Introduction

Elisha is a man of God. This is reflected in each section of this chapter. He is the man of grace, although the aspect of judgment is not lacking. With Elijah, it was the other way round. This grace is not the result of a revolution in the people. It is a grace that God grants, when the condition of the people is dark. In this chapter and the following we see three examples of this.

A New Place to Live

Here we meet again the student prophets whom we read about a few times in 2 Kings 2. They are united in schools dating back to the time of Samuel. Faithful men, whom we can see as a remnant among the people of God. They have learned lessons from 2 Kings 2. At first they did not have illuminated eyes, nor did they see Elijah’s ascension, even though they do have knowledge of the fact that he was taken up to heaven. Meanwhile they have seen who Elisha is, how the spirit of Elijah rests on him, as they have seen some of his miracles.

Elisha is with them, possible to give them further education. They come to him with a wish. They want to build a new home, because a larger space is needed to live together. This will be due to an increase in the number of student prophets. The man of God is a point of attraction for those who want to know more about the LORD.

We can apply this to a local church. If there is a man of God in a place, there will be increase. In a man of God, the Lord Jesus becomes visible. Wherever He becomes visible, those who seek Him will also want to be there. A man of God is not one above the local church, but is part of it. He is the power of the church. But if decisions are made, he will not make them as an individual. Decisions are taken by the entire church. Often a certain decision is made following his advice. He shows the way.

The student prophets propose to go to the Jordan. The Jordan is the river through which the Israelites had to pass to get into the promised land. For us, the Jordan is a picture of the death, the resurrection and the glorification of the Lord Jesus, through which we have entered the heavenly places, the heavenly land. God has “seated us with Him in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). That they propose to go to the Jordan can therefore be seen from a spiritual point of view as a proof of their spiritual growth. First they saw the Jordan from afar (2Kgs 2:7), they remained at a distance from it, but now they want to live there.

The proposal is that each of them gets a beam from the Jordan to build a new place to live together. They each have a personal share in the construction. They each make a contribution to the best of their ability. So it is with building God’s house. For its construction, the Lord has given each one of His own responsibilities. We all contribute to the construction of the church, each with his or her own gift. However, it is important to build with good materials.

If Elisha agrees to the request, the student prophets don’t immediately get on their way. They want Elisha to go with them. That is a good thing. Not only do they go on their way at his direction, but they also want to ensure his presence on that way. Elisha not only shows the way, but he also goes with them. The Spirit does the same with us. He indicates the way we should go and accompanies us on that way. We may walk, through the Spirit (Gal 5:25). Not only do we need the Lord to show us the right way, but we also need Him on the way itself.

The Accident and the Miracle

At the Jordan they go to work. While they are busy, an accident happens. When someone was cutting down a beam with an axe, the axe head fell into the water. He has lost control of his tools. Fortunately, the axe does not hit anyone (cf. Deu 19:5), but it does disappear into the water of the Jordan. The man has lost his tool. As he sees the iron disappear into the water, he cries out: “Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.”

Elisha must have been close to him, because the man addressed his cry of fear to the man of God. That was the right call. Humanly we would say: ‘What luck that they asked Elisha to come along.’ Elisha inquired where the iron had fallen into the water. When the man has directed him to the place, Elisha cuts off a stick and throws it in to where the axe head fell. The stick functions as a magnet, because the iron is made to float. Elisha doesn’t take the iron out of the water himself, but tells the man to take it up for himself. Elisha does the miracle, but the man must do what he can himself.

The story as such shows how much the man of God is involved in an apparently small event, but had become a personal drama for someone else. This history stands between two events that are of international magnitude. God’s attention goes out to the big and the small. He has interactions with nations and with the individual.

The man’s predicament is that he has lost something that was not his. He borrowed the axe, because he himself had none. We can perhaps deduce from the panic caused by his loss, that he had no money to buy one. The result of Elisha’s intervention also points to this. The prophet did no miracles without reason. If there is a real need, then we can count on God’s gracious and wonderful help.

Spiritually speaking, there is also something for us to learn. Here we see the Jordan as the river that, as it were, swallows up of a student prophet’s tool, but also has to return it. When we think again of what the Jordan is a picture of – the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus – we learn that all our strength has been destroyed in the death of the Lord Jesus. We also learn that we have risen to a new life and that we may work in the power of the Holy Spirit on God’s house with the means He has for us.

The means we are given to serve the Lord are borrowed means. These are the gifts that have been made available to us. These gifts are no guarantee that the work will be done properly. We must learn that what we are and have, can only be properly used if we receive it from the hands of the man of God (the Lord Jesus) who retrieves it from the Jordan (the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus).

Moses is also a man of God who once threw a tree into the water. In that case it was to make undrinkable water drinkable, so that the people could drink it (Exo 15:25a). Elisha does the same for a few. In the wood we can see a picture of the cross of the Lord Jesus. Paul brings “the wood”, the cross of Christ, into the church in Corinth (1Cor 2:1-5). Because the Corinthians misuse their gifts to their own glory, Paul reminds them of the foolishness of the cross. In the light of the cross the self-importance disappears and the Spirit is given the space to work what is to God’s glory.

Man has to take up his tool himself. The house is being built now with a tool that came from the Jordan. The power of the stream is overcome by a piece of wood, so that what was hopelessly lost, is saved and can be made useful.

Elisha Warns the King of Israel

God’s Spirit tells us of the secret deliberations of the king of Aram, or Syria. The king may decide what he wants, but nothing is hidden from God. The Spirit communicated with Elisha what the king of Syria was up to. The man of God sent messengers to the king of Israel (possibly Jehoram) to warn him of the enemy’s plans. He does not do it for Jehoram (cf. 2Kgs 3:13-14), but for the poor people and even more as a sign for the king of Syria. It is a sign of God’s omnipotence to this king.

The man of God has a prophetic view. The king of Israel was very wise to listen to Elisha’s advice. This was repeated several times. It also shows that no one can do any harm to God’s people if their Protector does not allow it.

Command to Capture Elisha

The king of Aram, or Syria, was severely frustrated by the fact that his plans were always known. There is nothing more frustrating for a culprit than the fact that all his well thought-out plans are known to others and his intention fails time and time again. The king called his servants together and wanted to know who was betraying him. As it happens frequently, someone from the common people knows the answer. We are not told how he knew it; we are told only so much in this history without any explanatory information.

As the ‘traitor’ is now revealed, the king commands the arrest of Elisha. He has no doubt that with the arrest of Elisha he has indeed caught the culprit. He sent a huge army to Elisha. He had heard something of the power of this man and does not want to underestimate it. It shows how afraid the king was of the man of God. At the same time, he underestimated God’s power by turning an army, a huge one, towards Elisha.

In the invisible world, the powers of darkness are also working in a joint effort to eliminate every believer who is a man of God’s will. There are spiritual powers that are out to stop us in our work for the Lord. The devil does not under-estimate us. He is full of interest in us. He is not interested in slacking Christians, but in working Christians.

Open and Closed Eyes

The servant of Elisha was impressed by the power of the enemy. That’s because he couldn’t see well. He was scared because he didn’t see the unseen. He looked only with his natural eyes and counted only with visible powers.

Elisha saw well. He did not need to pray for his own eyes to be opened. What we see with our eyes is no more reliable than what we see with the eyes of our heart. Thus the Lord Jesus saw many angels at His disposal when a multitude of people came to capture Him (Mt 26:53). Faith knows: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them” (Psa 34:7). Jacob also saw a host of angels when he was on his way to meet Esau (Gen 32:1-2).

When Elisha prayed, the eyes of the servant were opened. The servant then saw what Elisha saw when Elijah went to heaven (2Kgs 2:11). The power of God who brought Elijah to heaven is at our disposal against the enemy. It is the power that lifts us above the earthly stage of threat and danger and brings us in the spirit within a place of complete security, inaccessible and therefore untouchable by the enemy.

When the enemies came towards him, Elisha prayed a new prayer, now not to open eyes, but to close eyes (cf. Gen 19:11). This was a physical blindness, a literal blindness. The result of the Lord Jesus’ service was spiritual blindness. He came to make spiritually blind people to see, and those who think they believe they see, to make blind. This is not a literal blindness, but a blindness of insight, of lacking understanding of their position.

The men walked after Elisha with open eyes, but blind to where they were. In this way he brought the enemy into the lion’s den. This did not result in their destruction, but in a proof of unprecedented grace. When they were in the middle of Samaria, Elisha prayed again, now again to open their eyes. Then the enemies become aware of their position. They discovered the power of Elisha.

Grace for Enemies

Who also had open eyes was the king of Israel. Only he knew nothing of grace, proving that he was seeing blind. This is clear from his question to Elisha whether he would be allowed to kill these enemies. Elisha’s answer was sober. He tells the king that he would not have killed them anyway if he had made them prisoners of war. Elisha did not even allow the king to simply send the prisoners back to their master. He ordered him to do good to his enemies by setting bread and water before them. The LORD first protected the king of Israel and Elisha against the king of Syria, and then He protected the Syrians against the king of Israel.

By this action, ‘burning coals’ are heaped on the head of the enemy (Rom 12:20: Pro 25:21-22). The word of the Lord Jesus is acted upon: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies” (Mt 5:43-44). After the enemies are treated well, they were allowed to return to their master. The consequence of the grace shown is that they (for the time being) did not return to the land of Israel to wage war against it.

Famine in Samaria

A proof of mercy can quickly be forgotten. We see that when the king of Aram, or Syria, takes up arms again, he went up against Samaria and besieged the city. The siege was long and caused a great famine. The enemy had forgotten that in this city he himself had received gracious treatment. A merciless siege takes place because he had forgotten what grace was bestowed upon him (Mt 18:21-35). It became the cause of yet another great proof of grace by the service of Elisha, but now for the people of God. It will be his last public service.

Food was becoming so scarce and hunger so great that an enormous price was asked for unclean food. Only the richest could buy something. Instead of taking refuge in the LORD with confession and repentance for their unfaithfulness, the LORD was blamed for the misery.

This is made clear when a woman cried to the king. There was no question of crying to God. The king was bitter and passed the blame onto the LORD. The LORD did not help and because of this he cannot help. The king did not realize that he owed his misery to himself. He asked the woman what she wanted. It turns out that she wanted him to bring justice. It was a question that recalls the first law case of Solomon (1Kgs 3:16-28). However, the cause for the judiciary here was a much greater depravity. It showed the depth of misery caused by the unfaithfulness of the people.

While the rich could probably still buy something, the common man and woman, driven by enormous hunger, resorted to one of the greatest horrors one can imagine: eating their own children. All natural feelings had disappeared. Even the fruit of the womb was sacrificed to the selfishness of survival. Whoever is tempted into such acts need not be surprised if an agreement is not kept. Everything bore witness to the great degeneration of God’s people. All norms and values had disappeared. This is the result of deviating from God (Lev 26:27-29; Deu 28:52-57; Col 2:20; Col 4:10).

When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes. The garment of mourning that became visible was nothing more than outward appearance. Externally he was dressed in mourning, but there was no inner repentance. On the contrary, he was full of murderous design against the prophet of God.

Elisha Gets the Blame

The king sought a scapegoat and found it in Elisha. Just as Ahab attributed the misery to Elijah and thought he would get rid of it if he could kill Elijah, so did this king think he could put an end to the misery by killing Elisha. It was a foolish assumption that came from a hardened heart. By nature, we blame people who tell us we will be judged. Disasters in an end time do not bring submission to God. They do not lead to conversion, but to slander of God (cf. Rev 16:10-11).

While hunger took such terrible forms and led to such terrible things, Elisha sat in his house. He undoubtedly shared in the famine. He suffered with the people of God. He had no hidden source of food. There were elders visiting him. They would be there to ask him for advice. It is always available when there is an emergency.

He was also aware of the death threat. He saw in his mind how Jehoram sent a murderer to him. He called him a “murderer’s son”, for Jehoram himself was the son of a murderer, Ahab. Elisha took measures in view of the imminent arrival of the messenger of the king, knowing that Jehoram would come right after him, to make sure that Elisha is indeed beheaded.

When the messenger had arrived at Elisha’s door, the messenger spoke the language of his master. He again made a fierce reproach to the LORD. Elisha must die. He justified his unjust act by saying, as it were: ‘If God does not take me into account and help me out of my worries, I will not take God into account.’