PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings
George Rawlinson [1812-1902] · 432,569 words · 453 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 121
of thoir position. What could they do? If they stay where they are they must die, and if they enter tho city they must die. There remains the alternative, only to be contemplated BB a last resource, of going over to the camp of the enemy. This has been put off as long as possible; but it appears now to be the only cour…
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They were stunned with their good fortune, and wandered about from tent to tent eating and drinking, and carrying oJ.t the good things they saw, to hi<lo them. W~ can compare with the surprise of these lepers the joy of the soul on its first discovery of" the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. iii. 8). How infinit…
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that he thought of no other explanation of the facts related to him. By his mooll y unbelief he nearly missed the blessing. 2. Distrust of God. There was more than distrust of man in Jehoram's suspicions; there was likewise distrust of God. Had his attitude to God's promise, ae conveyed through Elisha, been one of fait…
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EXPOSITION. OBAPTER vm. Ver. 2.-And the woman aroso, and did after the saying of the man of God. It is a Ver11. 1-29.-THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY satisfaction to find that there was yet faith OF THE 8BUNAMIDTE. THE KILLING OF in Israel. There were still those to wllom BENlliDAD BY HAZA.EL ; AND THE WICKED the prophet…
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Elisha. o.nd his doings, since a king of Iera.el actual object of Elisha's miracle. The would sca.rcoly be in fo.miliar conversa.tion king's interest in th~ woman would be still with o. leper (Keil). It may be added that more roused by this crircumstance. Gehazi can scarcely ha.ve continued to be Ver. 6.-And whrn th…
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cithC'r to kill him or t.o keep him confined Le. Elisha-and took a present with him; ns R prisoner (oh. vi. 13-19). Elisho had literally, in his hand; but we must not subsequently helped to baffle his plans of press this expression. "In his hand" mel\nB conquest, and might be thought to have "under his control." The…
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and secondly becanse the emphe.tio lnfinitive xv. 16; Isa. xm. 16, 18; Hos. x. H; is in itself affirm1.1tive, e.nd does not oomit Nah. iii. 10: Amos i. 13, etc. The ware or of a nogntive prefix. The emende.tion in Ha.znel with the Israelites are mentioned in the Hebrew margin (;1, for ~r,), accepted by eh. x. 32, 33; …
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bar,' which oonte.ine (p. 162) the following d01tth in his twenty-fifth yee.r, whoo he passage : " 'l'he me.lik ordered the.t they bcoe.me solo king (see the oomment 011 should place e. ce.rpet on Abdalle.b'e mouth, eh. i. 17 e.nd oh. iii. 1). l!O that hie life was cut off." And spree.d it Ver. 17.-Thirty and two yea…
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thou wilt not hearken unto the voice or .As he promised him to give him al,cay• a the Lord thy God, to observe to do all hia liaht in re•pect o/ hi• children, and compare, oommandments and statutes, which I com- for the promise of "a light " (1 Kings xi. mand thee this day ; nil these curses shall 36; xv. 4; and Ps. cx…
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or. all his cllflf'iof;s (Revised Version). The Ver. 28.-And therelltoftheaotaof 1oram, nrtfole has the force of the possessive and all that he di-,., are they not written in p'.l'Onoun. And he rose by night, and smote the book of the ohronioles of the kings of the Edomites which oomp&1111ed him about. J'udah 1 Some…
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writer of Chronicles snys, "two e.nd forty" unnature.l in this place-for why "Joram (2 Ohron. :u:ii. 2), which is absolutely im- himself," when•· Joraw" alone would he.ve possible, since his father we.a but forty when been quite sufficient ?-and still more uu- be died (see ver. 17, and comp. 2 Chron. natural in 2 Chrnn…
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HOMILETICS. VeN. 1-6.-" .All things work together for good to them that love God." The piety of the Shunammite bad been sufficiently shown in the previous record left us of her (eh. iv. 8-37). The i:equel of her st-0ry indicates how, in a wonderful way events and circumstances seemingly fortuitous and unconnected w…
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one with whom are the issues of life and death! And so it is with the proud and mighty gencro.lly. (1) A Pharaoh despises Jehovah, and asks," Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go" (Exod. v. 2); but in a little time the same Pharaoh has to ris…
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of Rll the early kings of Syria; and, though be suffered one great defeat at the bnnds of the .As~yrian king, Shalmaneser II., yet he issued from the struggle unsubdued and left his dominions intact to his son and successor Benbadad III. ' In Elisha, on the other hand, we have- ' I. THE WISE, CLEAR-SIGHTED, SINGLE-…
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outlived her husband by some thirteen yearn, and during that period was the evil genius of her two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram. Ahazlah she completely perverted (eh. xxii. 62, 53). Over Jehoram she had less influence; but to her we must ascribe it that during his reign the Baal-worship continued in the capital (eh. x. 25…
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Shunem wRS ~o arise with her household, and leave her home and farm for seven years. He told her, indeed, that there was to be a famine in the ll\nd. But she might have wanted more proof. She might hl\ve S1Lid, " Well, I shall wait till I see some signs of t~e famine. . It is ~ great hardship to ~ave to get up in this …
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Vere. 1-15.-Elisha, Hazael, and Benhadad. The present interview between Eli~ha and Hazael arose out of Bcnhadad's illness. Benhadad heard th~t Elisha had come to Damascus, and he sent Hazael to inquire of the Lord by him if he would recover of his diseasu. It is wonderful how ready men are to forsake Go<l when they are…
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come the wrong must faithfully point out to them Iha possibilities of evil th11t are within their Ol\·n heart. Who that knows human nature, that knows the facts or history, can doubt that such possibilities exist? Look at Ha.zael, hitherto the faithful, trusted servant, stooping over the bedside of his master, and c…
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was the greal ambition to be king. He has yielded to that long since. It has taken com['lete po~sossion of his mind. Then there came the temptation to carry a false me.,sage to his mnstor, who had reposed such confidence in him. He yieldeJ to that. Then there came the temptation to ta!ce away his master's life. It was …
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gre~_t favours: (1) ~he re~toration of her son (cl1. iv.); (2) direction for herself o.nd family t-0 leave their old home during the seven years' famine; and then when she returned fr?m the hmd of the P~ilistines? where sh~ had sojourned seven' years; (3) the rcstorat10n of her old home, wh1eh had e1thrr fallen mto the…
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Vere. 7-16.-Striking characters. "And Elisha came to Damascus," et.c. We have here- I. A DYING KING. " Benha,fad the King of Syria was sick." Benhadarl, for his age and country, was a great king, rich and mighty, but now he is on his dying-bed. Kings die as well as others. Observe: l. This dying king was very anxious.…
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5, 6). He caused the altars and places of idolatry to be destroyed, and the knowledge ,,f t.bc Lord to be diffused throughout the kingdom, and the places of ecclesiastical and j11,licial authority to be well filled (2 Chron. xvii. 9). But how different was his son I Or.e of the first acts of his government was to pu…
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Vera. 1-6.-The Shunammite and her lands. This narrative is the seqnel to the history of the Shunammite in eh. iv. It furnishes another instance of how God cares for and rewards his people. I. ELISHA'S WARNING. In chronological order this narrative seems to precede the cure of Naaman, while Gehazi was still the servant…
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old. eaddle her ass, and repair to the prophet on sabbaths and new moons for consolation and instruction. Exile of this sort would he painful to her spirit, as it was to that of the psalmist (Ps. xiii. 4, 6), God in hie providence often thus deprives his people for a time of the privilege of ordinances, peraaps thro…
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all ehe rieseseed. She not only got jUBtice, but generosity. How good it is to be a friend of God.I "IC God be for ue, who can be against us?" (Rom. viii. 31). With him for our Advocate, what need we fear? Having given this woman the greater gift, In reward for her kindness to hie prophet, he does not withhold from her…
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he thought _that ot~er iniqui~ies we!8 beyottd him. Once on _the downward grade, how- ever, there 1s no pornt at which a smuer can be sure of stoppmg. One crime lea.ds with a fatal facility to a_worse. The hea.rt grows hardened, and things are done whioh, at an earh_er ~tage, m1_ght have been thought impossible. It …
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Pecuniary, eocinl, or family considerations are allowed to determiae a step which ought never to be taken except on grounds of real affection and moral and spiritual affinity. AthR!iah's entrance into the royal household of Judah had a disastrous effect on its future. She was a true child of the Israelitish Jezebel, an…
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aioned, end carrying ont his commission, to neglected to do so, or rather had devolved transfer the kingdom of Israel from the the task upon his successor. Meantime unworthy dynRBty of Omri, which on ac- Jehn served aB a soldier under Ahazinh nnd count of its persistent idolatry be.s fallen Jehoram, Ahab's sons, and…
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e.nd looked nt him 11B he spoke; but, na he WRS rewarded for the nwnsure in which he e.ddreeeed no one by ne.me, there might be fulfillell God's comme.uds, a.a Ahab, 'who a doubt who wne intended. J ehu, therefore, had sold bimaelf to work wickedness,' ha.d ce.ueee the doubt to be resolved by hie yet a tempornl reward …
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wee evidently highly esteemed. The revolt secret until he liimsclf announced it oaptnins threw themselves with nrdonr into to the astonished king (see vtr. 22). bis muso, and extemporized a sort of en- Ver. 16.-So lehu rode in a ohariot, and thronement. As often in an Oriental house, went to Jezreel; for Joram lay ther…
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• one ns thee. a mere common man, whether was probably 1tnxious to know tho reasons my tidings a.re peaceful or the oontruy? I which bad induced the oapto.in of hie host shall not tell thee my errand. Turn and to quit hie post at Ramoth-Gilco.d. Ahaziah follow in my tra.in." The messenger had probably accompanied hi…
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H11ving gnined his object nnd got within s~me chariot with him, standing up behind bowshot of the unsuspecting monarch, he him, and often interposing their shields to throws off the m11ek and cleclo.ree uncom- protect his person. In this near proximity promising hostility. "No mo,n coulcl nee Jehu and Bidkar would h…
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thought he hRd more to fear from Ahazie.h f11miliar to chronologists, either (I) from the himself, who had been on such olose terms date of the ncceesion to the end of the ourrent of friendship with Jehoram, than from any civil year; or (2) from the date of the uooee• probable sucoeseors. He. therefore, finding sion…
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John, provided she increased her natural the rongh eoldier, with no courtesy, with attrootions by a oo.reful use of e.11 the re- no chiv11lry, bent ou accomplishing his own sources of ort. And tired her head. Phce- ends, anu shrinking from no deed of blood, nioie.n statues of godde~ses he.vo their hair no precedent pes…
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the 1'(lfld by which the palaoe w11.s approached, Ver. 85.-And they went to bury her 1 Rnd 111.y there bleeding and helpless. And but they found no more of her than the skull, some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall. and the feet, and the palms of her hands, As she frll, some portion of her body struck " The har…
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lished. The.t the will of God might be seea an,! recognized in the mntter, its initiation we.a entrusted to the regular expounders of the Divine will-the prophets. Elisha, we may be eure, received express nirections how to act; e.nd the directions included a delegation of certain most important duties to another. Thus …
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th~ _ne.tion of a re_ligion w~ose ~piri~ was pure and elevating, and giving it one whose spmt was ~rruptmg and hcent1ous (Bahr). In the case of the Maccabees, a foreign power, dominant over the country by right of conquest, had formed the design of completely sweeping away the Jewish reliO'ion and substituting for i…
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HOMILIES BY V.A.RIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-37.-The deaths of Jehoram and Jezebel; or, the Divine law of retribution. King Jehoram was lying sick at Jezreel of the wounds he had received in battle from the Syrians. Ahaziah King of Judah had come down to visit him, and, as they conversed together, the watchman upon the city…
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"Had Zimri pea.ea, who slew his master?" But J ehu is not a man to be trifled with. He finds willing helpers in her own servants. .At his command they threw her down into the ~treet, and she-the adulteress and the murderess, the woman whose name has become proverbial as a symbol of everything that is bad-is trampled…
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retribution. One reason for it would appear to be that it fixes unmistakably the con- nection between the sin and its punishment. Robespierre, the famous French revolu- tionist, literally choked the river Seine with the heads of those whom he sent to the guillotine. But the day came when the death-tumbrel containing hi…
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Jehu), but promised to do anything else that might be required. Accordingly Jehu direc~ them to bring the ~eads of Ahab's sons the next day to Jczreel, and they were sent m two baskets. He directed them to be emptied out in two heaps at the gate of the city, and to remain there over night. The next morning he ordere…
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The first great sin of the nation was in the setting up of the c:i.lves under Jeroboam, For adherence to this unlawful form of worship two dynasties had already perished (ver. 9). But with the accession of the house of Omri a new development in evil took place (1 Kings xvi. 81, 82). The worship of the Phcenician Baal w…
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his favour are legitimate rulers. (2) Israel was a people of the Lord. Ouly God, therefore, had the right to appoint its rulers, and to determine the limits within ,vhioh royal power should be exercised. It was by their setting at nought of all the limits of a tbeocra~ic constitut~on that Ahab and his house had forf…
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I. JEHU'B APPflOA0II TO JEZREEL. 1. The watchman's announce17Ulnt. In the far distance the watchman on the tower of Jezreel beholds a company of horsemen rapidly opproa~h~ng. Wh11t can it portend? The report is brought to the king, who unsusp1c1ously sends out a mesuenger on horseback to inquire. Towers and watchmen ar…
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truth in such representations lies rather in seizing 11nd bringing to light actual laws ln the moral government of the world. There is a singular tendency in events in history to fold be.ck on each other--even d&tes and places presenting a series of marvellous coincidences. 3. A partner in doom. The King of Judah ha…
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EXPOSITION. the LXX. expressly stat:e (d,rl<1u11'.,11 l11 OHAl'TER X. ~a.µa.p,/'f ,rpb, ,,..1, • lipxo,,,,-u "2a.µ ct- Vere. 1-36.-TBE REIGN OF JEHU OVER Pd a.,); bnt the reading "Jezreel" co.n scarcely have arisen out of " Samllria" lsB.t.EL. (',NJl11' out of pioe'), since the difference Vers. 1-28.-The revoluti…
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expect.." And fight for your master'• house. nil, and have let their &otion be gnlded by There hRd been e. civil war before the the conrse of events. But, taken nback by dynasty of Omri sncceeded in settling itself ,T ehu's directness 11,nd plainness of speech, on the throne (1 Kings xvi. 21, 22). Jehu it did not oc…
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receiving his second, but to o.llowthemselves whioh the Lord epake concerning the hous1 to bccomo the tools o.ntl 11,genta of his policy. of Ahe.b. As the accomplishment had gone They o.ccortlingly put the seventy princm so far, it wns safe to predict, or at any rate to death without o.ny heaitntion, though they Jehu f…
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this point to vcr. 17 is of events thn t hap- the ,cell of Beth-Eked. Probnbly the bodice pened to him while he was upon his road. were thrown into the well (comp. Jcr. xii. And as he wee at the ahea.ring-houae in the 7). Even two and fbrty men. It is this wa.y. Between Jezreol and Samaria was a number which makes th…
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ond might therefore be neeumed to be hostile 9-12), nnrl Omri (I Kings xvi. 17-19), to the houeo of Ahab. And J'ehonadab and ho.d hncl none of the characteristics of answered, It ia, Unhesitatingly, without 11, a religious reformation. Probably, ae yet, moment's p11,uee, without the eh11,clow of 11 no enepicion he.d …
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to •lay all whom they found engAgcd in it. try" (;,~('17'2) occur~ only in this pin.re; but Dut to draw som0 thousnnds of his subjects its mcnning is sufficiently asccrtnincd, first, by false pret.en00s into a trap, and then to from tho context, nnrl secondly, from the kill them in it for doing wh0-t he had him- cog…
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when they 11acl gone ln: I.e. when the whole like a lofty fortress-,•)) originally meant multitude of Bo.nl-worshippers, priests and "fortress "-where Baal was enthroned, sur- people, ho.d entered within tho precincts of rounded by the images of his fellow-gods " the temple-to o:tl'er saorillcee and burnt (' History of…
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the curse of God had been prononnced Ver. 31.-But J'ehu took no heetl to walk n~i11si it by the ohief prophet of the time in tho Law of the Lord God of Israel with all (I Kings xiii. 2), and hie word had been his heart. Jehu's character is thus summed attPsted as from heaven by two miracles up by Dean Stimlcy : "The ch…
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tho seo.ts of the three tribes of Reuben, Ge.cl, campoign in Pbilietio., and rlesigns against ond Mono.seeh. This tro.ct wo.s for easier of Jerusalem, see the comment upon eh. xii. ocoess than the other, ond was more tempt- 17, 18.) ing, being the richest po.rt of Po.lcstine. Ver. 34.-Now the rest of the acts of lehu, …
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Il. REASONS WHY THE }'EAR OF MAN IS STRONG. I. Man is visibly present and bas a power to injure and punish which cannot be doubt~d. 2. Man's vengeauc~ falls heav_ily and ~peC'dily. It is_ rarelY: delayed; and it is often of great severity. 3. It consists of parns and penalties which are more easily realized than tho…
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the persons who conceive evil designs, but must have toe,ls to execute them. There is no solidarity among those who are confederates in wickedness. We hear of "honour among thieves;" hut it is often "conspicuous by its absence." Monarchs engnged in plots denounce and disgrace their agents, when the plots fail, even som…
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Vers. 29~~--Half-h«irte.dness punis11ed by God CJ3 severely CJ3 actual apostasy f1'0m tr!1e religion. The temper of the Laodiceans is no uncommon one. Men may even _th_mk that they have a "zeal for the Lord" (ver. 16), and yet show by their acts that 1t 1s a verY: half-hearted zeal-a zeal that goes a certain length, …
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word, his willingness to receive, hie power to 113ve, his desire to pardon ? " Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."-O. H. L Vere. 12-14.-Ahaziah's brethren put to death. Fresh from…
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obnractcr impressed itself on every detail of his life. When he v.e.s still far off from Jezr~el, the watchman upon the city wall was able to distinguish him in the dim distance by the way he drove his horses. "The driving is like the drivin" of Jehu the son of Nimsbi; for 'ae driveth furiously." He did not waste ma…
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Too many Christian workers act like Jehu when he said, "Come with me, and sec my zeal for the Lord." True Christiau. work is far quieter than this. (2) There was ~omething worse than boastfulness in ;rehu's zeal. There was cruel treachery and deceit. When he came to Samaria, he gathernd all the people together and said…
1,088 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.