Exposition of the Whole Bible

ther; as when Elijah fmote them. The words aph-bu, rendered he adja, is left untranflated by the = ta in and is interpreted by Theodoret ", hidden. They ftand immediately after the God of Elijah, and may be rendered, yea be, even he himlelf; meaning not Elijah, as if he was enquired after, or was prefent and fmote the waters; but rather as we and others, Elifbab, even he alfo fmote the waters; though fome take it to be the name of God, as bu was, and is with the 4rads to this day, fee the note on. J/. xliii. 13. Athanafius® interprets it of God, appho,; and fo Elifba_ calls him by his title and attribute, apb-hu; but the words may be an anfwer to the prophet’s queftion, where ig the Lord God of Elijab? here he‘ is, even he himfelf, in the faith of which the water, being {mitten, parted; and with this ‘agrees Abarbinel’s note on the text; the meaning is, though we are deprived of Eljjab, yet nat of the providence of God; and though the fervant is wanting, the Lord or mafter is not; for even he, the bleffed God, is in his room, and his excellency is as it was before; which fenfe is approved of by Fri/chmuth?: and Elifha went over; the river Fordan, as on dry land.

¥.15. And when the fons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho, faw him, &c.| Who went out from thence towards Yordan, to have a fight if they could of the affumption of Ekjab; thefe, when they faw Eii/ba come over: Fordan, the waters being parted by him; they /aid, the fpirit of Elijah doth reft on Elifba; or he-has the fame power and {pirit to work miracles as he had, which they difcerned by his dividing the waters of Fordan with his mantle: and they came to meet him, and bowed them/elves to the ground before him; in reverence of him as their mafter, in the room of Elijab.

¥, 16. And they faid unto him, behold now, there be with thy fervants 50 ftrong men, &c.] Perhaps meaning themfelves, ¥. 7. who were young, ftout and ftrong, and able to travel for days together: let them go, we pray thee, and feek thy majfter; for though they knew he was to be taken away, yet' knew not for what time, and imagined he might be found again: det peradventure the Jpirit of the Lord hath taken bim up; as it feems he was wont to do, fee 1 Kings xviii. 12. and caft him upon fome mountain, or into fome valley; where he fometimes had his abode; or they might fancy, if he was taken up to heaven, yet in his foul only, and. that when that was feparated, his dead body would be left mountain, or in a valley; and therefore they were defiroys of feeking and finding it, that jt might not be expofed to birds and beafts of prey, but that they might bury it in a decent and honourable manner: and be faid, ye fhall not fend; he knew it was to no purpofe, fince he was tranflated to heaven, body and foul, and which he was an eyeon alland; or mig rrying; nO more noxious and mortal difeafes fhould be got by drinking them, nor any abortions occafioned by them in women, cattle, and fruit-trees, as had been.

y¥. 22. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the faying of Elifha which be Jpake.} In the name of the Lord; and not only they remained fo unto the time of the writer of this hif- witnefs of. | tory, but to the times of Fo/ephus, as he teftifies *,

¥.17. And when they urged bim until be was afbamed, &c.| To deny them any longer, being fo very prefling and importunate: be faid, fend; left they fhould think he had not the refpect for his mafter he fhould have had; or was fo fond of his office, that he did not chufe he fhould be found alive ‘ifs he could, and return and re-affume it: they Lent: therefor @ 50 men; fome one way, and fome and even to ours; for there isa fpring now called Elifha’s {pring or fountain, of which Mr. Maundr¢l lays *, “its waters are at prefent received in a bafon about nine or ten paces long, and five or fix broad; and from thence iffying out in good plenty, divide themfelyes into feveral {mall ftreams, difperfing their refrefhment to all the field between this and Yeri¢ho, and rendring it exceeding frpitful,”?

another: and they fought three days, but found him not; and then returned....

¥.18, And when they came again ta him, for be tarried at Ferichg, &c.|. Waiting their return to hear the report they made: which when they had, he faid unto. them, did I not fay unto you, go. not? affuring them it would be fruitlefs, ‘and co no pur pole; though this fearch of theirs ferved both to confirm the affumption of Elijah, and the truth of Elifba being a prophet of the Lord. a

¥.19, And the men of the city faid unto Elifpa, &c.]. The inhabitants of Fericho, perceiving him to be a prophet, and endowed with a power of working miracles; Bebold, I pray thee, the Situation of this city is pleafant, as my lord feeth;. ina plain, furrounded with gardens and orchards, with vineyards, olive-yards, and groves of palm-trees, and other odoriferous ones: but the water is naught, and the ground barren, thatis, that part of it where this water was, or ran, for from thence it became barren 5 or cau/ed to mifcarry, as the word figniffes 1; not only trees caft their fruit, which it watered, but women became abortive that drank of ir, as Fofephus {ays *, and fo cattle. Abgrbinel thinks it was fo from the times of Fo/bua, being curfed by him; but if fo, it would not have been inhabited again; rather this was owing to a new curfe, upon its being rebuilt; though this might affeét gnly a {mall part of the ground, not the whole, as before obferved.

¥.20. And he faid, Bring me a uew crufe, and put falt therein, &c.} One that had never been ufed, that’it might not be thought that the virtue was owing to any thing that had been, or was put into it: end they brought it to him; the pot with the falt in it,

¥. 21, And he went forth unto the fpring of the waters, &c.] The fountain from whence they flowed, the head of them: gud caft the falt in there; which was an unlikely means of making bad water good, fince that makes it brackifh, and not fo drinkable, and what makes ground barren; but this method, contrary to nature, was taken, that the miracle might appear the greater; or, as the Yews exprefs it, be a miracle within a miracle: and faid, Thus faith the Lord, I have healed thefe waters; he did not pretend to heal them in his own name, and by his own power, but in the name, and by the power of the Lord, to wham he would have it afcribed: there gil uot be from thence any more death, or barren

SO forme other travellers Yay of it, that the water is very clear and cool, and iffues in a copious ftream.. Pliny” gives it the name of Calirroe, the beautiful ftream. and fpeaks of it as hot, wholefome, and medicinal, and of great note,

¥. 23. And he went up from thence unto Beth-el, &c.] From Jericho, which lay in a plain, to Betb- él, fituated on an hill, and therefore is faid to go up toit; hither he went, to acquaint the fons of the prophets with the affumption of E/jab, to condole their lof§ of him, and to. comfort and encourage them, and confirm his own authority among them as a prophet in his flead: and as he was going up by the way 3 the: afcent to the city: there came forth little children out of the city; the word for children is-ufed of perfons of thirty’ or forty years of age; and though thefe are faid' to be 4ittle, they were fo well grown as to be able to go forth out of the dity of themfelves, without any to guide them, or to take cate‘of them; and were-of an age capable not only of taking notice of Eli/ba’s baldnefs, but knew him to be a prophet; and were able to diftinguith between good and evil; and from a malignant pirit yn them,’ mocked at him as fuch, and at the affumption of Elijah, which they had knowledge of, and to whom, taught by their idolatrous parents, they had'an averfion: fome Fewifh writers * fay, they were called Naarim, which we render children, becaufe fhaken from the commandments, or had fhaken off the yoke of the commands; and Uttle, becaufe they were of little faith: and mocked him, and faid unto him, Go up thou bald-head, go up thou bald-head, meaning not up the hill to Bethel, where his coming was not defirable to the greater part in it, being idolaters; and perhaps thefe children were fent out to. intimidate him with their flouts and jeers from entering there;. but having heard of Elijah going up to heaven, as was faid, they jeeringly bid him go up to heaven after him, and then they fhould have a good riddance of them both; thus at the fametime mocking at him for his baldnefs, and making ’a jeft of the wondrous work fe gl S chapter gives the character of Feboram king of J/rael, y. 1, 2, 3. relates the rebellion of the king of Moab againft him, y. 4, 5. the war that he and his allies entered into on that account, ¥. 6—g. the diftrefs- the combined army were in: for want of water, their application upon this to Elifba, who promifed them water, and they had it in a wonderful manner, y¥. 10—20. and the chapter is concluded with the rout of the Moabites,

‘and the barbarity of their king to his eldeft fon, ¥. 20-27.

¥. 1. Now Fehoram the fon of Ahab began to reign over Iracl in Samaria, the 18th year of Febofbaphat “king of Fudab, &c.) So that the two years of the reign of his brother dbaziah were not compleat, only part of the 17th and part of the 18th of ‘Febofoapbat, fince he began to reign in his 17th year, at the beginning of that, and died towards the clofe of the 18th, when Fehboram fucceeded -him, fee 1 Kings xxii. 51. and reigned twelve years, ¥.2. And be a evil in the fight of the Lord, &c.] Was guilty of idolatry: dust not like bis fa- of God, the affumption of Elijah; which, wit having fo irreverently to an hoary head, a pre of the Lord, was very hainous and wicked, and” therefore what befel them need not be wonder at, ¥. 24. And he turned back, and looked on them, &c.] With a ftern countenance, thereby reprovit g, them, and in order to intimidate them, and ake them afhamed, and caufe them to leave off, but.to, no purpofe; they repeated their mockeries with. great vehemence: and curfed them in the name of, the Lord; moved thereunto, not from paffion and. a fpirit of revenge, but by an impulfe of the fpiri of God: and there came forth two fhe-bears out of the wood; which are fierceft, and efpecially when. bereaved of their whelps, as thefe might be; the wood feems to be near to Bethel, perhaps in the. wildernefs of Bethel, of which fee 70d. vill. 15. and xviii. 12. and Reland ” thinks it is the fame with the wood of Ephraim, 2 Sam. xviii. 6. though the, Jews, to increafe the miracle, fay*, there was no wood at all, and if there was, that there were no bears in it; but though thofe creatures are moftly in northern countries, yet there were of them in Judea, fee x Sam. xvii. 34. and tare 42 children of them; it feems there were more than thefe; but fuch a number of them they tore to pieces and deftroyed; which was very extraordinary, and was an awful, punifhment for their wickednefs, which they knowingly and willingly committed, and of their parents in them, who had trained them up in fuch impiety, and put them upon it, and fent them out to do it.. sedis y.25. And he went from thence to.mount Carmel,

&c.] Where Elijah ufed to frequent, and where — alfo there might be a {chool of the prophets; this according to Bunting *, was 56 miles from Bethel: and from thence be returned to Samaria; the capital of the kingdom of J/rael; there to bear his teftimony againft idolatry, to reprove for it, and ree claim from it; this, as the fame writer fays *, was 32 miles from Carmel. FE vadiond hs ther, and like bis mother; his father Abab, and his mother Jezebel: for be put away the image of Baal that bis father had made; he did not deftroy it, only removed it from the temple of Baal where it was fet, that it might not be worfhipped, at leaft publicly, fee 1 Kings-xvi. 31, 32, this he did, either moved to it by hisown confcience, obfervin the fudden deaths of his father and brother, whic he might fuppofe was for their idolatry; or in order to obtain fuccefs in his war with Moad he was entering into; or being inftigated by Jebofhaphat to do it, or otherwife he might refufe to join him.

‘y. 3. Neverthelefs, he cleaved unto the jins of Feroboam the fon of Nebat, which made Ifrael to fin, &c.] Heclofely adhered to the worthip of the calves fet up by him: he departed not therefrom; that being a piece of ftate-policy, to keep up the divifion of the two kingdoms. 1 one

¥. 4. And Mefba king of Moab was a fae pe mafi &c.] With which his country abounded; he k great numbers of them, and fhepherds to take care of them; he traded in them, and got great ri by them; his fubftance chiefly confifted in hy

* and rendered unto the king of Ifrael; either as a prefent, or as an annual tribute: 100,000 lambs, and 100,000 rams, with the wool; that is, upon them, unfhorn, and fo the more valuable; and it was ufual for tributary nations to pay their tribute to thofe to. whom they were. fubject in fuch commodities which they moft abounded with; fo the Cappadociuns, as Strabo * relates, ufed to pay, as a tribute to the Perfians, every year, 1500 horfes and 2000 mules, and five -myriads of fheep, or 50,000; andformerly, Pliny“ fays, the only tribute was from the paftures.

¥. 5. But it came to pafs when Abab was dead, that the king of -Moab rebelled againft the king of Tfrael.| Who then was Abaziah; but either thro’ the pufillanimity of his temper, or the ficknefs that attended him, or the fhortnefs of his reign, he took no fteps to the reduction of him, or to oblige him to pay his tribute, which he neglected to do, and is meant by his rebellion.

¥. 6. And king Feboram went out of Samaria the fame time, &c.] As foon as he came to the throne: and numbered all Ijrael; who were fit to bear arms, got them together at fome certain place, and mu- {tered them, and prepared for a war with Moab, to reduce them.

¥. 7. And be went and fent to Febofhaphat the king of Judah, faying, The king of Moab bath rebelled againft me, &c.|° By refufing to pay him tribute: wilt thou go up with me againft Moab to battle? And he faid, I will go up, which he agreed to, partly to encourage’ Fehoram in the reformation of religion which he had begun, and partly to chaftife the Moadites for their invafion of his country, 2 Chron, xx. 1. 1am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my. borfes as. thy horfes; the fame anfwer he returned to bab, 1 Kings xxii. 4. fee the note there. ie y. 8. And he faid, Which way fall we goup? &c.] That is, Jeboram faid fo to Febofbaphat, confulting with him which was the beft way to take to the land of Moab, whether the fhortefl way over Fordan, or fome other: and he anfwered, The way through the wilderne/s of Edom; which bordered upon it, and the fame through which the J/raelites pafied; for Kade/o was on the extreme border of Edom, whither they came, Numb. xx, 1. 16. and this Febafbaphat propofed, partly that they might come upon Moab unawares, and attack them where they were weakeft, and not an their guard; and partly to take the king of Edom sith them, who was no other than Fehofhaphar’s députy, and fo be affifting tothem, and prevent. him from revolting, which otherwife he might take this opportunity of doing.

* 4 So the king of Ifrael went, and the king of Judah, &c.| ‘The way of the wildernefs of Edom,

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 bath called thefe three kings together, to deliver them into the bands of Moab; into whofe hands they mutt inevitably fall, if they could have no water to refrefh them; fince they would be fo weak as not to be able to ftand a battle with them, and be difperfed here and there in fearch of water, and fo fall into their hands, Extreme thirft is intolerable, It is reported * of Lyfmachus, that he delivered himfelf and his army into the hands of the enemy for a draught of water, Leo Africanus ‘ relates, that in the defart of Azaoad ftand two marble pillars, teftifying, 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 fufficient neither for the one nor the other, they were both fuffocated with thirft.

¥ 11. But Febofoaphat faid, Is there uot bere a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him? &c.) This the good king fhould have done before he fet out, but had neglected it; however, it was not too late: and ome of the king of I - racl’s fervants anfwered and faid; who might be one that feared the Lord, and was intimate with Elifba, or however had knowledge of him, as appears by what follows: Here is Eli/ha the fon of Shaphat, which poured water on the bands of Ekjah; or miniftred to him, as the Targum; was his. menial fervant, waited on him, and affifted him when he wafhed his hands *; fome Fewé/h writers under- {tand it of his pouring water on the hand of Aijab at Carmel, when the altar and trench were filled with it, and when a miracle was wrought, as they fancy, and the fingers of Eliijab became as fountains of water.

y. 12, And Febofhaphat faid, The word of the Lord is with bim, &c.] To give them an anfwer; which he concluded from his being a fervant and difciple of Elijab, whom he fucceeded in his office and of whom he had, doubtlefs, heard; and from his following the camp, and being in it, which he eafily imagined was not to fight, but to affift by his advice and counfel, and by his prophecies, as there might be occafion for them: fo the king of T[rael, and Febofhaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him; defcended from their chariots, and went to the tent in the camp where he was; they did not fend for him to come to them, but, in honour of him, went to him themfelves.

y¥.13. And Elifoa faid unto the king of Ifrael, what have I to do with thee? &c.] An idolater; I can hold no difcourfe, nor have any converfation with thee, nor give thee any advice or affiftance: get thee to ibe prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother; the prophets. of Baal, and of as propofed by the latter: and the king of.Edom; whom they took with them in their way, who was not properly a king, but a viceroy or deputy, fee 1 Kings xxii. 47. and they fetched a compa/s of feven days journey; they went round the dead fea, and through the wildernefs of Edom, and fo to the borders of Moab: and there was uo water for the boft, and for the cattle that followed them, neither for _ the foldiers in the army, nor the cattle that drew the carriages, being in a wildernefs. _ ¥.10, And the king of Ifrael faid, Alas, &c.] _ Lamenting their fad cafe, as being defperate; and \the groves: and the king of lrael faid unto him, zay; meaning, he would not apply to them, who he was fenfible could give him no relief, only to the Lord God, from whom, this affliction was, and therefore begs he would pray to him to have mercy on them,; fo the Targum, ‘* I befeech thee remember not the fins of that.wickednels, pray for mercy for us:” for the Lord bath called thefe. three skings together to deliver them into tke band of Moab, fignifying, that he fhould not perifh alone, but the other two kings with him, who had no connexion with the prophets of his father and mother in their idolatry, and therefore hoped for their fakes mercy be plowed and fowed, nor any thing {pring up and.

- ¥. 14. Elifba faid, as the Lord of hofts liveth before whom I ftand, ae Whole minifter and prophet he was, to whom he prayed, and whofe fervice he was ready to perform: furely, were it not that I- regard the prefence of Fehofoaphat the king of Judah; revere him not only as a king, but as a pious prince, and a worfhipper of the true God: L wonld not look toward thee, nor fee thee; give him no’ countenance at all, pay no regard to his requeft, not fo much as to look at him in a civil way; but turn away his face from him with contempt and difdain, as unworthy to be converfed with by a prophet of the Lord.

¥.15. But now bring me a minfirel, &c.) A piper, a man that knows how to play upon the harp, as the Jargum, according to Procopius Gazeus, this was one of the Levites he ordered to be fetched, who was.ufed to the fpiritual melody of David, and could play on mufical inftruments as he directed. This he did to allay his paffion, and compofe his fpirits ruffled at the fight of Feboram, and to fit him to receive prophetic infpiraticn, which fometimes came upon the Lord’s prophets when thus employed, fee 1 Sam. x. 5. Some think’, the mufic the prophet. called for is that fort the Greeks call harmony, which is the graveft and faddeft, and fettles the affections: and it came to pafs when the minftrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him; the {pirit of prophecy, as the Targum, which came by the power of God, and as a gift from his hand.

y. 16. And he faid, thus faith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches.) In which the allied army lay encamped, that they might be ready to receive large quantities of water fufficient for the whole army and cattle, when it came.

y¥.17. For thus faith the Lord, ye fhail not fee wind, neither fall ye fee the rain, &c.| -Neither perceive the fouth wind blow, which ufually brings rain, nor clouds gathering in the heavens, as portending it, nor any ‘falling from thence: yet that valley fhall be filled with water, and all the ditches dug in it: that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and all your beajts; there would be fuch a quantity as would be enough for them all, the foldiers, the horfes they rode on, and the beafts that drew their waggons.

¥.18. And this is but a light thing in the fight

¥.20. And it came to pafs in the mornin the meat-offering was offered, &c.] At Ferufalen which always went along with the daily burnt offering of the lamb, which might not indeed b offered before break of day, yet quickly after; 1 no facrifice could be offered before that, fee thenote on Exod. xxix. 39. that bebold, there came water by the way of Edom; not from the eavens, but it may be out of fome rock rolling along on the earth from the hills and mountains, down into - the vallies, where the armies were; ond the country was filled with water; all round about them, Who has not heard of the thundering legion, as it was called by the emperor M. Aurelius, who when the army under him was about to eng wae the Germans and Sarmatians, and fadly dif reffed with thirft, fell down on their knees and prayed, upon which a large fhower of rain came down t the refrefhment of the army, and thunder-bolts, which annoyed and put the enemy to flight’? at the bartel of the Romans with Fugurtha, a fudden and unex+ pected fhower of rain fell tothe refrefhment of the Romaas in intolerable thirft *. ena y. 21. And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight againft them, &c.\ The kings of I/rael, Judah and Edom: they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and ‘upward, that were of an age capable of that, and all who were more grown; or girt on a girdle’, a military one, with which the fword was girt, who were at age to wear, and knew how to wield a fword: and jiood in the border; of their land, between Edom and them, to defend themfelves and their country again, thefe invaders. eam, Sendo ¥.22. And they rofe up early in the morning, 8c.) To watch the motions of their enemies, and be upon their guard againft them: and the fun fhone upon the water; with which the valley was filled: and the Moabites faw the water on the other fide as red as blood; fo it appeared through the rays of the fun reflected on it. yp ¥. 23. And they faid, this is blood, &c\ They were very confident of it, having no notioa of water, there having been no rain for fome time; and perhaps it was not ufual to fee water at any time in this place: ¢he kings are furely lain, they and their forces: and they have fmitten one another; having quarrelled either about their religion, or of the Lord, &c.| To give them fuch a plenty of about want of water, and the diftrefs they were water in fuch an extraordinary manner: he would do for them what was greater, not only fave them from falling into the hand of Moab, which they feared, but be will deliver the Moabites into your hands; which was more than was afked for, or expected.

come into through it, laying the blame of their coming out to war, or of their coming that way, on one another; and the Moadites might rather think fomething of this kind had happened, from what had lately been done among themfelves, and their allies, 2 Chron. xx. 23. now therefore Mogb

¥.19. And ye fall fmite every fenced city and every choice city, &c.] That is, the inhabitants of to the fpoil, having no occafion to fight, or prepare for it; all they had to do was to march di- them with the fword, and demolifh them alfo, y. 25. and fhall fell every good tree; which feems contrary to the law in Deut. xx. 19. but that may re- {pect trees belonging to a city when befieged only, or only to Canaanitifh cities; or the law was now difpenfed with, and that for this time only, to make the punifhment of Moad the greater, for their rebellion and other fins: and ftop all wells of water; which muft be very diftrefling to thofe that furvived the calamity of the fword: and mar’every booty: the I/raelites rofe fo that they fled before them, being prep: them, they fell upon them fword in v4 foon obliged them to flee: but they went, rectly to the enemy’s camp, and plunderit. ¥.24. And when they came to the camp of Tfratl, &c.], Not in an orderly, regular manner, in rank and file, as an army fhould march, but in a con-— fufed manner, every one ftriving who fhould get — thither firft, and have the largeft fhare of up and {mote the Moa good piece of land with ftones; as that it could not Jmiting the Moabites, even in their country 5 t 7