2 Kings 13:10-25

10 In the thirty-seventh * year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen * years.

11 He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in them.

12 ¹Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles * of the Kings of Israel?

13 So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Death of Elisha

14 When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, "²My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"

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 ³Aphek 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 ⁴the 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 ⁵only three times."

20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now ⁶the 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 ⁷revived and stood up on his feet.

22 Now ⁸Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

23 But the ⁹LORD was gracious to them and ¹⁰had compassion on them and turned to them because of ¹¹His 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 ¹²Jehoash 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. ¹³Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

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2 Kings 13:10-25 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

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 13

1. 2 Kings 13:14-19; 2 Kings 14:8-15
2. 2 Kings 2:12
3. 1 Kings 20:26
4. 2 Kings 5:20
5. 2 Kings 13:25
6. 2 Kings 3:7; 2 Kings 24:2
7. Matthew 27:52
8. 2 Kings 8:12, 13
9. 2 Kings 14:27
10. 1 Kings 8:28
11. Genesis 13:16, 17; Genesis 17:2-5
12. 2 Kings 10:32, 33; 2 Kings 14:25
13. 2 Kings 13:18, 19

Footnotes 10

[a]. Lit "it"
[b]. Lit "was sick with his sickness"
[c]. Lit "his face"
[d]. Lit "took to himself"
[e]. Lit "smite"
[f]. Lit "made an end of"
[g]. Lit "stood"
[h]. Lit "made an end of"
[i]. Lit "went and touched"
[j]. Lit "smote"