2 Re 3:27 Commento

We are now called to attend the public affairs of Israel, in which we shall find Elisha concerned. Here is, I. The general character of Jehoram, king of Israel (Kg2 3:1-3). II. A war with Moab, in which Jehoram and his allies were engaged (Kg2 3:4-8). III. The straits which the confederate army were reduced to in their expedition against Moab, and their consulting Elisha in that distress, with the answer of peace he gave them (Kg2 3:9-19). IV. The glorious issue of this campaign (Kg2 3:20-25) and the barbarous method the king of Moab took to oblige the confederate army to retire (Kg2 3:26, Kg2 3:27). The house of Ahab is doomed to destruction; and, though in this chapter we have both its character and its condition better than before, yet the threatened ruin is not far off.

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 3 This chapter gives the character of Jehoram king of Israel, Kg2 3:1, relates the rebellion of the king of Moab against him, Kg2 3:4, the war that he and his allies entered into on that account, Kg2 3:6 the distress the combined army were in for want of water, their application upon this to Elisha, who promised them water, and they had it in a wonderful manner, Kg2 3:10 and the chapter is concluded with the rout of the Moabites, and the barbarity of their king to his eldest son, Kg2 3:21.

Therefore Mesha, who had lost all his hope in his armies, made an about-face to ask the gods for help, because he had seen that no human being could help him. Certain wise men of his country said to him that it was necessary to implore the mercy of the God of Israel by means of an extraordinary sacrifice, for exactly the same reason which Abraham, the father of the Israelites, had made his offering, which had been quite pleasing to God, according to the tradition that is generally renowned among the Canaanites. But the power and the strength of God had already been recognized by all with great admiration for what he had done before all the Moabites. Indeed, no one but him had made the water flow on his people in the desert of Edom, and they had never heard of or known another God who granted his worshipers greater benefits. Therefore the king, who could not deny the miracle that he had seen with his own eyes, did not want to be deprived of sufficient aid in the difficulties that encircled him. He was confirmed [in his hope] and abandoned the worship of idols by taking refuge in the powerful God who had created a new sea in the desert. Therefore he was invited by the word of the wise men and nobles of Moab to make a great sacrifice and to offer his firstborn child, the pillar of his house and the hope of his kingdom, on the city walls, before the armies that besieged him. He wanted the Hebrew to see the sacrifice he was about to make to the God of Abraham according to the teaching of Abraham.And then the wrath against the Israelites increased, because the calamities, which the Scripture accurately relates after these events, happened to them again. They had seen how God protected them, and the abundance of water that he had made miraculously flow for them and the retreat of their enemies before them. Nevertheless, they persisted in their dishonor, and their hearts were still attached to their calf.

People imitate those who do good deeds, therefore, not out of love for these good deeds but because of their usefulness. For Balaam also flattered [God], in that he had seven altars built because he had heard concerning these ancient ones that, with regard to the sacrifices they had offered to him, their prayers were accepted. The king of Moab took note of Jephthah. But, because it was his firstborn and a human being rather than an animal that he killed, God took pity on him, since it was in affliction that he did it and not through love. In the case of Jephthah, if it had been one of his servants who had been first to encounter him, he would have killed him. But, in order that people would not engage in the sacrifice of their fellow human beings, he caused his own daughter to meet him, so that others would be afraid, lest they offer human beings by vow to God.

The reign and idolatry of Jehoram, king of Israel, Kg2 3:1-3. Mesha, king of Moab, rebels against Israel, Kg2 3:4, Kg2 3:5. Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom join against the Moabites, and are brought into great distress for want of water, Kg2 3:6-10. The three kings go to Elisha to inquire of the Lord; who promises them water, and a complete victory, Kg2 3:11-19. Water comes the next morning, and fills the trenches which these kings had made in the valley, Kg2 3:20. The Moabites arm against them; and suppose, when they see the sun shining upon the waters, which look like blood, that the confederate kings have fallen out, and slain each other; and that they have nothing to do but take the spool, Kg2 3:21-23. The Israelites attack and completely rout then, beat down their cities, and mar their land, Kg2 3:24, Kg2 3:25. The king of Moab, having made an unsuccessful attack on the king of Edom, takes his eldest son, and of offers him for a burnt-offering upon the wall; and there is great indignation against Israel, Kg2 3:26, Kg2 3:27.

Took his eldest son - The rabbins account for this horrible sacrifice in the following way: - When the king of Moab found himself so harassed, and the royal city on the point of being taken, he called a council of his servants, and asked them how it was these Israelites could perform such prodigies, and that such miracles were wrought for them? His servants answered, that it was owing to their progenitor Abraham, who, having an only son, was commanded by Jehovah to offer him in sacrifice. Abraham instantly obeyed, and offered his only son for a burnt-offering; and the Israelites being his descendants, through his merits the holy blessed God wrought such miracles in their behalf. The king of Moab answered, I also have an only son, and I will go and offer him to my God. Then he offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. Upon the wall - על החמה al hachamah. Rab. Sol. Jarchi says that the letter ו vau is wanting in this word, as it should be written חומה chomah, to signify a wall; but חמה chammah signifies the sun, and this was the god of the king of Moab: "And he offered his first-born son for a burnt-offering unto the sun." This is not very solid. There was great indignation - The Lord was displeased with them for driving things to such an extremity: or the surrounding nations held them in abomination on the account; and they were so terrified themselves at this most horrid sacrifice, that they immediately raised the siege and departed. In cases of great extremity it was customary in various heathen nations to offer human sacrifices, or to devote to the infernal gods the most precious or excellent thing or person they possessed. This was frequent among the Phoenicians, Romans, and Greeks; and it was the natural fruit of a religious system which had for the objects of its worship cruel and merciless divinities. How different the Christian system! "Wilt thou that we shall bring down fire from heaven and destroy them? Ye know not what manner of spirits ye are of; the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

JEHORAM'S EVIL REIGN OVER ISRAEL. (Kg2 3:1-3) Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat--(compare Kg1 22:51). To reconcile the statements in the two passages, we must suppose that Ahaziah, having reigned during the seventeenth and the greater part of the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, was succeeded by his brother Joram or Jehoram, in the end of that eighteenth year, or else that Ahaziah, having reigned two years in conjunction with his father, died at the end of that period when Jehoram ascended the throne. His policy was as hostile as that of his predecessors to the true religion; but he made some changes. Whatever was his motive for this alteration--whether dread of the many alarming judgments the patronage of idolatry had brought upon his father; or whether it was made as a small concession to the feelings of Jehoshaphat, his ally, he abolished idolatry in its gross form and restored the symbolic worship of God, which the kings of Israel, from the time of Jeroboam, had set up as a partition wall between their subjects and those of Judah.

took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering, &c.--By this deed of horror, to which the allied army drove the king of Moab, a divine judgment came upon Israel; that is, the besiegers feared the anger of God, which they had incurred by giving occasion to the human sacrifice forbidden in the law (Lev 18:21; Lev 20:3), and hastily raised the siege. Next: 2 Kings Chapter 4

Reign of Joram of Israel. - For the chronological statement in Kg2 3:1, see at Kg2 1:17. Joram or Jehoram was not so ungodly as his father Ahab and his Mother Jezebel. He had the statue or pillar of Baal, which his father had erected in Samaria, removed; and it was only to the sin of Jeroboam, i.e., the calf-worship, that he adhered. Joram therefore wished to abolish the worship of Baal and elevate the worship of Jehovah, under the image of the calf (ox), into the region of his kingdom once more. For the singular suffix ממּנּה see Ewald, 317, a. He did not succeed, however, in exterminating the worship of Baal. It not only continued in Samaria, but appears to have been carried on again in the most shameless manner (cf. Kg2 10:18.); at which we cannot be surprised, since his mother Jezebel, that fanatical worshipper of Baal, was living throughout the whole of his reign (Kg2 9:30).