PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Kings
Farrar, F. W. (Frederic William) · 148,035 words · 223 reading sections
Old Testament Volumes
Produced by Douglas L. Alley, III, Colin Bell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) The Expositor's Bible Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, D.D., LL.D. [Illustration] _Edited by_ W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, …
341 wordsSECTION 2Ahaziah Ben-Ahab Of Israel (B.C. 855-854) 3
ST. MATTHEW. By Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D. ST. MARK. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh. ST. LUKE. By Rev. Henry Burton. GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XI.; Vol. II., Chapters XII.-XXI. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. In 2 vols. By Rev. Prof. G. T. Stok…
267 wordsSECTION 3The Shunammite And Hazael 87
Uncertain date--The journey to Gilgal; to Bethel; to Jericho; to the Jordan--The double portion--Chariot and horses of fire--Elisha recrosses the Jordan--The young prophets and their search--Grandeur of Elijah. Cycle of supernatural stories--Elisha and Elijah--The cure of the unwholesome fountain--"Go up, thou bal…
262 wordsSECTION 4Amaziah Of Judah (B.C. 796-783[?]) 167
Jehoram (B.C. 851-843)--Ahaziah (B.C. 843-842)--Jehoram ben-Jehoshaphat of Judah--Perplexing uncertainty of minute chronological details--The blight of the Jezebel-alliance--The husband of Athaliah--His apostasies--Revolt of Edom--Narrow escape of Jehoram--Revolt of Libnah--Jehoram's murder by his brethren--Philis…
274 wordsSECTION 5Chapter Xx
THE DYNASTY OF JEHU--JEHOAHAZ (B.C. 814-797)--JOASH (B.C. 797-781) 175 Israel at its nadir--Calf-worship--Oppression of Hazael--Disappearance of Elisha--Repentance of Jehoahaz--Joash of Israel visits the death-bed of Elisha--"The arrow of the Lord's deliverance"--Three victories over the Syrians--Death of Elisha, …
260 wordsSECTION 6Hezekiah And Assyria (B.C. 701) 319
KING HOSHEA AND THE FALL OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM (B.C. 734-725) 235 The name Hoshea--The king and the prophet--Occasional gleams of hope and promise--A humiliating reign--Death of Tiglath-Pileser--Hoshea revolts to Sabaco of Egypt--Seized by Shalmaneser--Samaria besieged--Terrible state of the city--Sabaco renders…
291 wordsSECTION 7Josiah'S Reformation 385
Embassy of the Turtan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh--Misery and licence in the city--The conference--Oration of the Rabshakeh--Its effect on the king's ministers and on the people--Taunting insults of the Rabshakeh--Faithfulness and self-control of the people--Heroic faith of Isaiah--Failure of the embassy--Sen…
288 wordsSECTION 8Jeremiah And His Prophecies 449
Prosperity and happiness of Josiah--Accession of the great Pharaoh Necho II.--His excursion against Carchemish--Josiah determines to bar his path--Warnings of Pharaoh Necho--Disaster at Megiddo and death of Josiah--Mistaken hopes--God's dealings with men and nations--Distress among Josiah's subjects--The king's bu…
294 wordsSECTION 9B.C. 855-854
Nebuzaradan and the Babylonians--The final captivity--Dreadful fate of Zedekiah--Prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah--Sack of the city--Massacre of the chief inhabitants--Burning of the city and Temple--Desolation--Respect shown by the Babylonian general to Jeremiah--He decides to remain with the remnant in Judæa. …
683 wordsSECTION 10B.C. 855-854
Ahaziah's brief reign was marked by one immense humiliation. David, who extended the dominion of the Hebrews in all directions, had smitten the Moabites, and inflicted on them one of the horrible atrocities against which the ill-instructed conscience of men in those days of ignorance did not revolt.[3] He had made the …
660 wordsSECTION 11B.C. 855-854
Added to these public calamities, there came to Ahaziah a terrible personal misfortune. As he was coming down from the roof of his palace, he seems to have stopped to lean against the lattice of some window or balcony in his upper chamber in Samaria.[6] It gave way under his weight, and he was hurled down into the cour…
690 wordsSECTION 12B.C. 855-854
He spoke, and after his manner vanished with no less suddenness. The messengers, overawed by that startling apparition, did not dream of daring to disobey. They at once went back to the king, who, astonished at their reappearance before they could possibly have reached the oracle, asked them why they had returned. Th…
717 wordsSECTION 13B.C. 855-854
For myself, I more than doubt whether we have any right to appeal to these "peculiar instincts" and unrecorded inspirations; and it is so important that we should not form utterly false views of what Scripture does and does not teach, that we must once more deal with this narrative quite plainly, and not beat about the…
735 wordsSECTION 14B.C. 855-854
It is clear that, if we take the narrative literally, Elijah would not have felt the least remorse in calling fire from heaven to consume these scores of soldiers, because the prophetic narrator who recorded the story, perhaps two centuries later, must have understood the spirit of those days, and certainly felt no sha…
665 wordsSECTION 15Footnotes:
"walk the earth Unseen both when we wake and when we sleep." If such a supposition be correct and admissible--and assuredly it is based on all that we increasingly learn of the methods of Eastern literature, and of the forms in which religious ideas were inculcated in early ages--then all difficulties are removed. We…
656 wordsSECTION 16_The Ascension Of Elijah_
[17] Quoted by Rev. Professor Lumby, _ad loc._ [18] _Elijah_, p. 146. [19] This is practically the sum-total of the answer given again and again by Canon Mozley in his _Lectures on the Old Testament_, 2nd edition, 1878. For instance, he says that "the Jewish idea of justice gives us the reason why the Divine commands…
762 wordsSECTION 17_The Ascension Of Elijah_
The sequel can be only told in the words of the text: "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,[29] and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, 'My father, my father, the …
704 wordsSECTION 18Footnotes:
[23] Josh. iv. 19; v. 9, 10. [24] Deut. xi. 30. It is on a hill south-west of Shiloh (_Seilun_), near the road to Jericho (Hos. iv. 15; Amos iv. 4). The name means "a circle," and there may have been an ancient circle of sacred stones there. [25] 2 Kings iv. 38. [26] 1 Kings xiii. [27] As there are fords at Jericho…
482 wordsSECTION 19_Elisha_
2 KINGS ii. 1-25 "He did wonders in his life, and at death even his works were marvellous. For all this the people repented not."--ECCLUS. xlviii. 14, 15. At this point we enter into the cycle of supernatural stories, which gathered round the name of Elisha in the prophetic communities. Some of them are full of cha…
931 wordsSECTION 20_The Invasion Of Moab_
After this Elisha went for a time to the ancient haunts of his master on Mount Carmel, and thence returned to Samaria, the capital of his country, which he seems to have chosen for his most permanent dwelling-place. [37] The name Elisha means "My God is salvation." [38] Gen. xiii. 10. "The city of palms" (Deut. xxxiv…
1,367 wordsSECTION 21_The Invasion Of Moab_
Cheered by the promise of Divine aid which the prophet had given them, the host retired to rest. The next morning at day-dawn, when the _minchah_ of fine flour, oil, and frankincense was offered,[55] water, which, according to the tradition of Josephus, had fallen at three days' distance on the hills of Edom, came flow…
965 wordsSECTION 22_The Invasion Of Moab_
So upon the wall of Kir-haraseth, in the sight of all the Moabites, and of the three invading armies, the brave and desperate hero of a hundred fights, who had inflicted so many reverses upon these enemies, and received so many at their hands, but who, having liberated his country, now saw all the efforts of his life r…
561 wordsSECTION 23Footnotes:
[43] There are great difficulties in the statement (2 Kings iii. 1) that he began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat. I have not entered, nor shall I enter, into the minute and precarious conjectures necessitated by the uncertainties and contradictions of this synchronism introduced into the narrative by so…
663 wordsSECTION 24_Elisha'S Miracles_
[62] The rendering is doubtful. LXX., καὶ ἐγένετο μετάμελος μέγας ἐπὶ Ἰσράηλ; Vulg., indignatio _in_ Israel; Luther, _Da ward Israel sehr zornig_. [63] Amos ii. 1-3. [64] Hos. i. 4: "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu." 2 KINGS iv. 1-44 We are now in the full tide of Elisha's miracles, and as…
672 wordsSECTION 25_Elisha'S Miracles_
The stories of Elisha give us many interesting glimpses into the social life of Israel in his day. As to their literal historic accuracy, those must make positive affirmation who feel that they can do so in accordance alike with adequate authority and with the sacredness of truth. Many will be unable to escape the opin…
930 wordsSECTION 26_Elisha'S Miracles_
"Is there, then, nothing which we can do for her?" asked Elisha of Gehazi.[72] There was. Gehazi had learnt that the sorrow of her life--a sorrow and a source of reproach to any Eastern household, but most of all to that of a wealthy householder--was her childlessness. "Call her," he said. She came back, and stood r…
714 wordsSECTION 27_Elisha'S Miracles_
Then Elisha in deep anguish went up to the chamber and shut the door, and saw the boy's body lying pale upon his bed. After earnest prayer he outstretched himself over the little corpse, as Elijah had done at Zarephath. Soon it began to grow warm with returning life, and Elisha, after pacing up and down the room, once …
397 wordsSECTION 28Footnotes:
[65] Jos., _Antt._, IX. iv. 2. This perhaps is only suggested by the reminiscences of 1 Kings xviii. 2, 3, 12. [66] Lev. xxv. 39-41; Matt. xviii. 25. [67] 2 Kings iv. 10. Not "a little chamber on the wall" (A.V.), but "an _alîyah_ with walls" (margin, R.V.). [68] Frankl., _Jews in the East_. [69] John iv. 27: "Then…
317 wordsSECTION 29_The Story Of Naaman_
2 KINGS v. 1-27 MATT. viii. 3: Θέλω, καθαρίσθητι After these shorter anecdotes we have the longer episode of Naaman.[83] A part of the misery inflicted by the Syrians on Israel was caused by the forays in which their light-armed bands, very much like the borderers on the marches of Wales or Scotland, descended upon …
701 wordsSECTION 30_The Story Of Naaman_
Naaman, accustomed to the extreme deference of many dependants, was not only offended, but enraged, by what he regarded as the scant courtesy and procrastinated boon of the prophet. Why was he not received as a man of the highest distinction? What necessity could there be for sending him all the way to the Jordan? And …
737 wordsSECTION 31_The Story Of Naaman_
Elisha's answer was perhaps different from what Elijah might have given. He practically allowed Naaman to give this sign of outward compliance with idolatry, by saying to him, "Go in peace." It is from this circumstance that the phrase "to bow in the house of Rimmon" has become proverbial to indicate a dangerous and di…
679 wordsSECTION 32_The Story Of Naaman_
The proper answer to all abuses of any supposed concession to the lawfulness of bowing in the house of Rimmon--if that be interpreted to mean the doing of anything which our consciences cannot wholly approve--is _Obsta principiis_--avoid the beginnings of evil. "We are not worst at once; the course of evil Begins so …
687 wordsSECTION 33_The Story Of Naaman_
"Well," answered Gehazi; and then had ready his cunning lie. "Two youths," he said, "of the prophetic schools had just unexpectedly come to his master from the hill country of Ephraim; and though he would accept nothing for himself, Elisha would be glad if Naaman would spare him two changes of garments, and one talent …
819 wordsSECTION 34_The Story Of Naaman_
Then followed the tremendous penalty for so grievous a transgression--a transgression made up of meanness, irreverence, greed, cheating, treachery, and lies. "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever!" "Oh heavy talents of Gehazi!" exclaims Bishop Hall: "Oh the horror of the o…
653 wordsSECTION 35Footnotes:
[83] It is curiously omitted by Josephus, though he mentions him (Ἄμανος) as the slayer of Ahab (_Antt._, VIII. xv. 5). The name is an old Hebrew name (Num. xxvi. 40). [84] The word _l'boosh_ means a gala dress. Comp. v. 5; Gen. xlv. 22. χιτῶνες ἐπημοιβοί (Hom., _Od._, xiv. 514). Comp. viii. 249. [85] Elisha would no…
612 wordsSECTION 36_Elisha And The Syrians_
2 KINGS vi. 1-23 "Now there was found in the city a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city."--ECCLES. ix. 15. Elisha, unlike his master Elijah, was, during a great part of his long career, intimately mixed up with the political and military fortunes of his country. The king of Israel who occurs in th…
700 wordsSECTION 37_Elisha And The Syrians_
But what is the exact meaning of all these lovely promises? They do not mean that God's children and saints will always be shielded from anguish or defeat, from the triumph of their enemies, or even from apparently hopeless and final failure, or miserable death. The lesson is not that their persons shall be inviolable,…
654 wordsSECTION 38_Elisha And The Syrians_
"bate no jot Of heart or hope, but still bear up, and steer Uphillward" It is this conviction which has nerved men to face insuperable difficulties, and achieve impossible and unhoped-for ends. It works in the spirit of the cry, "Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel be thou changed into a plain!" It ins…
781 wordsSECTION 39_Elisha And The Syrians_
Elisha led the Syrians in their delusion straight into the city of Samaria, where they suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the king and his troops. Delighted at so great a chance of vengeance, Jehoram eagerly exclaimed, "My father, shall I smite, shall I smite?" Certainly the request cannot be regarded as unnatu…
547 wordsSECTION 40_The Famine And The Siege_
[104] Gen. xxxvii. 17, _Dothain_, "two wells" (?). [105] Psalm xci. 4. [106] Psalm xxxiv. 7. [107] Psalm xci. 11. [108] Zech. ix. 8. [109] Isa. lxiii. 9. [110] Adopting the reading of the Syriac version: "And when they [Elisha and his servant] came down to them [the Syrians]." The ordinary reading is "to _him_," …
867 wordsSECTION 41_The Famine And The Siege_
Isaiah asks, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?" Alas! it has always been so in those awful scenes of famine, whether after shipwreck or in beleaguered cities, when man becomes degraded to an animal, with all an animal's primitive instincts, and when the w…
743 wordsSECTION 42_The Famine And The Siege_
The messenger came, and was refused admittance. The king followed him,[126] and entering the room where the prophet and elders sat, he gave up his wicked design of slaying Elisha with the sword, but he overwhelmed him with reproaches, and in despair renounced all further trust in Jehovah. Elisha, as the king's words im…
830 wordsSECTION 43_The Famine And The Siege_
The sentinel called the other watchmen to hear the wonderful news, and instantly ran with it to the palace. The slumbering house was roused; and though it was still night, the king himself arose. But he could not shake off his despondency, and made no reference to Elisha's prediction. News sometimes sounds too good to …
693 wordsSECTION 44_The Shunammite And Hazael_
[117] So _asafœtida_ is called "devil's dung" in Germany; and the _Herba alcali_, "sparrow's dung" by Arabs. The _Q'ri_, however, supports the _literal_ meaning; and compare 2 Kings xviii. 27; Jos., _B. J._, V. xiii. 7. Analogies for these prices are quoted from classic authors. Plutarch (_Artax._, xxiv.) mentions a si…
772 wordsSECTION 45_The Shunammite And Hazael_
We now come to the fulfilment of the second of the commands which Elijah had received so long before at Horeb. To complete the retribution which was yet to fall on Israel, he had been bidden to anoint Hazael to be king of Syria in the room of Benhadad. Hitherto the mandate had remained unfulfilled, because no opportuni…
654 wordsSECTION 46_The Shunammite And Hazael_
Unfortunately, however, the Hebrew will not bear this meaning. Elisha bids Hazael to go back with the distinct message, "Thou shalt surely recover," as it is rightly rendered in the Revised Version. This, however, is the rendering, not of the _written_ text as it stands, but of the margin. Every one knows that in the …
709 wordsSECTION 47_The Shunammite And Hazael_
That some such meaning as this attaches to the verse seems to be shown by the context. For not only was some reproof involved in Elisha's words, but he showed his grief still more by his manner. It was as though he had said, "Take back what message you choose, but Benhadad will certainly die"; and then he fastened his …
703 wordsSECTION 48_The Shunammite And Hazael_
Elisha did not notice his sham humility, but told him, "The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be King over Syria." The date of the event was B.C. 886. The scene has sometimes been misrepresented to Elisha's discredit, as though he suggested to the general the crimes of murder and rebellion. The accusation is entirel…
621 wordsSECTION 49B.C. 843-842
[131] Jer. xxv. 29; Ezek. xxxviii. 21. [132] See the cases of Samuel (1 Sam. ix. 7), of Ahijah (1 Kings xiv. 3), and of Elisha himself (2 Kings iv. 42). [133] As Jacob did in sending forward his present to Esau. Comp. Chardin, _Voyages_, iii. 217. [134] 2 Kings x. 32, xiii. 3, 22. [135] Isa. xiii. 15, 16; Hos. x. 1…
768 wordsSECTION 50B.C. 843-842
But if actual destruction did not come upon him and his race, he came very near such a fate, and he certainly experienced that "the path of transgressors is hard." There is nothing to record about him but crime and catastrophe. First Edom revolted. Jehoshaphat had subdued the Edomites, and only allowed them to be gover…
697 wordsSECTION 51B.C. 843-842
The only event in his reign was the share he took with his uncle Jehoram of Israel in his campaign to protect Ramoth-Gilead from Hazael. The expedition seems to have been successful in its main purpose. Ramoth-Gilead, the key to the districts of Argob and Bashan, was of immense importance for commanding the country bey…
490 wordsSECTION 52B.C. 842
[141] The following genealogy may help to elucidate the troublesome identity of names:-- OMRI ____|____ | | JEHOSHAPHAT Ahab = Jezebel | _______|__________________ | | | | | Ahaziah Jehoram Athaliah = Jehoram (of Israel). (of Israel). | (of Judah). | Ahaziah (of Judah). [142] Jotham ben-Uzziah was not the c…
716 wordsSECTION 53B.C. 842
Then followed the aggressions of Benhadad which had been frustrated by the insight of Elisha, and which owed their temporary cessation to his generosity.[153] The reappearance of the Syrians in the field had reduced Samaria to the lowest depths of ghastly famine. But the day of the guilty city had not yet come, and a s…
695 wordsSECTION 54B.C. 842
He was but a youth, but he was the trained pupil of a master who had, again and again, stood before kings, and not been afraid. He sprang from a community which inherited the splendid traditions of the Prophet of Flame. He did not hesitate a moment. He tightened the camel's hide round his naked limbs, flung back the l…
704 wordsSECTION 55B.C. 842
And he felt another misgiving. Might not this scene be the plot of some secret enemy? Might it not at any rate be a reckless jest palmed upon him by his comrades? If any jealous member of the confederacy of captains betrayed the fact that Jehu had tampered with their allegiance, would his head be safe for a single hour…
732 wordsSECTION 56B.C. 842
The watchman on the lofty watchtower of the summer palace caught sight of a storm of dust careering along from the eastward up the valley towards the city.[173] The times were wild and troublous. What could it be? He shouted his alarm, "I see a troop!" The tidings were startling, and the king was instantly informed tha…
650 wordsSECTION 57B.C. 842
"Take him up," cried Jehu to Bidkar,[179] "and fling him down where he is,--here in this portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. Here, years ago, you and I, as we rode behind Ahab,[180] heard Elijah utter his oracle on this man's father, that vengeance should meet him here. Where the dogs licked the blood of Nab…
810 wordsSECTION 58B.C. 842
But what cared Jehu? Many a conqueror ere now has sat down to the dinner prepared for his enemy; and the obsequious household of the dead tyrants, ready to do the bidding of their new lord, ushered the hungry man to the banquet provided for the kings whom he had slain. No man dreamt of uttering a wail; no man thought o…
616 wordsSECTION 59Footnotes:
[149] 1 Kings xix. 15, 16. [150] 2 Kings viii. 12, 13. [151] The name was not uncommon, 1 Chron. ii. 38, iv. 35, xii. 3. [152] 2 Kings xiii. 20, xxiv. 2; Jer. xlviii. [153] 2 Kings vi. 8-23. [154] 2 Kings vii. 6. [155] Jehoram = Jehovah is exalted. Ahaziah = Jehovah holds. [156] Vial (_pak_) only here and in 1 S…
670 wordsSECTION 60Footnotes:
[182] A.V., "By the way of the garden-house." LXX., Βαιθγάν. [183] The text is a little uncertain. [184] Thenius supposes "Gur" to mean "a caravanserai." Comp. 2 Chron. xxvi. 7, _Gur-Baal_; Vulg., _Hospitium Baalis_. [185] The account of the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 9) differs from that of the earlier historian. I…
364 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.