Chapter 6

1 Elisha, giving leave to the young prophets to enlarge their dwellings, causeth iron to swim. 8 He discloseth the king of Syria’s counsel. 13 The army, which was sent to Dothan to apprehend Elisha, is smitten with blindness. 19Being brought into Samaria, they are dismissed in peace. 24 The famine in Samaria causeth women to eat their own children. 30 The king sendeth to slay Elisha.

1. Sons of the prophets. These were students at one of the schools of the prophets, probably the one at Jericho, for they went to the Jordan to secure timber (v. 2).

Where we dwell. Literally, “the place where we sit before thee,” probably the place where they assembled under the charge of the prophet to hear his teaching. Elisha did not regularly make his home at this school, but only visited it from time to time in the course of his circuits among the various schools. The common hall where the students assembled to sit at the feet of the teacher seems to be the place referred to.

Too strait. The students in attendance at this school had become so numerous that they could no longer be accommodated in the available quarters. This was indicative of the prevailing interest in proper education as fostered by both Elijah and Elisha.

Let us go. The suggestion came not from Elisha but from the students. These young men were not afraid of work. One of the objectives of the schools of the prophets was to give the students a practical training for life. The young men were trained to work like the people about them, for the they were not to hold themselves aloof from those it was their responsibility to serve. Training the hand was in perfect accord with training the mind and the heart.

Go ye. The fact that permission was asked of Elisha and that it was he who gave the orders to proceed with the project shows that the prophet was a man of authority, having under his charge the direction of the various schools.

3. Be consent. That is, “be pleased,” or, “kindly consent,” to go with us. They had first asked for permission to go and do the work themselves, and now the invitation was extended to Elisha to accompany them.

I will go. Elisha was a man of the people. He was equally at home with kings and generals and with the workers at their daily toil. Never did the he hold himself aloof. Wherever there was the opportunity to serve, wherever his presence was welcome, there he desired to be. The greater the leader, the greater the willingness to serve.

The axe head. The Jews used iron for axheads at a very early date. An axhead in those days was no more secure than it is in modern times, for the legislation of Moses deals with cases in which an axhead slips from the wood while a man is felling a tree (Deut. 19:5).

It was borrowed. This was a spontaneous cry from the lad who was cutting the wood. There was probably no intention of appealing to the prophet for divine aid in recovering the ax. It was an outcry from a conscientious young man who had had the misfortune of losing something that had been borrowed and who in all probability was too poor to make good the loss.

6. Where feel it? Elisha was a prophet who, by the power of God, had raised the dead and read what was in another’s heart. But when the axhead fell into the water he did not know where it fell. Unless given a divine message, prophets acquire knowledge as their fellow men do. It is God who determines the need and the appropriate occasion for supplemental enlightenment. God performed no miracle to inform Elisha that the axhead had fallen or where it had fallen. That was something for which to miracle was needed, and in such matters miracles are not performed.

A stick. The significance of the procedure is not revealed. God does not always tell us why or how certain things are done, nor is it necessary always to understand the ways of the Lord.

Did swim. That is, “floated.” It had been at the bottom, beyond the reach of the sons of the prophets. But by divine intervention it rose to the surface and remained there.

There are those who think that there is something trivial about such a miracle as this, and that it need not have been performed. Man, in the narrowness of his vision, is likely to reason that it is only in great things that divine intervention should be looked for. But there is not a grief or a heartache on the part of any of God’s children on earth but the Father’s great heart of sympathy goes out to the one in need. God’s heart still responds to the needs of the children of men, and Heaven still acts in their behalf. Not a day passes but the Lord intervenes in the interests of those who call upon Him, supplying their needs. The day of miracles is not yet over. There may not be an Elisah present, but in His own way God works in behalf of His children who have faith in Him.

7. Take it up. If the young man desired to have the ax returned, he also had a part to play. God could have caused the ax not only to swim but to return to its original position on the wood. But the Lord generally does not perform miracles for men in things they can do for themselves. The young man was perfectly able to reach out into the water and recover the floating ax, and that he was directed to do. When God asks us to take, His gifts will be ours when we reach out to receive. Disobedience and unbelief keep from us many of the greatest blessings of God.

8. The king of Syria warred. Israel and Syria were at this time in a state of almost constant war. If there was not open conflict, there were border raids. At the time that Ahab met his death, the armies of Israel had gone against Syria to retake Ramoth in Gilead across the Jordan (1 Kings 22:3, 4). After the death of Ahab it was Syria that had the upper hand over Israel, and now its armies were once more on Israelite soil. Benhadad II was still king in Syria (2 Kings 6:24).

Such and such a place. The particular place is of no importance. At one time it would be in one place, and then again in another.

Shall be my camp. What is meant here is more than an open permanent camp, for the whole countryside soon would know where that was located and could so inform the king without the prophet. What is probably referred to by this obscure Hebrew word, unattested elsewhere, is an ambush set for a sudden raid, where the element of surprise or secrecy was involved.

9. The man of God sent. The careful counsel that the king of Syria had taken in secret with his officers had been revealed to Elisha, who in turn took that information to Israel’s king.

Are come down. Rather, “are coming down,” or, “are planning to come down.” What was revealed by Elisha was information concerning the plans that the Syrians had in mind, so that, having learned of those tactical plans in advance, the king of Israel was able to send sufficient troops to the places involved to cope with the Syrians at the time of their arrival.

10. Saved himself. That is, saved the situation, for himself and the nation. Knowing the plans of the enemy, he was saved from falling into the enemy’s trap.

11. Sore troubled. Every time a plan had been laid in the utmost secrecy, the enemy would know the details. If this had happened only once or twice, it might not have occasioned alarm, but when it came to be a regular thing, the king of Syria was troubled and was determined to learn the cause.

Which of us? As far as Benhadad was concerned, there seemed to be only one cause—a traitor in the camp. He was certain that information was leaking out through someone whose sympathies were with Israel rather than Syria, or who had been bought off to serve the enemy rather than his own nation. Would not someone among them reveal the traitor?

12. In thy bedchamber. The best-guarded and most inaccessible place in an Oriental palace. Words spoken there would be truly secret, beyond the ears of even the closest friends of the king.

13. Dothan. A town on the regular caravan route between Gilead and Egypt, near the plain of Esdraelon and a pass leading to the highlands of Samaria. It was 14 1/8 mi. (22.6 km.) north by east from Shechem, and 10 mi. (16 km.) north by east of Samaria. It was here that a band of Ishmaelites on their way from Gilead to Egypt purchased Joseph (Gen. 37:17–28). This site is now known as Tell DoЖthaµ.

14. Sent he thither horses. Being on the regular caravan route, Dothan could readily be approached by a large company of soldiers equipped with horses and chariots.

15. Servant. Heb. meshareth (see on ch. 4:43). This servant was not Gehazi, who was unde a terrible curse for his crime (ch. 5:27). Perhaps it was one of the prophet-disciples who had accompanied Elisha to Dothan. By being thus associated with the prophet in his labors, these young men would receive valuable experience.

Alas, my master! The young man had neither the faith of his master nor the strength and courage that come as the result of experience.

16. Fear not. How often the Lord speaks to His children these reassuring words! In the sojourn of life the people of God often find themselves in situations that would cause them to be uncertain and afraid, but God makes His presence known and speaks words of courage and hope (see Gen. 15:1; 46:3; Ex. 14:13; Num. 14:9; Deut. 1:21; Isa. 43:1; Luke 12:32). As long as God’s people are on earth, difficulties will arise and dangers will need to be met. Satan will do his utmost to cause the righteous to give way to doubt and fear, but through the mist of uncertainty and doubt the voice of the Lord still comes to us clear and assuring: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

Are more. When a man of God is surrounded by the enemies of the Lord, he may always have the assurance that the strength that is with him is infinitely greater than the strength of the enemy. When the armies of Sennacherib surrounded the city of Jerusalem and demanded surrender, Hezekiah spoke to his people a similar message of courage (2 Chron. 32:7, 8). The weakest child of God, seemingly alone and forsaken on earth, need never be afraid of all the forces the enemy may send against him. With God on his side he is more than a match for the mightiest hosts of evil.

17. Open his eyes. The greatest realities cannot be seen with eyes of flesh. God and His angels are invisible to man without the help of the Lord. With the eyes of flesh we can see only things of flesh. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Our greatest need is that our eyes may be opened and we may see God and the vital importance of the things of His kingdom. Unless God opens our eyes we may go through life as blind men, never understanding the things of Lord, never seeing the vital importance righteousness or appreciating the importance of holiness. When we pray to God our eyes are opened, and we begin to see the importance of the most vital things of earth.

The mountain was full. Angels of God are the constant companions of the righteous. Surrounding the upright are guardian messengers from heaven through whose ranks it is impossible for evil angels to penetrate unless the saints, through their own choice, refuse the protection of Heaven. One man with the Lord’s help is more than a match for the mightiest powers of earth (see Ps. 3:6; 27:1, 3; 34:7). The horses and chariots round about Elisha were myriads of powerful angels sent by God to watch over His servants.

18. Blindness. Heb. sanwerim, which occurs only here (twice) and in Gen. 19:11. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Some have thought that total physical blindness is not meant, but only a state of illusion in which the men would not be able to see things as they actually were (see on Gen. 19:11). Two problems present themselves: (1) How would Elisha have been able to lead this company of men over the 11 mi. of mountainous terrain to Samaria if the group was totally blind? (2) Why would the men persist in their purpose of apprehending Elisha, seeing such an attempt was futile without eyesight? If the blindness was total, the explanation lies in the fact that these men were smitten with “double blindness” (see PP 159). The blindness of soul would lead them to persist in their evil course despite the stroke of God. The miracle may have extended beyond the affliction of physical blindness so as to make it possible for Elisha to lead these men to Samaria as well as to keep them to their purpose of taking him into custody.

19. This is not the way. Similar instances where the enemies of the Lord were led to form mistaken conclusions that brought them defeat, were, for example, (1) Gideon’s making his 300 men appear to the Midianites as an overwhelming force (Judges 7:19–21); (2) the appearance of the waters as blood in the battle with the Moabites (2 Kings 3:22–23); (3) the noise that the Syrians interpreted to be the noise of the approaching armies of the Hittites and the Egyptians (2 Kings 7:6). See also Joshua 8:15.

21. Unto Elisha. The king looked to the prophet for directions, not the prophet to the king. The king wore the crown of the realm, but the prophet spoke in the name of the Lord. Joram was in command of the hosts of Israel, but legions of angels had been placed at Elisha’s command.

My father. The use of this phrase does not indicate any filial relationship, but the respect in which Elisha was held by the king.

Shall I smite them? The repetition of the words indicate Joram’s eagerness to slay the Syrians whom the prophet had brought within his grasp. But the fact that he did not immediately smite them indicates that he had certain misgivings concerning the propriety of such a course.

22. Thou shalt not smite them. Joram was forbidden to smite the captives, since the object of the miracle was not to have the Syrians put to death but in part, at least, to open their eyes to the fact that it was utterly vain to attempt anything against a prophet of God. Through the captive Hebrew maid in the service of Naaman, the Syrians had had an opportunity to become acquainted with the Lord’s mercy and power. God desired to bring to them further lessons concerning His love and irresistible might. Unless the captive Syrians had now returned to their homeland and told their countrymen what had taken place, the Lord’s object in this miracle would not have been realized.

Wouldest thou smite? It would have been an inexcusable crime for the king of Israel to slay in cold blood prisoners whom he had taken captive in war. Elisha is making clear to Joram that these men are prisoners of war and have every right to be treated as such. Even under normal circumstances it would have been a crime for the king to put to death prisoners taken with his own hand. Under the present circumstances the crime would have been all the more reprehensible, and would have put Israel and its God in an utterly wrong light before the people of Syria.

Set bread and water. That is, treat them not as prisoners but as guests. The Syrians were to be given an object lesson of the power of the Israelite religion in making men merciful and kind (see Prov. 25:21, 22; Matt. 5:44).

23. Provision. Heb. kerah, a “feast,” or “banquet.” The Syrians were given not ordinary food but such as was prepared for special occasions. According to the unwritten law of the desert, a man who accepts food in a tent becomes a friend and must be protected.

They went to their master. When they returned to their country the Syrians were a far different group of men from what they were when they made their inroad into Israel. From enemies they had been changed to friends. The meal that they had eaten had fed not only their bodies but their souls. They had learned a lesson that they would not soon forget.

Came no more. This was the natural effect of the chivalrous treatment that Joram had accorded his captives. For the time being the Syrian inroads into Israel ceased. Joram had accomplished by his feast what he could not have accomplished by force of arms. Kindness proved itself a more powerful weapon than the sword. When men do good to their enemies, they do good to themselves. God is kind not only to the righteous but also to the wicked, making “his sun to rise on the evil and on the good” and sending “rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). So men are to love their enemies and treat with kindness those who do ill to them. Only by such a spirit can the bitterness and strife between the children of men be driven out.

24. After this. How long it was from the time that Joram prepared his feast for the Syrian invaders of Israel till the time that Benhadad besieged Samaria is not recorded. It must, however, have been a number of years, for the old spirit of enmity had again sprung up between the two nations. What the cause for this new war between Israel and Syria might have been is not revealed.

Ben-hadad. That is, Benhadad II. The first Benhadad was a contemporary of Asa (1 Kings 15:18–20). Benhadad II is the same king whom Ahab had twice defeated, and to whom he had shown such unseasonable lenity that he had received a prophetic rebuke (1 Kings 20:1–42). It was in battle with this same king three years later that Ahab lost his life (1 Kings 22:1–37). Benhadad is mentioned a number of times in the records of Shalmaneser III of Assyria, where he appears in cuneiform text in a form that may be read either AdduРХidri or BirРХidri. The latter form is preferred by Assyriologists. In an Aramaic inscription from Hamath he is called BarРhadad. The Assyrians may have thought that the Bar stood for the Babylonian god Bir, and also misread the Hadad for Hadar, since d and r may easily be confused in Aramaic script. Whatever the correct explanation for the origin of difference between the two names, there is no doubt that the Ben-hadad of the Bible, the BarРhadad of the Aramaic inscription, and the BirРХidri of the Assyrian texts refer to the same person. The Heb. BenРhadad, means “son of Hadad,” Hadad being the name of the well-known west Semitic storm god. BirРХidri appears on the Assyrian inscriptions as king of Syria as late as the 14th year of Shalmaneser, when the Assyrian king claims to have won a great victory over him and his allies.

Besieged Samaria. This was not a minor border raid but serious war of the utmost intensity. Benhadad probably took advantage of a time when Shalmaneser was not engaged in active campaigns in the Mediterranean area.

25. Great famine. Famines were not uncommon in Israel. At the time of Elijah there was a drought that lasted for three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1 to 8:1; Luke 4:25; James 5:17), and in the days of Elisha there was a famine for seven years (2 Kings 8:1). The present famine, however, was the result of the siege.

Fourscore pieces of silver. That is, 80 shekels (912 grams, about 2.5 lb. troy) of silver for the head of an ass. An ass was unclean to the Hebrews, and would not be eaten except as a last resort; and its head would be its worst and cheapest part. Plutarch records that at the time of a famine during the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, the head of an ass sold for 60 drachmas, though ordinarily the entire animal could be bought for half that sum. And Pliny relates that during the siege of Casalinum, a mouse was sold for 200 denarii.

The fourth part of a cab. A cab was equal to about 1.11 dry qts. (1.2 liters). Five pieces of silver means five shekels (57 grams, 1.8 oz. troy) of silver. It is difficult to believe that human beings could be reduced to such terrible straits as to eat such impossible food, but Josephus mentions that during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, “some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search the common sewers and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung they got there” (Wars v. 13. 7). A more recent interpretation seeks to find in the expression “dove’s dung” a reference to some very cheap and undesirable form of vegetable produce—the meanest form of vegetable that could be used for human consumption. Such an identity cannot be proved.

26. Upon the wall. The walls of ancient fortified cities had a broad space at the top, protected by battlements at the outer edge, where the bulk of the defenders were stationed and from which they hurled stones or shot arrows at the enemy. The king seems to have been making the rounds of these defenses, encouraging his troops and acquainting himself with the progress of the siege. A woman in the street below, or perhaps from a housetop near the city wall, saw the king and appealed to him for help.

27. Whence shall I help? The situation was such as to be beyond the help of the king. Joram freely admitted that there was nothing within his power to relieve the woman’s distress. If the Lord did not help her, what was there that he could do in these dire straits?

Out of the barnfloor? Joram, in the irony of despair, calls the attention of the woman to a fact she already knows only too well: that all food, even at its sources, has long since been exhausted.

28. What aileth thee? The king had at first assumed that the woman was appealing to him for food. Now he realized that this may not have been the case, but that she may have had some other request. Perhaps he felt that, in full view of so many of the populace and the city’s defenders, he had answered her too harshly. After all he still was king and any citizen had the right to come to him for a final appeal. He agreed to listen to her petition.

29. We boiled my son. Israel had been warned by Moses that if they departed from God, they would be brought into just such straits, and that parents would eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters (Lev. 26:29; Deut. 28:53). This prophecy now met its awful fulfillment. God foresaw exactly what the fearful results of transgression would finally be, and He did everything that divine love and forbearance could do to prevent matters from coming to such a pass as this. Moses’ prophecy had another fulfillment when Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar (Lam. 4:10), and again in the final siege of the city by Titus (Josephus Wars vi. 3. 4).

Hath hid her son. A more touching and yet horrible grievance can hardly be imagined. In their terrible plight the two mothers had entered into a shocking compact. The one son was already eaten, but the second mother could not bring herself to go through with her part of the bargain. To save her son, she had hidden him, and now the first woman sought to force her to produce him by an appeal to the king. What could be the king do in such a case as this?

30. Rent his clothes. Under the circumstances this seemed to be the king’s only possible response. He could not order a woman to produce her son that the child might be eaten, nor was he in a position to end this terrible distress. His clothes were rent, not in grief or repentance like his father (1 Kings 21:27), but in horror and consternation.

Sackcloth within. Instead of wearing sackcloth on the outside, Joram, it seems, had put on this ascetic garment under his outer attire and was wearing it less openly. By such a device he probably hoped to appease the wrath of Jehovah. The people saw in the sackcloth an expression of the king’s sympathy for them in their distress.

31. The head of Elisha. Elisha had called upon the people to repent and doubtless had made it clear to them that if they did not put away their sins and turn to the Lord with all their hearts, they might expect trouble and distress. The king was bitter against the prophet and now sought to place the blame on him for the continuance of the siege and famine. In doing so he followed the same course as had his brother Ahaziah, and his father Ahab (see on ch. 1:10). A man who was truly penitent would have worn sackcloth openly rather than in secret, and he would not have turned upon God’s prophet. Beheading was not an ordinary form of punishment among the Jews, but was common in Assyria and other neighboring nations. With his heart filled with bitterness and wrath, Joram now threatened Elisha with this horrible form of capital punishment.

32. The elders sat. These probably included not only the leaders of the city but also the nobles and chiefs of the entire land. As such they were the most respected and the most substantial citizens of the state. At this hour of emergency they had gone to the home of Elisha, obviously for his advice and assistance. Their imminent peril caused them to acknowledge the power of Jehovah and to seek for help from His prophet. Later, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem found themselves in a similar crisis, Jeremiah was consulted for guidance and information concerning the will of the Lord (Jer. 21:1, 2; 38:14).

Ere the messenger came. Joram sought to take the life of Elisha, and sent a man with orders to behead the prophet. But before his arrival, the Lord forewarned Elisha of the king’s intentions, so that the matter could be clearly set before the leaders of the land.

Son of a murderer. Ahab, the father of Joram, was guilty not only of the blood of Naboth but also of the prophets who were slain by Jezebel with his full consent. Even his faithful servant Obadiah feared that he would be put to death by Ahab when told to go to him with a message concerning Elijah (1 Kings 18:9). Joram, the son of a murderer, possessed the same evil traits as his father.

Hath sent. The executioner was already on his way, but Elisha showed no concern. He was a prophet of the Lord and knew that his life was in the hands of God and not at the mercy of evil men.

Hold him fast at the door. Literally, “Press him back with [or at] the door.” That is, close the door and hold it fast against him that he may not enter. The prophet had done nothing worthy of death and had not been convicted of any crime. As the messenger of Heaven he had a perfect right to give the instructions he did, even though they countermanded the orders of the king. It is the responsibility of rulers to protect, not persecute, the upright, law-abiding citizen. Murder is as wrong for a king as for any ordinary individual within the realm.

Behind him. Following close upon the heels of the would-be executioner came the king, to see whether or not his orders had been carried out.

33. And he said. The question has been raised as to whose words these were, those of the messenger or of the king. Whether or not the king had already arrived at this time, these words evidently originated with the king. The messenger would have no right to speak thus in his own name. If he spoke these words, then he had been sent to speak them in the name of the king. It appears, however, that the king had now arrived and was himself doing the speaking. True, the Scriptural record does not announce his actual arrival, either here or in the following verses, but inasmuch as Elisha said that the king was following hard after the messenger, his coming could not have been long delayed. The words now spoken reflect the mind of the king. He is angry with the prophet and with the God he represents. He declares that this trouble the land is going through has all come from God, and He must carry the blame. Not able to vent his wrath on God, Joram will now vent it on His prophet.

What should I wait? Joram is asking why he should temporize with God. He believes that the Lord has arbitrarily brought this evil upon Samaria, and that He is therefore responsible for all the horrors that are taking place. This sudden action against the prophet is the king’s response to the woman who had appealed to him (see v. 26). Put to the test in plain sight of the soldiers and the people, the king in his dilemma was forced to some sort of action, and his decision was to turn upon God and Elisha. Since God had brought the siege, God would do nothing to bring it to an end, so Joram’s only course—as he tried to persuade himself—was to turn against God and take matters in his own hands. This he was now proceeding to do in issuing an order for the death of Elisha.

Ellen G. White comments

1–33PK 255–261

1, 22    PK 260

1–7Ed 217

5–7PK 260

8–17PK 256

16, 17  DA 40; PK 264

17   Ed 255; GC 208; PK 590

18–23PK 257

24–33PK 258