2 Kings 13
Elisha dies making a prediction
Israel’s king asks God to help
1When Israel’s King Jehu died, his son Jehoahaz became king. By that time, Judah’s King Joash son of Ahaziah was into the 23rd year on the throne. 2He lived his life on the wrong side of the LORD. He followed the sinful example of King Jeroboam, who steered Israel away from God and into sin.3God got angry with the nation. So he allowed Syria’s King Hazael to raid them over and over. Hazael’s son and successor did more of the same. 4Jehoahaz appealed to the LORD for help, and the LORD helped him. The LORD could see the damage that the Syrians were doing to Israel. 5The LORD sent Israel a hero, a savior who stopped the invaders and led the way back to a peaceful life.
6There was peace, but there was sin. They never stopped the idolatry that King Jeroboam introduced to Israel. They even kept that sacred pole [1] in the capital city of Samaria.
7After the Syrian invasions, King Jehoahaz barely had an army left. He had just 10,000 soldiers in his infantry, along with 10 chariots and 50 soldiers in the cavalry. 8The rest of Jehoahaz’s story and all he accomplished is on the record in the History of Israel’s Kings. 9Jehoahaz died and was buried with his family in Samaria. His son Jehoash [2] became the next king.
Jehoash, new king of Israel
10King Jehoash started reigning in Israel when Judah’s king down south, Joash, was already into his 37th year on the throne. Jehoash would reign 16 years. 11He lived on the wrong side of the LORD, too. He kept letting everyone worship the idols that King Jeroboam introduced many generations earlier. Where the kings led, Israel followed.12The rest of Jehoash’s story and the battles he fought with King Amaziah of Judah are all recorded in the History of Israel’s Kings. 13Jehoash died and was buried in Samaria with earlier kings of Israel.
Elisha makes a promise and dies
14Elisha got sick and was going to die soon. Israel’s King Jehoash went to visit him, and broke down in tears and said, “Father! Father! Israel’s chariots and calvary!” [3]15Elisha told the king, “Get a bow and arrow.” 16Then Elisha told him to draw the bow,” which the king did. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands while the king held the drawn bow.
17The prophet said, “Open the window and let the arrow fly.” When the king released the arrow, Elisha said, “That’s not your arrow. It’s the LORD’s arrow. It’s flying to victory over the Syrians. You will defeat them in a battle at Aphek.” [4]
18Then Elisha said, “Take a fistful of arrows and beat the ground with them. Do it now.” The king of Israel beat the ground three times and stopped. 19Angry, Elisha said, “Three measly times. That’s all you got? You should have beaten that ground five or six times. That’s how many times you would have beaten the Syrians. Now, all you’ll get are three victories.”
Resuscitation power in Elisha’s bones
20Elisha died and the people buried him. In the springtime during early harvest, raiders from the nation of Moab rushed in to take whatever they could carry away. 21One gang of raiders charged into a town while the people were burying a man. When the people saw the raiders coming, they quickly put the body in Elisha’s nearby tomb. But when the dead man touched Elisha’s bones, he woke and got up. [5]22Syria’s King Hazael harassed Israel during Jehoahaz’s entire reign. 24When King Hazael died, his son Ben-hadad became the next king. 25Israel’s King Jehoash went to battle with Ben-hadad, defeating him three times and recovering the towns Ben-hadad’s father, Hazael, had taken from Israel years earlier.
Footnotes
Canaanite religion, featuring Baal the chief god, included ritual poles. These may have been trees or poles meant to represent trees, as symbols of the Canaanite fertility goddess Asherah, goddess of motherhood. She was the love interest of Baal. Canaan is now known as Israel and Palestinian Territories.
Jehoash is sometimes spelled “Joash,” which can get confusing because that was also the name of the King of Judah.
“Father! Father! Israel’s chariots and calvary!” (2 Kings 2:12) is what Elisha said when Elijah was carried away in a windstorm. “Then a powerful wind knocked Elijah off his feet and carried him into the sky” (2:11). The king’s quoting of the prophet suggests that the line had become well known and linked to Elisha.
There were several towns called Aphek. That’s probably because the name means “fortress” or “stronghold.” It’s a bit like naming a guard dog Jaws instead of Petunia. The name alone might give invaders pause. One Aphek was on Israel’s coastal plain. Philistines crushed the Israelites there and stole the chest with the Ten Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant. But this Aphek was probably somewhere further north, closer to Syria. The most likely contender is a ruin about three miles (5 km) east of the Sea of Galilee. The tiny mound is called Tel Soreq in a valley near the town of Fig and near Afik, a Kibbutz community of Jews.
It’s unclear if the man was dead-dead or just mistakenly thought to be dead, and suddenly awakened when placed on the cold stone slab inside a tomb.
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