and all the country is tilled with water. (2) The a very pleasing light, fearless though an host
next narrative (
itry IS 111 2 K G"-^
presents the iirophet in
encamps against him, conlident though war rises against him, and magnanimous in his treatment of his ballled enemies. Marauding bands of Syrians have made numerous incursions into the north country, but all their movements have been mysteriously checkmated. Whenever they have laid an ambush in ' such and such a place,' Pj. has warned the king of Israel to avoid thesi)ot, thereby saving the king's life 'not once nor twice.' Ben- hadad, finding all his designs frustrated, begins to suspect treachery in his camp. When he hears the true explanation, he sends a strong force of hor.ses and chariots to Dothan to capture Elisha. After comforting his alarmed servant with a vision of the spiritual hosts that always surround the dwellings of the just, the prophet goes down to meet the Syrians, and in answer to his prayer they are struck with blindness (Q""!iiC, a word fouiul only here and in (Jn ID", probably meaning illusion, d/3Xei/'(o). Then telling them, evidently not witliout a relish of the ludicrous aspect of tlie situation, that they have lost their way and come to the wrong city, he otrers to conduct them to the person whom they are seeking. He leads them into the heart of Samaria, \\lien their eyes are opened in answer to E.'s prayer, they lind them- selves at the mercy of the enemy. The king would have destroyed them, but E. enjoins him to set food before them, and send them back to their master. An enemy at once so ijowerful and so merciful makes such an im[iression upon tlie Syrians that their marauding expeditions entirely cease. (3) The next incident ((>=•"'■), though intro- duced witliout remark immediately after the last, evidently occurred at a dill'erent time. The king of Syria gathers a great army to besiege Samaria. E. encourages the men of Israel to defend their city to the last. When the besieged are reduced to famine, he still counsels no surrender, and heartens the people with the prophecy of coming deliverance. The king of Israel — who is not named— wishes to capitulate. He vents his help- less rage upon E., and vows to take his life, because the prophet will not swerve from his purpose even when the people of the city are eat- ing the flesh of their own children. While E. is in his hou.se giving counsel to the elders of Israel, he divines that a messenger of the king is on his way to lake his life, and that the king is following close behind. When the king enters, the prophet declares that on the morrow there will bo abund- ance of food at the gate of the city. One of the king's ollicers sneers at the sanguine prediction : ' Yes, no doubt, J" will open windows in heaven I And yet can this thing be?' E. retorts that the officer will see the abundance, but shall not eat of it. During the night there is a panic in the Syrian host, the camp is deserted, and eveiy part of the prophecy fullilled. (4) Wo next lind E. at Damascus. Having heard of the mortal sickness of Benhadad, he realizes that the time has come to execute the commission which Elijah received at Sinai, by anointing Ilazael to be king of Syria. No sooner does E., who.se fame as a iir(>i)liet has now spread far beyond Israel, enter the city of Damascus, than the tidings are carried to the palace. King Ben-
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hadad immediately sends Hazael, his commander- in-chief, laden with presents, to inquire of the seer if he may recover of his sickness. E.'s reply is un- certain : according to one reading, he bicfs Hazael return and tell the king that he shall surely recover ; according to another readin'' {the h'thibh, and therefore probably authentic), Hazael is to reply that Benhadad shall surely die. At any rate, E. leaves Hazael in no doubt that the king is not to recover, and that his succe-ssor is none other than Hazael himself. But it is a hard task which J " has laid upon E. — to anoint the man whom he knows as the destined scourge of Israel. E. , as he looks steadfastly in the fierce captain's face and foresees the coming evil, bursts into tears. Wlien Hazael inquires what this weeping means, E. shows him his future. The Syrian, wlio has no ear for the tale of Israel's sufferings, and thinks only of the promise of personal distinction, replies ironically that the task is too great for a dog like him. But E. assures him in plain words that J" has chosen him to be king of Syria. (5) The chief business of E.'s life is to avenge the crimes and apostasy of the house of Ahab. The mission to anoint Jeliu king over Israel, which Elijah did not live to fultil, must be carried out by his successor. During a war between Israel and Syria for the possession of Ramoth-gilead, Ahab's son Jehoram is wounded, and goes home to Samaria to be cured. His ally the king of Judah leaves the army, and goes to visit him (S'-'*'). During their absence E. calls one of the sons of the prophets, and sends him to Ramoth-gilead, with instructions to seek out Jehu, and secretly anoint him king. As soon as Jehu divulges the secret to his brother officers, they proclaim him king, and the whole army at once espou.ses his cause. The nation has long been ready for a change, and the house of Omri falls without being able to strike a blow in self-defence (y-). (6) E. lives to extreme old age, and his last thoughts are given to his country. It is sad to reflect that, in spite of all his labours, Israel has become feeble and dependent. During the reigns of the pusillanimous sons of Jehu, the S^Tians have done to Israel according to their will, and the nation has more than once been brought to the verge of extinction. But Jehu's grandson Joash is a youth of great promise, and E. sees in him one capable of making Israel once more independent and prosperous. 'I'he young king comes down to visit the aged prophet as he lies on his peaceful death-bed (13"°-). The king is moved tx) tears. No words could be more appropriate than those in which he addresses the prophet : ' My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.' E. has still the spirit of the master to whom he first applied these words (2 K 2'-). To impress on the young king's mind a sense of his iluty, he uses a hne piece of symbolism. The window is opened eastward, toward the country of the enemy, the king's bow is pointed in that direction, the prophet's consecrating hand is laid on the king's right hand, and 'the arrow of J"'8 deliverance, of deliverance from Syria,' is dis- charged. "The king is then commanded to take up a sheaf of arrows and smite the ground. He smites only three times, and halts. This does not please the zealous old prophet : before closing his eyes he would fain have foreseen that the enemies of the people of J" would be defeated five or six times ; as it is, the king has only energy enough to smite them thrice.