH might have caused "sound effects" with the wind or the noise from another battle in the region might have been echoing through the deep valleys nearby. Or did they hear, but not see, the same armies Elisha asked YHWH to show to his servant? (6:17) It was a case of a bully being frightened off by a still bigger bully. The Hittites were based in what is now Turkey, and they were known for little else than their small but extremely sturdy warrior. J.G. Macqueen writes that they were feared by most of their contemporaries "because of the mayhem wrought by their ferocious charioteers during the mid-second millennium iron age." Each chariot held three men: a driver and two warriors. The chariots had quivers mounted right on them for the archers, but Hittites fought from chariots with short curved swords and battleaxes as well. The terror from their initial showers of arrows was often enough to bring them victory at their first charge. They would concentrate their force on one point on the enemy's line and rush it, and this was often all the battle they needed to wage. The height of their empire had already passed, as with the Egyptians, but since the Assyrians had not yet risen to prominence, these two armies still remained the strongest in the region.7. So they got up and fled in the twilight, and abandoned their tents and their horses and their donkeys, [leaving] the camp as it [was], and ran for their lives. 8. When these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they entered one tent, and started eating and drinking, and took from there silver and gold and [outer] garments, and went and [secretly] hid them. Then they went back and entered another tent and took [more things] from there and went and hid them. How ironic that these people who could not come into the city to spend money should "hit the jackpot"! The best they could do was send it back to their children in the city, or sell them to passing caravans, but they themselves did not even have the occasion to wear these garments in public! It was such selfishness that had most likely led YHWH to strike them with this disease the onset of which always seems the result of a spiritual condition rather than a physical cause.9. But then each [of them] said to his fellow [leper], "We're not doing the right thing this day! It's a day of glad news, and we're keeping quiet. If we wait for the morning light, then [the consequences for our] crookedness will find us. So let's go now and go in and report [it to] the king's household!" Crookedness: Some people might be so close to starvation that they would die before the morning if the lepers delayed, and they would at least hold themselves responsible for these deaths. 10. So they came and called to the keeper of the city gate, and reported [it] to them, saying, "We entered the Aramean camp, and, lo and behold, there is not a man there--not [even] a human voice, but [only] horses tied and donkeys tied, and tents [left] as they [were]!" Though their motives were not the most exemplary, they did check themselves rather than having to be rebuked by someone else, and it could be that this was the first step to their being cleansed, for they were beginning to think less selfishly. One would expect that the army would have taken their horses so they could escape even more quickly, but they were in such a panic that they did not even have the presence of mind to get on them, but simply fled. Shomron needed some donkeys replaced anyway! (6:25)11. Then he called to the [other] gatekeepers, and they reported [it] to the household of the king inside. 12. So the king got up at night, and said to his servants, "Just let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are famished, so they have gone out from the camp to [stay] hidden in the field, saying, 'When they come out from the city, we will seize them alive, and into the city we will come!'" When: literally, because. It was understandable that someone in his position would be skeptical to some extent and expect such tricks from an enemy. They might indeed think up such a strategy, and it was his job as king to anticipate such a tactic. But this was not the only way to interpret the data, and his servants saw at least the possibility of ending the famine:13. But one of his servants responded by saying, "But please let [some men] take five of the remaining horses that have been spared in her. Look, they are just like the whole [noisy, confused] crowd of Israelites who remain in her. Indeed, they are just like the whole crowd of Israelites who have been finished off! So let us send [someone] and have a look!" What did they have to lose? It appeared they were going to die anyway, but if this story was indeed true, they might be able to save some who were on the brink of starvation. In her: The antecedent is unclear. One would expect them to be referring to the city or the famine, but both of these are masculine nouns in Hebrew.14. So they brought two chariot-team horses, and the king sent [them] behind the Aramean camp, saying, "Go and see." Behind the camp: probably idiomatic for "after the army" in this case. There were not necessarily chariots with them at this time, just horses strong enough to pull chariots.15. So they went after them as far as the Yarden, and indeed [their] whole path was full of garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their [alarmed] rush. So the messengers came back and told the king, The Yarden is about 20 miles away from Shomron, on the other side of the mountainous region.16. and the people went out and started plundering the Aramean camp, and it did turn out to be "a seah of wheat [sold] at a sheqel, and two seahs of barley at a sheqel", just as YHWH had said. What Elisha said was counted as what YHWH said. Note that men valued wheat at twice as highly as barley, as it can be ground more finely and make softer bread. But barley is more nutritious, and YHWH bases His festival calendar on the readiness of the barley harvest. Israeli itself is symbolized by or associated with barley on several occasions. (Judges 7:13; Ruth 3:17; Hoshea 3:2; Yochanan 6:9)17. And the king stationed the third [officer] on whose hand he leaned over the gate, and the people trampled him down in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of Elohim, who made a pronouncement when the king had come down to him, had said. Stationed: or, appointed. Apparently to control the flood of people who would be rushing out all at the same time. The fact that the grain was sold could mean that the king had taken authority over all that was plundered from the camp, essentially confiscating it all so he could have revenue. Or it may simply reflect the fact that despite the restricted flow, there are always inevitably some who get to the spoils more quickly than the rest or know where to look for the better quality and larger quantity, and as entrepreneurs, find whatever market there may be. We know that some people were selling even the most unlikely items as food (6:25) even in the midst of the siege, so those who sold it had the money to spend now. 18. Thus it was, that, according to the word of the man of Elohim to the king which said, "Two seahs of barley will be [sold] at a sheqel and a seah of wheat at a sheqel [by] about this time tomorrow at the gate of Shomron." 19. And the third officer had responded to the man of Elohim by saying, "Even [if] YHWH [were] making lattices in the sky, could a thing like this come about?" And he said, "Watch! You will see [it] with your eyes, but you will not eat from there!" YHWH had mercy on the common people despite the king's inconsistency, since even the king had felt the weight of the fact that someone had become so desperate as to eat her own son. But He remembered this particular man's response, and rewarded him accordingly. This man could not even hold wait to see if Elisha was wrong before harassing him. If he had simply kept silent about his doubts, and waited to see whether such an unbelievable thing could come to pass, Elisha would not have cursed him, and he would have shared in the spoils. But Elisha was not a person with which one could be "smart-mouthed". This officer's own mouth is what killed him.20. And it turned out just that way for him when the people trampled him down in the gate and he died. This particular scribe has normally been one who prefers brevity. The fact that he repeated this point several times emphasizes the fact that he does not want us to miss it. CHAPTER 81. Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had revived, saying, "Get up and go--you and your household--and sojourn wherever you can find hospitality, because YHWH has summoned a famine, and it will also come to the Land for seven years."One would think that coming to the point of some Israelites eating their own children would have driven the nation to repentance, but the newfound plenty apparently made them forget YHWH again. (Compare Prov. 30:8) Akh'av was only punished with a three-and-a-half-year famine; here its length is doubled. Does this signify that the sin of the people is even worse than at that time? They had proven to be only looking out for themselves, since they trampled an official in the gate, even if he did have it coming. And instead of feeding everyone freely when they found plenty, they sold the food instead of caring for one another. They did not even thank YHWH for it; they just saw it as "dumb luck". Were this woman and her son the only people worthy enough to receive a warning or a dispensation to temporarily leave the Land in which Israel is commanded to continue to dwell? And where is her husband? Knowing that he was already old when their son was born (4:14), undoubtedly he had already passed away.2. So the woman got up and did according to the man of Elohim's word, and she and her household went and stayed [as a refugee] in the land of the Filistines [for] seven years. By this time the Filistines were merely a remnant of the power they had once been, and apparently still had some ties to Israel that remained from when they were subjugated under David.3. And it turned out that at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Filistines and she came forward to apply to the king [to recover] her house and her land, When so many other nations around them were related to Israel and some were even monotheistic, why did she go to the purely-pagan Filistines?4. the king was speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of Elohim, saying, "Please tell me [about] all the great things that Elisha has done." This does not seem like a flashback. But the fact that Gehazi had gone out from Elisha's presence though he had turned as leprous as snow (5:27), in which case he would have been pronounced ritually clean again (Lev. 13:12-13) makes it seem that he never came back to Elisha. Elisha had another, unnamed servant after he left, so "servant of Elisha" was not his current position, but only a reminder of who he had once been for identification purposes. Instead, he is in the presence of the king who has proven time and again to be Elisha's enemy. It is human nature for two people who have had bad experiences with the same person to tend to "buddy up" to one another. The king who has been shamed by Elisha may be trying to find his weak point, so he asks the man who knows the most about him to tell him all he knows about him. Yet this accuser still ends up giving a positive witness, because of YHWH's timing:5. And while he was recounting to the king how he had brought the dead [boy] back to life, lo and behold, there was the woman whose son he had revived, applying to the king [to recover] her house and her land! And Gehazi said, "My master the king! This is the [very] woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha brought back to life!" This king is now a witness to a resurrection! YHWH let him be sufficiently impressed to be completely disposed to grant this woman's every wish!6. So the king questioned the woman, and she gave him an accounting. So the king appointed a [certain] court official for her, saying, "Restore to her all that is hers, and all the revenue from the field from the day of her departure from the land until now." But what kind of revenue could there have been during a famine? As we saw in the days when Yoseyf was in Egypt, though Yaaqov's family had no bread, they still had fruit and nuts to send to Pharaoh as a gift. It may be that this woman had other things besides wheat growing in her fields--orchards or vineyards or date palms, for example. She is like Yoseyf's mother Rakhel, who once wept because her son was no more, but now has a male heir by which she can reclaim the land of their heritage. Though he is not righteous, they still have to go before the one who is in the position to grant them return, much like the United Nations which allowed the tribe of Yehudah to reclaim the Land at a strategic time, though since then it would never have been predisposed to do so. 7. Then Elisha entered Damaseq, and Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, was sick, and he was told, "The man of Elohim has come all the way here!" Josephus wrote that his distemper stemmed from the fact that upon having to flee Shomron, he realized that his loss was due to YHWH setting himself against him as an enemy. So he at least respects that the one who speaks for YHWH, knowing that he could give him a better idea than anyone of YHWH's intentions.8. So the king said to Khaza'El, "Take a contribution in your hand and go to meet the man of Elohim, and you must inquire of YHWH through him, saying, 'Will I recover from this illness?'" Like the former king of Israel, he finally has gained a serious respect for Elisha. Velikovsky points out in Ages in Chaos that because of Israel's adoption of the same deities as these foreign nations rendered the border between them somewhat superfluous, as exemplified by Elisha's ease of travel to this foreign capital. Also, though Ben-Hadad had made several land-grabs, both nations were at this time subjugated to Egypt, though Egypt had supported one against the other on several occasions to maintain the status quo.9. So Khaza'El went to meet him, and took a contribution in his hand, along with all the finest [things from] Damaseq--as much as 40 camels [could] carry--and he came and presented himself before him and said, "Your son, Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you to say, 'Will I recover from this illness?'" This time it seems Elisha did accept the king's gift, for he had traveled to his territory this time, whereas when Naaman came he was occupied with other work in YHWH's Land and did not really even want to be bothered with his arrival. He may have also needed it to feed so many of his students after seven years of famine, though we are not told what was loaded on these camels. Damaseq was known best for textiles. Even today, Damaseq's finest export is silk.10. But Elisha said to him, "Go, and tell him, '[Yes], you will certainly recover.' But YHWH has shown me that he will certainly die." Is this teaching us that it is permissible to lie to one who is out of YHWH's favor, especially a foreigner, to keep him in the dark about YHWH's plans? Or is he just sparing the already-weakened king the bad news, not wishing to trouble him any further because though he has been cordial to YHWH's servant, he has had to find himself in the position of opposing the very people from whom he came because YHWH was using him to chasten His people?11. Then he started to make his face resolute; that is, he fixed [his face] to the point of [being] confused. Then the man of Elohim began to weep. Confused: or, disappointed, ashamed. This is a puzzling phrase; it may even mean Elisha is emotionally responding to a fresh word from YHWH to the point that he goes ashen.12. And Khaza'El said, "Why is my master weeping?" And he said, "Because I have come to know what trouble you will cause for the descendants of Israel: Their fortifications you will send into the fire. Their choice young men you will slay with the sword. Their nursing infants you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will split open!" 13. But Khaza'El said, "Because? What is your servant--the dog--that he should accomplish such a huge thing?" And Elisha said, "YHWH has shown you to me as king over Aram." Dog: an idiom of lowering oneself before one considered greater. Eliyahu had been told to anoint him as king. (1 Kings 19:15) Was he only pretending to hear this message for the first time, or had Eliyahu delegated this task to Elisha before he left? 14. So he departed from [being] with Elisha and came to his master, and he said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he said, "He told me you would definitely recover." 15. But it turned out that the next day he took a thick woven cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over his face, and he died. Then Khaza'El became king in his place.
16. Now in year five of Yoram, the son of Akh'av, king of Israel, while Y'hoshafat was reigning [in] Yehudah, Y'horam the son of Yehoshafat became king in Yehudah. Here is an overt description of a co-regency such as have had to be inferred in many other cases to make the total numbers of years in the parallel lists of kings line up.17. Thirty-two years [old] he was when he began to reign, and he was king for eight years in Yerushalayim. He was unable to make the "transition" that the number 40 represents, so he died at that age.18. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel--acting just as Akh'av had, because he had a daughter of Akh'av as a wife, and he did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH. This was the alliance Y'hoshafat had unwisely made in his premature zeal for the two houses of Israel to reunite. We who are also pursuing this vision must take this warning to heart. Akh'av and Izevel's daughter taught her husband to worship foreign elohim, rather than the opposite taking place as Y'hoshafat had envisioned.19. But YHWH was not willing to bring Yehudah to ruin, for the sake of His servant David, whom He had told [He would] always provide him with a lamp for his descendants. A lamp: This may be the background for David's descendant Yahshua say he was the "light of the world." His forebears were meant to uphold the reputation of David by living like him, since that righteous house must continuie, but they did not always do so.20. In his days Edom revolted from beneath the hand of Yehudah, and set a king over themselves to reign. Prior to this they had had a deputy (1 Kings 22:47), and the El-Amarna letters strongly suggest that this deputy had been the Adayah mentioned in 2 Chron. 23:1. Revolted: or rebelled, crossed a line, committed a crime. They wanted "national sovereignty", and we see the empire of David slipping away even further.21. So Yoram crossed over to Tsa'ir, and all of the chariots were with him. And as it turned out, he rose up at night and attacked Edom, which was surrounding him and the charioteers, and the people fled to their tents. Tsa'ir: This Edomite city (whose name means "tiny" or "insignificant") may have been the same as Tso'ar, the small town now to the southeast of the Dead Sea to which Lot asked to escape rather than fleeing as far as he was told to.22. Yet Edom has been in revolt from under the hand of Yehudah to this day. Then Livnah revolted at that [same] time. Yet Edom…: Josephus explains that this meant he destroyed only those who lived near his borders, but went no further. Livnah was an important town in the Sh'felah (foothills) of western Yehudah near the land of the Filistines, very close to where David killed Golyath. It was assigned by Y'hoshua as a priestly city. This may be why it seceded--because 2 Chron. 21 says this was done specifically because its inhabitants were faithful to YHWH and they saw that their king was not.23. Now the rest of the words of Yoram and all that he accomplished, aren't they recorded upon the scroll of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? This scribe does not care to delve any further into Yoram's wickedness, but the author of 2 Chronicles supplies more detail. Yoram killed his brothers (who were said to be better than he) and on other rulers who had governed under his father. He did not just allow but even compelled people to worship foreign elohim on the "high places", and Eliyahu even wrote him a letter putting him on notice that because he had not repented, his bowels themselves would rot to the point of falling out, and there was nothing he would be able to do about it. Receiving a letter from a generation before that spoke directly to his situation would be enough to unnerve most people. His torment in this way lasted two years. 24. When Yoram lay down with his fathers, he was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, and his son Akhazyahu began to reign in his place. 2 Chron. 21:20 says he was buried in the city, but not in the tombs of the kings, and that there was no "burning" for him. Sites have been found all over the land of Yehudah marking the sites of these burnings by which every other Jewish king was memorialized when he died. It was neither a cremation nor a worship of the king, but merely a commemoration. Each king's burning was held at a different location. Akhazyahu means "YHWH has taken hold or taken possession". He may have been named for one of the mighty acts of YHWH that Yoram had seen Him accomplish.25. In year twelve--year of Y'horam the son of Akh'av the king of Israel--Akhazyahu the son of Y'horam, the king of Yehudah, began to reign. This would seem to indicate that he only reigned seven years instead of eight, but in such counts a fraction of a year counts as a whole year.26. Akhazyahu was twenty-two years old when he began to reign. And he reigned one year in Yerushalayim, and his mother's name was Athalyahu the daughter of Omri, the king of Israel. Note the restoration of the full name of Y'horam. Athalyahu means "Afflicted or compressed by YHWH". Daughter: Any female descendant. She was the direct daughter of Akh'av, married off to Y'hoshafat's son in the alliance alluded to in verse 18 and mentioned more overtly in 1 Kings 22:45 and 2 Chronicles 18:1. It had just the opposite result than what Y'hoshafat had intended, much like today who try to bring Jewish people into Christianity rather than calling the latter back to its roots in the Torah. That is the impact one woman can have.l She changed the entire kingdom in one generation. She retains the bitter vendetta her mother held against YHWH's people. A woman generally sounds more compassionate and gentle, making it easier for men to fall for their schemes and compromise with them. Izevel would have been called progressive today, a celebrity who brought a "backward" kingdom into the majority religion of the region. YHWH saw it very differently. Even with Yehudah having an added degree of protection from YHWH (v. 19), look what it did.27. Thus he walked in the way of the household of Akh'av, and did what was evil in YHWH's eyes as the house of Akh'av [had done], because he was the house of Alh'av's son-in-law. 28. And he went off with Yoram the son of Akh'av to battle with Khaza'El, king of Aram, in Ramoth-Gil'ad. But some Arameans struck Yehoram [down], 29. so Yehoram the king returned to Yizre'el with the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him as he fought Khaza'El, king of Aram, to let himself heal. And Akhazyahu the son of Y'horam, the king of Yehudah, went down to see Yoram the son of Akh'av since he was weak. Weak: or simply, sick. This sets the stage for the next chapter. CHAPTER 91. Then Elisha the prophet called to one of the "sons of the prophets" and said to him, "Tie a belt around your waist, take this flask of oil in your hand, and walk [to] Ramoth-Gil'ad.Tie a belt: that is, tighten up the loose-flowing robes normally worn, so as to be able to run more quickly.2. "When you arrive there, you will see there Yehu the son of Y'hoshafat, the son of Nimshi, and you must raise him up from among his brothers and bring him to an inner chamber, Inner chamber: literally, room inside a room. Though YHWH had not bound Himself to bring the kings of Israel from any particular lineage as He did with David's line in Yehudah (this is already the beginning of the fifth dynasty in the North), still Yehu came from a lineage with noble names: Yehu itself means "He is YHWH"--directing people to YHWH. Y'hoshafat means "YHWH has judged." YHWH chose the king. (This is not the Y'hoshafat who was the king of Yehudah; he was the son of Asa.) And Nimshi means "rescued" or "drawn out" (being the passive form of Moshe's name). Much is made in some circles that question the validity of Scripture over the fact that in 1 Kings 19:16 Yehu is called the "son of Nimshi" and here it is shown that he is actually Nimshi's grandson. This shows ignorance of the fact that "ben" means any descendant, however many generations have intervened, and it is very common practice in Hebrew writings to skip back to a more illustrious or noble ancestor when giving one's genealogy, especially in situations where there is no emphasis on one's immediate father.3. "then take the flask of oil and pour it out onto his head, and say, 'This is what YHWH says: "I have anointed you as a king to Israel."' Then you must open the door and escape; you must not wait!" 4. So the young man--the prophet's lad--went to Ramoth-Gil'ad. 5. When he came in, there sat the commanders of the army! And he said, "I have a word for you, commander." And Yehu said, "For which one of us?" And he said, "For you, commander." Which one: They were all commanders in some capacity, but Yehu appears to have been commander-in-chief. They were defending the city King Y'horam had successfully defended from the Arameans (8:28), though the king had been wounded in the process. The army stayed there to hold onto his gains. You: The term is singular in Hebrew in both cases.6. So he got up and entered the house. And he poured out the oil on his head, and said, "This is what YHWH says: 'I have anointed you as a king to Israel. Eliyahu had been commanded to anoint Yehu king (1 Kings 19:16), but he was not able to do so in his lifetime. He had been given other instructions at the time--to anoint Elisha as his successor--which he did carry out, and by delegating this responsibility to a faithful man, Eliyahu did fulfill it. But part of the test was whether Yehu would trust even the word of Elisha's messenger. As we saw with Naaman, Elisha often did not bother to come into the presence of some people when it was not necessary.7. "'And you must strike the house of your master Akh'av, so that I can have the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of YHWH avenged from the hand of Izevel, The hand: The first time the word is used in Scripture is in Gen. 3:22, where YHWH barred the way to the Tree of Life so Adam would not put out his hand and eat of it in his fallen state. But Izevel did take upon herself the prerogative of bringing forbidden things into Israel and killing the righteous, whom it is not lawful to kill. Though she may have accomplished many things people would consider great, she is best known for importing idolatry and killing the prophets.8. "'and the whole house of Akh'av is [to be] exterminated. Indeed, I have caused anyone in Israel belonging to Akh'av who urinates against a wall, whether detained or loose, to be cut off. I.e., every male would be killed, because they were the ones who carried on his line; his daughters would become part of other households which might have been more worthy of their support.9. "'And I have appointed the house of Akh'av [to be] just like the house of Yarav'am the son of N'vat and like the house of Baasha the son of Akhiyah-- 10. "'that is, the dogs will devour Izevel on the property-holding at Yizre'el, and there [will be] no one to bury [her]!'" Then he opened the door and fled. The messenger was telling the truth--for YHWH had told Akh'av these additional things (1 Kings 21:19-23)--but he did not follow orders specifically, but interjected more of his own knowledge than he was told to say. (v. 3) Just because we know something--or even just because it is true--does not mean we are meant to speak it. Yehu would assume that if the king had not died naturally yet, part of his job in becoming king would be to finish the job Khaza'el had not completed. The servant need not tell him this if he was instructed to give those specific words and flee. This may be why Elisha had no specific successor as he had been to Eliyahu, because he could find no one worthy to carry on his "line". And the fact that he had not followed directions precisely may be why this servant's name does not appear in this, the "Book of Life", while Gehazi's does. The bar had been raised upon Gehazi's punishment, and this servant should have known better. Property: Where the palace was. Yizre'el means "Elohim has scattered", reminding us of the Tower of Bavel, which had also been built for the wrong reason. Bavel was based on a unity gone wrong, so it had to be terminated; in the same vein, Izevel would not be united with his ancestors in death either. 11. So Yehu went out to the servants of his master, and [one of them] said to him, "Is [everything] okay? Why did this madman come to you?" And he said to them, "You are acquainted with the man and his babbling." Babbling: or musing, complaint, [manner of] communication. It may refer to his excessive speaking. Apparently they had all become familiar with this servant while Elisha was living among them at Shomron. (6:32) All prophets might have had such a reputation as babblers, since they often appeared rather eccentric.12. But they said, "[Don't] disappoint [us]! Please report [it] to us!" So he said, "He told me like this and like that, to say, 'This is what YHWH says: "I have anointed you as a king to Israel."'" He reverts to the specific words Elisha told his messenger to say, hinting that he knew that that was all there was to the original message. Yehu shows some signs of being a prophet later in this chapter, or at least of being very familiar with what YHWH has and has not said.13. And each of them quickly took his garment and put it underneath him on the [bare] side of the steps and gave blasts with the shofar and said, "Yehu has become king!" Underneath him: They were conferring added honor on the king, as people commonly did, as seen when Yahshua was proclaimed king. (Mat. 21:8) This would especially be true, since outer garments were signs of one's rank or prestige, and they would only be left with their "underwear", looking like slaves, though they had all been commanders. This demonstrated that they were willing to be subservient to him. 14. Thus Yehu the son of Y'hoshafat the son of Nimshi conspired against Yoram. (Now Yoram had been keeping guard [over] Ramoth-Gil'ad--he and all of Israel--because of the presence of Khaza'El, the king of Aram, Ramoth-Gil'ad is the city Ben-Hadad had taken and Akh'av had died trying to recover. (1 Kings 22) It must have been especially strategic and desirable to keep changing hands like this. The El-Amarna tablets confirm that this was one of the cities battled over.15. but King Y'horam had gone back to Yizre'el to heal himself from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he had fought with Khaza'el the king of Aram.) And Yehu said, "If there is a desire [in] you, not one fugitive [can escape] the city to go and make it known at Yizre'el." I.e., if you really want this to work, you have to keep any other city from knowing about this until the deed is done. With the king in no position to defend himself, the whole army in one place and already under control of the man who was to replace him, a military coup no longer appeared difficult. But Yehu still takes precautions that the word will not leak out in advance. And he still seems a bit uncertain, because he is looking to the opinion of those around him for confirmation.16. Then Yehu mounted [a chariot] and went to Yizre'el, because while Yoram was laid up there, Akhazyah the king of Yehudah had come down to see Yoram. It is about 35 miles from Ramoth-Gil'ad to Yizre'el, across the Yarden River and a range of mountains. Come down: the only direction one can come when leaving Yerushalayim, at least symbolically. And 2 Chron. 22:6-7 tells us that this was indeed Akhazyah's downfall.17. And the watchman was standing atop the tower at Yizre'el and saw the teeming [numbers with] Yehu as his came, and said, "I see a large number [of people]!" So Y'horam said, "Take a mount and send [someone] to meet them and say, "Do [you come in] peace?" 18. So the rider [on the] horse went to meet him and said, "This is what the king says: 'Do [you come in] peace?'" And Yehu said, "What do you have to do with peace? Turn around to follow me!" And the watchman reported, "The messenger reached them, but he did not come back!" What do you have to do with peace: This is the salient question for Israel today. Turn around: both literally and figuratively, as in "be a turncoat"--defect to the cause more worthy of your service.19. So he sent a second rider [on a] horse, and he came to them and said, "This is what the king says: 'Do [you come in] peace?'" And Yehu said, "What do you have to do with peace? Turn around to follow me!" 20. And the watchman reported, "He reached them, but he did not return, and the conduct is like that which is customary [for] Yehu the son of Nimshi, because he is driving madly!" Madly: i.e., "like crazy". Apparently his style of charioteering appeared rather reckless, though he got the job done. Was it because Yehu had such charisma that people were so disposed to follow him immediately? (Compare v. 13.) Or was he very intimidating, appearing as if he would kill them if they did not comply? The nation would certainly be served better by a king who was healthy and strong, in contrast with the ailing Y'horam. And those who lived in Yizre'el and had known Navoth would not look favorably on the son of Akh'av and Izevel. But as soon as Yehu knew that YHWH had given him authority to rule, he took up the right with full confidence. 21. Then Y'horam said, "Harness up!" So when his chariot was harnessed, Y'horam the king of Israel and Akhazyah the king of Yehudah each went out in his chariot. When they went out to meet Yehu, they encountered him on the property that [had belonged to] Navoth the Yizre'elite. He came as if he were Eliyahu meeting Akh'av again, and this must have sent shudders through Y'horam if he realized what his parents had done there.22. And what took place is that when Y'horam saw Yehu, he said, "Do [you come in] peace, Yehu?" But Yehu said, "How [can there be] peace, as long as your mother Izevel's harlotries and her sorceries are so many?" 23. Then Y'horam began to switch his hands around and take flight, and he said to Akhazyah, "[There is] treachery, Akhazyah!" Switch his hands around: possibly to turn the horses' bridles so they would turn his chariot around24. So Yehu filled his hand with a bow and struck Y'horam between his shoulders, and the arrow came out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. The word for "treachery" in verse 23 is rooted in the word for shooting with a bow! (The connection is that as Y'honathan led David with his arrow-shots, so one can mislead by shooting in a direction that distracts one from his real goal.) So Yehu obliged by doing exactly that. Slumped down: or, sank to his knees.25. And he said to Bidqar his third [officer], "Pick [him] up and throw him into the parcel of land [that belonged to] Navoth the Yizre'elite, because remember, you and I were riding as a team behind his father Akh'av, and YHWH lifted this burden onto him: He: that is, Yehu.26. "'If I haven't recently noticed the blood of Navoth and the blood of his sons…', declares YHWH, 'and I have paid you back [right] on this [same] piece [of ground],' declares YHWH. So right now, pick [him] up and throw him into the parcel [of land], as YHWH has said!" Recently: i.e., as if it were only yesterday. Blood of his sons: They may have also been party to the death of Navoth. It seems Yehu and Bidqar were present when Eliyahu spoke this word to Akh'av. (The story is in 1 Kings 21.) Otherwise, one of these two men is a prophet himself. Yehu shows some promise of becoming the first king of Israel who actually has some concern for YHWH's will.27. When Akhazyah the king of Yehudah, saw [it], he escaped by way of the inside of the garden, and Yehu chased after him, and said, "Him too! Make sure he's struck down--[the one] in the chariot!" [And they did so] at the Ascent of Gur, which is at Yivle'am, and he fled to Megiddo, but died there. Inside of the garden: or, garden house, or a place called Beyth ha-Gan. Akh'av had wanted Navoth's land specifically for a garden. Yehu was given no instruction to kill the king of Yehudah as well, which may be what Hoshea 1:4 is referring to when it says He would avenge Yehu for "the blood of Yizre'el". He may have ruined his excellent start already. Yivle'am means "devouring the people".It is about six miles due south of Yizre'el, but on the other side of Mt. Gilboa, at the northern limit of what some today call "the West Bank". There is a slightly-more-passable way out of the Yizre'el Valley there. Megiddo is about ten miles northwest of Yivle'am. The El-Amarna tablets also speak of "Makida" being guarded with chariots.28. And his servants [carried him] in a chariot to Yerushalayim and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the City of David. City of David: The original part of Yerushalayim, south of the Temple Mount on a long spur of a hill that constituted Tzion. Some tombs have recently been found there, including one thought to be David's true tomb.29. Now in the eleventh year of Y'horam the son of Akh'av, Akhazyah had become king over Yehudah.
Many depictions of an ornately-dressed woman looking out through a lattice have been found throughout the Levant and fertile crescent. Was this in memory of her, or were there parallel situations? Hair: literally, head. It almost seems as if she wanted to seduce Yehu (possibly an example of the harlotries mentioned in verse 30) It may be that this had become her custom since Akh'av's death, or even before, reminiscent of Potifar's wife, getting whomever she wanted.) Or was she just trying to "go out in style", knowing she was the next target? Or dressing up to scare off the opposition, saying, in effect, "I didn't get to where I am by being shy!"?31. When Yehu arrived at the gate, she said, "Was [there] peace [for] Zimri, murderer of his master?" She apparently already knew about her son's death. But she may have been trying to get Yehu to reconsider his plans by reminding him that Zimri had only reigned for seven days after carrying out a similar coup. Zimri was the one who had exterminated the whole household of Baasha (see v. 9), and this prophecy was given by none other than someone with the name Yehu. (1 Kings 16:9-15) YHWH is the master of merging such imagery.32. And he lifted his face toward the window, and said, "Who is with me? Who?" And two-three eunuchs leaned out toward him. Eunuchs: or simply court officials, but if they were in Izevel's bedroom, she had probably turned them into eunuchs in the fullest measure of the word.33. So he said, "Let her drop!" She they let her drop, and some of her blood splattered onto the wall, and the horses trampled her [underfoot]. Wall: of the palace she was in when Akh'av coveted Navoh's vineyard.34. And he went inside and eat and drank, then said, "See to this bitterly-cursed [woman]and bury her, since she is [after all] a king's daughter." King's daughter: This was probably somewhat facetious, but it disconnected her with Israel, because the king who was her father (Eth-Baal) was not Israelite. He was essentially saying to send her back to where she came from.35. When they went to bury her, they could not find [any] of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands. These are the parts of a person that most often get her into trouble. Proverbs 6:16ff includes among the things YHWH hates "a haughty look, a lying tongue, hand that shed innocent blood, [and] feet that are swift in running to evil." Even dogs--a symbol in Scripture of the lowest of the low--were too noble to eat these perpetrators of evil. They only ate what her clothing covered.36. So they came back and told him, and he said, "It is [as] YHWH said, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Eliyahu of the Sojourners, saying, 'On the property at Yizre'el, the dogs will eat the flesh of Izevel, Did he only now remember the prophecy, or was his taking his time to eat his meal before sending them to bury her a deliberate attempt to allow time for the dogs to eat her first, so she could not indeed be buried with her ancestors?37. "'and Izevel's corpse will be like manure on the surface of the field on the property at Yizre'el, so that they cannot say, "This is Izevel."'" CHAPTER 10[c. year 3159 from creation/841 B.C.E.] 1. Now Akh'av had seventy descendants in Shomron, so Yehu wrote letters and sent [them] to Shomron, to the leaders of Yizre'el, the elders, and to those who [had] supported Akh'av, to say,Akh'av's descendants were only half-Israelite. (Compare Lev. 19:19.) They were a counterfeit of the seventy sons of Yaaqov seen in Exodus 1. They were really sons of Izevel, though they represent themselves as Yaaqov's.2. "And now, as this letter comes to you while the sons of your master are with you, and the chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weapons are with you, 3. "when you have considered [who is] the best and most upright of the descendants of your master, then seat him on his father's throne, and fight for the house of your master!" 4. But they were very, very fearful, and said, "Look here! Two kings have not withstood his presence, so how can we withstand [him]?" 5. So [the one] who was over the household, and [the one] who was over the city, as well as the elders and those who supported [them] sent [word] to Yehu to say, "We are your servants, and anything you say to us, we will do. We will not make [any] man king; do what is best in your eyes." Because of the wise way he worded his question, they probably recognized that none of Akh'av's sons was upright. 6. But he wrote them a second letter, saying, "If you are for me, and are listening to my voice, take the heads of the descendants of your master, and come to me about [this] time tomorrow in Yizre'el." (Now the king's descendants--seventy men--were with the great [men] of the city, who were rearing them.) Rearing them: literally, making them great.7. And sure enough, when the letter came to them, they took the descendants of the king and slaughtered them--seventy persons--and put their heads in containers and sent [them] to him in Yizre'el. Containers: the term covers anything from baskets to pots or jars to caldrons.8. When the messenger came and reported to him, saying, "They have brought the heads of the king's sons!", he said, "Put them [in] two heaps at the entrance to the gate until the morning." They were not even all together in their death. And when someone approached the gates, no matter which way they looked, they could not miss this example he had made of stopping the enemies of Israel before they reached the gate.9. Then what took place in the morning [was that] he went out and presented [himself there] and said to all the people, "You are righteous! Indeed, I conspired against my master and killed him, but who has struck down all of these? He may have been testing them by the way they worded the command, for they would have been following his orders if they merely brought the leaders ("heads") of Akh'av's clan to him alive, but they took his words to their fullest meaning, surprising even him. He may have expected to have to do all the dirty work himself, but they beat him to the punch.10. "So then, recognize that none of the word of YHWH, which YHWH spoke in regard to the house of Akh'av has fallen to the earth, and YHWH has carried out that which He spoke by means of His servant Eliyahu!" Prior to this, only he, Bidqar, and Akh'av might have known of the prophecy, so he did not want them to miss the significance of what they had done. He was not just another power-hungry conqueror. But he was the consummate politician. Though he upheld the prophecy, he also understood the human psyche very well, and made sure the people knew that they were as "guilty" as he was, righteous though this massacre was.11. Thus Yehu struck down all who remained who belonged to the household of Akh'av in Yizre'el, as well as all his great [men], his intimate acquaintances, and his priests, until he did not have [one] survivor left. He was an expert planner with great military might and cunning like Yoav, but not Yoav's treachery. He did not even spare anyone who thought well of Akh'av, so there would be no one left to try to avenge him. Yehu was the one responsible for them being struck down, so he is said to have struck them all down, though he just admitted that the people had done most of the work. His priests: possibly of the pagan temples he endorsed, or possibly just officials of various sorts. 12. So he rose up and came in. As he was walking to Shomron, on the way he was [at] the shepherds' house of binding, House of binding: apparently where sheep were sheared.13. when Yehu encountered the relatives of Akhazyahu, king of Yehudah, and said, "Who are you?" And they said, "We are Akhazyahu's brothers, and we are coming down for the welfare of the sons of the king, and the sons of the queen-mother." For the welfare: some render it, to salute, or to ask about the welfare, or for the friendship of. Queen-mother: that is, Izevel. They had apparently not heard she or her son--or their own king--had been killed. Their association with Akh'av's family got them killed as well.14. And he said, "Capture them alive!" So they captured them alive, but slaughtered them toward the pit of the house of binding--42 men--and he did not let a man of them remain. Pit: the term can mean a well, cistern, or dungeon. The reason for taking them there is not clear, unless it was so the shearing-house would not be bloodied; it may have just been so they would not be identified with the shepherds, for that they were not. 15. When he was walking away from there, he encountered Y'honadav the son of Rekhav [coming] to meet him, and he genuflected to him and said to him, "Do you have an upright heart, just as my heart is with your heart?" and Y'honadav said, "I have and there is; give [me] your hand!" So he gave [him] his hand, and helped him up into the chariot with him. Rekhav means "rider". The chariot (merkavah) onto which he was pulled comes from the same root word as his name. Give me your hand: that is, prove you are upright by putting your hand to the work. You cannot be a part of it if you are not doing part of the work; there are to be no spectators here. He needed someone beside him more than he needed someone behind him. Y'honadav had probably come specifically to declare his support. So Yehu has him ride alongside him so everyone can see who is for him, and if Y'honadav is with him, his people are as well. Rekhav is introduced in 1 Chron. 2:55. He came from a family of scribes among the Qeynites, a people living in Yavetz who were associated with Yithro and had been allied with Israel for many generations, but were not Israelite themselves. They dwelt in tents, so the were a nomadic people; they literally came out of nowhere to help him! YHWH has a special fondness for tent-dwellers who rely on Him as their security in a more vivid way. Upright: Possibly for the very uprightness he expressed in this chapter, Y'honadav was blessed with descendants whose faithfulness to a simple preference of his was held up by YHWH as a shining example of what He wanted all of Israel to be like, though not necessarily following the same special ruling he had enjoined upon them. (Yirmeyahu 35:1-18) Because they upheld their father's wish steadfastly even though tested by YHWH's prophet, YHWH gives him a magnificent promise, and this righteous ally who follows in the way of his ancestor ends up better off than Israel.16. And he said, "Come with me, and watch my zeal for YHWH!" Thus they had him ride in his chariot. 17. When he arrived at Shomron, he struck down all those who remained to Akh'av in Shomron until he had annihilated him, according to the word that YHWH had spoken to Eliyahu. 18. And Yehu gathered all the people and said to them, "Akh'av served Baal to a small degree; Yehu in a much greater way! Did he suddenly change his tune?19. "So now, summon for me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests; don't let a man be missing, because I have a great slaughter [to make] to Baal! Anyone who is lacking will not live!" (But Yehu was acting with craftiness, in order to bring about the destruction of those who served Baal.) With craftiness: from the same root word as Yaaqov, based on the word for heel. Again he gets off clean because his words have a built-in double meaning: "Slaughter to Baal" can also mean "slaughter [of those] belonging to Baal". He counts on their understanding the term in its most commonly-used sense.20. And Yehu said, "Dedicate a closing-off to Baal." So they announced [it]. Announced: or, summoned (them), in response to his command in v. 19.21. And Yehu sent [word] throughout all of Israel, so all the servants of Baal came, and there was not a man left who did not come. When they came into the temple of Baal, the temple of Baal was full, from mouth to mouth. Mouth to mouth: possibly so full that they were pressing against one another that closely.22. And he said to the one who was over the wardrobe, "Bring out garments for all of Baal's servants!" So he brought the attire out for them. Wardrobe: or vestry, where they kept the special clothing worn by authorized personnel on special occasions.23. Then Yehu and Y'honadav the son of Rekhav came into the temple of Baal and said to the servants of Baal, "Search carefully and inspect to make sure there are no servants of YHWH here with you, but only servants of Baal." This was to be an exclusive, closed-door affair, as we see in the wording of verse 20. But Yehu again took advantage of a double meaning, for he had a different reason for closing them all in:24. When they had came in to prepare slaughterings and ascending [offerings], Yehu stationed for himself 80 men outside, and said, "The man who lets any of the men whom I am bringing into your hands escape, [it will be] his life [in exchange] for his life!" I.e., the one who let another escape would be killed in his stead.25. Then as soon as [someone] finished doing the ascending [offering], Yehu said to the couriers and the third officers, "Go in, strike them down! Don't let a man come out!" So they attacked them with the sword's mouth, and the couriers and third officers threw them out. Then they went into the city to the temple of Baal, Again, he gets the people involved so that he will not be the only one responsible. (Compare v. 15.) With the special garments, it was easy to see whom to kill. Garments are a picture of our works. If one puts on these works, death is the result. Prophets might have come as spies, so they could know their enemy better, or for an occasion to prophesy, but they would not put on those garments. Those who refuse the works of Baal are to be spared.26. and brought the temple of Baal's standing-images out, and burned it. The seemingly-mismatched singular and plural terms appear this way in the Hebrew text.27. Then they pulled down the standing-image of Baal, and tore down the temple of Baal, and turned it into an outhouse, [which it is] to this day. In our day this is reminiscent of the statues of Lenin being pulled down at the fall of the Soviet Union. Outhouse: a latrine; literally, a place of excrement, a sewer or a cesspool. This is the diametric opposite of a temple, and the ultimate form of dishonor.28. Thus Yehu ousted Baal from Israel. Ousted: literally, made him get lost! In modern terms, this was a "religious cleansing"--and YHWH was all for it. He made Israel a somewhat holy place again.29. Only, Yehu did not turn from the sins of Yarav'am the son of N'vat in which he caused Israel to miss the target--from following them (the golden calves that were at Beth-El and Dan). Yehu is probably the best king Israel (the northern kingdom) ever had, at least since Yarav'am, yet they both failed in the same way, though willingly listening to YHWH on some level. Why could Israel never seem to part with these two golden idols in the midst of so many other reforms? For one thing, they were a symbol of national sovereignty and independence from Yehudah. And they may have simply wanted a visible point of contact with YHWH--something tangible, for they did call both of them "YHWH"! As the work of their hands, they retained some measure of control over them, and, they thought, over YHWH by extension. This is the reason we do not use bulls' horns for shofars. This concept has stayed with us until today in some ways. No one seems to have ever overtly reprimanded them for this, but the scribe clearly understood the problem. Was he someone closely associated with Elisha? It may be that YHWH was waiting to see if someone would get rid of them on their own initiative.30. Now YHWH had said to Yehu, "Because you have done well at carrying out what was right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Akh'av just like all that was in My heart, your [descendants to the] fourth generation will sit on the throne of Israel." 31. Yet Yehu was not careful to walk in the instruction of YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, with all of his heart; he did not turn from upon the sins of Yarav'am the son of N'vat, by which he caused Israel to miss the target. It was a mixed blessing. It would last a while, but there was nothing like the permanence offered to David's line. Yehu, having cut off the heirs to the throne of Yehudah, was now in a position to reunify the two kingdoms and take all of Israel back to the worship of YHWH in Yerushalayim. What better time could there have been? Yet like Yarav'am, he was probably afraid that he would lose his significance and his power if Yerushalayim again took the focus and the tribe of Yehudah would regain its rightful throne over all of Israel. This contradictory story seems strangely familiar, for it is a prophecy as well. Yarav'am made YHWH into two entities--separate, yet united by both being called YHWH. This is a new concept: two distinct, separate yet equal deities--so much like Christianity! Who corrupted the faith restored by Yahshua the Jew? Descendants of the Northern Kingdom, by inventing anew this "twinity", with a third aspect added in as well--just as Akh'av's family had incorporated outright Baal worship into Israel's religion, which until that point had only been a matter of worshipping YHWH in the wrong way and changing the times of His festivals. Yahshua is YHWH's deputy, and with his authority as representative could easily be mistaken for the sender Himself. But now heavy paganism was mixed in as well, just as priests of Constantine's sun-cult were made priests in the churches, and their sun-discs built into church architecture too, and phallic symbols put on their roofs as well. Reformers came along, and were seen as righteous by all except the "descendants of Akh'av", the papists. They did remove much idolatry from the church, just like Yehu did here, but like him, they also only did half a job--and like Yehu, they killed Jews too. They had an open door to fully reunite the two houses of Israel. The Roman Church told Luther that they would join him in reform provided he went all the way and restored the ancient feasts and the seventh-day Sabbath as well. But Luther did not want to be like the Jews; he wanted to keep Jesus as God. Yehu was clearly enamored by Eliyahu's prophecies--but what about the rest of what Eliyahu stands for--the restoration of all things? (Mal. 4:5; Mat. 17:11) 32. In those days, YHWH began to cut Israel short, and Khaza'El attacked the whole territory of Israel Cut short: as in harvesting--an agricultural term, which might also include the concepts of pruning or trimming off bad fruit. The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, on the second line from the top on four sides, says that one of Yehu's first concerns as king was to cultivate the graces of the king of Assyria, which was now rising to power, and who may have claimed a part in his revolution. He at least promised him protection against Khaza'el, but Shalmaneser turned out to be incapable of keeping Khaza'el in check. Damaseq penetrated as far as the Southern Kingdom of Yehudah (12:17-18) with great cruelty. Amos refers to the atrocities committed at this time.33. from the Yarden [toward the] sunrise--the whole land of Gil'ad (the Gadites, the Re'uvenites, and the Menashites, from Aroer, which is on the Arnon River-valley [as far as] both the Gil'ad and the Bashan That is, all the territory that Israel owned east of the Yarden River. Bashan: called the Golan Heights today. The rest of the territory mentioned here is in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan today. Those who were outside the Land proper were cut off first as a warning to the rest. Yehu took steps toward YHWH, so YHWH took steps toward him. Four generations was a great blessing--and should have been long enough to come to a full repentance. But though YHWH raised him up, he remained only "Protestant" and did not finish the job. So YHWH started cutting of pieces of Israel and turning them over to Israel's enemies. Now again we have come to the end of YHWH's temporary blessing, and the church is being left with less to rule over. A few have gone toward further restoration along with a remnant of Yehudah who are doing the same, but three major denominations have recently divested themselves of all official and financial connection to Israel. The blessings YHWH gave the Protestant church were meant to move us toward Restoration, but most have only used them for Reformation instead. And now some are reaping the reward of declaring such open war on YHWH as to say they will act like believers when with believers, but be "socially agnostic" when around unbelievers. Let those who love YHWH do so with a whole heart, not just where it is comfortable.34. Now the rest of the words of Yehu and all that he accomplished, aren't they written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 2 Chronicles 22 is the specific chapter that speaks of his acts.35. When Yehu lay down with his ancestors, they buried him in Shomron, and his son Y'hoakhaz reigned in his place. Y'hoakhaz means "YHWH has seized possession". He had indeed gotten His inheritance back from Baal, but now it was time to clean house.36. And the length of time that Yehu had reigned over Israel in Shomron was 28 years. He died c. 814 B.C.E. CHAPTER 111. Now Athalyah [was the] mother of Akhazyahu. When she saw that her son was dead, she rose up and started exterminating all the royal seed.The theatre is now again Yehudah. Like Pharaoh and Herod, this daughter of Izevel who has married into the royal family of Yehudah now kills all the male heirs to her son's throne that she can find. Her purpose seems to be to ensure the foothold of Baal-worship in the southern Kingdom as well. Thus Y'hoshafat's overtures to her father Akh'av by making this marital alliance in hopes that he could restore the worship of YHWH in the North backfired--a warning to us all. She would simply retain power if there were no rivals to the throne. But there was never meant to even be a queen in Israel as such; the queen mother held much more influence on the king. But haSatan had often tried to get a woman back in control since Eden, and now the target is Yerushalayim itself. Now the southern kingdom is taken a step further even than the North had under Izevel, where at least there was a male figurehead, though Izevel held the real influence. Now there is only a queen with no king in the picture--or so she thinks…2. But Y'hosheva the daughter of King Yoram, the sister of Akhazyahu, took Yoash the son of Akhazyah and carried him away by stealth from among the sons of the king who were being killed in the bed chamber--and his nurse with him--and they hid him from the face of Athalyahu, so he was not killed. Yoash means "YHWH has fired up"--like a potter ready to form a choice vessel. He was still an infant when spirited away, as he would not be as noticeable if carried away under her garments.3. And he remained with her, withdrawn within the House of YHWH, [for] six years while Athalyah was reigning over the Land. The House of YHWH is the last place Athalyahu would want to come. Tradition says he actually dwelt in a room above the Holy of Holies.4. But in the seventh year, Y'hoyada sent and fetched the captains of hundreds belonging to the Carians, brought them to the House of YHWH, and cut a covenant with them and made them take an oath in the House of YHWH, and let them see the king's son. Seventh year: This may have been the Shmittah year as well. (See Ex. 23:10.) There are many parallels, for Athalyahu got rid of the royal seed and sowed her type of seed for six years, but on the seventh year the sowing of seed is to cease for a year. Is this how Y'hoyada knew the time was right to act? Carians: inhabitants of Cyprus and the mainland opposite it (Ugarit or Ras-Shamra) in Syria. They may have been the same as the Hurrians as well as the Krithites of 2 Shmue'el 8:18, whose home had been Crete before the natural catastrophe that destroyed their homeland. They were remnants of the Minoan culture (of Minotaur and Labyrinth fame), who then became sea peoples--often pirates but always mariners, and were known for their great fighting skills, so they became mercenaries for many nations, including the House of David. (Velikovsky) The Egyptians named the Mediterranean Sea after them (the Sea of Khar). According to their own tradition in the Ras-Shamra tablets, they were brothers to the Lydians and Mysians. While they were currently working for Athalyahu most directly, their loyalty was really to the House of David, which now appeared defunct, but once they knew that the line had not ended after all, they would regain their honor as defenders of the House of David. 2 Chronicles 23 lists five specific leaders of the Carians, and also says the Levites from all the cities of Yehudah were gathered, as well as the heads of the fathers of Israel. It is likely that he did this under cover of one of the festivals when they would all be expected to be present anyway, and thus would not arouse any suspicions. The true heir to the throne had been the best-kept secret in the Land. 2 Chronicles 22:11 tells us that Y'hosheva (there called Y'hosheveth) was the wife of Y'hoyada, the priest--apparently the high priest. While later custom forbade a priest form marrying outside the tribe of Levi, Leviticus 21 only specifies that he must marry a virgin daughter of his own people, and Y'hezq'el 44 clarifies that this is anyone of the household of Israel. (The intermarriage of priests to foreigners as nullified by Ezra probably resulted in an added fence being built around the actual command to keep them one step further from falling into the same trap again.) The tradition from which Josephus drew his version of this history states that Y'hosheva had the same mother as Akhazyahu, and was therefore Athalyahu's daughter. Apparently she was trying to take the next step in carrying the influence of Baal beyond the royal household and into the very Levitical priesthood itself--a masterful strategy for infecting all of Yehudah. But apparently Y'hoyada's influence on his wife was stronger than her mother's, and she was able to turn the tables completely because of her access to the Temple. So both she and her husband, the high priest, were the ones who most directly raised the king. What better place could there be for the king-to-be raised than in the Temple, where he was free from every pagan influence and constantly surrounded by whatever remained of the practice of the Torah?5. And he gave them orders, saying, "This is the thing that you must do: A third of you who go in on the Sabbath, [be] in charge of guarding the king's house, The pagan Athalyahu was also unlikely to be around the Temple on the Sabbath. And what better day would there be to oust the counterfeit to the Messiah (anointed king)?6. "and a third at the Sur gate, and a third at the gate behind the runners, and keep guard over the house, alternately. 2 Chronicles calls the Sur Gate the Yesod (foundation) Gate, and it is easy to see how the latter could be corrupted to the former due to the similarity of the letters in Hebrew. Josephus describes them as the gate that led into the Temple and the gate that led to the palace.7. "And two of the hands of you--all who go out [on] the Sabbath--shall be in charge of guarding the House of YHWH, toward the king. Hands: here an idiom for divisions. Who go out: that is, who go off duty. Both shifts would be expected to be present at the "changing of the guard", so that was when he wanted to make his move.8. "Thus you must form a circle in regard to the king on every side, [each] man with his weapons in his hand, and whoever comes within the ranks must be put to death. And they must be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in." Within the ranks: the rows of soldiers lined up in order (sderoth); literally, what was regulated. Josephus interprets this as meaning whoever would entered the Temple armed was to be killed. Until the coronation was an accomplished fact, they asked no questions. 9. And the rulers of hundreds did according to all that Y'hoyada the priest commanded. That is, each took his men who go in [on] the Sabbath, along with those who go out on the Sabbath, and came to Y'hoyada the priest. 10. And the priest gave the rulers of hundreds the spears and dominating [shields] that had belonged to King David, which were in the House of YHWH. Though the Egyptian Pharaoh Shoshaq had plundered the shields King Shlomoh had put in the House of the Forest of Levanon (1 Kings 14:26), apparently there was another armory all the way inside the Temple complex which he did not touch. The Temple could function as a sort of inner fortress, being within the city walls but having additional walls of its own. This was also necessary since the north side of the city, where the Temple sat, was the least naturally-defensible, not having a steep hillside to climb just to reach the city walls as on the other three sides. These arms were the property of Yoash's own family, so there was no question that it was valid to use them to defend him even against his half-Tzidonian grandmother.11. And each of the runners was standing with his weapon in his hand, from the right shoulder of the Temple as far as the left shoulder, [the one] belonging to the altar and [the one] belonging to the House, above the king on every side. Right shoulder…left shoulder: Josephus takes this as meaning they would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with shields much like the stances the Roman army would take on the defensive, so that no one could get through.12. Then he brought out the son of the king and conferred on him the crown [of consecration] and the testimony. Thus they made him king, and anointed him, and clapped their hands, and said, "[Long] live the king!" YHWH had preserved the seed of David after all! He had not forgotten His promises to David. Prior to this, many people might have thought King Akhazyahu had been counted too wicked to have an heir to the throne, and that David's line had ended as YHWH suggested it might when He stipulated that David's throne would continue forever if the kings walked before YHWH. (1 Kings 9:4-5) The mere realization that this had not been the case would be enough to cause great enthusiasm even for those who were merely patriotic and not necessarily Torah-observant. Consecration: setting him apart (nezer) like a Nazir for a special task, in this case that of the ruler of Yehudah. Testimony: The Torah like that which was put into the Ark (Ex. 25:16), of which he was to make a copy upon accession to the throne. (Deut. 17:18) Since we are not told whether any kings actually followed this order after David, this may have been David's own copy, some 160 years old. It was only a testimony to the real covenant that could not be put into the box, because it is intangible; the writing only bears witness to what we have agreed to do. Our actions are what constitute the covenant. If we are not obeying, we have no covenant, even if it is "written on our hearts" In Ex. 16:33-34, the phrase "face of YHWH" is substituted with the word "Testimony" in a parallel construct, so in crowning the king, he was also bestowing YHWH's face on him, which means His favor (as seen in Aharon's blessing, Num. 6:25) Clapped their hands: Thus when all peoples are commanded to clap their hands (Psalm 2), it is referring to a coronation--in this case, of the Messiah, but as we see here, the term "messiah" applied to anyone who was anointed, especially those in the royal line of David. 13. When Athalyah heard the noise of the firmness of the people, she came toward the people at the House of YHWH. Josephus (who is not as reliable as Scripture but knew of many traditional interpretations of Scriptures written before his own day) says she brought her own army with her.14. Then she looked, and, lo and behold, the king was standing upon the pillar according to the customary procedure, with the leaders and the trumpeters [facing] toward the king, and all the people of the Land were joyful and were blowing on [silver] trumpets. Then Athalyah tore her clothes and began to cry out, "Treason! Treason!" People of the Land: Josephus said the rest of the people would remain inside the Temple courts, unarmed, but ready. Pillar: possibly the same as the platform King Shlomo built for the dedication of the Temple. (1 Kings 8:22) There is a play on words here: tore is qara in Hebrew, and cry out is qara'. Treason: or, conspiracy, unlawful alliance. But the word for the "clothing" that she tore actually means "treachery", so the very text tells us that she was the one who was treasonous. In usurping power, Athalyahu was bringing the "liberal" ways of the Gentiles into Yehudah in a worse way even than Izevel had done in Israel. No wonder the people intuitively knew this had to end, but they had to present it as an accomplished fact before the queen could find out about it.15. Then Y'hoyada the priest gave orders to the captains of the hundreds who were in charge of the army and said to them, "Bring her out to within the ranks, and whoever follows her, put to death by the sword," because the priest had said, "Don't let [anyone] be killed in the House of YHWH." Whoever follows her: or, comes near to help her. Apparently very few people were still loyal to her once it was clear there was an heir to David's throne, if they ever really were. In charge of: or, who mustered.16. So they laid hands on her [when she was] on her way in [where] the horses enter the palace, and she was executed there. There was nothing haphazard about Y'hoyada's planning. He had all his bases covered. 17. Then Y'hoyada cut a covenant between YHWH, the king, and the people, to serve as a people for YHWH, and between the king and the people. As a people for YHWH: those whose Elohim He would be. This three-way covenant is rather unique.18. And all the people of the Land went into the temple of Baal and started tearing it down! They smashed its altars and its images thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. Then the priest stationed musterers over the House of YHWH. Though the temples to Baal had been destroyed from the northern kingdom, the same had not yet been done in Yehudah. Apparently this cult had become very well-established in Yehudah during Athalyahu's six-year reign. Josephus said Athalyahu and Y'horam had built this temple. Images: or shadows, shades.19. Then he took the captains of hundreds, the Carians, , the runners, and all the people of the Land, and they brought the king down from the House of YHWH, and came into the palace by way of the Runners' Gate, and he seated him on the throne of the kings. 20. Then all the people of the Land began to rejoice, and then the city quieted down when they had executed Athalyahu by the sword at the palace. Quieted down: i.e., had peace. Josephus said they kept a feast for many days--another hint that this took place at one of YHWH's appointed times, most likely Sukkoth, when the Temple had been rededicated by Shlomoh as well. 2 Chronicles 23:18-19 adds that Y'hoyada also restored the Temple service according to the courses of duty David had laid out (1 Chron. 24), and arranged it so that no unclean person could enter the Temple.21. [12:1 in Hebrew] Yoash was seven years old when he began to reign. Clearly Y'hoyada was the real ruler until Yoash was of age to rule on his own. CHAPTER 121. Y'hoash became king in the seventh year of Yehu, and he reigned forty years in Yerushalayim, and the name of his mother [was] Tzivyah of Be'er-sheva.Apparently his mother was killed in Athalyahu's massacre. Tzivyah means "a doe", but it also sounds like it could be related to "YHWH has commanded", in which case the commandment of YHWH is pictured as being done away with by the one "afflicted by YHWH"--possibly a prophecy of how Yahshua would be misconstrued. Be'er-sheva is where Avraham dug a well and made a covenant with seven ewes, of which this seventh year is reminiscent. The root word for the Hebrew word "well" means "to clarify" an dthus to interpret. But in this chapter we will see the people continuing to interpret the water of YHWH's word in any way they wish to.2. And Y'hoash did what was upright in the eyes of YHWH all his days in which Y'hoyada the priest instructed him, He would indeed prove that his upright acts arose from his mentor's prodding rather than from the depth of his heart. This highlights the importance of a righteous leader training his sons to carry on his legacy--which Y'hoyada effectively did, but Y'hoash ignored it, as we will see, possibly affording only Y'hoyada such respect because he had been like a father to him.3. only, the cultic platforms were not removed; the people still slaughtered and burned incense on the cultic platforms. One way to look at this is that reforms have to be made one step at a time. Y'hoash made an honorable start, yet he could have done so much more. None of the kings since Shlomoh had done anything about these "high places" that he had allowed to be built, no matter how righteous they were otherwise. They did right in their personal lives, but left the leaven in the loaf, which continued to endanger their brothers. They did what was right but not what was righteous (doing right for the right reasons). What was so attractive about these things that made all the kings hesitate to destroy them? Baal worship was gone from the Land, yet these persisted. Why? These were their security, because in them the people still had something in common with the other nations around them. They may have wanted approval from them, to legitimize their existence as a nation in their own eyes. They were "covering all bases", incase this return to their roots didn't quite work out. They were "keeping their irons in two fires". This is clearly also a prophecy of those who embrace their Hebrew roots yet remain loyal to the "only-half-pagan" Church.4. Then Y'hoash said to the priests, "All the silver of the dedicated things that is brought into the House of YHWH--money of each man that crosses over--silver of the estimated souls, any money that arises upon a man's heart to bring [into the] House of YHWH, That crosses over: the phrase is pronounced "over" in Hebrew as well! 2 Chronicles 24 calls this the tribute of Moshe that was laid on Israel in the wilderness, and Josephus states directly that it was the half-sheqel "Temple tax" (Ex. 30:13), and that Y'hoash had sent into all of Yehudah to collect it.5. "that the priests shall receive, each from his acquaintance, and let them restore to strength the [places where] the Temple is cracked; [it is] for any [place] where [such a] crack is found." Crack: or breach, leak, fissure. The majority had thought the temple to Baal was "the place to be" until recently, so the Temple would have largely fallen into disuse. But in addition to the natural dilapidation that comes from years of neglect (as it seems a house that is not lived in always deteriorates more quickly), we are told in 2 Chron. 24 that Athalyahu and her sons had deliberately damaged the Temple of YHWH and used its holy vessels for the temple of Baal instead. 6. Now it turned out [that by the time a] year [had elapsed]--the twenty-third year of King Y'hoash--the priests had not restored a crack of the Temple to strength! 2 Chronicles 24 tells us he had told them to hurry. Josephus speculates or cites a tradition that the priests thought no one would pay this willingly, so they hesitated to ask for it.7. So Y'hoash the king called for Y'hoyada the priest and for the priests and said to them, "Why haven't you restored [one] crack [in] the Temple? So now, don't take any money from your acquaintances, because you must provide it [yourselves] for the cracked [parts] of the Temple." "The priest" as distinguished from "the priests" may show he was the high priest (but possibly not, as a high priest is mentioned in v. 10). Even Y'hoyada was now being questioned by the king he raised. They had been given whatever money had come in to do this work, so the logical conclusion was that they were not buying what was needed but keeping it for themselves instead, and so they were asked again to do with it what it had been designated for.8. While the priests consented to receive no [more] money from the people, [they] also [agreed] to not restore the cracked [parts] of the Temple to strength. Or, "from the people, except to repair…" This might seem to make more sense. But more likely it should be understood as saying they were willing to stop receiving these added gifts and turn them over directly to the repair fund from this point forward, but did not want to do the work themselves. After all, this would be the job of the other Levites, not the priests. So their argument would stand up in court. What the king was asking for was more than YHWH had required of them. He really could only make a request. Whether enough other Levites were trained for service is another question, yet still one would think the priests, if at all zealous for YHWH, would want to do whatever they could to improve the Temple of YHWH. But the precedent was that David and Shlomoh had provided from their own resources to build the Temple. However, Y'hoash was not really trained to be a king, having grown up in hiding and isolated from the palace; his training had been in the priestly realm, so he may not have been aware of this tradition. And since the people were already paying tithes, and were dividing their donations between YHWH's House and the cultic platforms, they might not have been so willing to donate more than the bare minimum, and if the priests took this from what Moshe had said was theirs by right, they probably thought they would not have enough left to live on, since people's patronage at the Temple was sporadic at best. Since the people were not whole-hearted, neither were the priests. They come across as somewhat stingy.9. So Y'hoyada the priest took a single chest and bored a hole in its [hinged] lid, and set it near the altar, on the right side as one comes into the House of YHWH, and the priests who guarded the threshold put into it all the silver that was brought into the House of YHWH. Hinged lid: the same as the Hebrew word for "door".10. Then what they did was, when they saw that the silver in the chest became abundant, [one of] the king's scribes went up with the high priest and secured and counted up the money that was found in the House of YHWH. Found: because rather than asking for it this time, they just set a strategic hint in a very important place so that those who were full of zeal for YHWH's house would donate when they saw what needed repairing. And 2 Chronicles 24 tells us that the people did keep giving joyfully until it was finished. Josephus says they even competed with one another over how large a quantity they could bring in. (Antiquities of the Jews 9:8:2)11. Then they gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those [who were] doing the work--those entrusted with being overseers [in] the House of YHWH, and they brought it out to the engravers of wood and the builders who were working on the House of YHWH, Those who were doing the work may have been the Levites, but one would think this would have been stated more clearly if it were. In any case, when the work needs to be done and no priest is available, any Levite will do. Where there is not a Levite, any Israelite who can do it may be called on. Willingness counts for much in YHWH's eyes if one actually carries out the work. Weighed out: Compare the elements of Yeshayahu/Isaiah 26:5-8 to the context here.12. as well as to the wall-masons and stonecutters, and to purchase lumber and stone cut to repair the cracked [portions] of the House of YHWH, and for all who went out on top of the House to repair it.
13. Indeed, no silver bowls or snuffers or pitchers or trumpets, nor any utensils of gold or silver, were made [for] the House of YHWH from the silver that was brought [into] the House of YHWH, 2 Chronicles clarifies that these items were not made until they were finished with the repairs. (24:14) So it was not quite as bad as it sounds. But still, the things that really bring one close to YHWH were left until last. Pharaoh Shishaq of Egypt had plundered such items from the Temple in Rehav'am's day (1 Kings 14:25; Velikovsky identifies him with Thutmose III, who recorded images of all the vessels taken from what he called a holy land on a wall in the Karnak temple--see photo above), so there were probably minimal holy implements available with which to carry out the Temple services. What value was there in having a building intact if there was nothing to use therein? Pitchers were needed for the altar, snuffers for the menorah, trumpets to signal new moons, which set the calendar for the rest of the festivals. How could they get along without these? It seems like they have it all backwards. At any other time, the altar was in use long before the rest of the Temple was built. So it seems that Y'hoash is appealing to the vanity of the people, or trying to draw more people (who had previously been won over to the Baals) back into some aspect of the worship of YHWH by making His Temple look as nice as Baal's had, yet was leaving the most holy things undone--not at all unlike the Church today. If they were not willing to walk through ruined courtyards to be able to participate in the true worship, they were not really worthy of YHWH anyway.14. because they gave it to those who were doing the work, and with it they repaired the House of YHWH. 15. And they did not require an accounting of the men into whose hands they were entrusting the money to provide for those who were doing the work, because they were dealing faithfully. This is one of the highlights of the entire Scripture, and among the highest honors that can be conferred upon men! These common craftsmen (if they were not indeed Levites) proved more eager than the priests had been when given a meaningful task to perform and the means to perform it! Maybe the priests were just too used to their work and it had ceased to be special to them, like the townspeople in a prophet's hometown. It was too normal for them, too close to home, and it seemed "old hat" to them. This may be one of the greatest benefits of our exile--a greater sense of what is set apart, because we have been out in the profane for so long and can see the contrast more sharply when we now find something really worth building.16. But the silver of the guilt-offering and the silver of the sin-offering were not brought into the House of YHWH; it belonged to the priests. Y'hoyada lived to be 130 years of age. (2 Chron. 24:15) Josephus says he was even buried in the tombs of the kings since he had been the one who restored the kingship to David's family. 17. Then Khaza'el the king of Aram came up and made war on Gath and captured her, so Khaza'el determined to go up against Yerushalayim. Determined: literally, set his face. One victory gave him the confidence that he could accomplish a greater one. Gath had been one of the five chief cities of the Filistines, and it must have been well-fortified, having once had giants among its citizens who could more than likely have done great feats to strengthen it. If he could conquer this, he thought he could conquer anything. Had the word leaked to him that so much wealth was being poured into the Temple, so that he thought this nation would be worth his time to plunder? The cracks in the walls of the Temple had been repaired, but there were still breaches in the security of the nation, probably due to "loose lips" of people boasting about the great things that went on in the middle of this chapter.18. So Y'hoash took all the holy things that his ancestors Y'hoshafat, Y'horam, and Akhazyahu, the kings of Yehudah, had dedicated, as well as the things he himself had dedicated, as well as all the gold that was found in the treasuries of YHWH's House as well as the king's palace, and he sent it to Khaza'el the king of Aram, so he withdrew from [being set] against Yerushalayim. Withdrew: literally, went up. He ascended, because he chose not to destroy something set apart, but at what a price! This account makes it sound like Yerushalayim was unscathed, but 2 Chronicles 24 tells us that Khaza'el actually killed many of the leaders of the city and that Y'hoash himself was severely wounded, which may be why he surrendered. A small band of Arameans was able to defeat a great host of Israelites because they had forsaken YHWH. (See below.) Y'hoash was too much like his own father and not enough like his earlier ancestor David. He appears to not have put up much of a fight to preserve the holy things and the treasures that belonged to his ancestors. And if he had all of these treasures stored up, why did he wait to make the Temple implements until the other work was done? He must have been saving it as security for an event like this very one! The scribe does not come out and say he did not use it since it would have probably meant his head, but he subtly points out that the materials had been there all along. Israel has had a long history of not trusting YHWH--even when His cloud and fiery pillar were visible in our midst! We must do better than this! And because they did not invest them in the work of the Kingdom, they lost them altogether. They ended up in the hands of an enemy who did not care much for YHWH. 19. Now the rest of the words of Yoash and all that he accomplished, aren't they recorded in the Book of the Chronicles belonging to the kings of Yehudah? This scribe would rather only record his better earlier legacy, for he ended his days in much worse spiritual condition. Notice that his name is even truncated after the last action mentioned.20. Then there was an uprising [among] his servants, and they banded together in a conspiracy and struck Yoash down in the house of the Millo which goes down [the] highway. Millo: literally, the "filled-in" place. This is considered by many to be the "stepped-stone structure" which has been uncovered by archaeologists on the eastern flank of the City of David, the original part of Yerushalayim. Highway: Heb, silla'. This part of Yerushalayim is today called Silwan by the Arabs--probably a corruption of Shiloakh (Siloam in Greek), but possibly from an older connection with this term.21. That is, Yozakhar the son of Shim'ath and Y'hozavad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him down and he died, and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Amatzyah became king in his place. Yozakhar means "YHWH has remembered". Shim'ath means "report" or "what is heard". Y'hozavad means "YHWH has endowed/bestowed". Shomer means "watchman", "guard", or "one who is observant". Amatzyah means "YHWH is strong" in the sense of firm, assured, determined, persistent, or having proven superior to others. But if they were not staging a coup, why would they kill the king? (For they did let his own son reign, possibly out of respect for YHWH's choice of the line of David.) Did they think that after forty years it was "just time for a change", whether for the better or not? 2 Chron. 24 answers our question: After Y'hoyada's death Yoash was persuaded by Yehudah's leaders to let Israel turn to the worship of Asherah (the many-breasted goddess from whom the idea of Easter eggs was derived), and when Y'hoyada's son acted as prophet and warned him, he ordered him executed, bringing YHWH's wrath.He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. CHAPTER 13[c. year 3187 from creation; 813 B.C.E.] 1. In the twenty-third year—the year belonging to Yoash the son of Akhazyahu, the king of Yehudah, Y’hoakhaz the son of Yehu became king over Israel in Shomron [and reigned] seventeen years. This is the same year that the Temple began to be repaired—probably Yoash’s finest year. Y’hoakhaz means essentially the same as Akhazyahu (“YHWH has taken a firm hold”), the two words merely being reversed in order. Many names are being repeated even across the borders of the two kingdoms.2. But he did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH and walked after the sins of Yarav’am the son of N’vat [by] which he caused Israel to miss the target; he did not turn away from that. No matter what their other accomplishments, this is becoming the only standard by which the kings of Israel are judged. The scribe seems to find the necessary listing tiresome, since the nation is getting nowhere, and says the bare minimum about each.3. So YHWH’s anger was kindled against Israel, and He handed them over to Khaza’El, king of Aram, and to Ben-Hadad the son of Khaza’El all the days. All the days: constantly or relentlessly, and all the days of Y’hoakhaz’s life (v. 22).4. Then Y’hoakhaz began to beg for the presence of YHWH, and YHWH listened to him, because He had noticed the distress of Israel, because the king of Aram was oppressing them Beg: the word ranges in meaning from “make oneself sick” to “become weak” to “be wounded”—i.e., his begging was painstaking. YHWH had told Shlomoh, “If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their Land.” (2 Chron. 7:14)5. (so YHWH provided a deliverer for Israel so they could get out from under the hand of Aram, and the sons of Israel lived in tents as in a former time YHWH was so eager to have His people come close to Him that He was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. The nation was so far gone by this time that any move back toward Him received positive reinforcement from Him. Lived in tents: possibly a literal situation, meaning they went out to war against him, but it may also mean that they began to keep the feast of Sukkoth again or that they began to study the Torah once again, as “dwelling in tents” is used in this figurative sense as well. A former time: literally, “the third yesterday”.6. yet still they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Yarav’am by which he caused Israel to miss the target; he kept that going, and also, the Asherah remained standing at Shomron); His prayer turned out to be nothing more than one of those “Help me out of this situation” prayers so common all through history, for he proved to not have repented at all. This Asherah was not mentioned before, but Asherah was usually seen as the consort of Baal. Now that Baal-worship was banished from the Land, and we see everyone’s name containing YHWH’s at this time, the significance of the fertility goddess still remaining is that this was the beginning of a popular ideology in which the “widowed” Asherah was now “married” to YHWH. Numerous idols and inscriptions about “YHWH and His Asherah” have been found all over the Land, even in Yerushalayim. (William Dever) This was most common in household worship because people were rightly hesitant to make images of YHWH, but they represented Him through His “feminine counterpart”, and this “need” to attach a female deity to a male remained all the way up until the Christian idea of “Mary mother of God”. The Protestants did not protest this far enough, because like ancient Israel they have not been willing to let go of the idea of an additional “God” besides YHWH. Why is YHWH not enough?7. indeed, he did not leave any people to Y’hoakhaz except fifty war-horses, ten chariots, and ten thousand footsoldiers, because the king of Aram had done away with them and made them like dust to trample on. This is an extremely small army for a land this size. He: Khaza’El, but ultimately YHWH. The people did the bare minimum in repenting, so He left them with just barely enough to defend the Land, but not enough to take any new ground, War-horses: or horsemen. To trample on: or, at threshing.8. Now the rest of the words of Y’hoakhaz and all that he accomplished along with his heroic deeds, aren’t they recorded in the Book of the Chronicles belonging to the kings of Israel? Heroic deeds: Usually necessary just to get someone into the position of king, but they are not especially noteworthy to this scribe, because they are not righteous.9. When Y’hoakhaz lay down with his ancestors, they buried him in Shomron, and his son Yoash reigned in his place.
10. In the thirty-seventh year—the year belonging to Yoash the king of Yehudah, Y’hoash the son of Y’hoakhaz became king over Israel [and reigned] sixteen years. The three-year overlap between the two kings named Y’hoash is probably the reason for the two different spellings in this verse.11. But he did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH and did not turn away from any of the sins of Yarav’am the son of N’vat [by] which he caused Israel to miss the target; that is what he walked in. 12. Now the rest of the words of Yoash and all that he accomplished, and his heroism with which he fought against Amatzyah the king of Yehudah, aren’t they recorded in the Book of the Chronicles belonging to the kings of Israel? The book of the Chronicles says Yoash attacked Amatzyah because Amatzyah had hired mercenaries from his army, despite its smallness—probably because they needed added revenue and having no other way to get it. However, Amatzyah sent them home (with pay) when a prophet told him YHWH was not with Israel. The latter, though paid the price promised, felt their honor was offended because of this, and made a number of attacks on border towns, killing 3,000 and taking much plunder while Amatzyah was off attacking Edom. Later YHWH allowed Yoash to prevail against Amatzyah because Amatzyah had brought idols back from the Edomites and started worshipping them. (2 Chron. 25) Yoash plundered the palace and the Temple and destroyed a 400-cubit length of Yerushalayim’s wall. Nonetheless, Amatzyah survived Yoash by 15 years; though upset with him, Yoash remembered that they were brothers. But why could Yoash not have spent his strength on more positive restoration in his own land? [c. year 3218 from creation; 782 B.C.E.] 13. When Yoash lay down with his ancestors, Yarav’am sat on his throne, and Yoash was buried in Shomron with the kings of Israel. This is a second Yarav’am. Not only did Yoash walk in the ways of Yarav’am; he conferred a high honor on the original Yarav’am by naming his son after him, possibly as the “father of his country” as its “bicentennial” approached—unless by naming his son this, he thought he might be able to restore honor to that name if his son was more righteous than the first. 14. Now when Elisha had become ill with the sickness by which he would die, Yoash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face, and said, “My father! My father! The chariot of Israel and its war-horses!” Ill: Why would YHWH let such a great prophet die from an illness? The word actually often refers to being worn down, as with sandpaper. The half-heartedness of everyone in the nation he loved may have made him lose hope as Yitzhaq had, so that the strain simply wore him out. Chariot…war-horses: This is not an allusion to the loss of most of the army (v. 7). Rather, Yoash was quoting the already well-known words Elisha himself had said to Eliyahu as he was being taken away. (2:12) While he may have simply been trying to curry favor with him in a pragmatic way (since he had not been very righteous before this) or bewailing the fact that this great prophet was going away as well, this time there was a more sobering meaning to these words, because the last of the great prophets to the Northern Kingdom was departing. Aside from Hoshea (also during Yoash’s reign), not until we were dispersed would YHWH send a prophet of this caliber to speak specifically to us, and even then it was indirectly, as Y’hezq’El spoke these prophecies to the Jewish exiles in Bavel. The kings, though often reluctantly, had always been able to go to Elisha for answer, especially in regard to military threats like the one that loomed before them in Khaza’El at this time. His impending death left the outlook for the nation bleak, especially since, unlike Eliyahu, he had failed to invest himself in a clear successor, probably having felt no one was worthy of this honor after he was betrayed by Gehazi and abandoned by his students as too strict, and he appears to have had no son either. He was the one who had been holding back YHWH’s judgment on Israel; when he was gone, to whom would Yoash turn? He seems to have been desperately hinting that he needed a final word from Elisha like what Eliyahu gave him when he was about to be left alone against the world in the same way:15. So Elisha said to him, “[Go] get a bow and [some] arrows.” So he procured for himself a bow and arrows. 16. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Make your hand ride on the bow!” When he had begun to make his hand “ride”, Elisha put his hand on the hand of the king Ride on the bow: Josephus interprets this as meaning to string up his bow. He seems to be alluding directly to Yaaqov’s deathbed promise to Yoseyf (ancestor of this very Northern Kingdom) that Elohoim would remain with him after he died, confirmed by his conferring on him some land that he had taken with his bow (Gen. 48:21-22), as well as Yaaqov’s later prophecy that Yoseyf’s bow would remain strong, strengthened by the Shepherd of Israel (Gen. 49:22-25), especially in the context of his being called the deliverer of Israel (v. 5 above). When laying his hands over the king’s, he would have to stand behind him, and like the laying of hands on the animal to be offered in the Temple, this showed identification of the king’s responsibility with his own. He was offering him fuller authority.17. and said, “Open the window on the east.” So he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he started shooting. And he said, “An arrow for YHWH’s deliverance, and an arrow for deliverance in Aram, and you will strike Aram at Afeq until you have finished it off!” Afeq: About three miles east of the Kinnereth (Sea of Galilee), probably one of the cities Khaza’El had taken from Israel. (v. 25) Compare how Y’honathan’s arrows indirectly delivered David out of the hands of King Sha’ul. (1 Shmu’el 20:36-37) To Noakh, YHWH used the bow as a promise that a flood would not overwhelm again, and “when the enemy comes in like a flood…YHWH will raise up a standard against them.” (Yeshayau 59:19) East was the general direction toward Aram from where they were, but there is more to it. The Hebrew word for “east” (qedem) also means “ancient” and “forward”. Deliverance came through the east wind when Moshe lifted his rod in obedience to YHWH. (Ex. 14:21) The tribe of Yehudah is found on the east in Israel’s camp (Num. 2:3), and likewise, many want the deliverance that comes through Yehudah (i.e., Yahshua), but not the obedience that carries it to its conclusion. The bow has strength, but the arrows have the point. Yoash was thinking only about defeating Aram, and not about following YHWH’s ancient ways, so he stopped short of what YHWH really wanted.18. When he had said, “Get the arrows”, and he had gotten them, he told the king of Israel, “Make [them] hit the ground!” So he made [them] hit the ground three times, and stopped. Elisha did not just offer him the blessing of prevailing over his enemies, but got him directly involved in bringing it about. But the king was not one for dramatizations, especially outdoors in front of the people, for they seemed silly and inconsequential to him, so his pride got in the way and he held back and did the bare minimum. After all, such acts made no sense to him since they physically accomplished nothing. Yet it was actions such as these from which YHWH had brought great results for Moshe when he struck the rock and when he lifted up his rod or threw ashes to the wind. There was no direct connection between these and the water gushing forth or the Reed Sea opening up or the plagues coming on Egypt, but like Y’hezq’El later, as he invested himself fully in the representation of what needed to be done, somehow doors were opened in the spiritual realm that would indeed align unseen elements to make it possible for the real thing to come about. Such portals are especially opened to us during worship, when David commands us to do such seemingly-ineffective things as raise our hands, twirl around, or leap for joy. (Yes, there are “crackpots” who carry such things to the extreme, but weigh the fruit of the other occasions YHWH had the prophets do such things.) Like Naaman’s dipping seven times in the Yarden, these numbers may have had something to do with the mathematics underlying the functioning of the universe, and while he thought he was finished, three times was just not enough. He should have gone on until he was told to stop. Yahshua also lamented over how Yerushalayim was offered deliverance on so many occasions, but refused to accept it.19. But the man of Elohim became furious with him and said, “By striking five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until it was finished off, but now you will [only] conquer Aram three times.” It was apparently meant to be time for the line of Aram to be quenched, but Yoash would not be the one to accomplish this. Aram stood between Israel and the Assyrians who would eventually conquer it, and YHWH used even this failure to buy more time for Israel to repent. Elisha seems to have been trying to invest himself into the king as a last-ditch effort to find someone to call his son in hopes of dying in the hope that Israel was left in capable hands. But it was too late, as he did not have enough strength left in him to train him as he needed. 20. Then Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of raiders [from] Moav entered the Land at the coming of the year, 21. and what took place was that, as they were burying a man, lo and behold, they saw the band of raiders, and threw the man into the tomb of Elisha. But as the man moved, he touched against the bones of Elisha, and he came back to life and got up onto his feet! One should not imagine that Elisha’s bones were lying in the ground when this man’s grave was being dug. Despite the extent of Israel’s spiritual compromise, Josephus says that Elisha’s funeral was a very great affair, and such an illustrious man must have been buried in a mausoleum (possibly built by Yoash himself) with a door that could be opened more quickly than they could finish hewing this man’s cave from the rock. Since the time appears to be a year after Elisha died, this was probably right after his bones were moved from the shelf on which his flesh was allowed to deteriorate and “gathered to his fathers” in another part of the tomb, as was customary in ancient Israel. They apparently planned to come back later and finish burying him, but this way at least his body would not be left on the open ground. What a surprise they would have if they had locked the tomb and he could not get out from inside, when they came back to get his body out for burial! But in the context of the reminder of the day when Elisha had asked for a double portion of Eliyahu’s spirit, we must add this. In the two books of the Kings, ten miracles are attributed to Eliyahu, and Elisha might well have been keeping count to see whether he had indeed received all he had asked for. But by the time Elisha died, only 19 miracles had been done by his hand. So this might have been part of the reason he was irritable on the day of his death. But now that this man had come back to life, YHWH had fulfilled the full “quota” of wonders that he had requested, though the last one was done through only the remains of his hand! 22. But Khaza’El the king of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Y’hoakhaz. This is another flashback from the chronological order, as in verse 14. Oppressed: literally, squeezed or crushed.23. But YHWH was merciful and showed them compassion and turned His face toward them for the sake of His covenant with Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov, and had not been willing either to let them be destroyed or to throw them out from over His face even until this point: Not for their own sake, but so that He would not be unfair to His friends the patriarchs, who were more worthy than they. (Compare Yeshayahu 48:9-11 and Y’hezq’El 20:44 and 36:22, which is specifically in the context of the restoration of the Northern Kingdom, which is beginning to occur today, so we must especially keep this perspective as He does the great things He has promised: It is not because we deserve it, but because we benefit from the worthiness of our forebears.)24. when Khaza’El, king of Aram, died, and his son Ben-Hadad had become king in his place, 25. Y’hoash the son of Y’hoakhaz returned and took the cities from the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Khaza’El that he had taken from the hand of his father Y’hoakhaz in battle. Yoash attacked him three times and recovered the cities of Israel. Note that Yoash’s name is truncated again when he is fulfilling Elisha’s grim prophecy—a mixed victory at best, yet at least YHWH allowed them to be successful for a time because he was minimally obedient to the prophet. His name (often idiomatic for his reputation) was therefore diminished as well, yet still this is how much those three arrows in verse 19 accomplished. CHAPTER 14[c. year 3204 from Creation; 796 B.C.E.]1. In the second year belonging to Yoash the son of Y’hoakhaz, king of Israel, Amatzyahu the son of Yoash began to reign as king of Yehudah. 2. He was twenty-five years old when he took the throne, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim, and his mother’s name was Y’hoaddin of Yerushalayim. Y’hoaddin means “YHWH is delighted”.3. And he did what was right in the eyes of YHWH, only not to the extent that his ancestor David [had]; he did according to all that his father Yoash had done, Not to the extent: a hard act to follow indeed, but 2 Chron. 25:1 explains that he did what was right, but not with a whole heart.4. except that the cultic platforms were not removed; still the people were slaughtering and burning incense at the cultic platforms. These were on the tops of hills. This is very reminiscent of the many steeples still allowed to remain atop many hills in Yehudah today.5. And it turned out that when the sovereignty had become firm in his hand, he struck down those who had struck down his father the king. While these men had a reason to kill the king (he had disregarded YHWH’s prophet and had him killed), still they had no authority to do so. Unlike David, they dared to “touch YHWH’s anointed”. Though on one level they accomplished justice for YHWH’s prophet, they paid the price for the manner in which they did it, for they really would have had to be told by a prophet to kill a king in the line of David. So Amatzyahu also was just in avenging his father’s assassins.6. But he did not kill the children of those who had struck [him] down, as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moshe that YHWH had given orders, saying, “The fathers are not to be put to death on account of the sons, nor are the sons to be put to death on account of the fathers, but rather each will be put to death by his own error.” The reference is to Deut. 24:16. (Compare Y’hezq’El 18:4, 20.)7. He attacked Edom in the Valley of Salt—ten thousand [of them]—and captured Sela by means of a battle, and called its name “Yaqth’El” [as it is known] to this day. Valley of Salt: either near or at the site of what has become part of the Dead Sea. Edom’s territory is just south of there. Sela is the stronghold now known as Petra. (Both names mean “rock” or “cliff/crag”.) It was much more highly-developed by the Nabateans later, but was originally Edom’s capital. It could only be entered by a narrow, mile-long passage between high cliffs, and so would be easy to defend and very hard to conquer. Yaqth’El means “the blamelessness of Elohim” or “obedience to Elohim”. Yet he let it go to his head very quickly:8. At that time Amatzyah sent messengers to Y’hoash the son of Y’hoakhaz, the son of Yehu, the king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s look one another in the face!” This was a challenge to a battle, not a family reunion. 2 Chronicles gives us the added background that at this time he sent away the Israelite soldiers he had hired to go with him to attack Edom, but a prophet warned him that Israel was in no spiritual condition to be in league with Yehudah, and though he paid them, they were insulted that he sent them back home, and they attacked several of his cities. He was therefore ready to fight them as well.9. But Y’hoash the king of Israel sent [word] to Amatzyahu, king of Yehudah, to say, “The thornbush that was in Levanon sent [word] to the cedar tree that was in Levanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ But a wild animal that was in Levanon passed through and trampled down the thornbush. That was the end of the thornbush. Remember that at this time, cedars of Levanon probably grew as large as redwoods, the biggest trees in the world, due to a northern California-like climate, drawing the contrast even more sharply. He was clearly but indirectly saying, “You are no match for me!” Kings often gave their children to one another in marriage to prevent wars between them, but normally the one who gave the daughter to the other king’s son was the weaker party, entering into an alliance of subservience in order to have the stronger nation’s protection. But here, Y’hoash sees Amatzyah as thinking he has the upper hand: “He thinks I need his protection!”10. “Indeed, you have beaten Edom and your heart has lifted you up. Stay in your home and enjoy the honor! Why, then, should you stir yourself up with trouble and bring about the downfall of both yourself and Yehudah with you?” He had made some minor attacks out of spite to punish Amatzyahu for insulting him, but did not see the need for an all-out war with his brothers. He was hoping Amatzyahu would take the hint and back down.11. But Amatzyahu would not listen, so Y’hoash the king of Israel went up, and they looked each other in the face—he and Amatzyahu the king of Yehudah—at Beth-Shemesh, which belongs to Yehudah. Beth-Shemesh (“house or temple of the sun”) is in the foothills about 15 miles nearly due west of Yerushalayim. There was another city by this name in Egypt—also known as Heliopolis (which also means “city of the sun”) or On. It is not certain whether this Jewish town was the home to a “branch” of the sun’s cult that burned incense to it. There may have been no connection; it may have been named after some kind of topographical feature here that highlighted the sun’s position, but sun-worship was rampant all around the world at that time. Every form of paganism seems to have been attached to it in some way. The fact that Israel defeated Yehudah here may be symbolic of Christians, who had become stronger, destroying their Jewish brothers through capitulation to Constantine’s cult of the “unconquered sun” and persecuting those who were “recalcitrant” in sticking to the “old ways” of keeping the Sabbath.12. But Yehudah was beaten before Israel, and each man fled to his tent. Indeed, Amatzyahu had bitten off more than he could chew.13. And Y’hoash the king of Israel captured Amatzyahu, king of Yehudah, the son of Yoash the son of Akhazyahu at Beth-Shemesh. Then they came to Yerushalayim, and he made a breach in the wall of Yerushalayim at the Gate of Efrayim, all the way to the Corner Gate—400 cubits! The Gate of Efrayim was on the northern part of the wall Shlomoh had built along the transversal valley that ran perpendicular to the western wall of the Temple westward to the Corner Gate spoken of here, which was on the northwestern corner of the city at the Hinnom Valley, very close to the site of the Yaffa Gate today. The Gate of Efrayim is at the northern edge of what today is called the Jewish Quarter.14. And he took all the gold and silver and all the implements that were found in the House of YHWH and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, as well as hostages, and went back to Shomron. Hostages: literally, sons of the pledge/exchange/surety. I.e., they were held for ransom. This does not seem at all fair! Overall Amatzyahu’s record was much better than Yoash’s; his rulings were according to Torah. (v. 6) Yet, as so often takes place, it was Yehudah that suffered this “holocaust”, while Israel seemed “successful” while they had no fear of YHWH, being more interested in gold (of which their gods were indeed made, though they called them “YHWH”). He got away with the treasure and YHWH allowed it. Why? Because Yehudah was only walking in the Torah “for the most part”. It is much more dangerous to be partially in Torah than to not seek YHWH at all, because a minor stench in someone closer to Him will irritate Him much more than a major foul odor exuded by someone far off. Yehudah is saying it wants intimacy with YHWH, and quotes the Torah, yet reserves the cultic platforms for themselves, so it cannot stand against its enemies, as wrong as they might be in comparison. Yehudah had kept something else as a “backup security”, so YHWH allowed the objects used in His worship to be taken away. Those who know more and commit to more are judged more strictly. It hurts more to fall off a higher step, because they were not yet at the top, which is the only place where it is safe. Yehudah was the only people righteous enough to be worth attacking at the time of the Holocaust, but because they were not a light to the nations, but were rather trying to assimilate and focusing on gaining wealth, so they had much further to fall. 15. Now the rest of the words of Y’hoash, what he accomplished, and his heroism, that is, when he fought with Amatzyahu the king of Yehudah—aren’t they recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 16. When Y’hoash lay down with his ancestors, he was buried in Shomron with the kings of Israel, and Yarav’am his son began to reign in his place. The next thing we read after he steals YHWH’s possessions is that he dies, so he did pay the price for this presumptuousness. YHWH had no more use for him after using him to chastise Amatzyahu. 17. Now Amatzyahu the son of Y’hoash, king of Yehudah, lived fifteen years after the death of Y’hoash the son of Y’hoakhaz the king of Israel. 18. And the rest of the matters of Amatzyahu, aren’t they recorded on the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Yehudah?
19. When they made a conspiracy against him in Yerushalayim, he fled to Lakhish, but they sent [men] after him at Lakhish, and killed him there. Lakhish was the strongest of a series of fortresses along the front where the foothills met the coastal plain, designed chiefly to protect Yerushalayim from attack from the west. Militarily, it was the second most important city in Yehudah at this time. It is about 23 miles southwest of Yerushalayim.20. Then they lifted him up onto the horses and he was buried in Yerushalayim with his ancestors—in the City of David. The City of David is the original portion of Yerushalayim, which by now had about ten times the area the city had before Shlomoh. [c. year 3209 from Creation; 791 B.C.E.] 21. Now all the people of Yehudah had seized Azaryah when he was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amatzyahu. Amatzyahu may have stayed at Lakhish for some time before being killed. Why did they kill a king if they did not wish to overthrow his line? 2 Chronicles 25:27 says it was after he had turned away from following YHWH. Azaryah (“YHWH has helped”) was also known as Uzziyah, or “YHWH is my strength”.(2 Chron. 26:1) [c. year 3233 from Creation; 767 B.C.E.] 22. He rebuilt Eylath and restored it to Yehudah after the king had lain down with his ancestors. Eylath is at the northern tip of the eastern branch of the Reed Sea (the Gulf of Aqaba), at the extreme southern corner of Israel today. Also known as Etzion-Gever, it was a port Shlomoh had established, but it had been captured since by another people as Yehudah had weakened—probably Edom. After the king had lain down: He was technically co-regent from 791-767 B.C.E., then became sole ruler upon his father’s assassination. More is said about him in chapter 15. [c. year 3207 from Creation; 793 B.C.E.] 23. In the fifteenth year—the year belonging to Amatzyahu the son of Yoash, king of Yehudah, Yarav’am the son of Yoash became king of Israel in Shomron, [and reigned] 41 years. 24. But he did what was wrong in the eyes of YHWH: he did not turn away from any of the sins of Yarav’am the son of N’vat, who caused Israel to miss the target. 25. He restored the border of Israel from the entrance to Khamath all the way to the Sea of the Aravah, according to the word of YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, which he spoke by means of His servant Yonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who [came] from Gath-ha-Khefer, Sea of the Aravah: that is, the Salt Sea (or Dead Sea). The Reed Sea is also in the Aravah (though not completely), but Yehudah, not Israel, owned the approach to it. These were the boundaries Y’hoshua originally laid out, but which had been lost to Aram. Here is some information about Yonah which does not appear in the book named after him. This verse is the only way we know exactly where he came from and where he fits in the chronology. Gath-ha-Khefer means “the winepress of exploration/ digging/ searching”. The town was in Z’vulun’s territory, very close to Mount Tavor and the later site of Natzereth, on the southern edge of the Galil His prophecy was positive, but Amos, who also prophesied around this time, gave a negative prophecy about the same areas, threatening a reversal since Israel was not living in a manner worthy of this victory. (6:14) Hoshea also prophesied to the Northern Kingdom during this reign.26. because YHWH had seen the very bitter affliction of Israel, because restraint had come to an end, and there ceased to be anything left, and there was no helper for Israel, Restraint…left: or, there was none bound and none free.27. and YHWH had not said He would obliterate the name of Israel from under the heavens, so He delivered them by the hand of Yarav’am the son of Yoash. He showed an abundance of mercy to allow this wicked ruler to triumph over his enemies, but Israel’s cup is becoming full; at the time of Yarav’am’s death, only 31 years will remain until the latter of two major deportations into exile, and it seems YHWH is helping them “squeeze the grapes” by blessing them while they are still in sin. They think they are receiving His favor, but in fact have much to answer for. They think they are getting away with much, but in fact are getting deeper and deeper into trouble.28. Now the rest of the words of Yarav’am and all that he accomplished, and his heroism by which he fought and in which he brought Damaseq and Khamath back into Israel for Yehudah—aren’t they recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
29. When Yarav’am lay down with his ancestors—with the kings of Israel—his son Z’kharyah became king in his place.
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Meysha is important because a stele found in 1868 near Dibon (Dhiban, Jordan today) on the Kings' Highway, containing his own accounts of contemporary events, corroborates his existence and adds more details to this story, though his version of the story is biased in his favor, of course. The cuneiform El-Amarna letters found in Egypt (part of the royal archives of pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhen-aton) also mention Meysha often. Breeder of sheep: or one who raised sheep; from a root word meaning "to mark or brand". This would render the sheep unusable for Temple offerings, but not for domestic consumption. It is interesting that his ancestor, Moav, was conceived very deliberately (Gen. 19) for the purpose of preserving the whole human race, in his mother's estimation (thinking her family was the only one left alive on earth after the S'dom catastrophe). Now Moav's chief business was the deliberate conception of animals. "One does what one knows."
Undoubtedly they were sacrificing to Khemosh, their national deity, whose name means "the subduer". Either they thought they had to appease their deity because they had lost the battle and angered him, or were trying to give it the best things they had to offer, and so "shot themselves in the foot" by taking their own crown prince off the face of the earth. The illogic of those outside Torah contrasts starkly with these who were such close cousins but were so much wiser because they remained with the covenant to a greater and lesser extent. (Compare Deut. 4:6.) And of course the latter were disgusted to the point of outrage, so they could not stand to even be around such people anymore. An alternate reading is "great wrath came against Israel", though this would be the less common way to take the phraseology. The Moavites might have been incensed that their king had been driven to such a desperate act that they felt they had to blame Israel, though they themselves were the cause of their own troubles. The Meysha Stele states that Meysha built an altar to Khemosh (see photo) at Qerihoh (probably this Qir-Kharaseth, right beside Dibon where the stele was found), saying, "Omri was king of Israel and oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. And his son succeeded him and he also said I will oppress Moab. In my days he said this, but I got the upper hand of him and his house: and Israel perished for ever... I had the ditches of Qerihoh dug by Israelite prisoners." This may refer to the end of the line of Akh'av, though chapter 9 credits this to Yehu instead. In Theses for the Reconstruction of Ancient History, Immanuel Velikovsky took this to be the reason Meysha made an attack on Israel's capital. If Moav indeed occupied Israel in his day, this may be the background for YHWH's rebuke on Moav in Tzefanyah 2:8-9 for enlarging its borders against Israel.
This would have been somewhere between 8 and 20 miles, depending on what part of Mount Karmel Elisha was on. (See photo at left.) This had become a place of great prominence to the household he now heads since Eliyahu had defeated the pagan priests here. It was probably the place the 102 soldiers had been reduced to ashes (1:9ff), and it was where the drought had been dealt with. So it is a place where YHWH's power has been exhibited and His favor extended to Israel in unusually-strong ways, so they drew great strength from it as well as they connected with these victories.
Henry Kissinger, though not enraged, echoed a similar sentiment when he saw the Yarden River for the first time, commenting, "What public relations can do for a river!" It is indeed tiny and unimpressive. But it is a treasure of Israel's heritage, marking a transition to a higher level of holiness. It seems the river was muddier than those near his home as well. Naaman's rage reveals that he has let his fame and position go to his head. While it was fitting and proper for others to regard him as a hero, he should look at himself as a servant. Instead, this high-ranking man who is from the nation of Aram, whose name already means "exalted", is insulted by the very name of the river, for Yarden means "descender". He is being told to lower himself completely (seven times, v. 10)--to get down off his "high horse". 
Apparently this news made him relax enough to finally fall into a deep sleep. He clearly trusted Khaza'El with access to the bedchamber, and never suspects him. Khaza'El seems quickly emboldened by Elisha's words, rationalizing that since the king is already on his deathbed, he might as well speed up the inevitable, so he suffocates the king while he has no consciousness of what is going on. Nicholas of Damascus said that Ben-Hadad's descendants reigned for ten generations after him, and most thought him wrong because of this event. But the El-Amarna letters (see example at right) also affirm that Khaza'El (called there by the name Azaru) was Ben-Hadad's (called there Abdi-Ashirta's) son by a harem woman (i.e., concubine), killed him while he was sick. Shalmaneser called him the "son of a nobody", in accordance with this identification. (Velikovsky dates the letters 500 to 600 years later than others do because there are so many parallels with the Biblical history from this era once we get past the seeming differences in names.) In his own writings, he uses the same expressions ascribed to him in the Scriptures. (Most notably the "dog" theme seen in verse 13. It was a common idiom in his time, but he in particular came to be simply called "the dog" in other of the letters. He claims that he burned most of Israel's towns and occupied the Land, and we will see confirmation of this in the following chapters.