744 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went forth unto the spring of the waters,.... The fountain from whence they flowed, the head of them: and cast the salt in there; which was an unlikely means of making bad water good, since that makes it brackish, and not so drinkable, and what makes ground barren; but this method, contrary to nature, was taken, that the miracle might...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. In the name of the Lord; and not only they remained so unto the time of the writer of this history, but to the times of Josephus, as he testifies (s), and even to ours; for there is a spring now called Elisha's spring or fountain, of which Mr. Maundrell says...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went up from thence unto Bethel,.... From Jericho, which lay in a plain, to Bethel, situated on an hill, and therefore is said to go up to it; hither he went, to acquaint the sons of the prophets with the assumption of Elijah, to condole their loss of him, and to comfort and encourage them, and confirm his own authority among them as a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he turned back, and looked on them,.... With a stern countenance, thereby reproving them, and in order to intimidate them, and make them ashamed, and cause them to leave off, but to no purpose; they repeated their mockeries with great vehemence: and cursed them in the name of the Lord; moved thereunto, not from passion and a spirit of revenge,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went from thence to Mount Carmel,.... Where Elijah used to frequent, and where also there might be a school of the prophets; this, according to Bunting (a), was fifty six miles from Bethel: and from thence he returned to Samaria; the capital of the kingdom of Israel; there to bear his testimony against idolatry, to reprove for it, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 3 This chapter gives the character of Jehoram king of Israel, 2 Kings 3:1, relates the rebellion of the king of Moab against him, 2 Kings 3:4, the war that he and his allies entered into on that account, 2 Kings 3:6 the distress the combined army were in for want of water, their application upon this to Elisha, who promised...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah,.... So that the two years of the reign of his brother Ahaziah were not complete, only part of the seventeenth and part of the eighteenth of Jehoshaphat, since he began to reign in his seventeenth year, at the beginning of that, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Was guilty of idolatry: but not like his father, and like his mother; his father Ahab, and his mother Jezebel: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made; he did not destroy it, only removed it from the temple of Baal where it was set, that it might not be worshipped, at least...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin,.... He closely adhered to the worship of the calves set up by him: he departed not therefrom: that being a piece of state policy, to keep up the division of the two kingdoms.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep master,.... With which his country abounded; he kept great numbers of them, and shepherds to take care of them; he traded in them, and got great riches by them; his substance chiefly consisted in them: and rendered unto the king of Israel: either as a present, or as an annual tribute: an hundred thousand lambs,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. Who then was Ahaziah; but either through the pusillanimity of his temper, or the sickness that attended him, or the shortness of his reign, he took no steps to the reduction of him, or to oblige him to pay his tribute, which he neglected to do, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And King Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, e.] As soon as he came to the throne: and numbered all Israel who were fit to bear arms, got them together at some certain place, and mustered them, and prepared for a war with Moab, to reduce them.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, which way shall we go up.... That is, Jehoram said so to Jehoshaphat, consulting with him which was the best way to take to the land of Moab, whether the shortest way, over Jordan; or some other: and he answered, the way through the wilderness of Edom; which bordered upon it, and the same through which the Israelites passed; for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah,.... The way of the wilderness of Edom, proposed by the latter: and the king of Edom; whom they took with them in their way, who was not properly a king, but a viceroy or deputy, see 1 Kings 22:47 and they fetched a compass of seven days journey; they went round the Dead Sea, and through the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king of Israel said, alas!.... Lamenting their sad case, as being desperate; and the rather he was the more concerned, as he was the principal who had drawn the other kings into this affair, though he throws it upon the Lord and his providence: that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hands of Moab;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?.... This the good king should have done before be set out, but had neglected it; however, it was not too late: and one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said; who might be one that feared the Lord, and was intimate with Elisha, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jehoshaphat said, the word of the Lord is with him,.... To give them an answer, which he concluded from his being a servant and disciple of Elijah, whom he succeeded in his office, and of whom he had, doubtless, heard; and from his following the camp, and being in it, which he easily imagined was not to fight, but to assist by his advice and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, what have I to do with thee?.... An idolater; I can hold no discourse nor have any conversation with thee, nor give thee any advice or assistance: get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother; the prophets of Baal, and of the groves: and the king of Israel said unto him, nay;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Elisha said, as the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand,.... Whose minster and prophet he was, to whom he prayed, and whose service he was ready to perform: surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah; revere him not only as a king, but as a pious prince, and a worshipper of the true God: I would not look...