2 Kings 13:15-25

15 Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow and arrows.
16 Then he said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands.
17 He said, "Open the window toward the east," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" And he shot. And he said, "The LORD'S arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at 1Aphek until you have destroyed them."
18 Then he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground," and he struck it three times and stopped.
19 So 2the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram 3only three times."
20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now 4the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year.
21 As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he 5revived and stood up on his feet.
22 Now 6Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23 But the 7LORD was gracious to them and 8had compassion on them and turned to them because of 9His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.
24 When Hazael king of Aram died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.
25 Then 10Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of Jehoahaz his father. 11Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

2 Kings 13:15-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 13

This chapter gives an account of the wicked reign of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, and of the low estate he was brought into by the Syrians, 2Ki 13:1-9, and of the reign of his son Joash, 2Ki 13:10-13, and of the sickness and death of Elisha; of the visit Joash made him in his sickness; and of his prediction of the king's success against the Syrians; and of the reviving of a dead man cast into the prophet's sepulchre, 2Ki 13:14-21 and of the success of Joash against the Syrians, according to the prediction of the prophet, 2Ki 13:22-25.

\\of Judah\\ The same year he was so zealous and busy in repairing the temple, 2Ki 12:6,

\\Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria\\; whereas Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and Jehu reigned but twenty eight years, 2Ki 10:36, and 2Ki 12:1, this could be but the twenty first of Joash; to reconcile which it must be observed, that it was at the beginning of the seventh year of Jehu that Joash began to reign, and at the beginning of the twenty third of Joash that Jehoahaz began to reign, as the Jewish commentators observe:

\\and reigned seventeen years\\; the two last of which were in common with his son, as Junius, see 2Ki 13:10 17831-941219-2104-2Ki13.2

Cross References 11

  • 1. 1 Kings 20:26
  • 2. 2 Kings 5:20
  • 3. 2 Kings 13:25
  • 4. 2 Kings 3:7; 2 Kings 24:2
  • 5. Matthew 27:52
  • 6. 2 Kings 8:12, 13
  • 7. 2 Kings 14:27
  • 8. 1 Kings 8:28
  • 9. Genesis 13:16, 17; Genesis 17:2-5
  • 10. 2 Kings 10:32, 33; 2 Kings 14:25
  • 11. 2 Kings 13:18, 19

Footnotes 7

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