The Book of 2 Kings

Word Study

"which poured water on the hands of Elijah," a picture of the servant. Jehoram, Ahab's son, is a mixed figure: he removed his father's image of Baal, a partial reform, yet "cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam," the calf-worship. A half-turning is not a true turning; he put away one idol but kept the false worship that had cursed the nation from the start. When Moab's king Mesha rebels and the three-king coalition marches out, they blunder into a seven-day waterless wilderness, and Jehoram despairs, blaming the LORD: "Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!" But godly Jehoshaphat, as in the parallel scene of 1 Kings 22, asks the right question: "Is there not here a prophet of the LORD?" In extremity, the believing king turns to God's word. Elisha is identified by a beautiful humble credential: he is the man "which poured water on the hands of Elijah," that is, he served Elijah in the lowliest tasks. Before Elisha did great miracles, he was a faithful servant; "he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much" (Luke 16:10). The path to a prophet's power ran through years of pouring water on another man's hands. God exalts those who first learn to serve.

Explanation

Jehoram of Israel, son of Ahab, was less wicked than his parents, removing the Baal image, but still clung to Jeroboam's calf-worship. When Moab, which had paid heavy tribute in sheep and wool, rebelled after Ahab's death, Jehoram enlisted Jehoshaphat of Judah (who again allied himself with the northern king) and the king of Edom for a campaign through the Edomite wilderness. After seven days they ran out of water for the men and animals, and Jehoram despaired, blaming the LORD for luring them to disaster. Jehoshaphat, however, sought a prophet, and a servant named Elisha, known as the one who had served Elijah, "poured water on his hands." Recognizing that "the word of the LORD is with him," the three kings went down to consult Elisha.

Gospel Focus

Two things shine in this opening. First, the danger of half-hearted reform: Jehoram put away Baal but kept the calves, and a divided obedience is no obedience. Many today give up a scandalous sin while clinging to a respectable idol; God calls for a whole turning, not a partial one. Second, the beauty of humble service: Elisha, now a mighty prophet, is remembered as the one "which poured water on the hands of Elijah." Before God trusts a man with much, He proves him in little. If you would be used greatly, learn first to serve humbly; "whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Matthew 20:27), for the Lord Himself "took a towel... and began to wash the disciples' feet" (John 13:4-5). And note where help is found in crisis: not in the despairing complaint of Jehoram, but in Jehoshaphat's question, "Is there not here a prophet of the LORD?" When you are trapped in a waterless place, turn to the word of the LORD. God's answer is always found by those who seek Him.

Word Study

"Make this valley full of ditches," Hebrew gevim (גֵּבִים), pits, trenches, to hold water. Elisha bluntly rebukes Jehoram, "get thee to the prophets of thy father," exposing the folly of a king who runs to God's prophet only in crisis while serving idols the rest of the time. It is only "the presence of Jehoshaphat," a true worshipper, that gains a hearing; the godly are often a shelter of blessing to the ungodly around them. Elisha calls for "a minstrel," and as the music plays, "the hand of the LORD came upon him", a reminder that worship and praise prepare the heart to receive God's word. Then comes the word: "Make this valley full of ditches," even though "Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain." The command required faith and labor: dig trenches for water when there is no sign of rain. God would fill them by an unseen means (flash floods from distant rains in the Edomite hills), but the people had to prepare the ditches first. This is the pattern of faith: God supplies the water, but we must dig the ditches. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26); we act on God's promise before we see its fulfillment. And note God's estimate: this great miracle "is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD"; He would also deliver Moab. What overwhelms us is small to God. The water came "when the meat offering was offered," at the hour of worship in far-off Jerusalem, tying the miracle to the God of the covenant.

Explanation

Elisha rebuked Jehoram, telling him to consult his parents' pagan prophets, and made clear he responded only out of respect for the godly Jehoshaphat. Calling for a musician to still his spirit before God, Elisha received the word of the LORD as the music played. He commanded the army to dig the valley full of ditches. Though they would see neither wind nor rain, God would fill the valley with water for the men and animals, and, as an easy thing in His sight, would also hand Moab over to be thoroughly defeated. The next morning, at the time of the temple's morning offering, water came flowing from the direction of Edom and filled the land, exactly as promised, without a cloud in sight.

Gospel Focus

"Make this valley full of ditches... ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain." Here is faith in action. God promised the water but told them to dig the ditches first, to prepare, by hard labor, for a blessing they could not yet see. So faith works before it sees; it obeys the promise while the sky is still clear. What ditches is God calling you to dig, in prayer, obedience, preparation, in expectation of a supply you cannot yet see? "He that observeth the wind shall not sow" (Ecclesiastes 11:4); those who wait for perfect conditions never act, but faith digs. And take heart from God's estimate: the miracle was "but a light thing in the sight of the LORD." The thing that looks impossible to you is small to Him; "is any thing too hard for the LORD?" (Genesis 18:14). Note too that God worked as the minstrel played and at the hour of the offering: worship opens the way for God's word and power. Still your heart before Him, dig your ditches in faith, and watch the God for whom all things are a light thing fill your dry valley with unexpected supply.

Word Study

"the water on the other side as red as blood." The same water God sent to save Israel became the snare of Moab. At dawn the red sunrise on the pooled water in the reddish Edomite soil made it look "as red as blood" to the Moabites, who leaped to the wrong conclusion, "the kings are surely slain," and charged in for plunder, straight into the Israelite army, and were routed. God turns the very means of His people's deliverance into the enemy's undoing; "he taketh the wise in their own craftiness" (Job 5:13). The pursuing armies devastated Moab according to Elisha's word, until Moab's king Mesha, cornered at Kirharaseth, did a horrifying thing: "he took his eldest son... and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall." This was the ultimate act of pagan desperation, child sacrifice to his god Chemosh, the very abomination the LORD condemned as making one "pass through the fire" (Deuteronomy 18:10; Leviticus 18:21). The verse notes "great indignation against Israel," and they withdrew. The scene stands as a dark contrast to the gospel: where Chemosh's worshipper sacrificed his son in vain to a dead idol, the living God gave His own Son, once for all, a sacrifice that truly saves. The chapter ends soberly, showing both the ruin idolatry drives men to and the tragedy of a battle that, though won, left Moab's rebellion smoldering.

Explanation

The Moabites mustered at the border. At sunrise the water God had provided gleamed red as blood in the morning light, and the Moabites, assuming the allied kings had turned on and slaughtered one another, rushed forward to loot the camp, only to be ambushed and routed by Israel. The victorious army pursued them into Moab, destroying cities, ruining fields with stones, stopping wells, and felling trees, just as Elisha had foretold, until only the fortress of Kirharaseth held out under a slinger assault. In desperation, Moab's king tried to break out, failed, and then sacrificed his own heir as a burnt offering on the city wall to his god. In the wake of this horror there was "great indignation against Israel," and the allied forces withdrew and went home.

That last line stops the reader: whose indignation, and why did a winning army suddenly go home? The verse does not say the idol Chemosh had answered his worshipper -- Scripture never grants a dead god such power. The "indignation" (Hebrew qetseph, a bursting-out of wrath or dismay) is best understood as the human tide the atrocity unleashed: a surge of desperate Moabite fury as they saw their king pay the last, unthinkable price, and very possibly a wave of revulsion and dread in Israel's own ranks at the horror on the wall. The momentum broke. Israel had already carried out the judgment Elisha foretold; now, sickened and facing a cornered, fanatical foe, the allies lifted the siege and turned back. It is a sober reminder that a battle can be won and still leave evil smouldering, and that the sight of sin at its worst can unnerve even the victor.

Gospel Focus

The water that saved Israel destroyed Moab, a reminder that the same providence of God works life for His people and stumbling for those set against Him; the very gospel is "a savour of life unto life" to some and "of death unto death" to others (2 Corinthians 2:16). But the chapter's darkest image is its deepest gospel contrast: the king of Moab, in his extremity, offered his own son as a burnt offering to a dead idol, a desperate, futile, hideous act. It is the fallen human instinct, that the gods must be appeased by blood, and the appalling lengths of a religion without truth. Set against it stands the gospel: we could never offer enough to save ourselves, so God provided the sacrifice Himself. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16); "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Where Mesha's sacrifice was a work of despair that saved no one, the offering of Jesus is the work of love that saves all who believe. You need not appease God with anything of your own; the one Sacrifice has been made. Rest in the Son whom the Father gave, and you will never be trapped in the hopeless religion of Kirharaseth.