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Texts -- 2 Kings 3:11-27 (NET)

Context
3:11 Jehoshaphat asked , “Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we might seek the Lord’s direction ?” One of the servants of the king of Israel answered , “Elisha son of Shapat is here ; he used to be Elijah’s servant.” 3:12 Jehoshaphat said , “The Lord speaks through him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to visit him. 3:13 Elisha said to the king of Israel , “Why are you here? Go to your father’s prophets or your mother’s prophets !” The king of Israel replied to him, “No , for the Lord is the one who summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to Moab .” 3:14 Elisha said , “As certainly as the Lord who rules over all lives (whom I serve ), if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah , I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you. 3:15 But now , get me a musician .” When the musician played , the Lord energized him, 3:16 and he said , “This is what the Lord says , ‘Make many cisterns in this valley ,’ 3:17 for this is what the Lord says , ‘You will not feel any wind or see any rain , but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink .’ 3:18 This is an easy task for the Lord ; he will also hand Moab over to you. 3:19 You will defeat every fortified city and every important city . You must chop down every productive tree , stop up all the springs , and cover all the cultivated land with stones .” 3:20 Sure enough, the next morning , at the time of the morning sacrifice , water came flowing down from Edom and filled the land . 3:21 Now all Moab had heard that the kings were attacking , so everyone old enough to fight was mustered and placed at the border . 3:22 When they got up early the next morning , the sun was shining on the water . To the Moabites , who were some distance away, the water looked red like blood . 3:23 The Moabites said , “It’s blood ! The kings are totally destroyed ! They have struck one another down ! Now , Moab , seize the plunder !” 3:24 When they approached the Israelite camp , the Israelites rose up and struck down the Moabites , who then ran from them. The Israelites thoroughly defeated Moab . 3:25 They tore down the cities and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered . They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree . Only Kir Hareseth was left intact , but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it. 3:26 When the king of Moab realized he was losing the battle , he and 700 swordsmen tried to break through and attack the king of Edom , but they failed . 3:27 So he took his firstborn son , who was to succeed him as king , and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice on the wall . There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel , so they broke off the attack and returned to their homeland .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The context of this section is significant as usual. Verses 1-8 deal with people who ministered to Yahweh in various ways for the people, and verses 15-22 concern the delivery of God's revelations to His people. Verses 9-14 c...
  • Verses 1-33 record Jephthah's success. The rest of his story (11:34-12:7) relates his failure. The writer likewise recorded Gideon's success first (6:1-8:23) and then his failure (8:24-9:57). We shall find a similar pattern w...
  • (Continued from notes on 1 Kings)3. Ahaziah's evil reign in Israel -1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:184. Jehoram's evil reign in Israel 2:1-8:155. Jehoram's evil reign in Judah 8:16-246. Ahaziah's evil reign in Judah 8:25-9:29C. The ...
  • Even though Jehoram was better spiritually than Ahab (v. 2) he was still so much of an idolater that Elisha had no use for him (vv. 13-14).Mesha had rebelled against Israel earlier (v. 3), but he continued to do so. This upri...
  • Hazael was the governor of Damascus.50The Gentile King of Aram had more interest in inquiring of Yahweh than Jehoram's predecessor did (v. 8; cf. 1:2). It was customary in the Near East to make a great show of giving gifts. I...
  • Jehoash (Joash) had respect and affection for Elisha. He anticipated the loss that the death of God's spiritual warrior would be to Israel (v. 14). He recognized that Israel's real defense lay in Yahweh's angelic army and in ...
  • 35:18 Jeremiah then took a promise from the Lord back to the Rechabites. The Lord praised them for their tenacity in clinging to what they believed to be right, not because He approved their puritanical ideals.35:19 Someone f...
  • "The setting of the Mesopotamian dream-visions--which occurred in both the Assyrian period and the Babylonian period . . . --consisted of four elements: (1) the date, (2) the place of reception, (3) the recipient, and (4) the...
  • The date of Joel is its largest introductory problem. There are four most likely possibilities. First, some scholars advocate an early pre-exilic dateduring the reign of King Jehoshaphat (872-848 B.C.) or possibly his grandso...
  • Yahweh promised not to revoke His punishment of Moab, another nation descended from Lot (cf. Gen. 19:30-38), because of its brutal treatment of an Edomite king's corpse (cf. 2 Kings 3:26-27). Burning the bones of a dead perso...
  • 2:8 Probably Zephaniah linked Moab and Ammon because both nations descended from Lot (Gen. 19:30-38) as well as because both lay to Judah's east. Both nations had taunted and reviled the Israelites from their earliest history...
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