2 Kings 3:7

And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Wilt thou go.—So Ahab asks Jehoshaphat in 1Kings 22:4, and he replies as here, “I am as thou art,” &c. This indicates that the present section was originally composed by the same hand as 1Kings 20:1-34; 1Kings 22:1-37 (Thenius) Jehoshaphat assented, in spite of the prophetic censures of his alliance with Ahab and Ahaziah (2Chronicles 19:2; 2Chronicles 20:37); perhaps because he was anxious to inflict further punishment on the Moabites for their inroad into Judah (2 Chronicles 20), and to prevent any recurrence of the same (Keil).

Against Moab to battle?—Or, into Moab to the war?

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:6-19 The king of Israel laments their distress, and the danger they were in. He called these kings together, yet he charges it upon Providence. Thus the foolishness of man perverteth his way, and then his heart fretteth against the Lord, Pr 19:3. It was well that Jehoshaphat inquired of the Lord now, but it had been much better if he had done it before he engaged in this war. Good men sometimes neglect their duty, till necessity and affliction drive them to it. Wicked people often fare the better for the friendship and society of the godly. To try their faith and obedience, Elisha bids them make the valley full of pits to receive water. Those who expect God's blessings, must dig pools for the rain to fill, as in the valley of Baca, and thus make even that a well, Ps 84:6. We need not inquire whence the water came. God is not tied to second causes. They that sincerely seek for the dew of God's grace, shall have it, and by it be made more than conquerors.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The close alliance between the two kingdoms still subsisted. Jehoram therefore sends confidently to make the same request with respect to Moab that his father had made two years before with respect to Syria (marginal reference). Jehoshaphat consented at once, notwithstanding that his former compliance had drawn upon him the rebuke of a prophet 2 Chronicles 19:2. Perhaps Jehoram's removal of the Baal-worship 2 Kings 3:2 weighed with him. He had himself been attacked by the Moabites in the preceding year; and though the attempt had failed, Jehoshaphat would feel that it might be renewed, and that it was important to seize the opportunity of weakening his enemy which now offered itself.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 3:6-24. Elisha Promises Water and Victory over Moab.

6. King Jehoram … numbered Israel—made a levy from his own subjects, and at the same time sought an alliance with Jehoshaphat, which, as on the former occasion with Ahab, was readily promised (1Ki 22:4).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of which see on 1 Kings 22:4. He joins with him in this war, partly because the war was very just in itself, and convenient for Jehoshaphat, both in the general, that rebels and revolters should be chastised and suppressed, lest the example should pass into his dominions, and the Edomites should be hereby encouraged to revolt from him, as they did from his son; and in particular, that the Moabites should be humbled, who had with others invaded his land before this time, 2 Chronicles 20:1, and might do so again if they were not brought low, for which a fair opportunity was now offered to him; and partly because Jehoram had reformed some things, and Jehoshaphat hoped by this means to engage him to proceed further in that work.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, the king of Moab hath rebelled against me,.... By refusing to pay him tribute:

wilt thou go up with me against Moab to battle? and he said, I will go up; which he agreed to, partly to encourage in the reformation of religion which he had begun, and partly to chastise the Moabites for their invasion of his country, 2 Chronicles 20:1.

I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses; the same answer he returned to Ahab; see Gill on 1 Kings 22:4.

Geneva Study Bible

And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: {d} I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses.

(d) Read 1Ki 22:4.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. And he went and sent] This Hebrew verb ‘to go’ is not un-frequently placed before another finite verb, without any special sense of moving from a place, but merely to express the idea of ‘setting about’ the act indicated by the following verb. Thus Exodus 2:1, ‘There went a man … and took to wife a daughter of Levi’. Cf. also Deuteronomy 31:1, ‘Moses went and spake’.

to Jehoshaphat] The close family alliance existing at the time between the royal families of Israel and Judah made this a not unnatural request. Cf. Ahab’s message to king Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:4). Jehoshaphat gives to Jehoram almost the same reply which he had given on the previous occasion to his father.

I will go up] The hill country of Moab was considerably more elevated than the lands on the west of the Jordan; not so mountainous as Gilead, but sufficient to justify the expression of Jehoshaphat, though Jehoram had not used the word.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the King of Judah, saying. Jehoshaphat had originally allied himself with Ahab, and had cemented the alliance by a marriage between his eldest son, Jehoram, and Athaliah, Ahab's daughter (2 Kings 8:18; 2 Chronicles 18:1). He had joined Ahab in his attack on the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead (1 Kings 22:4-36), and had thereby incurred the rebuke of Jehu the son of Hanani (2 Chronicles 19:2). This, however, had net prevented him from continuing his friendship with the Israelite royal house; he "joined himself with Ahaziah" (2 Chronicles 20:35), Ahab's successor, and though their combined naval expedition met with disaster (1 Kings 22:48), yet he still maintained amicable relations with the Israelite court. Jehoram, therefore, confidently sought his active help when he made up his mind to engage in a war with Moab. The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle! And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my hones as thy horses. Compare the answer which the same king had made to Ahab, when requested to join him in his attack on the Syrians (1 Kings 22:4). The words were probably a common formula expressive of willingness to enter into the closest possible alliance. Jehoshaphat, it appears from 2 Chronicles 20:1-35, had, a little before this, been himself attacked by the united forces of Moab and Ammon, and brought into a peril from which he was only delivered by miracle. It was, therefore, much to his advantage that Moab should be weakened. 2 Kings 3:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The statement concerning the rebellion of the Moabites, which has already been mentioned in 2 Kings 1:1, is repeated here, because it furnished the occasion for the expedition about to be described. Ahaziah had been unable to do anything during his short reign to renew the subjugation of Moab; Joram was therefore anxious to overtake what had been neglected immediately after his ascent of the throne. He went to Samaria ההוּא בּיּום, at that time, namely, when he renewed his demand for the tribute and it was refused (Thenius), and mustered all Israel, i.e., raised an army out of the whole kingdom, and asked Jehoshaphat to join in the war, which he willingly promised to do (as in 1 Kings 22:4), notwithstanding the fact that he had been blamed by prophets for his alliance with Ahab and Ahaziah (2 Chronicles 19:2 and 2 Chronicles 20:37). He probably wished to chastise the Moabites still further on this occasion for their invasion of Judah (2 Chronicles 20), and to do his part by bringing them once more under the yoke of Israel, to put it out of their power to make fresh incursions into Judah.