2 Kings 1:1--3:27
Moab <04124> [Moab.]
After ... died <0310 04194> [after the.]
lattice <07639> [a lattice.]
The flat roofs of the eastern houses are generally surrounded by a parapet wall breast high; but instead of this, some terraces are guarded with balustrades only, or latticed work. Of the same kind, probably, was the lattice, or net, as the term {shevacha} seems to import, through which Ahaziah fell into the court. This incident proves the necessity of the law for the formation of battlements for roof, (De 22:8,) which God graciously dictated from Sinai, which furnishes a beautiful example of his paternal care and goodness; for the terrace was a place where many offices of the family were performed, and business frequently transacted.
injured <02470> [was sick.]
Baal Zebub <01176> [Baal-zebub.]
[Beelzebub. god.]
survive <02421> [whether.]
angelic messenger ............ messengers <04397> [angel.]
Elijah <0452> [Elijah.]
Get <06965> [Arise.]
God .................... god <0430> [it.]
way <01980> [ye go.]
<03381> [Thou shalt, etc. Heb. The bed whither thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down from it. but shalt.]
replied .......... told ................... says <0559> [Thus saith.]
lie on <03381> [therefore.]
man <0376 04941> [What manner of man was he? Heb. What was the manner of the man?]
hairy man <01167 08181> [an hairy man.]
That is, he wore a rough garment, either made of camels' hair, as that of John Baptist, or of a skin, dressed with the hair on. Sir J. Chardin informs us, in a MS. note on this place, cited by Mr. Harmer, that the eastern dervishes and fakeers are clothed just as Elijah was, with a hairy garment, girded with a leathern girdle.
sent ... captain <07971 08269> [sent unto.]
sitting <03427> [he sat.]
Prophet <0376> [Thou man.]
prophet <0376> [If I be a man.]
fire .............. Fire <0784> [let fire.]
Or, rather, as the original literally imports, and the LXX. render, [katabesetai pyr,] fire shall come down; Elijah's words being simply declarative, and not imprecatory.
consume ............... consumed <0398> [consumed.]
king <07725> [Again.]
Prophet <0376> [O man.]
king sent <07725 07971> [he sent again.]
fell .... knees <03766 01290> [fell on. Heb. bowed.]
begged for mercy <02603> [besought.]
Prophet <0430 0376> [O man of God.]
came down <03381> [Behold.]
life <05315> [let my life.]
afraid <06440 03372> [be not afraid of him.]
sent <07971> [Forasmuch.]
Baal Zebub <01176> [Baal-zebub.]
Literally, "the lord of flies;" or, as the LXX. render, [Baal mwean theon,] Baal the fly god. See note on Ex 8:24.
[on which thou are gone up.]
In the East there is usually at the end of each chamber a little gallery, raised three or four feet above the floor, with a balustrade in front, to which they go up by a few steps: here they place their beds; an allusion to which situation is involved in this declaration of Elijah's, and frequently referred to in the Sacred Scriptures: see Ge 49:4.
Jehoram ......... Jehoram <03088> [Jehoram.]
As it is said in ch. 3:1, that he began his reign in the eighteenth of Jehoshaphat, it is supposed that Jehoshaphat admitted his son Jehoram to reign with him eight or nine years before his death. "The second year that Jehoram was Prorex, and the eighteenth of Jehoshaphat."
second <08147> [in the second.]
scroll <05612> [in the book.]
up <05927> [take up.]
windstorm <05591> [by a whirlwind.]
Elisha <0477> [Elisha.]
Gilgal <01537> [Gilgal.]
Stay ..... Lord .............. Lord <03427 03068> [Tarry here.]
Lord .............. Lord <03068> [As the Lord.]
leave <05800> [I will not.]
Bethel ......................... Bethel <01008> [Beth-el.]
members <01121> [And the sons.]
master <0113> [thy master.]
Jericho ........................ Jericho <03405> [Jericho.]
Lord .............. Lord <03068> [As the Lord.]
members <01121> [the sons. i.e., as the Targumist renders, {talmeedey neveeya,} "disciples of the prophets." thy master. See on ver.]
know .................. know ... quiet <03045 02814> [Yea, I know it.]
fifty <0376 02572> [fifty men.]
opposite ..... distance <05048 07350> [to view afar off. Heb. in sight, or over against.]
cloak <0155> [his mantle.]
[Ten meloten autou,] his sheep skin, says the Septuagint; the skins of sheep being formerly worn by prophets as the simple insignia of their office: see Note on ch. 1:8.
divided <02673> [were.]
do ........................ energizes <07592 06213> [Ask what.]
said ... Elisha ............... Elisha answered <0559 0477> [Elisha said.]
double <06310 08147> [a double portion.]
This probably refers to the law respecting the first-born, who had a double portion of the property of his father. As Elisha may have considered himself as the first-born of Elijah, so he requested a double portion of his spiritual influence.
request <07592> [Thou hast.]
difficult request <07185 07592> [asked a hard thing. Heb. done hard in asking. if thou see.]
windstorm <05591> [by a whirlwind.]
heaven <08064> [into heaven.]
watching .... crying out ................. see <07200 06817> [saw it.]
father ... father <01> [My father.]
watching ..................... see .... grabbed <07200 02388> [he saw him.]
tore .... two <07167 08147> [rent them.]
cloak <0155> [the mantle.]
shore <08193> [bank. Heb. lip.]
hit .................. hit <05221> [smote.]
Lord <03068> [Where is.]
Jericho <03405> [to view.]
spirit <07307> [The spirit.]
bowed <07812> [bowed.]
capable <02428 01121> [strong men. Heb. sons of strength. the Spirit.]
[some mountain. Heb. one of the mountains.]
insistent <06484> [they urged.]
find <04672> [found him not.]
master ... see <07200 0113> [my Lord seeth.]
water <04325> [the water.]
crops <07921> [barren. Heb. causing to miscarry.]
Get ......... salt .... So ... got <04417 03947> [salt therein.]
threw <07993> [cast.]
purified <07495> [I have healed.]
death <04194> [there shall.]
Bethel <01008> [Beth-el.]
young boys <06996 05288> [little children.]
The words {n‰ƒrim ketannim} not only signify little children but young men; for {katon} signifies not only little, but young, in opposition to old; and {n„ƒr} signifies not only a child, but a young man grown to years of maturity: thus Isaac is called {n„ƒr} when twenty-eight years old, Joseph when thirty-nine, and Rehoboam when forty. These idolatrous young men, having heard of the ascension of Elijah, without believing it, blasphemously bade Elisha to follow him. The venerable prophet, from a Divine impulse, pronounced a curse "in the name of the Lord," which was immediately followed by the most terrible judgment; thus evincing the Source from which it flowed.
made fun <07046> [mocked.]
went up ......... traveling up .................. Go on up ... Go on up <05927> [Go up.]
called ... judgment <07043 08034> [cursed them.]
bears <01677> [she bears.]
boys <03206> [children of them.]
Mount Carmel <03760 02022> [mount Carmel.]
Jehoram <03088> [Jehoram.]
[Joram.]
did ................................ made <06213> [wrought.]
[See on]
father .............. father <01> [but not.]
mother <0517> [and like.]
sacred pillar <04676> [image. Heb. statue. Baal.]
sin <01692> [he cleaved.]
[See on]
Israel <03478> [which made.]
turn <05493> [he departed.]
sheep breeder <05349> [a sheepmaster.]
send as tribute <07725> [rendered.]
male lambs <03733> [lambs.]
assembled <06485> [A.M. 3109. B.C. 895. numbered.]
<03212> [wilt thou go.]
Desert ... Edom <0123 04057> [the wilderness of Edom.]
The wilderness of Edom was probably the same as that of Zin or Kadesh, through which the children of Israel passed; extending southward from the Dead Sea, to the eastern branch of the Red Sea. See Note on Nu 13:21.
Edom <0123> [Edom.]
water <04325> [no water.]
<07272> [that followed them. Heb. at their feet.]
<03068> [the Lord.]
prophet <05030> [Is there not here.]
seek <01875> [that we may.]
That is, was his constant and confidential servant. Mr. Hanway, speaking of a Persian supper, says, "Supper being now brought in, a servant presented a basin of water, and a napkin hung over his shoulders; he went to every one in the company, and poured water on their hands to wash."
<01697> [The word.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
<03212> [What.]
<03212> [get.]
prophets ..... prophets <05030> [the prophets.]
Lord <03068> [Nay.]
Lord <03068> [As the Lord.]
<05375> [I regard.]
acknowledge <05027> [I would not look.]
get .... musician .... musician ..... energized him <03947 05059> [bring me.]
This was evidently intended to soothe and tranquillize the prophet's mind, which had been agitated and discomposed with holy indignation by the presence of the idolatrous king, and the recollection of his abomination. The soothing influence of music is generally acknowledged in every civilized nation.
energized <03027> [the hand.]
Make ...... valley <06213 05158> [Make this valley.]
feel ..... see <07200> [Ye shall not.]
drink <08354> [that ye may.]
easy <07043> [And this.]
easy <07043> [a light.]
will ... hand <05414> [he will.]
defeat <05221> [And ye.]
chop down <05307> [fell.]
cover <03510> [mar. Heb. grieve.]
sacrifice <04503> [when the meat.]
water came <04325 0935> [there came water.]
This supply was altogether miraculous; for there was neither wind nor rain, nor any other natural means to furnish it.
filled <04390> [filled.]
mustered <06817> [gathered. Heb. were cried together. put on armour. Heb. gird himself with a girdle.]
blood <01818> [This is blood.]
It's ...... totally destroyed <02717> [slain. Heb. destroyed. now therefore.]
struck down ... Moabites .......... defeated Moab <05221 04124> [smote the.]
struck down ............ defeated <05221> [went forward. or, smote in it even.]
tore down <02040> [beat down.]
stopped up <05640> [stopped.]
chopped down <05307> [and felled.]
Kir Hareseth <07025> [only in, etc. Heb. until he left the stones thereof in]
Kir-haraseth. Kir-haraseth. Supposed to be the same as Ar, or Areopolis, the capital of Moab.
[Kir-heres.]
king ..................... king ... Edom <0123 04428> [unto the king of Edom.]
offered ... up .... burnt sacrifice <05927 05930> [offered him.]
In cases of great extremity, it was customary in various heathen nations, to offer human sacrifices, and even their own children. This was frequent among the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Scythians, Gauls, Africans, and others; and was the natural fruit of a religious system, which had for the objects of its worship cruel and merciless divinities. The king of Moab, in this case, sacrificed his son to obtain the favour of Chemosh his god, who, being a devil, delighted in blood and murder, and the destruction of mankind. The dearer any thing was to them, the more acceptable those idolaters thought the sacrifice, and therefore burnt their children in the fire to their honour.
broke off <05265> [they departed.]
