The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 222

we.s. e.t any rate, a prinoe of e.n amiable dia- should be, or at leaet appear to be, the joint po~ition. And wept over hia fao-..i.e. leant act of himself and the king. The intention over the Bick man as he lay on hie bed, and was, no doubt, as Keil says, " to show tha~ ehed tears, eome of which fell on him-and the power whioh was to be given to the ll&i.d, O my father, my father, the ohariot of bow-shot" was not the king's own power. Israel, and the honemen thereof. Ae Eliehe. but "came from the Lord through thi, had addressed Elijah, when he was quitting mediation of hie prophet." the earth (oh. ii.12), so Joaeh now nddreseed Ver. 17.-And he aaid, Open the window, the dying Elisha, using exactly the same Though glass was unknown, or at any rate words, not (certainly) by a mere coincidence. not applied to windows, yet the windows of Joash must have 1..-nown the circumstances sitting-rooms, nnd still more of bedrooms, of Elijah's deplll'ture, which had probably bad latticed shutters, which partially ex- been entered before this in the • Book of cluded the light and the air, and could be the Kings,' and intended pointedly to opened and closed at plee.suro (see the com- allude to them. "0 my father, my father," ment on eh. i. 2). The prophet orde!'ed the be meant to say, "when Elijah was taken shutter to be opened, that the king might from the earth, thon didst exclaim that the shoot from the window. He addressed, not defence of Israel was gone" (see the com- the king, whose hands were both engaged, mmt on ob. ii. 12): "how much more must but his own servant, or one of the royal it be true that it is gone now, when thou attendants. Eastward. Not so much in the art on the point of departure ! He left thee direction of Syria, which was north-east of e.s his successor: thou lee.vest no one I" the Israelite territory, as in the direotion of Ver. 15.-.A.nd Elisha said unto him, Take Gilead and Bashan, which had been the bow and arro'WII. The prophet was moved, scene of Hazael's victories ( eh. x. 33), and no doubt, by a sudden inspiration. He was now to be the soene of his reverses. was bidden to assure the weeping king of .Aphek lay almost due east of Shunem, victory-speedy victory-over Syria. The where it is probable that Elisha was. And defence of Israel would not fail because be he opened it; or, and one opened it, or ther, -a mere wee.k instrument by whom God opened it. The Hebrew idiom allows of this had been pleased to work-was taken from indefinite use of the third person singulll1'. thP earth. God would bless the king'e own Theu Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And e1forts. "Te.Ire bow and arrows," he ex- he-s.e. Elisha-aaid, The arrow of the Lord's claims under the prophetic a.file.tu& "Take deliveranoe, and the arrow of deliverance them e.t once into thine hands, and do my from Syria; ro.ther, an arrO'U/. "This is," bidding." Words would not have been the prophet meant to say, "an arrow sym- enough : greater a.ssure.nce e.nd conviction bolical of deliverance about to come from was produced when prophecy took the shape Jehovah, of deliverance from the cruel op- of a symbolical action (comp. I Sam. xv. 27: pression of the Syrians "-o.nd not merely I Kings xi SO; Isa. xx. S; Jer. xiii. 1-11: of deliverance, but of victory. For thou xviii 3, 4, etc.). So the Spirit of the Lord ■halt ■mite the Syriana in Aphek. The moved the prophet to the performance of a .Aphek intended is probably that which lay symbolical act, or set of acts, which the east of the Sea of Galilee, at the distance historian now prooeeds to describe. And of abont three miles, in lat. 32° 49' nearly. he took unto him bow and arrowL Joe.eh This place was on the direct route between would take these from the hande of bis Samaria and Damascus, and bad already attendant.a, who might be carrying his own been the scene of one gi·eat victory gained !!p8Cial weapons after him, as was the prac- by Israel over Syria (1 Kings IX, 26-:-30), tice in Persia (' Ancient Monarchies,' voL The site is marked by the modem village iv. p. 161), or who would at any rate have of Fik. Till thou have oonsumed them: arms of their own, since they would wait literally, till consuming-i.e. till the arm_y upon him not merely as attendants, but 88 which thou shalt defeat at that place 1s guards. destroyed utterly. We have no account of Ver. 16.-And he said to the Xing of the fulfilment of this prophecy, but may Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow-lite- regard the defeat as one of those touched on rally, "let thine hand ride '11,pon the bow; i.e. in ver. 25. "To.kc it into active use-pi.ace thine bands Ver. 18.-And he said, Take the arro'WS. as thou dost commonly for shooting"-and And he took them. Elisha bade the king he put hia hand upon it-he did as Elisha take into his hand the reme.inder of the commo.udecl-and Elisha put hia hands upon arrows which the quiver contained. This the kmg' ■ hand.I. Efaha, it would seem, the king did, and held them in a bunch, os rose from bis bed, and took the attitude of an archers do when they have no quiver. And archer, covering the king's two hands with he &aid unto the King of llrael, S~te upou his own ho.nds, and making as if be too the ground. It is disputed what this means was pulliq; the bow, so that the shooting The LXX. translate nch-~011 tls 'T¾,11 ')'ii" os. xm. 1-25.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 265