2 Kings 6 Study Notes

6:1-4 Elisha lived among and worked with the prophets. The communities of the prophets were fairly mobile and could relocate whenever their homes or a neighborhood became crowded. To find room, they went to the lower Jordan River Valley to one of many places where the well-watered, lower flood plain abounded with thickets, trees, and other vegetation and also with pools and eddies of water. This well-watered strip near the river was the “pride [or ‘thickets’] of the Jordan” (Jr 12:5; Zch 11:3). The desert land beyond this fertile strip was generally barren.

6:5 It had been two hundred years since the Israelites had relied on the Philistines for iron tools (1Sm 13:19-22), but iron tools were still expensive.

6:6-7 The reaction of the man of God was almost perfunctory. He asked where the ax fell, threw a piece of wood into the water, and miraculously recovered the ax head. The lesson was that God could do miraculous works of witness on behalf of his prophets in a time of national unfaithfulness to the Lord.

6:8-8:15 This section, almost two chapters long, shows the man of God intervening in politics. Though his people had rejected him, God did not abandon his people to their enemies or to their own rulers. A likely setting for these events was the political weakness under Jehu and his weak successor, Jehoahaz. In contrast with the severity shown to Elisha’s greedy servant, God could still show mercy to Elisha’s ungodly king. During this time, Elisha could live safely in Samaria, though suffering occasional personal threats (6:32). The man of God helped Israel in two ways: by sharing supernatural knowledge of the enemy, and by serving as a rallying point and source of prophetic encouragement for Samaria.

6:8-11 Perhaps during an era of border harassment, the man of God regularly revealed the secret plans of the Arameans to the king of Israel. This was not as spectacular as destroying an enemy with hailstones (Jos 10:11), but it still showed that God was supernaturally working for his people.

6:12-13 The Arameans knew about Elisha’s supernatural military intelligence.

6:14-15 The Arameans sent a major expedition to surround Elisha in Dothan, about ten miles north of Samaria. The king of Damascus, with a pragmatic attitude similar to Ahab’s, showed a typical reaction to God’s miraculous works—defiant opposition.

6:16-17 A supernatural view of Dothan showed the servant that, contrary to what his unaided eyes told him, military leaders were not in control of coming events. A greater force was present, unseen but potent, ready to fight on behalf of the righteous.

6:18-20 God miraculously delivered the Aramean army into the hands of the Hebrews without bloodshed.

6:21-23 Several authorities argue that killing prisoners was not a common practice (but see 1Kg 11:16). Elisha’s prohibition against killing the Arameans carried the implicit message that God had given this victory. There is no contradiction between this episode and the one just following (see note at 6:24-7:20). Since God’s lessons fell on hardened hearts, it was inevitable that war would be resumed. The miraculous capture and release of the Aramean army did produce a brief period of peace between the weakened Israelites and the dominant Arameans. But in terms of God’s larger purpose of witnessing through miraculous works, they were ineffective for both the Israelites and the Arameans. God’s great works can be effective, but the impact of God’s truth is determined more by the attitude of hearts than by the wonderment of miracles.

6:24-7:20 This account of the siege of Samaria demonstrated the failure of the king. In broad terms, he failed because of sin; but in this context he failed because of his rejection of the message of God’s miraculous works. The account shows the king’s interaction with the misery of the people and his personal failure. This failure came in a context in which God had provided past victories and lessons that could have led to peace and prosperity.

6:24-25 Since neither the Israelites nor the Arameans were changed by the demonstrations of God’s power, war eventually returned. Ideally, the circumstances of God’s people should never have reached such a sorry state; the biblical plan was that a righteous king would defeat the enemies and save his people from such misery (Ps 20:1-2,6-7). In this time of spiritual failure, war had come with a devastating siege of Samaria and starvation among the people. The siege was so pressing that ceremonially unclean and detestable substances were being sold for exorbitant prices. This contrasted with the concept that the king was responsible to provide for his people’s needs (Ps 72:12-13).

6:26-27 The people had the right to call to the king for help (Ps 72:12-13), but an unfaithful king could only make excuses and blame God.

6:28-29 The king’s interview with one of the two women involved in cannibalism illustrated a depth of sin that had been prophesied much earlier (Lv 26:29).

6:30 The king was probably sincere in wearing sackcloth under his robes. He could honestly say that he felt the people’s pain, and he skillfully displayed the evidences of his grief. He reacted to the woman’s pain with great emotion.

6:31 The king was right to feel moral revulsion at this situation, but lack of moral wisdom led him to blame God and to pronounce an oath against God’s prophet, Elisha. But this disaster was actually caused by the sin of the king and the people.

6:32 That the elders of the idolatrous city held Elisha in high respect is proven by the fact that they were in his house . . . sitting with him.

6:33 The strongest demonstration of the king’s misdirected moral sensitivity came when the messenger asked why he should any longer trust a God who brought such disasters on his people. This recalled the scene when Ahab, the great destroyer of Israel, accused Elijah of being the destroyer (1Kg 18:17-18). The moral rebel often sees only what will justify his excuses. Furthermore, in blaming God, the king who should have represented the people to God instead became a blasphemer against God.