2 Kings 6:8--7:20
king <04428> [the king.]
consulted <03289> [took.]
Invade <08466> [camp. or, encamping.]
sure <08104> [Beware.]
Syria <0758> [thither the Syrians.]
sent ...... place <07971 04725> [sent to the place.]
To see if it were so. But the Vulgate renders, {misit rex Israel ad locum, et pr‘occupavit eum;} "the king of Israel sent to the place, and pre-occupied it;" which is very likely, though not expressed in the Hebrew text.
warning ....... guard <02094 08104> [warned him.]
guard <08104> [saved.]
upset <03820> [Therefore.]
helping <05046> [Will ye not.]
master <0113> [None. Heb. No. Elisha.]
telling <05046> [telleth.]
[thy bed chamber.]
find out where <0351 07200> [spy where.]
Dothan <01886> [Dothan.]
This is supposed to be the same place where Joseph was sold by his brethren; and it is placed by Eusebius 12 miles north of Samaria.
sent horses <05483 07971> [sent he thither horses.]
It is strange the Syrian monarch did not think, that he who could penetrate his secrets with respect to the Israelitish army, could inform himself of all the machinations against his own life.
good-sized <03515> [great. Heb. heavy.]
attendant <08334 05288> [servant. or, minister.]
Oh <0162> [Alas.]
afraid <03372 07227> [Fear not.]
<07227> [they that be.]
prayed <06419> [prayed.]
open ... eyes ........ opened .... eyes <05869 06491> [open his eyes.]
full ... horses <05483 04390> [full of horses.]
Strike ... people ...... struck <05221 01471> [Smite this people.]
Confound their sight, so that they may not know what they see; and so mistake one place for another. The word {sanverim,} rendered blindness, occurs only here and in Ge 19:11, on which see the Note.
<03212> [follow me. Heb. come ye after me.]
<03212> [I will bring.]
open ... eyes .... can ..... opened ... eyes <06491 05869> [open the eyes.]
open .......... opened <06491> [opened.]
master <01> [My father.]
This was dastardly: the utmost he ought to have done with these men, when thus brought into his hand, was to make them prisoners of war.
strike ... down <05221> [shall.]
strike ..................... strike <05221> [wouldest.]
sword <02719> [thy sword.]
Give .... food <07760 03899> [set bread.]
threw <03739> [he prepared.]
raiding parties <01416> [So the bands.]
That is, for a considerable time. What is mentioned in the next verse was more than a year afterwards. See on ver.
assembled <06908> [gathered.]
food supply ran out <07458 01419> [a great famine.]
donkey's head <07218 02543> [an ass's head.]
If the pieces of silver were {drachms,} the whole would amount to about 2Å“. 9s.; which was a great price for so mean a part of this unclean animal.
<01686> [dove's dung.]
This probably denotes, as Bochart, Scheuchzer, and others suppose, a kind of {pulse,} or {vetches,} which the Arabs still call pigeon's dung. "They never," says Dr. Shaw, (Travels, p. 140), "constitute a dish by themselves, but are strewed singly as a garnish over {cuscasowe, pillowe,} and other dishes. They are besides in the greatest repute after they are parched in pans and ovens; then assuming the name {leblebby;}" and he thinks they were so called from being pointed at one end, and acquiring an ash colour in parching.
Help .... master <03467 0113> [Help, my lord.]
Lord <03068> [If the Lord, etc. or, Let not the Lord save thee. whence.]
answered .... said <0559> [What aileth thee.]
Hand .... son .......... son <01121 05414> [Give thy son.]
next <0312> [next. Heb. other. she hath hid.]
tore ... clothes <0899 07167> [he rent his clothes.]
May God <0430 06213> [God do so.]
head <07218> [if the head.]
leaders ................. leaders <02205> [the elders.]
messenger ........................... messenger <04397> [ere the messenger.]
realize ... assassin ........ Look <07200 01121> [See ye how.]
assassin <07523 01121> [son of a murderer.]
<06963> [the sound.]
Lord ...... disaster .......... Lord <03068 07451> [this evil is of the Lord.]
Lord ............ wait .... Lord <03176 03068> [wait for the.]
Elisha replied ............. says <0559 0477> [Elisha said. See on ch.]
tomorrow <04279> [To-morrow.]
seah ... finely milled flour ......... seahs <05560 05429> [a measure of fine flour.]
A {seah} of flour: the {seah} was about two gallons and a half; the shekel 2s. 4d. at the lowest computation: a wide difference between this and the price of the ass's head.
barley <08184> [of barley.]
gate ... Samaria <08179 08111> [in the gate of Samaria.]
From this it appears that the gates were not only used as courts of judicature, but as market-places. So Mr. Morier observes: "In our rides we usually went out of the town at the {Derwazeh Shah Abdul Azeem,} or the gate leading to the village of Shah Abdul Azeem, where a market was held every morning, particularly of horses, mules, asses, and camels. At about sun-rise, the owners of the animals assemble and exhibit them for sale. But besides, here were sellers of all sorts of goods, in temporary shops and tents: and this, perhaps, will explain the custom alluded to in 2 Ki 7:18."
officer <07991> [a lord, etc. or, a lord which belonged to the king, leaning on his hand.]
Lord <03068> [if the Lord.]
opening holes <0699> [windows.]
see ....... eyes <07200 05869> [thou shalt see it.]
four ...... disease <06879 0702> [four leprous.]
sitting <03427> [Why.]
go <0935> [we will enter.]
defect <05307> [let us fall.]
spare .... live <02421> [if they save us.]
die ...... we ..... die ................... kill ........ die <04191> [we shall but die.]
dusk <05399> [in the twilight.]
one <0376> [behold.]
Lord <0136> [the Lord.]
king ....... kings .... Hittites <02850 04428> [the kings of the Hittites.]
king ....... kings ...... Egypt <04714 04428> [the kings of the Egyptians.]
got <06965> [they arose.]
horses <05483> [their horses.]
fled ................... ran .... lives <05127 05315> [and fled for their life.]
hid ...... went back ............ hid <02934 07725> [hid it.]
said ... one <0376 0559> [they said one.]
day <03117> [this day.]
punished <05771 04672> [some mischief will come upon us. Heb. we shall find punishment.]
gatekeepers <07778> [the porter.]
one ......... voice <0376 06963> [no man there.]
advisers <05650> [unto his servants.]
tell <05046> [I will now.]
know .... starving <07457 03045> [They know that we be hungry.]
This was a very natural conclusion; and, in history of the revolt of Ali Bey, we have an account of a stratagem very similar to that supposed to have been practised by the Syrians. The pasha of Damascus having approached the Sea of Tiberias, found sheik Daher encamped there; but the sheik, deferring the engagement till the next morning, during the night divided his army into three parts, and left the camp with great fires blazing, all sorts of provisions, and a large quantity of spiritous liquors. In the middle of the night, the pasha, thinking to surprise the sheik, marched in silence to the camp, which, to his astonishment, he found entirely abandoned; and imagining the sheik had fled with so much precipitation that he could not carry off his baggage and stores, he stopped in the camp to refresh his soldiers. They soon fell to plunder, and drank so freely of the spirits, that, overcome with its fumes, they sunk into a deep lethargy. At that time, two sheiks came silently to the camp, and being rejoined by Daher, rushed upon the sleeping foe, 8,000 of whom were slain; the pasha and a few soldiers barely escaping with their lives.
hid .... field <02247 07704> [hide themselves.]
One <0259> [one.]
<01995> [in the city. Heb. in it. they are even.]
equipment <03627> [vessels.]
discarded <07993> [had cast away.]
looted .... camp <04264 0962> [spoiled the tents.]
said <01697> [according to.]
officer <07991> [the lord.]
people ..... trampled <07429 05971> [the people trode upon him.]
prophet <0376> [as the man.]
