HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

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  a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  b A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  c Heb he

  d A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  e A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  f A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  g Another reading is Amana

  h Heb sons of the prophets

  i Heb him

  j Heb lacks the bags

  k A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  l A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  5.1–19a This account of the healing of Naaman may have once been simply a legend that focused on Elisha’s miraculous healing powers. The story in its final form, however, has been shaped to emphasize Naaman’s conversion and his acknowledgment of the power of the one true God. The theme of the conversion of foreign officials was particularly meaningful to Israel during and after the Babylonian exile. See, e.g., Dan 2.46–47; 3.28; 4.34–37; 6.25–27.

  5.1 For an account of Israel’s earlier battles with Aram (Syria), see 1 Kings 20.1–34; 22.1–40 and notes there. The notion that the LORD had given victory to Aram reflects 1 Kings 22.19–23. Leprosy, one of a number of skin diseases, none of which is identical with modern leprosy (Hansen’s disease).

  5.3 Elisha already has a reputation as a healer, presumably on the basis of stories like 4.8–37.

  5.5 Talents. See note on 1 Kings 9.14. Shekels. See note on 1 Kings 10.16.

  5.6 The Syrian king seems to assume that Elisha is employed in the royal court and that the king of Israel will know how to interpret the request for healing.

  5.7 The king of Israel does not make the connection with Elisha at all; he assumes that the Syrian is making an impossible request so that the Israelite king’s failure to comply will provide an excuse for another Syrian raid. Tore his clothes. See note on 2.12.

  5.10 Seven. See note on 4.35.

  5.11 Naaman expects Elisha to perform a ritual similar to the ones used by other healers. The Aramean does not realize that a prophetic ritual is unnecessary and also does not yet understand that healing will come only from God’s power, not from the power of the prophet.

  5.12 The Abana (or Amana) River flows just north of Damascus, the capital of Aram. The Pharpar River lies to the south of the city.

  5.13 Father, a title usually used by disciples addressing a master, not by servants.

  5.17 Naaman assumes that Israel’s God can only be worshiped in the land of Israel, so the dirt is necessary to create a “miniature Israel” in Syria. The question of how God could be worshiped in a foreign land became a serious one for Israel during the exile (cf. Ps 137.4).

  5.18 Rimmon (probably “Thunderer”), an epithet of the Syrian storm god Hadad, a deity usually identified with the Canaanite god Baal (see notes on 1 Kings 16.31; 17.1).

  5.19b–27 This epilogue to the story of Naaman’s healing serves to contrast Gehazi’s greed with the unselfishness of Elisha, who will not accept payment for his services (v. 16).

  5.22 Company of prophets. See notes on 4.1; 4.38. Talent. See note on 1 Kings 9.14.

  5.26 Apparently Elisha has extrasensory perception and is able to travel in spirit even though his body does not move. See also 6.8–9. Elisha’s question elaborates on Gehazi’s greed.

  2 KINGS 6

  The Miracle of the Ax Head

  1Now the company of prophetsa said to Elisha, “As you see, the place where we live under your charge is too small for us. 2Let us go to the Jordan, and let us collect logs there, one for each of us, and build a place there for us to live.” He answered, “Do so.” 3Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” And he answered, “I will.” 4So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5But as one was felling a log, his ax head fell into the water; he cried out, “Alas, master! It was borrowed.” 6Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and made the iron float. 7He said, “Pick it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

  The Aramean Attack Is Thwarted

  8Once when the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he took counsel with his officers. He said, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.” 9But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Take care not to pass this place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10The king of Israel sent word to the place of which the man of God spoke. More than once or twice he warned such a placeb so that it was on the alert.

  11The mind of the king of Aram was greatly perturbed because of this; he called his officers and said to them, “Now tell me who among us sides with the king of Israel?” 12Then one of his officers said, “No one, my lord king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.” 13He said, “Go and find where he is; I will send and seize him.” He was told, “He is in Dothan.” 14So he sent horses and chariots there and a great army; they came by night, and surrounded the city.

  15When an attendant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. His servant said, “Alas, master! What shall we do?” 16He replied, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.” 17Then Elisha prayed: “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18When the Arameansc came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, please, with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. 19Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

  20As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men so that they may see.” The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. 21When the king of Israel saw them he said to Elisha, “Father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” 22He answered, “No! Did you capture with your sword and your bow those whom you want to kill? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink; and let them go to their master.” 23So he prepared for them a great feast; after they ate and drank, he sent them on their way, and they went to their master. And the Arameans no longer came raiding into the land of Israel.

  Ben-hadad’s Siege of Samaria

  24Some time later King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army; he marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. 25As the siege continued, famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. 26Now as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king!” 27He said, “No! Let the LORD help you. How can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?” 28But then the king asked her, “What is your complaint?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son and we will eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” 30When the king heard the words of the woman he tore his clothes—now since he was walking on the city wall, the people could see that he had sackcloth on his body underneath—31and he said, “So may God do to me, and more, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on his shoulders today.” 32So he dispatched a man from his presence.

  Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Are you aware that this murderer has sent someone to take off my head? When the messenger comes, see that you shut the door and hold it closed against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind hi
m?” 33While he was still speaking with them, the kingd came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the LORD! Why should I hope in the LORD any longer?”

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  a Heb sons of the prophets

  b Heb warned it

  c Heb they

  d See 7.2: Heb messenger

  6.1–7 The legend of the floating ax head is another illustration of the prophet’s extraordinary powers.

  6.1 The company of prophets, or prophetic guild, has probably outgrown its meeting space. The other stories about this group suggest that its members do not all live together but do gather periodically, probably for instruction from Elisha (see, e.g., 4.1–2, 38; 5.22).

  6.6 Elisha’s use of a new ax handle rather than the old one may imply that the miracle requires the use of new objects. Note, e.g., the new bowl in 2.20, and cf. the use of a new garment in Ahijah’s prophetic act (1 Kings 11.29).

  6.8–23 This story from the time of the Aramean wars again shows Elisha using his miraculous powers on behalf of Israel against the Syrians. For other stories in which Elisha acts for rather than against Israel, see 3.1–27; 6.24–7.2; cf. the story of the unnamed prophet in 1 Kings 20.13–22.

  6.8 For earlier episodes in the war between Israel and Aram, see 1 Kings 20.1–34; 22.1–40 and notes.

  6.9 Elijah apparently got the information through extrasensory perception (cf. 5.26).

  6.13 Dothan, about ten miles north of Samaria.

  6.16 The exhortation not to be afraid often introduces prophecies of salvation and deliverance (Isa 41.10; Jer 1.8).

  6.17 Horses and chariots of fire, the heavenly army that fights for Israel in times of need (see also 2.11). On the motif of the supernatural protection of the prophet, cf. 1.9–15. Fire. See note on 1 Kings 18.24.

  6.21 The use of the title father (see note on 5.13) here implies that the king acknowledges the authority of the prophet.

  6.22 For a very different response in a similar situation, cf. 1 Kings 20.35–43.

  6.23 This comment implies that the Syrians were so overwhelmed by the divine power being exercised by the prophet that they broke off hostilities.

  6.24–7.20 The gripping account of the Aramean siege of Samaria is a subtle and polished piece of work. In a radical departure from the usual spareness of Hebrew narrative style, the narrator uses extensive detail to create a vivid picture of life in the besieged city. In contrast to many of the Elisha stories, this one does not credit the prophet with being the agent of the city’s salvation but focuses almost entirely on God’s mysterious act of deliverance.

  6.24 Several Aramean kings bore the name Ben-hadad. This individual is probably not to be identified with the Ben-hadad of 1 Kings 15.18; 20.1. The chronological relationship of the siege to the incident described in vv. 8–23 cannot be established. The events being described here clearly do not reflect the situation of v. 23.

  6.25 The extreme scarcity of food during the siege is indicated by the high price being paid for a donkey’s head. Shekels. See note on 1 Kings 10.16. Kab, a little over a quart. Dried dung was used for fuel in the ancient Near East, although in Israel it may have been considered impure, at least by priests (Ezek 4.12–15). This quantity of dove’s dung would probably not make much of a fire. Some scholars have suggested that dove’s dung was a slang term for some sort of inedible seed pods or husks.

  6.27 The king realizes that there is little that he can do to help the woman, but he does ironically point to the solution to the problem. The Lord will eventually help the city (7.6).

  6.28–29 Extrabiblical sources report cases of cannibalism in times of siege, and the OT alludes to such behavior during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (Lam 2.20; 4.10; Ezek 5.10). Deuteronomic law includes cannibalism as one of the curses to be visited on Israel if it breaks the covenant (Deut 28.53–57). The matter-of-fact way in which the woman presents her case adds to the horror of it.

  6.30 Tore his clothes, sackcloth on. See notes on 2.12; 1 Kings 20.31.

  6.31 There is nothing specific in the story to explain why the king blamed the situation on Elisha. The king, however, views the siege as the work of the Lord (v. 33), so he may assume that the Lord’s representative, the prophet, is involved as well.

  6.32 The elders, the leaders of Israel’s traditional kinship groups, have come to Elisha for instruction, just as the company of prophets regularly did (4.38). Elisha is apparently willing to speak with the king personally but not with the messenger. He therefore orders the door to be closed against the messenger until the king arrives (v. 33).

  6.33 The king does not see the siege as divine punishment for past sins, which probably was the perspective of the narrator, but as an arbitrary exercise in divine power that warrants rejecting God.

  2 KINGS 7

  1But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the LORD, Tomorrow about this time a measure of choice meal shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” 2Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “Even if the LORD were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from it.”

  The Arameans Flee

  3Now there were four leprousa men outside the city gate, who said to one another, “Why should we sit here until we die? 4If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall also die. Therefore, let us desert to the Aramean camp; if they spare our lives, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” 5So they arose at twilight to go to the Aramean camp; but when they came to the edge of the Aramean camp, there was no one there at all. 6For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to fight against us.” 7So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys leaving the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. 8When these leprousb men had come to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they came back, entered another tent, carried off things from it, and went and hid them.

  9Then they said to one another, “What we are doing is wrong. This is a day of good news; if we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty; therefore let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, “We went to the Aramean camp, but there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied, the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” 11Then the gatekeepers called out and proclaimed it to the king’s household. 12The king got up in the night, and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Arameans have prepared against us. They know that we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’” 13One of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those left here will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already;c let us send and find out.” 14So they took two mounted men, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and find out.” 15So they went after them as far as the Jordan; the whole way was littered with garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned, and told the king.

  16Then the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of choice meal was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. 17Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; the people trampled him to death in the gate, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. 18For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two measures of barley sh
all be sold for a shekel, and a measure of choice meal for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” 19the captain had answered the man of God, “Even if the LORD were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?” And he had answered, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from it.” 20It did indeed happen to him; the people trampled him to death in the gate.

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  7.1 Elisha’s surprising reply indicates that God will soon reverse the city’s fortunes. Cf. the prices listed in 6.25. Gate, the city’s main market area.

  7.2 The captain on whose hand the king leaned did not literally support the king but was his chief adviser. Captain. Precise meaning uncertain. Windows in the sky, openings through which rain comes (Gen 7.11; Mal 3.10). The captain assumes that the food to which Elisha is referring could appear only as a result of new growth.

  7.3 Leprous. See note on 5.1. People in this condition were forbidden to come within the gates of the city (Lev 13.11, 46; Num 12.14–16).

  7.6 In this period the Hittites ruled a few city-states north of Syria, but they were hardly a major threat. The Egyptians would have represented a greater danger.

  7.7 According to the narrator, the Arameans are so frightened that they even abandon their horses and donkeys, which would have hastened their flight.

  7.13 The servant suggests risking the loss of the horses to the Arameans because the animals would be likely to starve during the siege anyway.