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2 Kings 6

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The Floating Axe Head 1–7

1
And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell before thee is too strait for us. ​
2
Let us go, we pray thee, unto the Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.
3
And one said, Be pleased, I pray thee, to go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.
4
So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood.
5
But as one was felling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed. ​
6
And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and made the iron to swim. ​
7
And he said, Take it up to thee. So he put out his hand, and took it.

Elisha Reveals Syrian War Plans 8–14

8
Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. ​
9
And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are coming down. ​
10
And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice.
11
And the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?
12
And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. ​
13
And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
14
Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. ​

Chariots of Fire Protect Elisha 15–23

15
And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was round about the city. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? ​
16
And he answered, Fear not; for they that are with us are more than they that are with them. ​
17
And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. ​
18
And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. ​
19
And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. And he led them to Samaria.
20
And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Jehovah, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And Jehovah opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
21
And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?
22
And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. ​
23
And he prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. ​

The Siege and Great Famine 24–31

24
And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. ​
25
And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. ​
26
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
27
And he said, If Jehovah do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress?
28
And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow.
29
So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she hath hid her son. ​
30
And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes (now he was passing by upon the wall); and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.
31
Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. ​

Elisha Prophesies Deliverance and Abundance 32–33

32
But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; andthe kingsent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away my head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him? ​
33
And while he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of Jehovah; why should I wait for Jehovah any longer? ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Kings 6

Verse 1

too strait for us — The 'sons of the prophets' are the companies that gather round Elisha, at Bethel (2 Kings 2:3) and at Gilgal, where they sat 'before him' (4:38). 'Strait' is tsar, narrow, and their remedy in vv.2–4 is to cut beams at the Jordan and build a larger dwelling.

Verse 5

for it was borrowed — The 'axe head' is literally 'the iron' (barzel), the word of v.6. The cry is the cry of one who owes: the law of borrowing held that if the thing is hurt 'the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good' (Ex 22:14).

Verse 6

the iron did swim — Tsuph, to float. The man of God casts in a cut stick, as Moses cast a tree into the waters of Marah and 'the waters were made sweet' (Ex 15:25). The place is the Jordan (v.4), where Elisha had already seen the waters parted (2 Kings 2:14).

Verse 8

In such and such a place — The Hebrew is peloni almoni, a pair of words for a place left unnamed; Boaz uses the same pair to a man he does not name: 'Ho, such a one!' (Ruth 4:1). The king of Syria plans in secret with his servants, and the plan is known to the man of God (v.9).

Verse 9

Beware that thou pass not — Shamar, to guard or take heed. The man of God warns the king of Israel by message, and v.10 says the king 'saved himself there, not once nor twice'. The place is named by what the Syrians are doing: 'thither the Syrians are come down'.

Verse 12

in thy bedchamber — The servant gives the reason: Elisha reports to the king of Israel 'the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber'. The Hebrew is the same inner room as in Eccl 10:20, 'curse not the rich in thy bedchamber'. The LORD 'declareth unto man what is his thought' (Amos 4:13).

Verse 14

horses, and chariots, and a great host — A whole force is sent by night to take one man at Dothan, the town where Joseph found his brothers (Gen 37:17). Their 'horses and chariots' are answered in v.17 by 'horses and chariots of fire'.

Verse 15

Alas, my master! how shall we do? — This is the same cry, ahah with 'master', as that of the man with the borrowed axe in v.5, and the two words are found together only in these two verses of 2 Kings. The servant gets up early, sees the host round the city, and asks what can be done.

Verse 16

they that be with us are more — A counted truth, not a hope. Hezekiah says it in the same terms: 'there be more with us than with him' (2 Chr 32:7), and gives the reason, 'With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God' (v.8). 'Fear not' (yare) is the answer to the servant's question.

Verse 17

chariots of fire round about Elisha — The prayer is for his sight: 'open his eyes' (paqach). The vision repeats the sight of 2 Kings 2:11, 'a chariot of fire, and horses of fire', and Elisha's cry there, 'the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof' (2:12). The angel of the LORD 'encampeth round about' (Ps 34:7).

Verse 18

with blindness — Sanverim occurs in the KJV only here and in Gen 19:11, where the men of Sodom, smitten with it, 'wearied themselves to find the door'. Elisha asks it of the LORD in prayer, and it comes 'according to the word of Elisha'.

Verse 22

set bread and water before them — Elisha's reasoning is that these were not taken by the king's own sword and bow. The command is that of Prov 25:21, 'If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink', which Paul quotes in Rom 12:20.

Verse 23

great provision — Kerah, 'provision', a feast set out, which occurs only here; the king prepares it for the captured host and sends them away. 'The bands of Syria' (gedud, raiding companies) came no more; v.24 shows that the king's full army was another matter.

Verse 24

gathered all his host — The wording is that of the earlier siege: 'Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together… and he went up and besieged Samaria' (1 Kings 20:1). The raiding bands had stopped (v.23); the whole army now comes to the city, and 'a great famine' follows (v.25).

Verse 25

an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver — The price shows what the siege has done. Moses had warned of exactly this: the people would eat 'the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters… in the siege, and in the straitness' (Deut 28:53), and the LORD had said the same in Lev 26:29.

Verse 29

So we boiled my son — This is the woman's account to the king, who passes by upon the wall when she cries for help. It is the thing named in Lev 26:29 and Deut 28:53 for a people under siege; Lam 4:10 records it again at Jerusalem: 'The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children.'

Verse 31

God do so and more also to me — This is an oath formula, as in David's 'So do God to me, and more also' (2 Sam 3:35). The king swears it with 'sackcloth within upon his flesh' (v.30), and what he swears is the death of 'Elisha the son of Shaphat'.

Verse 32

this son of a murderer — Ratsach, the verb of 'Thou shalt not kill'. Ahab's house had the blood of Naboth on it (1 Kings 21:19), and the king here is 'the son of Ahab' (2 Kings 3:1). Elisha knows the sending before the messenger arrives, as he knew the bedchamber words in v.12.

Verse 33

this evil is of the LORD — The king, following his messenger, says the calamity is from the LORD and asks why he should 'wait' (yachal, hope) for him any longer. Ps 130:5 uses the verb: 'in his word do I hope'. Elisha answers in 7:1 with 'the word of the LORD'.