25 matching verse commentaries
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Ahaziah's Sickness. (b. c. 896.) 1 Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. 2 And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. 3 But the angel of the Lord...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have, I. That extraordinary event, the translation of Elijah. In the close of the foregoing chapter we had a wicked king leaving the world in disgrace, here we have a holy prophet leaving it in honour; the departure of the former was his greatest misery, of the latter his greatest bliss: men are as their end is. Here is, 1....
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We are now called to attend the public affairs of Israel, in which we shall find Elisha concerned. Here is, I. The general character of Jehoram, king of Israel, ver. 1-3. II. A war with Moab, in which Jehoram and his allies were engaged, ver. 4-8. III. The straits which the confederate army were reduced to in their expedition against Moab, and...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Great service Elisha had done, in the foregoing chapter, for the three kings: to his prayers and prophecies they owed their lives and triumphs. One would have expected that the next chapter would tell us what honours and what dignities were conferred on Elisha for this, that he should immediately be preferred at court, and made prime-minister of...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Two more of Elisha's miracles are recorded in this chapter. I. The cleansing of Naaman, a Syrian, a stranger, from his leprosy, and there, 1. The badness of his case, ver. 1. 2. The providence that brought him to Elisha, the intelligence given him by a captive maid, ver. 2-4. A letter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel, to introduce him,...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have, I. A further account of the wondrous works of Elisha. 1. His making iron to swim, ver. 1-7. 2. His disclosing to the king of Israel the secret counsels of the king of Syria, ver. 8-12. 3. His saving himself out of the hands of those who were sent to apprehend him, ver. 13-23. II. The besieging of Samaria by the Syrians and...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Relief is here brought to Samaria and her king, when the case is, in a manner, desperate, and the king despairing. I. It is foretold by Elisha, and an unbelieving lord shut out from the benefit of it, ver. 1, 2. II. It is brought about, 1. By an unaccountable fright into which God put the Syrians (ver. 6), which caused them to retire...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The passages of story recorded in this chapter oblige us to look back. I. We read before of a Shunammite woman that was a kind benefactor to Elisha; now here we are told how she fared the better for it, afterwards, in the advice Elisha gave her, and the favour the king showed her for his sake, ver. 1-6. II. We read before of the designation of...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Hazael and Jehu were the men that were designed to be the instruments of God's justice in punishing and destroying the house of Ahab. Elijah was told to appoint them to this service; but, upon Ahab's humiliation, a reprieve was granted, and so it was left to Elisha to appoint them. Hazael's elevation to the throne of Syria we read of in the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We have in this chapter, I. A further account of Jehu's execution of his commission. He cut off, 1. All Ahab's sons, ver. 1-10. 2. All Ahab's kindred, ver. 11-14, 17. 3. Ahab's idolatry: his zeal against this he took Jonadab to be witness to (ver. 15, 16), summoned all the worshippers of Baal to attend (ver. 18-23) and slew them all (ver. 24, 25),...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The revolution in the kingdom of Israel was soon perfected in Jehu's settlement; we must now enquire into the affairs of the kingdom of Judah, which lost its head (such as it was) at the same time, and by the same hand, as Israel lost its head; but things continued longer there in distraction than in Israel, yet, after some years, they were...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter gives us the history of the reign of Joash, which does not answer to that glorious beginning of it which we had an account of in the foregoing chapter; he was not so illustrious at forty years old as he was at seven, yet his reign is to be reckoned one of the better sort, and appears much worse in Chronicles (2 Chron. xxiv.) than it...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter brings us again to the history of the kings of Israel, and particularly of the family of Jehu. We have here an account of the reign, I. Of his son Jehoahaz, which continued seventeen years. 1. His bad character in general (ver. 1, 2), the trouble he was brought into (ver. 3), and the low ebb of his affairs, ver. 7. 2. His humiliation...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter continues the history of the succession in the kingdoms both of Judah and Israel. I. In the kingdom of Judah here is, 1. The entire history (as much as is recorded in this book) of Amaziah's reign (1.) His good character, ver. 1-4. (2.) The justice he executed on the murderers of his father, ver. 5, 6. (3.) His victory over the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter, I. The history of two of the kings of Judah is briefly recorded:—1. Of Azariah, or Uzziah, ver. 1-7. 2. Of Jotham his son, ver. 32-38. II. The history of many of the kings of Israel that reigned at the same time is given us in short, five in succession, all of whom, except one, went down slain to the pit, and their murders were...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter is wholly taken up with the reign of Ahaz; and we have quite enough of it, unless it were better. He had a good father, and a better son, and yet was himself one of the worst of the kings of Judah. I. He was a notorious idolater, ver. 1-4. II. With the treasures of the temple, as well as his own, he hired the king of Assyria to invade...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter gives us an account of the captivity of the ten tribes, and so finishes the history of that kingdom, after it had continued about 265 years, from the setting up of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In it we have, I. A short narrative of this destruction, ver. 1-6. II. Remarks upon it, and the causes of it, for the justifying of God in it and...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
When the prophet had condemned Ephraim for lies and deceit he comforted himself with this, that Judah yet "ruled with God, and was faithful with the Most Holy," Hos. xi. 12. It was a very melancholy view which the last chapter gave us of the desolations of Israel; but this chapter shows us the affairs of Judah in a good posture at the same time,...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Jerusalem's great distress we read of in the foregoing chapter, and left it besieged, insulted, threatened, terrified, and just ready to be swallowed up by the Assyrian army. But in this chapter we have an account of its glorious deliverance, not by sword or bow, but by prayer and prophecy, and by the hand of an angel. I. Hezekiah, in great...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have, I. Hezekiah's sickness, and his recovery from that, in answer to prayer, in performance of a promise, in the use of means, and confirmed with a sign, ver. 1-11. II. Hezekiah's sin, and his recovery from that, ver. 12-19. In both of these, Isaiah was God's messenger to him. III. The conclusion of his reign, ver. 20, 21....