2 Kings 6:22
Ver. 22. And he answered, thou shalt not smite them,.... For they were not his, but the prophet's captives, or rather the Lord's:
wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? when soldiers are made prisoners of war, it is contrary to humanity, to the laws of nature and nations, to kill them in cold blood, and much more those who were taken not by his sword and bow, but by the power and providence of God:
set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master; the king of Syria, and report the miracles wrought, and the good usage they met with, when in the hand of an enemy, fed and let go; which would be more to the glory of the God of Israel, and more agreeable to the character of a king of Israel, reckoned merciful, and more serviceable to the civil good of the land of Israel, as well as more to the honour of the prophet and true religion, see Ro 12:20. 2 Kings 6:23Ver. 23. And he prepared great provision for them,.... Or a great feast, as the Targum; so obedient was he to the prophet's orders:and when they had eaten and drank; and refreshed themselves, which they needed, having marched all night and that morning from place to place:he sent them away; that is, the king of Israel dismissed them:and they went to their master; the king of Syria, but without the prophet Elisha they were sent to fetch:so the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel; not as yet, or for some time; or rather the sense is, that the Syrians came not any more in small bodies, as troops of robbers making excursions, and carrying off booty in a private manner, and by surprise; but afterwards came with a large army in an open hostile manner, as follows. 2 Kings 6:24Ver. 24. And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host,.... Still retaining a grudge and enmity against Israel, and not at all softened by the kind and humane treatment his forces had met with, when in the hands of Israel; and finding he could do nothing in a secret way, by ambush, mustered all his forces together, to try what he could by open war:and went up, and besieged Samaria; Jehoram king of Israel not being able to stop him till he came to his capital, which he laid close siege to. 2 Kings 6:25Ver. 25. And there was a great famine in Samaria,.... No care, perhaps, having been taken to lay up stores against a siege:and, behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was [sold] for fourscore [pieces] of silver; shekels, as the Targum explains the word in the next clause, which amounted to about nine or ten pounds of our money; a great price for the head of such a creature, by law unclean, its flesh disagreeable, and of that but very little, as is on an head:and the fourth part of a cab of doves' dung for five pieces of silver; some of the Jewish writers say {h}, this was bought for fuel, which was scarce: Josephus says {i}, for salt, and so Procopious Gazaeus, and Theodoret; others, for dunging the lands, which is the use of it in Persia {k} for melons; neither of which are probable; most certainly it was for food; but as doves' dung must be not only disagreeable, but scarce affording any nourishment, something else must be meant; some have thought that the grains found in their crops, or in their excrements, undigested, and picked out, are meant; and others, their crops or craws themselves, or entrails; but Bochart {l} is of opinion, that a sort of pulse is meant, as lentiles or vetches, much the same with the kali or parched corn used in Israel, see 1Sa 17:17 and a recent traveller {m} observes, that the leblebby of the Arabs is very probably the kali, or parched pulse, of the Scriptures, and has been taken for the pigeons' dung mentioned at the siege of Samaria; and indeed as the "cicer" (a sort of peas or pulse) is pointed at one end, and acquires an ash colour by parching, the first of which circumstances answers to the figure, the other to the usual colour of pigeons' dung, the supposition is by no means to be disregarded: a "cab" was a measure with the Jews, which held the quantity of twenty four egg shells; according to Godwin {n}, it answered to our quart, so that a fourth part was half a pint; and half a pint of these lentiles, or vetches, or parched pulse, was sold for eleven or twelve shillings.{h} R. Jonah in Ben Melech, Kimchi & Abarbinel in loc. {i} Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4. {k} Universal History, vol. 5. p. 90. {l} Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 7. col. 44, &c. {m} Shaw's Travels, p. 140. {n} Moses & Aaron, B. 6. c. 9. 2 Kings 6:26Ver. 26. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, &c. To spy out the motion and situation of the enemy, and to give orders for the annoyance of them, and to see that his soldiers did their duty:there cried a woman to him, saying, help, my lord, O king; desired his assistance and help in a cause depending between her and another woman. 2 Kings 6:27Ver. 27. And he said, if the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?.... Mistaking her meaning, as if she prayed him to relieve her hunger; the margin of our Bible is, "let not the Lord save thee"; and so some understand it as a wish that she might perish; and so Josephus {o}, that being wroth, he cursed her in the name of God:out of the barn floor, or out of the winepress? when neither of them afforded anything; no corn was to be had from the one, nor wine from the other, no, not for his own use, and therefore how could he help her out of either?{o} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.) 2 Kings 6:28Ver. 28. And the king said unto her, what aileth thee?.... His passion subsiding, or pitying her as in distress, and supposing that there might be something particular and pressing in her case:and she answered,this woman said unto me; who was now with her, and to whom she pointed:give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow; and this was agreed to between them, that first one should be eaten, and then the other, and that they should feed upon one as long as it would last, and then on the other; for it is not to be limited precisely to a day and tomorrow. 2 Kings 6:29Ver. 29. So we boiled my son, and did eat him,.... Thus what was predicted, by way of threatening, began to be accomplished, De 28:53,See Gill on "De 28:53", and of which there were other instances of a like kind at the siege of Jerusalem, both by Nebuchadnezzar and Vespasian:and I said unto her on the next day; after her child had been wholly ate up:give thy son, that we may eat him; according to agreement:and she hath hid her son; either to save him alive, or to eat him herself alone. 2 Kings 6:30Ver. 30. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes,.... At the horror of the fact reported, and through grief that his people were brought into such distress through famine:and he passed by upon the wall; returning to his palace:and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth upon his flesh; which, in token of humiliation for averting the calamities he was under, he had put there before, and now was seen through the rending of his clothes. 2 Kings 6:31Ver. 31. Then he said, God do so and more also to me,.... He swore and made dreadful imprecations:if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day; imputing the sore famine to him, because he had foretold it, and did not pray for the removal of it, as he might; and perhaps had advised and encouraged the king to hold out the siege, which had brought them to this extremity, and therefore was enraged at him. 2 Kings 6:32Ver. 32. And Elisha sat in his house,.... In Samaria:and the elders sat with him; not the elders of the city, or the magistrates thereof, but his disciples, as Josephus says {p}, the eldest of them, whom he admitted to greater familiarity and converse with him:and the king sent a man from before him; to execute what he had sworn should be done that day to the prophet:but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, see ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? which he knew by a spirit of prophecy, and spoke of it before the executioner came; he calls Joram the son of a murderer, because of his mother Jezebel, who killed Naboth, and the prophets of the Lord, and to which his father Ahab also consented, and therefore might be so called too; and he intimates hereby that he was of the same temper and disposition, and as the above oath, and his orders, showed:look when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door; and not suffer him to come in:is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? that is, of Joram king of Israel, who followed the messenger, either to listen and hear what the prophet would say unto him; or repenting of his order, as Josephus {q} thinks, he followed him to prevent the execution.{p} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.) {q} Ibid. 2 Kings 6:33Ver. 33. And while he yet talked with them,.... Elisha with the elders:behold, the messenger came down unto him; sent by the king:and he said; either the messenger in the king's name, or rather the king, who was at his heels, and came to the door before the messenger was let in, who was detained; and therefore it is most probable the king went in first; for that was the intention of Elisha in holding the messenger, not to save his own life, but that the king, who was following, might hear what he had to say; and whom he advised to wait for the Lord, and his appearance, for deliverance: in answer to which he said,behold, this evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the Lord any longer? this calamity is from him, and he is determined upon the ruin of my people, and there is no hope; this he said as despairing, and so resolving to hold out the siege no longer.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.