Then spoke Elisha to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn: for the LORD has called for a famine; and it shall also come on the land seven years. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • KJT • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) VIII.(1-6) How the kindness of the Shunammite woman to Elisha was further rewarded through the prophet’s influence with the king. (1) Then spake Elisha.—Rather, Now Elisha had spoken. The time is not defined by the phrase. It was after the raising of the Shunammite’s son (2Kings 8:1), and before the healing of Naaman the Syrian, inasmuch as the king still talks with Gehazi (2Kings 8:5). Go thou.—The peculiar form of the pronoun points to the identity of the original author of this account with the writer of 2 Kings 4. Moreover, the famine here foretold appears to be that of 2Kings 4:38, seq., so that the present section must in the original document have preceded 2 Kings 5. Thenius thinks the compiler transferred the present account to this place, because he wished to proceed chronologically, and supposed that the seven years’ famine came to an end with the raising of the siege of Samaria. For a famine.—To the famine. The sword, the famine, the noisome beasts, and the pestilence were Jehovah’s “four sore judgments,” as we find in Ezekiel 14:21. And it shall also come upon.—And, moreover, it cometh into. Seven Years.—Perhaps not to be understood literally, any more than Dante’s “O caro Duca mio che più di sette Volte Called for a famine - A frequent expression (compare the marginal references). God's "calling for" anything is the same as His producing it (see Ezekiel 36:29; Romans 4:17). CHAPTER 82Ki 8:1-6. The Shunammite's Land Restored. 1. Then spake Elisha unto the woman—rather "had spoken." The repetition of Elisha's direction to the Shunammite is merely given as an introduction to the following narrative; and it probably took place before the events recorded in chapters 5 and 6. the Lord hath called for a famine—All such calamities are chastisements inflicted by the hand of God; and this famine was to be of double duration to that one which happened in the time of Elijah (Jas 5:17)—a just increase of severity, since the Israelites still continued obdurate and incorrigible under the ministry and miracles of Elisha (Le 26:21, 24, 28).The Shunammite having, by Elisha’s advice, left the land because of the famine, returneth home; and hath her whole estate restored to her for Elisha’s sake, 2 Kings 8:1-6. He cometh to Damascus. Ben-hadad is sick, and sendeth Hazael to him with presents. Elisha foretelleth Ben-hadad’s violent death, and Hazael’s cruel reign, with tears. Hazael’s answer: he killeth his master, and succeedeth him, 2 Kings 8:7-15. Jehoram’s wicked reign in Judah: Edom and Libnah revolt, 2 Kings 8:16-23. He dieth, and Ahaziah his son succeedeth him: his wicked reign: he entertaineth friendship with Joram king of Israel, 2 Kings 8:24-29. saying, arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn; with the greatest safety to her person and property, and with the least danger to her moral and religious character: for the Lord hath called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years: which Jarchi says was the famine that was in the days of Joel; it was, undoubtedly, on account of the idolatry of Israel, and was double the time of that in the days of Elijah. Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou {a} canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.(a) Where you can find a convenient place to dwell, where there is plenty. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) Ch. 2 Kings 8:1-6. The land of the Shunammite is restored to her by the king’s order for the sake of Elisha’s miracles (Not in Chronicles)1. Then spake Elisha] R.V. Now Elisha had spoken. It is clear from verse 3 that Elisha’s advice was given at least seven years before the event narrated in these verses. Hence the necessity for the change of tense. It is probable that the accounts of Elisha’s work and influence are not related in their chronological order. The famine here spoken of was most likely the same to which allusion is made in 2 Kings 4:38, and perhaps the conference of the king with Gehazi mentioned in verse 4 took place before the latter was smitten with leprosy. It is not however absolutely certain that Jehoram might not have an interview with Gehazi, though leprous. Bp Hall says of them: ‘I begin to think some goodness in both these. Had there not been some goodness in Jehoram, he had not taken pleasure to hear, even from a leprous mouth, the miraculous acts and praises of God’s prophet: had there not been some goodness in Gehazi, he had not, after so fearful an infliction of judgement, thus ingenuously recounted the praises of his severe master’. the woman, whose son he had restored] i.e. the Shunammite whose story is told in 2 Kings 4:8-37. sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn] Why such advice should be given to a woman, who from the history appears to have been in better circumstances than others, it is not easy to decide. As the husband is nowhere mentioned in this appeal to Jehoram, it may be that he, being already old when the son was restored to life, had in the meantime died. Then she may have fallen into some distress, and have been unable to dwell on the lands which her husband had cultivated. the Lord hath called for a famine] Similarly the Lord is said to call for the sword against a land, Jeremiah 25:29; Ezekiel 38:21. and it shall also come] Elisha, as the seer, foretells the duration of the dearth, as he had done the termination of the siege, and the consequent abundance in Samaria (2 Kings 7:1). In both cases his words are directly referred to Jehovah.Verse 1. - Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life. There is no "then" in the original, of which the simplest rendering would be, "And Elisha spake unto the woman," etc. The true sense is, perhaps, best brought out by the Revised Version, which gives the following: Now Elisha had spoken unto the woman, etc. The reference is to a time long anterior to the siege of Samaria. Saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine. A famine is mentioned in 2 Kings 4:38, which must belong to the reign of Jehoram, and which is probably identified with that here spoken cf. Elisha, on its approach, recommended the Shunammite, though she was a woman of substance (2 Kings 4:8), to quit her home and remove to some other residence, where she mighty, escape the pressure of the calamity He left it to her to choose the place of her temporary abode. The phrase, "God hath called for a famine," means no more and no less than "God has determined that there shall be a famine." With God to speak the word is to bring about the event. And it shall also come upon the land seven years. Seven years was the actual duration of the great famine, which Joseph foretold in Egypt (Genesis 41:27), and was the ideally perfect period for a severe famine (2 Chronicles 24:13). Many of the best meteorologists are inclined to regard the term of "seven years" as a cyclic period in connection with weather changes. The king imagined that the unexpected departure of the Syrians was only a ruse, namely, that they had left the camp and hidden themselves in the field, to entice the besieged out of the fortress, and then fall upon them and press into the city. בּהשּׂדה according to later usage for בּשּׂדה (vid., Ewald, 244, a). In order to make sure of the correctness or incorrectness of this conjecture, one of the king's servants (counsellors) gave this advice: "Let them take (the Vav before יקחוּ as in 2 Kings 4:41) five of the horses left in the city, that we may send and see how the matter stands." The words, "Behold they (the five horses) are as the whole multitude of Israel that are left in it (the city); behold they are as the whole multitude of Israel that are gone," have this meaning: The five horsemen (for horses stand for horsemen, as it is self-evident that it was men on horseback and not the horses themselves that were to be sent out as spies) can but share the fate of the rest of the people of Samaria, whether they return unhurt to meet death by starvation with the people that still remain, or fall into the hands of the enemy and are put to death, in which case they will only suffer the lot of those who have already perished. Five horses is an approximative small number, and is therefore not at variance with the following statement, that two pair of horses were sent out with chariots and men. The Chethb ההמון is not to be altered, since there are other instances in which the first noun is written with the article, though in the construct state (vid., Ewald, 290, e.); and the Keri is only conformed to the following כּכל־המון. 2 Kings 7:14, 2 Kings 7:15. They then sent out two chariots with horses, who pursued the flying enemy to the Jordan, and found the whole of the road full of traces of the hurried flight, consisting of clothes and vessels that had been thrown away. The Chethb בּהחפזם is the only correct reading, since it is only in the Niphal that חפז has the meaning to fly in great haste (cf. 1 Samuel 23:26; Psalm 48:6; Psalm 104:7). Links 2 Kings 8:1 Interlinear2 Kings 8:1 Parallel Texts 2 Kings 8:1 NIV 2 Kings 8:1 NLT 2 Kings 8:1 ESV 2 Kings 8:1 NASB 2 Kings 8:1 KJV 2 Kings 8:1 Bible Apps 2 Kings 8:1 Parallel 2 Kings 8:1 Biblia Paralela 2 Kings 8:1 Chinese Bible 2 Kings 8:1 French Bible 2 Kings 8:1 German Bible Bible Hub |
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