Class: Elisha Dies, 2 Kings 13

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Elisha Dies 

Second Kings 13

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • February 19, In the year of our Lord, 2017

1. Second Kings 13.1–9a | Israel and the King Would Not Repent
   
   1 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. 2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not depart from them. 3 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. 4 So Jehoahaz pleaded with the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. 5 Then the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before. 6 Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin, but walked in them; and the wooden image also remained in Samaria. 7 For He left of the army of Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 9a So Jehoahaz rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria.
   
   1. How did the Lord begin to punish Israel for continuing to follow the sin of Jeroboam?
   2. What made Jehoahaz plead with the Lord?
      1. Granted he wanted freedom from the oppression of the Syrians.
      2. However, why did he not turn to the golden calves?
         1. He would have known of Israel’s history to some extent.
         2. Also, the Lord would have sent prophets who revealed why the Syrians gain domination over Israel.
   3. Why did the Lord ultimately free Israel from oppression in this instance?
      1. The Lord used a “deliverer,” to free Israel, but did not name the source.
      2. How then did Israel live?
   4. Did Israel show its gratitude toward the Lord for saving them by following His law?
      1. If not, what did they do instead?
      2. Why did they insist on following the sin of Jeroboam?
   5. How much of an army did Syria leave Israel?
2. Second Kings 13.9b–13 | Why Don’t People Learn
   
   9b Then Joash his son reigned in his place. 10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. 11 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked in them. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 13 So Joash rested with his fathers. Then Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
   
   1. Another Joash.
   2. What brief description does the Bible give of his reign?
      1. Why could these kings and people not learn from previous generations?
      2. For one thing, once something gets set in the minds of people, they rarely change, leading them to believe this is the only way to do it.
   3. Sadly during his reign Israel and Judah fought one another.
3. Second Kings 13.14–21 | The Death of Elisha
   
   14 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” 15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. 16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the LORD’S deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” 20 Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. 21 So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.
   
   1. Do you find Joash’s visitation and words to Elisha odd?
      1. What concern did Joash have?
      2. Did he think Yahweh God could do something about it?
   2. Someone else said familiar words to, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
      1. Who was it?
      2. See 2 Kings 2.12.
   3. Elisha, by the authority of the Lord, reassured Joash that even with his army not totally rebuilt since the days of Jehoahaz, they would still be victorious over Syria.
   4. Concerning Joash’s limited strikes with the arrows, Fuller says, “The unfaithfulness of man limits the goodness of God” (p. 264).
   5. If you had been Joash, and the prophet told you to shoot into the ground, when would you have stopped?
      1. Or would you have kept shooting until told to stop?
      2. If you did not know how many to shoot, what would you have done?
   6. What do you think of the resurrection of the man who touched the bones of Elisha?
      1. What was the point of it?
      2. Does this have anything to do with Elisha receiving a double-portion of Elijah’s spirit?
4. Second Kings 13.22–25 | The Lord Fulfilled His Word
   
   22 And Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But the LORD was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and regarded them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence. 24 Now Hazael king of Syria died. Then Ben-hadad his son reigned in his place. 25 And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz recaptured from the hand of Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Joash defeated him and recaptured the cities of Israel.
   
   1. Why did the Lord have grace and compassion on Israel?
      1. See again that the Hebrew Bible shows us God’s grace and compassion.
      2. What was the covenant that the Lord had made with the fathers?
   2. Why did Joash have continual war with Hazael and Ben-hadad?
      1. Remember the bow and arrows incident with Elisha.
      2. Since Joash stopped too soon, he never completely wiped out Syria.