2 Kings 3:10

10 dixitque rex Israhel eheu eheu eheu congregavit nos Dominus tres reges ut traderet in manu Moab

2 Kings 3:10 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 3:10

And the king of Israel said, alas!
&c.] Lamenting their sad case, as being desperate; and the rather he was the more concerned, as he was the principal who had drawn the other kings into this affair, though he throws it upon the Lord and his providence:

that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them
into the hands of Moab;
into whose hands they must inevitably fall, if they could have no water to refresh them; since they would be so weak as not to be able to stand a battle with them, and be dispersed here and there in search of water, and so fall into their hands. Extreme thirst is intolerable. It is reported ^F5 of Lysimachus, that he delivered himself and his army into the hands of the enemy for a draught of water. Leo Africanus ^F6 relates, that in the desert of Azaoad stand two marble pillars, testifying that a rich merchant bought of a carrier of wares a cup of water at the price of 10,000 ducats; but there not being water sufficient neither for the one nor the other, they were both died with thirst.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Plutarch. in Apothegm.
F6 Descriptio Africae, l. 1. p. 75.

2 Kings 3:10 In-Context

8 dixitque per quam viam ascendemus at ille respondit per desertum Idumeae

9 perrexerunt igitur rex Israhel et rex Iuda et rex Edom et circumierunt per viam septem dierum nec erat aqua exercitui et iumentis quae sequebantur eos

10 dixitque rex Israhel eheu eheu eheu congregavit nos Dominus tres reges ut traderet in manu Moab

11 et ait Iosaphat estne hic propheta Domini ut deprecemur Dominum per eum et respondit unus de servis regis Israhel est hic Heliseus filius Saphat qui fundebat aquam super manus Heliae

12 et ait Iosaphat est apud eum sermo Domini descenditque ad eum rex Israhel et Iosaphat et rex Edom