2 Kings 13:20

20 So Elisha died, and he was buried. Sometimes Moabite raiding parties used to come into the land each spring.

2 Kings 13:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 13:20

And Elisha died, and they buried him
In Samaria. Epiphanius says F14, in Sebastopolis of Samaria, Samaria itself was called Sebaste in later times; though the Jews say F15 he was buried in Mount Carmel, in the cave of Elijah; according to the Jewish chronology {p}, he died in the tenth year of Joash, and he prophesied more than sixty years; sixty six, as Abarbinel, since he began to prophesy in the nineteenth year of Jehoshaphat; and, according to Clemens F17 of Alexandria, when he was forty years of age; but it seems rather, as Kimchi observes, that he died in the beginning of the reign of Joash, and even before his father's death, when he was a partner with him in the throne, and before any salvation or deliverance from the Syrians was wrought:

and the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the
year;
at the spring of the year, when there was fruit on the earth, those troops of robbers came to plunder and spoil; several of the Jewish writers observe, that in the word for "coming", (h) is instead of (a) , and so may be rendered "in that year", in that selfsame year that Elisha died; and so read the Syriac, Arabic, and the Vulgate Latin versions.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 De Vitis Prophet. c. 6.
F15 Cippi Heb. p. 46.
F16 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 19.
F17 Stromat. l. 1. p. 326.

2 Kings 13:20 In-Context

18 Then Elisha said, "Take the arrows!" so Joash took them. Elisha then said to Israel's king, "Hit the ground with them!" Joash hit the ground three times and stopped.
19 The man of God became angry with him. He said, "If only you had struck five or six times, you would have finished the Arameans off. As it is, you will defeat them only three times."
20 So Elisha died, and he was buried. Sometimes Moabite raiding parties used to come into the land each spring.
21 Now it happened once that while a man was being buried, the people at the funeral suddenly saw a raiding party. They threw the body into Elisha's tomb and ran off. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet!
22 Aram's King Hazael had oppressed Israel throughout Jehoahaz's rule.
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