The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 56

times oe.rried on oro.lly by e.mbaseadore, of chief magns, or as the laroelitish high probo.bly took plnoe to a lnrge extent by priest" (Menken), whom the king would moBns or letters from 11, very early date. have at his beck and en.II, and whose services Written communico.tions eeem to have led would be completely at his diepose.1. to the outbreak of the war by which the Ver. 7.-And it came to pase, when the foreign dyne.sty or the Hyksos wae driven King of Isre.el had read the letter, that he out or Egypt, and the native supremacy re- rent his clothes. In horror and alarm eete.bliehed (' History of Ancient Egypt,' (comp. 2 Sam. xiii. 19; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27; vol. ii. pp. 199, 200). Written engagements Ezra ix. 3; Jer. xxxvi. 24). He concluded were certainly entered into between the that once more (ece 1 Kings xx. 7) the Egyptian kings and the Hittites at e. dnte Syrian monarch wae determined to find a eo.rlier tho.n the Exodus (ibid., pp. 291,810). ground of quarrel, and had therefore sent Denbo.dad evidently regards the sending of to him an impossible request. And said, Am a letter to a neighbouring monarch as a I God, to kill e.nd to make alive l To" kill" nature.I and ordinary occurrence. And he- and to "make alive" were familiar expres- i.e. Naamrm-departed, and took with him sions in the month of the Israelites to ten talents of silver-reckoned by Keil as designate omnipotence (see Deut. xxxii. 3:l; equal to 25,000 the.Jere, or £8750; by 'fhenius I Sam. ii. 6). Recovering from leprosy was ae equal to 20,000 the.Jere, or £8000-a.nd equivalent to making alive, for e. leprous six thousand pieces of gold. "Pieces of person was """ one dead" (Numb. xii. 12) gold" did not yet exiet, eince coin had not e.ccording to Hebrew notions. The.t this been invented. Six thousand shekels' weight man doth send unto me to recover e. man of of gold ie probably intended. This would his leprosy. The king evidently does not equal, according to Keil, 50,000 the.lers bethink himself of Elisha, of whose great ( £7500); according to Theniue, 60,000 the.lers mire.cle of raising the dead to life ( eh. iv. (£9000). Such sums are quite within the 84-86) he may not np to this time have probable means of e. rich Syrian nobleman heard. Elisha's early miracles were mostly of the time, a favourite at court, and the wrought with e. certain amount of secrecy. generalissimo of the Syrian anny. Ne.a.man Wherefore ooneider, I pray you, and see how evidently supposed that he wonld have, he eeeketh a quarrel age.inst me. The king directly or indirectly, to purchase hie oure. misjudged Benhadad, but not without some And ten ohe.ngea of raiment (comp. Gen. grounds of reason, if he was ignorant of xlv. 22; Hom.,• Od.,' xiii. 67; Xen., • Cyrop.,' Elisha's miraouloue gifts. Benhadad, when viii. 2. § 8; • Ane.b.,' i. 2. § 29; etc.). The seeking e. ground of quarrel with Ahab, practice of giving dresses or honour a.s had made extravagant requests (see I presents continues in the Ee.et to this day. Kings xx:. 8-6). Ver. 6.-And he brought tb.e letter to the Ver. 8.-And it wu so-or, it came to King of Israel, saying. The liost.ile relations paas-when Elisha the man of God (see between Syria and Israel would not interfere eh. iv. 7, 16, eto.) had heard that the King with the coming and going of a messenger of Israel had rent his olothes, that he sent from either king to the other, who would be to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou invested with an am baeeadorial character. rent thy clothes l The king's act wu Now when this letter is come unto thee. publio; his oomple.int was public; he wished We must not suppose that we have here the his subjeote to know the outrageous con- whole letter, which, no doubt, began with duot, a.a he viewed it, of the Syrian king the customary Eastern formalities and (comp. 1 Kings xx:. 7, where Ahab similtuly elaborate compliments. The historian omits calls attention to the strait in which he is these, and hastens to communicate to us the placed). Thus the rumour went, throni:,;h main point of the epistle, or rather, perhaps, the town, and ree.ohed the ears of the prn- its me.in drift, whioh he ate.tee somewhat phet, who therefore sent e. message to the be.Idly and bluntly. l!ehold, I he.ve there- king. Let him oome now to me ; i.e. let N ae.- with sent Nao.man my servant to thee, that man, instead of applying to thee, the earthly thou me.yest reoover him-literally, and thou head of the elo.te, the source of all human ahalt rec011er him-of his leprosy. The power, which is utterly unavailing in such letter made no mention of Elisha. Ben- a case, apply to wo, the source of spiritual hadad assumed that, if the King of Israel power, the commissioned minister of Jeho- had in his domiuions a person able to olll'8 vah, who alone co.n help him under the leprosy, he would be fully oognizant of the oiroumetancce. And [then] he shall know foot, and would at once send for him, and that there is a prophet in Israel ; i.e. he co.II upon him for an exertion of hie gift or shall ho.ve swift and sure demonstration, art. He is not likely to have comprehended tho.t God "has not left himself without the relations in whioh Kings of Israel stood witness," that, "in spite of the apostasy of townrde the J ehovietic prophets, but may king and people, the God who can kill and probably have thought of Elisha "as e. uort make 11live yet makea himself known in  94, THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [OH, T, 1-2'f,