II Kings 6, Battles with Damascus

We continue with stories about Elisha. This chapter has three stories, each independent from the others. The first is a brief account of a miracle of Elisha's; the next two stories deal with conflicts with Aram/Damascus.

2 Kings 6:1-7, An axhead floats

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." 

And he said, "Go."

Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" 

"I will," Elisha replied. And he went with them.  They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.

As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

 

"Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
 

The company of prophets show up again. Apparently Elisha is instructing them and there is a need for a larger place for the prophets to meet with Elisha. So the prophets go to the Jordan to begin cutting down trees so as to build a meeting place. (Hubbard says that the trees along the Jordan would have been small and light and so this is probably a temporary shelter.) While working at the Jordan, one man loses, into the river, an axhead that he had borrowed for this task. We are some centuries into the iron age but iron is not common and in the poverty the day, the axhead is a valuable object. Elisha solves the problem of the lost axhead by making the iron float!

2 Kings 6:8-14, Arameans pursue Elisha

Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp in such and such a place."

 

The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there." So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?"

"None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

"Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him." 

The report came back: "He is in Dothan."

Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

Here, in a separate incident, an unnamed king of Aram/Damascus is attacking Israel, but each move is thwarted by intelligence provided by Elisha. Angered, the king sends a troop to surround the city where Elisha is staying.

2 Kings 6:15-18, Chariots of fire

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.

"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

Although surround by the army of Arameans, Elisha shows his servant that there are supernatural chariots of fire surrounding the Arameans. Then YHWH answers Elisha's prayer that his enemies be blinded.

Hubbard argues that the Hebrew word (sanverim, סַנְוֵר) interpreted as "blindness" here could also mean "to dazzle", as if the Arameans are not blinded but confused. (Outside of this verse, the Hebrew word only occurs one other time in the Old Testament, in Genesis 19:11, in the story of Lot's visit to Sodom.) The Arameans can see enough to come stumbling to Elisha.

2 Kings 6:19-23, Captured in Samaria

Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria.

After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?"

"Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master."

So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.

Elisha leads the blinded (or bedazzled) men into Samaria (Israel) where they are held briefly as prisoners, given food and water and released. This is a lesson for the bands of Arameans and they then cease their attacks on Samaria.

2 Kings 6:24-30, Siege of Ben-Hadad

Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.

As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, "Help me, my lord the king!"

The king replied, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?" Then he asked her, "What's the matter?" 

She answered, "This woman said to me, `Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, `Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."

When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth on his body.

 

In the third event in this chapter a named king, Ben-Hadad, attacks Samaria. The siege leads to massive starvation, including the distressing story of two women cooking one of their children! In Deuteronomy 28, the Mosaic Law describes some of the curses that follow for not following YHWH.  This includes starvation such that mothers eat their children (Deuteronomy 28:53-57)!

Verse 25, describing the desperation of the city residents, uses a strange phrase, chare yonim (חֲרֵי־יוֹנִים), translated "seed pods" by the NIV. The Strong's concordance entry (see the link) translates it as "dove's dung".

A seah is probably about 7 to 9 dry quarts. A cab (qab, קַב) is apparently a "hollow", a small vessel? Maybe something like a cup?

2 Kings 6:31-33, "I want the head of Elisha!"

He said, "May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!"

Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?"

While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. And [the king] said, "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"

The king of Israel blames Elisha for this calamity and appears ready to kill him. The resolution of this story occurs in the next chapter.

First published December 14, 2023, updated October 26, 2026

Flavius Josephus, Ancient Jewish Historian

As we work our way through the Old Testament, we move from events in the ancient Near East well before 1000 BC (Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the judges and eventually the reign of Saul) to events in the fifth century BC (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.) This period covers the development of early alphabets and the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. In the sixth century BC the Archaemenid Empire (First Persian Empire) arose and slowly conquered the civilizations in the Fertile Crescent, including the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. By the fifth century BC, the Persian Empire had collided with the Greek city-states to the west. In both Greece and Persia there were well-developed alphabets, philosophers and their writings. Archaeologists and historians now have considerable sources from those times, some of which speak directly to the history of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. On Sundays I will try to look at some of these, including the Elephantine papyri and ancient historians such as Flavius Josephus and Lucian of Samosota. These various sources give us independent information about some of the events in the later histories of the Old Testament.

Today I want to look at Flavius Josephus.

Flavius Josephus

Josephus was a Jewish leader in the first century AD, born in Jerusalem just after the crucifixion of Jesus. At one point (a little after the missionary journeys of Paul) he led an army against the Romans, was defeated, surrendered to the Romans and became an aide to the Roman emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty. Taking the name Flavius, Joseph fully sided with Rome at the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Adept at choosing the winning side, Josephus returned to Rome where he wrote several histories. One of the histories was The Jewish War which covered the conflicts between Jews and Romans from 168 BC through the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. That work was probably written in Hebrew or Aramaic but quickly translated into Greek, the language of the Roman empire of that day.

Of particular interest to us is Josephus' history of the Jews, The Antiquities of the Jews. 

The Antiquities of the Jews

The Antiquities of the Jews, written in Greek, probably about 95 AD, is an attempt to give a comprehensive history of the Jewish people. It includes many details from the Old Testament histories, from Adam through Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David and so on, with some considerable embellishments. It adds considerable details to the history of the divided kingdom and then goes on to describe the Babylonian exile, the return to Jerusalem afterwards, through the revolt of the Maccabees and eventually into the first century AD.

An online copy of The Antiquities of the Jews is here at Project Gutenberg. It makes for interesting reading. The Antiquities consists of twenty books (volumes.) Here, according to the translation cited above, is a table of contents for those twenty volumes.

1. From Biblical creation to Death of Abraham's son Isaac
2. From History of Isaac's sons to Exodus of Jews from Egypt
3. From Exodus from Egypt to First 2 years of the 40 years in the wilderness
4. From The remaining 38 years in the wilderness to Death of Moses upon reaching Canaan
5. From Joshua's replacement of Moses as leader to Death of the priest Eli
6. From The capture of the Ark by the Philistines to Death of King Saul
7. From David's ascension to the throne of the Kingdom of Israel to Death of King David
8. From Solomon's ascension as King of Israel to The death of King Ahab in battle with the Syrian army, and the saving of the army by Jehoshaphat
9. From Reign of King Jehoshaphat to Fall of Samaria
10. From Babylonian captivity of the Jews to Daniel and the destruction of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
11. From Start of the Persian Empire of Cyrus to the Great to Death of Alexander the Great
12. From Death of Alexander the Great to Maccabean Revolt and the death of Judas Maccabeus
13. From Origins of the Hasmonean dynasty to Death of Queen Alexandra
14. From The death of Queen Alexandra to Death of Antigonus II Mattathias
15. From Herod the Great's taking of Jerusalem to Completion of King Herod's temple in Jerusalem
16. From Completion of King Herod's temple to Death of Herod's sons
17. From Death of Herod's sons to Banishment of King Archelaus
18. From The banishment of King Archelaus to Banishment of the Jews living in Babylon
19. From The banishment of the Jews living in Babylon to Fadus the Roman procurators of Judea
20. From The time of Emperor Claudius to Procurator of Judea  to Florus, who antagonized the Jews leading to the Jewish Wars

Book VIII takes us from Solomon to Jehoshaphat; Book IX covers the time from Jehoshaphat to the fall of the northern kingdom. As one can see by the subtitles, Daniel appears in Book X. (That book starts with king Hezekiah.) Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther appear in Book XI. At times Josephus adds to the Old Testament material and it is not clear whether the details provide additional history or are a creative embellishments. At times his details differ slightly from the Masoretic text or the Septuagint. 

Josephus mentions Jesus briefly in paragraph 3 of chapter 3 of Book XVIII. In Book XX, Chapter 9, paragraph 1, is recorded the death of James, the brother of Jesus.

Importance of The Antiquities

The original texts of the Old Testament were probably written in Hebrew or proto-Hebrew on papyrus or vellum scrolls. These scrolls were fragile and deteriorated over time. We have few copies of the Old Testament in Hebrew from before 1000 AD and those are fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls. In our attempts to identify the original writings in Hebrew, we may look at the Septuagint or Peshitta manuscripts since those documents, although not in Hebrew, appear to be translations from the original Hebrew around the time of Jesus and so they give us a clue as to what the ancient Hebrew manuscripts looked like at that time. The works of Josephus have a similar value -- in some cases Josephus seems to be using Old Testament documents as his source. Furthermore, in his history of the divided kingdom, Babylonian exile and Second Temple period, Josephus seems to have access to other documents that has since disappeared. In this way we get an additional perspective on the details of events in the scrolls of Kings or Chronicles or Ezra-Nehemiah-Esther.

First published December 10, 2023; updated October 25, 2026

II Kings 5, Naaman's Leprosy

We continue with remarkable stories about Elisha.

2 Kings 5:1-5, A slave girl's story

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 

Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.

"By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.

Naaman is a leader of the foreign country of Aram (to the east of Israel, across the Jordan.) He has some serious type of skin disease. (The NIV footnotes will remind us that the word translated "leprosy" is unclear. There were a number of skin diseases that might have been described by that term.) In the ancient Near East culture on slavery (outside the Mosaic Law) slaves were often captured in raids. Naaman learns from an Israelite slave girl that a prophet in Israel can heal him and so gets permission to travel to Samaria (that is, the northern kingdom.)

2 Kings 5:6-7, Letter to Israel

The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy." 

As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"

The king of Israel believes that this letter is a pretense for an attack. He doesn't like the prophet (no king does) and now he is supposed to connect the prophet with a potential enemy.

2 Kings 5:8-12, Elisha's instructions disobeyed

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.

Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." 

But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

Elisha intervenes and tells the king of Israel to send Naaman to him. When Naaman arrives, Elisha does not even meet him but gives instructions to Naaman through a messenger. Both the treatment at the door and the instructions are viewed as insulting by Naaman, who is accustomed to considerable respect. The instructions include bathing in an Israeli river, not an Aramean river. Naaman refuses to follow these absurd instructions.

2 Kings 5:13-16, Servants intervene

Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, `Wash and be cleansed'!"

So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
 

 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant."

The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

Naaman's servants confront their master and urge him to do the simple thing required by the Israeli prophet. Naaman washes in the Jordan and is healed. Ecstatic, he worships the God of Israel (this was the whole point in washing in the Jordan) and offers gifts. Elisha refuses the gifts.

2 Kings 5:17-19a, Earth from Israel

"If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also--when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this."
 

"Go in peace," Elisha said. 
 

This is a remarkable passage. Naaman wants earth from Israel so that he can arrange offerings and sacrifices to YHWH. And he asks forgiveness, asking that when he bows down in the temple of Rimmon, that YHWH understand that he is really bowing down to YHWH!

2 Kings 5:19b-24, Gehazi's con

After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him." So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. 

When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. "Is everything all right?" he asked.

"Everything is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to say, `Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'"

 

"By all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi.
 

When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.

Gehazi will not be the last person to get rich off of religion. He sees that Naaman has offered riches and been turned down and believes Elisha should have been harder on this foreigner. So Gehazi finds a way to get a portion of the wealth from the foreign leader. In order to hide this act from Elisha, he hides the riches in his own home before returning to Elisha. 

But Elisha is not fooled....

2 Kings 5:25-27, Deceit revealed

Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha. "Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked. 

"Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered.

But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." 

Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

Elisha is not fooled. It is inappropriate to accept gifts for YHWH's healing. Elisha is surely alert to having his reputation (and that of YHWH) dragged into the mud by Gehazi's greed. Gehazi's theft is punished by the same skin disease that Naaman had at the beginning of the chapter.

Gehazi has been was Elisha for some time. Surely he might guess that Elisha would learn of this deceit!

First published December 13, 2023, updated October 24, 2026

II Kings 4, Miracles of Elisha

Elisha accomplishes numerous miracles in the northern kingdom. The next four chapters will describe a number of them.

2 Kings 4:1-7, Miracle of oil

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."

Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" 

"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."

Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."

She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." 

But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.

She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

Elisha miraculously provides oil for a woman so that this new wealth allows her to pay off her debts and save her sons from slavery.

2 Kings 4:8-17, A son in her old age

One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us."

One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, "Tell her, `You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?'" 

She replied, "I have a home among my own people."
 

"What can be done for her?" Elisha asked. 

Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."
 

Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms." 

"No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!"

But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

A woman who has provided for Elisha has secretly desired a son, even though she is old.  Elisha promises her that her dream will come true and she delivers a son a year later.

Noticed the ANE custom of using the flat rooftop to sleep on.

2 Kings 4:18-26, Sudden death

The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. "My head! My head!" he said to his father. 

His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother."  After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

 She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."

 

"Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath." 

"It's all right," she said.
 

She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you."  So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. 

When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! Run to meet her and ask her, `Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?'"

"Everything is all right," she said.

The child dies but the woman does not panic. She hurries to find Elisha.

2 Kings 4:27-30, Appeal to Elisha

When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why."

"Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, `Don't raise my hopes'?"

Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."

But the child's mother said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.
 

Elisha is aware that something is wrong and sends Gehazi to see her son. When the woman meets with Elisha, she reminds him that she had said, "Don't raise my hopes!" 

2 Kings 4:31-37,

Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, "The boy has not awakened."
 

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm.

Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son."

She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

Elisha's intervention and repeated prayer, including spreading his body across the boy's, leads to the warmth returning to the boy's body, the boy sneezing and then waking up.

2 Kings 4:38-41, Poisoned pot

Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, "Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men." One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.

The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.

Elisha said, "Get some flour." He put it into the pot and said, "Serve it to the people to eat." And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

A community of prophets has appeared in the background of our text from time to time.  Here is comes out most clearly. (A Got Questions post on this community is here.) 

A pot of stew is accidentally poisoned. When the men realize it, they cry out to Elisha, who purifies the pot by putting flour in it.

2 Kings 4:42-44, Twenty loaves of bread

A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. 

"Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said.

"How can I set this before a hundred men?" his servant asked. 

But Elisha answered, "Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the LORD says: `They will eat and have some left over.'"

Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.

Elisha turns twenty loaves of bread into food for a hundred men and when all have eaten there are leftovers.

First published December 12, 2023, updated October 23, 2026

II Kings 3, Three Kings Against Moab

Ahab is dead and his nemesis, the prophet Elijah, has risen into heaven. Now we have a new king of Samaria/Israel and a new prophet.

2 Kings 3:1-3, Next, Joram

Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made.

Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

Ahab's son, Joram/Jehoram, becomes king after Ahab's death. He does not worship Baal in the same way but still does evil, presumably promoting idolatry ("the sins of Jeroboam".)

2 Kings 3:4-8, Rebellion

Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to supply the king of Israel with a hundred thousand lambs and with the wool of a hundred thousand rams. But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel.

He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?" 

"I will go with you," he replied. "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."
 

"By what route shall we attack?" he asked. 

"Through the Desert of Edom," he answered.

Moab has been paying tribute to Israel but a new king refuses to pay the tribute. So Joram asks Jehoshaphat to join him in bringing Moab back into compliance.

Few archaeological details of ancient Israelite history have survived the almost three millennia since that time. But this event is described in the  Moabite Stone (Mesha Stele) where a Moabite king complains that Omri "oppressed Moab for many days", but eventually the Moabites fought back, defeating a son of Omri.

2 Kings 3:9-12, Running out of water

So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.

"What!" exclaimed the king of Israel. "Has the LORD called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab?"

But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD through him?" 

An officer of the king of Israel answered, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah."

Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

The army of the three kings (of Judah, Israel and Edom) are in trouble. They have marched through the desert of Edom and run out of water. They seek a solution through a prophet. Someone suggests that they meet with Elisha. Hubbard notes that this time kings go to Elisha when previously King Ahaziah had order Elijah to come to him.

The phrase "pouring water on Elijah's hands" indicates that Elisha served Elijah as a servant, helping Elijah with ritual washings. This ritual washing provids a parallel to the need for water that Elijah is supposed to resolve.

2 Kings 3:13-15a, "Find me a harpist"

Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother." 

"No," the king of Israel answered, "because it was the LORD who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab."

Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. But now bring me a harpist." 

Elisha challenges Joram: Why does Joram come to him? After all, Joram's father had attempted numerous times to kill his master Elijah. Ahab's prophets had worshiped Baal; Jezebel's prophets had worshiped Ashteroth. But out of respect for Jehoshaphat, Elisha asks for a harpist. Apparently the harpist will lead to a word from YHWH.

2 Kings 3:15b-19, A valley of ditches

While the harpist was playing, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha and he said, "This is what the LORD says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink.

This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD; he will also hand Moab over to you. You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones."
 

The kings are to fill the valley with ditches. Shortly after that, the ditches will be filled with water. And then Moab will be handed over to Israel.

2 Kings 3:20-23, Valley of blood

The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was--water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.

Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border. When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red--like blood. "That's blood!" they said. "Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!"

The Moabites call up every man "who can bear arms." (The Hebrew for this phase is literally "everyone girding a belt".)  When these soldiers get up in the morning, not only have the dry ditches filled with water, but the optical illusion misleads the Moabites into attacking without preparation.

2 Kings 3:24-27, Moab destroyed

But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.

When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.

The Moabites are not prepared for a real army and are defeated. The king of Moab even sacrifices, on the city wall, his firstborn son, to no avail.

First published December 11, 2023, updated October 22, 2026

II Kings 2, Chariot of Fire

Elijah has been training his assistant, Elisha. But Elijah's ministry has come to an end.

2 Kings 2:1-6, Elisha follows Elijah

When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel." 

But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.
 

The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?" 

"Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."

Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the LORD has sent me to Jericho." 

And he replied, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.

 The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?" "

Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it."

 Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." 

And he replied, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.

Elisha is somehow aware that YHWH is going to take away Elijah.  He has now been told by two groups and, despite Elijah's plans to move on to three different towns (Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho), Elisha insists, three times, on staying with Elijah.

Notice the rhythmic, formulaic approach to the story, with actions and conversation repeated three times.

The "company of prophets" is a strange group, not described further. Commentators suspect there was a guild of prophets acting in the background, dating from Samuel's day (1 Samuel 10:9-13 and 1 Samuel 19:20.) They will appear at various times in the time of and Elisha.

2 Kings 2:7-10, A double portion of the Spirit

Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" 

"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.
 

"You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours--otherwise not."

Just as the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry land centuries before, Elijah and Elisha also crossed on dry land.

Elisha asks for a "double-portion" of Elijah's spirit.  Obviously Elisha intends to follow Elijah's examples and wear his mantle.

2 Kings 2:11-12a, Chariot and horses of fire

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. 

Suddenly Elijah is taken away by a chariot and horses, both of fire. Elijah disappears into the heavens in a whirlwind. Elisha seems to identify the chariots and the horses as those of Israel.

2 Kings 2:12b-15, Striking the river

Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart. He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" he asked. 

When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

Elisha wonders if he has been given the spirit of Elijah. So he imitates Elijah's actions and strikes the waters of the Jordan River. The river parts for him, as it did for Elijah, and so Elisha crosses the river. The prophets from Jericho see this and agree that Elisha is the new leader of prophets.

2 Kings 2:16-18, Search for Elijah

"Look," they said, "we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley." 

"No," Elisha replied, "do not send them."
 

But they persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, "Send them." And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.

When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"

Elisha knows that Elijah is not returning. But after persistent challenges from the prophets, he allows men to go searching for Elijah. As expected, Elijah is not found.

2 Kings 2:19-22, Bad water

The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."

"Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." 

So they brought it to him.

 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: `I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.'"
 

And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

Throughout the next chapters of 2 Kings we will read a number of miracles attributed to Elisha. In this miracle, Elisha purifies the water of a village. Some of these stories seem unrelated to the history of Israel; others are directly related to a kingdom dispute.

2 Kings 2:23-25, Baldhead

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!"

He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

When harassed by youths, Elisha calls down a curse on them that leads to the boys being mauled by bears. In the ancient Near East, disrespect of the elderly was a serious offense, indeed in Exodus 21:17, cursing one's parents was a capital crime. The ancient reader did not recoil from this episode like the modern reader does.

Hubbard argues, furthermore, that this is event is not mere harassment by wild teenagers, but likely opposition by a band of young men of Bethel devoted to Baal (see 1 Kings 12:28-30) who are harassing  a prophet of YHWH. 

Elisha settles in Samaria, in the northern kingdom of Israel. He will continue to confront the kings of that kingdom.

First published December 9, 2023, updated October 21, 2026

II Kings 1, Elijah and the Death of Ahaziah

Ahaziah has become king in Israel. (The date is around 852 BC.) Earlier Elijah was told to anoint Elisha as his disciple and then to anoint Jehu as king of Israel. The anointment of Jehu has not yet happened. 

2 Kings 1:1-2, Ahaziah's injury

After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury."

Ahaziah is badly injured and asks an idol if he will recover.

2 Kings 1:3-8, Elijah intercepts

But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, `Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' Therefore this is what the LORD says: `You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!'" So Elijah went.

When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, "Why have you come back?"

"A man came to meet us," they replied. "And he said to us, `Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, "This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!"'"

The king asked them, "What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?"

They replied, "He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist." 

The king said, "That was Elijah the Tishbite."

Elijah intercepts the king's messengers and gives them a message of his own, given him by the angel of YHWH. The message is not a good one for the king, Ahaziah. Ahaziah identifies Elijah by the description "garment of hair and a leather belt." The Hebrew expression translated here "garment of hair" is baal sear , literally "lord of hair." Hubbard argues that there is wordplay here. The messengers were to go see Baal-Zebub (literally "lord of the flies") but instead met Baal-Sear ("lord of hair".)

2 Kings 1:9-14, Fire twice

Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, "Man of God, the king says, `Come down!'"

Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, `Come down at once!'"

"If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"

Three times the king sends a captain and fifty men to Elijah. Twice the troop is destroyed by fire. The third captain is aware of what is going on and begs for mercy.

There is more Hebrew wordplay here (pointed out by Hubbard.) In verse 12 the men of Ahaziah demand that "the man (ish) of God come down" but in response to their demand, "the fire (esh) of God comes down".

2 Kings 1:15-18, "Go with him"

The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

He told the king, "This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!"

So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.

As for all the other events of Ahaziah's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Ahaziah dies and is replaced by Joram, his brother. (The Hebrew Jehoram is a variant of Joram.) There are two King Jehoram's who reign; this king reigns in Israel while a different Jehoram will reign in Judah.

First published December 8, 2023, updated October 20, 2026