Advanced Commentary

Texts -- 2 Kings 6:23-33 (NET)

Context
6:23 So he threw a big banquet for them and they ate and drank . Then he sent them back to their master . After that no Syrian raiding parties again invaded the land of Israel .
The Lord Saves Samaria
6:24 Later King Ben Hadad of Syria assembled his entire army and attacked and besieged Samaria . 6:25 Samaria’s food supply ran out . They laid siege to it so long that a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver and a quarter of a kab of dove’s droppings for five shekels of silver . 6:26 While the king of Israel was passing by on the city wall , a woman shouted to him, “Help us, my master , O king !” 6:27 He replied , “No , let the Lord help you. How can I help you? The threshing floor and winepress are empty.” 6:28 Then the king asked her, “What’s your problem?” She answered , “This woman said to me, ‘Hand over your son ; we’ll eat him today and then eat my son tomorrow .’ 6:29 So we boiled my son and ate him. Then I said to her the next day , ‘Hand over your son and we’ll eat him.’ But she hid her son !” 6:30 When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes . As he was passing by on the wall , the people could see he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes . 6:31 Then he said , “May God judge me severely if Elisha son of Shaphat still has his head by the end of the day !” 6:32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders . The king sent a messenger on ahead , but before he arrived , Elisha said to the leaders , “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head ?” Look , when the messenger arrives , shut the door and lean against it . His master will certainly be right behind him.” 6:33 He was still talking to them when the messenger approached and said , “Look , the Lord is responsible for this disaster ! Why should I continue to wait for the Lord to help?”

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

more

Arts

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Keilah was about three miles southeast of Adullam in the Shephelah, the foothills between the coastal plain on the west and the hill country of Judah on the east. The Philistines were plundering the threshing floors there. Th...
  • Hadad hated Solomon because of Joab's severe treatment of the Edomites. He may have been a relation of Solomon's by marriage. Pharaoh Siamun apparently gave his daughter to Solomon in marriage and his sister-in-law to Hadad (...
  • (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 ...
  • The king of Aram was probably Ben-Hadad II though the writer did not mention him by name (v. 8). Perhaps since he only identified Elisha and Yahweh by name, he wished to focus attention on them as the main characters in this ...
  • Aram's cessation of hostilities resumed after some time (v. 24; cf. v. 23), perhaps between 845 and 841 B.C.43The famine in Samaria resulted from the siege that was a punishment from the Lord for Israel's apostasy (cf. Lev. 2...
  • Several details in this incident hinge on timing that God supernaturally controlled to bring blessing on the woman as God had promised. God directed her away from the famine before it came on Israel for the nation's apostasy ...
  • 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 ...
  • This message to the people involved another symbolic act (cf. 13:1-11). This incident may have occurred between 609 and 605 B.C.19:1 Yahweh told Jeremiah to take some of Judah's elders and senior priests and to go and purchas...
  • 31:15 The Lord described the Israelite mothers, under the figure of Rachel, weeping for their children who had died because of the Assyrian invasion.404Rachel was the mother of Joseph, the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, and ...
  • This last pericope is a prayer to the Lord.2:20 Jeremiah responded to this call to prayer by asking the Lord to consider who was suffering so greatly that women were cannibalizing their own newborn children to stay alive in t...
  • This section of the poem consists of two parallel parts (vv. 1-6, 7-11). The Judahites had become despised (vv. 1-2, 7-8), and both children and adults (everyone) suffered (vv. 3-5, 9-10). This calamity was the result of Yahw...
  • Evidently Ezekiel's verbal explanation of this drama came at the very end of the drama, at the time of the real destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was no longer silent then.5:5-6 The Lord explained that the center of the drama...
  • 21:8 The people where acknowledging Jesus as a King by spreading their garments on the road before Him (cf. 2 Kings 9:13). Likewise throwing small branches before Him symbolized the same thing (cf. 1 Macc. 13:51; 2 Macc. 10:7...
Back to Commentary Page


TIP #01: Welcome to the NET Bible Web Interface and Study System!! [ALL]
created in 0.06 seconds
powered by
bible.org - YLSA