2 Kings 13:5

(And the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) A saviour.—Jeroboam II., the grandson of Jehoahaz, a vigorous and successful sovereign, of whom it is said that Jehovah “saved” Israel by his hand (2Kings 14:27).

They went out from under the hand.—Referring to the oppressive supremacy of Syria. From these words, and from those of 2Kings 13:22, it would appear that Israel was tributary to Syria during some part of this period.

Dwelt in their tents—i.e., in the open country. In time of war they were obliged to take refuge in strongholds and fortified cities.

As before time.—See Note on 1Chronicles 11:2; Genesis 31:2.

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 13:5. The Lord gave Israel a saviour — Either Elisha, below, (2 Kings 13:14,) or rather, Jehoash the son of this Jehoahaz, (2 Kings 13:25,) and Jeroboam his son, 2 Kings 14:25. Both of these were instrumental in working out great deliverances for Israel, although they were wicked men, who still kept up the idolatry of the calves. Israel dwelt in their tents as before time — In peace and security: not only in their strong cities, but even in their tents in the fields.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:1-9 It was the ancient honour of Israel that they were a praying people. Jehoahaz, their king, in his distress, besought the Lord; applied himself for help, but not to the calves; what help could they give him? He sought the Lord. See how swift God is to show mercy; how ready to hear prayer; how willing to find a reason to be gracious; else he would not look so far back as the ancient covenant Israel had so often broken, and forfeited. Let this invite and engage us for ever to him; and encourage even those who have forsaken him, to return and repent; for there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared. And if the Lord answer the mere cry of distress for temporal relief, much more will he regard the prayer of faith for spiritual blessings.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord gave Israel a saviour - Not immediately on the repentance of Jehoahaz but after his death (see 2 Kings 13:25).

They went out from under the hand of the Syrians - i. e. they ceased to be oppressed by the Syrians; they shook off their yoke, and became once more perfectly independent.

Tents - See 1 Kings 8:66 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. a saviour—This refers neither to some patriotic defender nor some signal victory, but to the deliverance obtained for Israel by the two successors of Jehoahaz, namely, Joash, who regained all the cities which the Syrians had taken from his father (2Ki 13:25); and Jeroboam, who restored the former boundaries of Israel (2Ki 14:25).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

A saviour; either Elisha, below, 2 Kings 13:14; or rather, Jehoash, the son of this Jehoahaz, below, 2 Kings 13:25, and Jeroboam his son, 2 Kings 14:25.

In their tents, as beforetime; in peace and security, not only in their strong cities, but even in their tents in the fields.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord gave Israel a saviour,.... Not an angel sent by him, nor a captain raised up among them, nor the prophet Elisha, who predicted their deliverance, nor Jehoahaz himself, but his son Joash, 2 Kings 13:25.

so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; were not in subjection to them, nor harassed by them, nor in fear of them:

and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as before time; in peace and safety.

Geneva Study Bible

(And the LORD gave Israel a {c} saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel {d} dwelt in their tents, as beforetime.

(c) That is, Joash the son of Jehoahaz.

(d) Safely and without danger.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. And the Lord gave Israel a saviour] The LXX, has σωτηρίαν ‘salvation’, ‘deliverance’. The two verses 5 and 6 are a parenthesis, and interrupt the connexion. The ‘saviour’ alludes to what is said of Jeroboam 2. (2 Kings 14:27). ‘The Lord saved Israel by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash’. This was the time when the prayer of Jehoahaz was truly answered, in the reign of his grandson. That passage is connected with this also by the language of the preceding verse (26) ‘The Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was bitter’.

so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians] Language like this must refer to some very great change in the relative positions of Syria and Israel. We have some indication of it in the statement (2 Kings 14:28) that Jeroboam recovered Damascus for Israel. By such a reverse the power of Syria must have been severely broken. We learn from the cuneiform inscriptions (1 Rawl. 35) that Damascus was about this time made subject to Assyria (Schrader p. 110; Eng. Trans. vol. 1. 203). It may be therefore that by the help of Assyria (which we have seen that Israel sometimes gained at the expense of liberty) the kings of Israel were able to shake off the thraldom of their nearer, and therefore more galling, oppressor, at first partially, then completely, so as to come from under his hand.

the children of Israel dwelt in their tents] The expression may refer to the peaceful state when the dwellers in the country could live safely out amid their flocks and crops, and not be constrained by the pressure of war to seek refuge in the towns. But it has been noted (see on 1 Kings 8:66) that ‘tents’ is used for ‘homes’. Hence the words of this verse may mean only that the people lived quietly at home, and were not constantly called forth to resist the inroads of the Syrians.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - And the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians. A "savior'" means a deliverer from the hand of the Syrians (comp. Judges 3:9, 15; Nehemiah 9:27, where in the Hebrew the word used is the same). The special "deliverer" was probably in the mind of the writer, Jeroboam II., by whom he says, in ch. 14:27, that God "saved" Israel; but Joash, who began the deliverance (ver. 25), may also be glanced at, And the children of Israel dwelt in their tents. Here, as so often elsewhere (1 Kings 8:66; 1 Kings 12:16; 2 Kings 14:12; Zechariah 12:7), the word "tents" is a mere archaism for "abodes, houses." Israel had dwelt in tents until the going down into Egypt, and again from the time of quitting Egypt to the entrance into Canaan; and thus the word ohel had acquired a secondary meaning of "abode," "dwelling-place." In the time which followed on the deliverance from the Syrian yoke, the Israelites of the ten tribes were no longer engaged in marches and countermarches, in battles, skirmishes, or sieges, but quietly abode in their several houses. As beforetime; i.e. as in the peaceful time before the attacks of Hazael began. 2 Kings 13:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In this oppression Jehoahaz prayed to the Lord (יי פּני חלּה as in 1 Kings 13:6); and the Lord heard this prayer, because He saw their oppression at the hands of the Syrians, and gave Israel a saviour, so that they came out from the power of the Syrians and dwelt in their booths again, as before, i.e., were able to live peaceably again in their houses, without being driven off and led away by the foe. The saviour, מושׁיע, was neither an angel, nor the prophet Elisha, nor quidam e ducibus Joasi, as some of the earlier commentators supposed, nor a victory obtained by Jehoahaz over the Syrians, nor merely Jeroboam (Thenius); but the Lord gave them the saviour in the two successors of Jehoahaz, in the kings Jehoash and Jeroboam, the former of whom wrested from the Syrians all the cities that had been conquered by them under his father (2 Kings 13:25), while the latter restored the ancient boundaries of Israel (2 Kings 14:25). According to 2 Kings 13:22-25, the oppression by the Syrians lasted as long as Jehoahaz lived; but after his death the Lord had compassion upon Israel, and after the death of Hazael, when his son Benhadad had become king, Jehoash recovered from Benhadad all the Israelitish cities that had been taken by the Syrians. It is obvious from this, that the oppression which Benhadad the son of Hazael inflicted upon Israel, according to 2 Kings 13:3, falls within the period of his father's reign, so that it was not as king, but as commander-in-chief under his father, that he oppressed Israel, and therefore he is not even called king in 2 Kings 13:3.