And Elisha fell sick of his sickness in which he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!
Elisha had been out of sight for about forty-five years when the king of Israel came to his bedside and found him dying. Two questions follow: why does a king who never obeyed the prophet weep over him, and why call a dying man Israel's chariots?
Scripture says nothing about Elisha between the anointing of Jehu and this deathbed.
Over sixty years Elisha had been the prophet of God. The last we heard of this great man of God was when he sent his messenger to anoint Jehu. Forty-five years had passed with no record of any ministry by Elisha. He was quite forgotten and neglected. The same was the case with Daniel in Babylon. As people fall further away from God, His true prophets are not wanted. They share the rejection of the Lord and His Truth.
Joash had no intention of becoming godly. So why did he come at all?
Joash valued Elisha's presence in his kingdom. He also wanted to honour Elisha before it was too late. Once Elisha was gone, the memory of having done so might keep his conscience from troubling him. The prophet's holiness, the power so often recognised in him, and the name and place he filled all pressed on his soul at such a moment. So the king visits the dying prophet with the very same greeting this prophet himself had used for Elijah as he went up. This was not mockery or pretence. It was a strong current of natural feeling.
Another writer finds more than sentiment in the tears.
The visit moved him deeply. Even an unbeliever can be moved when a godly man is dying. He may have had no intention of becoming godly himself. Yet he respected Elisha's godliness, and he realised that Elisha's prayers for Israel were keeping the nation from ruin.
Joash borrows Elisha's own cry at Elijah's departure. Chariots and horsemen were a nation's fighting strength. Joash gives that name to one dying man.
He acknowledged Elisha to be the strength of Israel, using the same words Elisha himself had used when he saw Elijah going up to heaven. What makes it so touching is that Elisha was dying; all his natural strength was leaving him. Elisha had acknowledged that the strength of Israel was not in horses or chariots. He himself was the one; he was all their strength, so far as God had used him for that purpose. In the same way Joash the king of Israel now acknowledges the dying Elisha, and God confirms the word.
Commentators differ over what the cry showed. Gaebelein hears unbelief in it.
He wept, and yet his words were words of unbelief. He spoke as if, with Elisha's death, "the chariots of Israel and its horsemen" — the protection and blessing of Israel — would come to an end.
A sickbed looks like the end of a prophet's usefulness.
Elisha could no longer be a public witness. Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face, because the sun of Israel was setting in the person of this great prophet. Even then, as he sank into death, he is strong and mighty in the power and the grace of God.
Why would God bother with a king like this at all?
This was grace. God shows grace whenever and as long as He is able to do so. Grace delights in a soul in which even a flash of repentance appears, or in the mere sigh of an oppressed heart. The prophet's moments are now numbered. Yet his last breath still serves to rekindle, if only for an instant, the little spark of life left in the heart of the king, this burnt-out man.
Joash's cry expects an ending like Elijah's. It does not come.
The words "the chariots of Israel and its horsemen" suggest that king Joash expected Elisha to be caught up to heaven as Elijah had been. But the actual account of his end shows no outward display of supernatural power. In sharp contrast to the close of Elijah's path, we have only the simple record, "Elisha died, and they buried him."
- Neglected. Forty-five silent years pass with the prophet ignored. When a nation drifts from God, it has no use for His servants.
- Needed. Joash's tears admit what his life denied. Elisha's presence and prayers, not armies, were holding Israel together.
- Named. He calls a dying man Israel's chariots and horsemen. The country's strength was never in horses.
- Strong. Sickness ends the public ministry, but not the power. At his weakest, Elisha is strong in God's grace.
- Grace. God keeps working while He can. He uses a prophet's final breath to fan one spark in a bad king's heart.
And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows. And he took a bow and arrows.
Elisha lies dying, and the king of Israel weeps over him — but the prophet answers those tears with an order to fetch a weapon. Why does a dying man call for a bow, and what will God do through him and an ungodly king?
Elisha's public service was over and his body was failing. One writer shows what that did not change:
Elisha "had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die" (2 Kings 13:14). He could no longer be a public witness. Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face. He used about Elisha the very words Elisha had used about Elijah when Elijah was taken up to heaven: "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" The sun of Israel was setting in the person of this great prophet. Even then, in this moment, while sinking into death, he is strong and mighty in the power and the grace of God.
Joash had let years pass without seeking the prophet. Elisha calls for the bow and arrows anyway.
Joash, like his father and grandfather, had neglected the prophet during his life. Yet when he finally visits him, he finds that even in the prophet's dying moments Elisha is strong in the delivering grace of the Lord. Elisha tells the king to take a bow and arrows, and to put his hand on the bow. Then Elisha puts his hand on the king's hand and tells him to shoot. Elisha explains the act as a picture. The hand of the Lord's representative strengthens the king's hand, and that hand would bring deliverance from his enemies.
The same writer adds that the gift is also a rebuke. It reminds the king what his neglect had cost him: "If he had only turned to the prophet before, would he not have found the power and mercy of God with him to deliver him from all his enemies?"
Joash's character had not improved. That did not stop God from using him.
If Joash is to become a saviour for Israel, it will in no way be because he deserves that title in himself. His heart is unchanged, his ungodliness remains. But God will use him as the instrument of a salvation whose starting point is the death of the man of God… The king was only to follow Elisha's word and must take no initiative of his own. More than that, it is Elisha's hands that direct the hand of the king.
The king holds the bow, and another hand covers his.
But there was another and a mightier hand, although the hand of a dying man. "Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands," and God saw, and God gave the power, the needed power.
Another writer links that gesture to words God spoke centuries later through Zechariah:
By laying his dying hands on those of the king, Elisha meant him to understand a truth. More than three hundred years later God said it through the prophet Zechariah: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts" (Zech. 4:6). "Apart from me you can do nothing" would be the New Testament way of saying it.
Elisha does not have the king shoot at random. His first instruction is about a window.
"Open the window eastward," said Elisha. If the shut door of 2 Kings 4:4 speaks of the soul's seclusion with God, the opened window of 2 Kings 13:17 speaks of the soul's expectation from God. Oh, that we all knew more of these things by experience! Daniel opened his window when he prayed daily towards Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10).
Elisha gave one more instruction. What the king did with it decided how much deliverance he would see.
Elisha next told the king to take up the arrows and strike the ground. "And he struck three times and stopped." The man by his slackness had limited the deliverance of his people. God gave him as much as he had faith for, but no more.
- Hand — Joash holds the bow, but Elisha's hands cover his. The strength is not the king's: God saw, and God gave the needed power.
- Grace — that hand reaches a man who had neglected the prophet for years. His heart was unchanged, yet God made him the instrument of Israel's deliverance.
- Weakness — the power comes through a dying man. Elisha can no longer serve in public, yet he is still strong and mighty in the power and grace of God.
- Expectation — the open window eastward pictures a soul expecting something from God, as Daniel did when he prayed toward Jerusalem.
- Measure — told to strike the ground, Joash stopped after three blows. God gave him as much as he had faith for, but no more.
And he said to the king of Israel, Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand [upon it]; and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands,
Elisha is on his deathbed, and Syria has worn Israel down. The dying prophet calls for a bow, then lays his own hands over the king's hands on it. What is he teaching?
The king had ignored Elisha for years, and came to him only when the prophet was dying. What he found there was not a spent man but a man still carrying God's power to save.
Joash, like his father and grandfather, had neglected the prophet during his life. Yet when he visits him at last, he finds that even in the prophet's dying moments Elisha is strong in the delivering grace of the Lord. Elisha tells the king to take bow and arrows, and to put his hand on the bow. Then Elisha put his hand on the king's hand, and told the king to shoot. Elisha explains what the act pictures: the king's hand, strengthened by the hand of the representative of the Lord, would bring deliverance from his enemies. Does this not remind the king of how much he had lost by neglecting the man of God? Had he turned to the prophet earlier, would he not have found the power and mercy of God with him to deliver him from all his enemies?
Joash is a wicked king, and God still uses him. The bow is in his hands, but another hand guides every move they make.
If Joash is to become a saviour for Israel, it will in no way be because he earns that title by himself or in himself. His heart is unchanged, his ungodliness remains, but God will use him as the instrument of a salvation whose starting point is the death of the man of God. … The king was only to follow Elisha's word and must not take any initiative, but more than that, it is Elisha's hands that direct the hand of the king. … Elisha's hands are those of the saviour of the people; without them there would not be any deliverance. Here the prophet is the representative of the Lord; it must be shown that everything comes from Him.
Two hands rest on that bow. God is watching which one holds the power.
But there was another and a mightier hand, though it was the hand of a dying man. "Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands," and God saw, and God gave the power, the needed power. … God would show that the strength of His people does not lie in what man can see, but in the strength He Himself gives.
Elisha teaches without words. The same picture turns up elsewhere in Scripture, where God's hand on a man gives him strength.
The dying prophet sought to turn the king's mind towards the Lord as the only true Deliverer of His people. At that time Hazael, king of Syria, was harassing Israel hard with his raids. Elisha told Joash to take bow and arrows. He would teach him by a parable. The prophet put his hands on the hands of the king. The prophet's hands suggest the power of God, without which all human effort is useless. Both John on Patmos (Rev. 1:17) and Daniel at the River Tigris (Dan. 10:18) were strengthened when the Lord's right hand was laid on them.
The king does not become a spectator. He still shoots — but not by his own strength.
Then the prophet placed his hands on the hands of the king. Here the king's strength was surrendered. Elisha's hand was to guide that arrow in its flight. The king was a passive instrument. Yet in surrendering to Elisha he was so joined to Elisha's strength that the act of shooting was his own. Only in this way can the bow of any servant of the Lord remain strong.
The hands on the bow settle one question for good: where does strength for God's work come from?
By putting his dying hands on the hands of the king, Elisha meant him to understand a truth. God spoke it more than three hundred years later through the prophet Zechariah: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts" (Zech. 4:6). "Apart from me you can do nothing," would be the New Testament way of saying it.
- His hand — Joash must hold the bow himself; God's help does not remove his part, it takes hold of it.
- God's hand — the prophet's hands over the king's stand for the power of God; without it every human effort fails.
- A dying hand — the strength came through a dying man, so no one could call the deliverance his own.
- An open hand — the king gives up his own strength, yet the shot still counts as his; that is how any servant's bow stays strong.
- One hand over all — not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit, as Zechariah later said.
and said, Open the window eastward. And he opened [it]. And Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, An arrow of Jehovah's deliverance, even an arrow of deliverance from the Syrians; and thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou hast consumed [them].
Syria's raids had worn Israel down, and now the prophet who pointed the king to Israel's only Deliverer lay dying. In that sickroom the king draws a bow, opens a window, and shoots a single arrow — and the prophet gives that arrow a name.
The first surprise is the state of the man giving the orders. Elisha is dying, and his weakness takes nothing away from God.
Even then, at that moment, sinking into death, he is strong and mighty in the power and the grace of God. The Lord's grace towards His people was not yet exhausted.
The shot was not the king's alone. Before the arrow flew, another pair of hands covered the king's. The same gesture appears elsewhere, where the Lord's hand strengthens a man.
The dying prophet sought to turn the king's mind towards the Lord as the only true Deliverer of his people. At that time Hazael, king of Syria, was harassing Israel severely with his raids. Elisha told Joash to take bow and arrows. He would teach him by a parable. The prophet put his hands on the hands of the king. The prophet's hands suggest the power of God. Without that power all human efforts are useless. The Lord's right hand rested on John on Patmos (Rev. 1:17) and on Daniel at the River Hiddekel (Dan. 10:18), and it strengthened both men.
Joash shoots, but he has no idea what he has done. The prophet has to tell him what the arrow means.
The king shoots his arrow eastward; nothing is done without the word of God. Joash is unable to understand anything of this; the prophet must explain the matter to him. Joash needs to know that when God stoops to use him, he is only an instrument, with no action of his own and no worth in himself.
The open window is more than a way out for the arrow. One writer links it with a shut door earlier in Elisha's story, and with Daniel at prayer.
"Open the window eastward," said Elisha. If the shut door of 2 Kings 4:4 speaks of the soul's seclusion with God, the opened window of 2 Kings 13:17 speaks of the soul's expectation from God. Oh, that we all knew more of these things by experience! Daniel opened his window when he prayed daily towards Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10).
The direction of the shot carried a promise beyond the coming war.
It was not only the arrow of His deliverance from Syria; the order to shoot eastward, toward the sunrise, spoke of coming glory. Elisha was passing away from the scene, going westward, as it were; but glory and power would come like the bright shining of the sun after rain.
The arrow was aimed east, toward Syria, and the promise attached to it was total: strike them until they are finished. One writer draws that through to the believer's own warfare.
Elisha was a prophet of grace, yet he spoke to Joash about warfare. Israel had enemies they ought to destroy. In the same way, God's people now have enemies to whom they must show no mercy. These enemies are not just human but satanic, and they seek to rob us of our proper spiritual blessings… Syria, meaning "exalted," stands for that principle of evil spoken of in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God." We today must not use worldly weapons for this, but spiritual weapons that "have divine power to destroy strongholds."
The promise reached as far as the end of Syria. What the king did next showed how far his faith reached. Elisha told him to strike the ground with the arrows, and he stopped after three.
The king's faith falls short of God's resources. The king struck three times and stopped. Had his faith been simpler, would he not have emptied his quiver of arrows? He had power at his disposal to bring complete deliverance from the enemy. He had neither faith nor spiritual discernment to use it. How often, like the king, we find ourselves in circumstances where only faith and spirituality will know how to act.
- Source. The deliverance starts in a sickroom, not a throne room. The dying prophet is still "strong and mighty in the power and the grace of God."
- Hand. Elisha's hands over the king's hands stand for the power of God — "without that power all human efforts are useless."
- Word. Joash shoots without understanding; the arrow only means something because the prophet names it — "nothing is done without the word of God."
- Window. The window opened east is "the soul's expectation from God," and the sunrise direction "spoke of coming glory."
- Measure. God offered a full victory. The king took only part of it: he had the power, but "neither faith nor spiritual discernment to use it."
And he said, Take the arrows. And he took [them]. And he said to the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
Elisha is dying, and the king of Israel stands at his bed with a bow in his hands. The prophet has promised victory over Syria, and now the size of that victory rests on how the king uses the arrows.
When the king shot from the window, the prophet's hands lay on his. Striking the ground was different.
The destruction of Syria would depend on the degree of faith, of zeal, of trust in God that Joash was about to display... Now it is a matter of striking the ground without Elisha's hands over his hands. Left to his own resources, the king strikes the ground with his arrows three times and stops.
Elisha had explained the first act, so the second was not a riddle.
Is not the king reminded of how much he had lost by his neglect of the man of God?... Has the king even yet learned his lesson? Elisha will put him to the test. The prophet seems to say, "I have shown you the meaning of this arrow — that it means a victory over your enemies; now take arrows and strike the ground."
Nothing outside the king stopped him from striking again.
The faith of the king falls short of the resources of God. The king struck three times and stopped. Had his faith been simpler, would he not have emptied his quiver of arrows? He had power at his disposal to bring about complete deliverance from the enemy. He had neither faith nor spiritual discernment to use it. How often we, like the king, come into situations where only faith and spirituality will know how to act.
Why was the prophet so angry? One writer traces it to the gap between two hearts in the same room.
He had just told the king that the arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrows of deliverance from Syria, were in his hand. Suppose his soul had been in tune with the prophet. Suppose it had glowed with thoughts of that glory brought so near to him, and his heart had sparkled at the sight of the Lord's own quiver in his hand. How hard he would have struck the ground at the prophet's word!... The king had not fallen in spirit into the current that was then carrying the prophet along.
The king obeyed every command on the outside. That is the problem.
The king did so, but only three times. Rather than showing faith he was humouring the old prophet... He had gone through the motions of doing what the prophet said, but had not entered into the earnestness of the commands given him.
The same pattern shows up elsewhere in Elisha's story.
The oil flowed while a vessel remained to take it... The blessing is limited by man only. In 2 Kings 3 the kings received water according to the depth of the ditches that were prepared. In 2 Kings 13:18 Joash, king of Israel, missed the opportunity of his life. He stood in front of the dying prophet, and he knew full well that the actions of that day mattered. Yet he struck the ground only three times. This meant three victories over his enemies instead of total destruction... It is always man who limits the blessing.
What God was willing to give had not shrunk; what the king was willing to believe had.
God in His power and goodness was the same still, but Israel was not ready. They would not trust God or give Him credit for sincerity. "According to your faith be it done to you." The faith of Joash could trust God for only three victories. Five or six strokes would have been decisive.
One writer turns the scene into a lesson on prayer.
God is always greater than our faith. Our faith is feeble and limited. His supplies are boundless and inexhaustible. "You do not have, because you do not ask," and often we dishonour God and miss much because we ask and expect so little. So Joash struck three times, and stopped when he might have struck five or six times. Indeed, he ought to have kept striking until Elisha told him to stop.
- Promise. Elisha had already explained the arrow shot eastward as deliverance from Syria. The king knew what was on offer before he had to act.
- Test. Elisha's hands no longer covered his. Joash stood on his own resources, and the outcome hung on the faith he would show.
- Measure. Oil flowed while vessels lasted. Water came by the depth of the ditches. Here victories came by the strokes. It is always man who limits the blessing.
- Limit. He had a full quiver and power at his disposal, but neither faith nor spiritual discernment to use it. He went through the motions without entering into the earnestness of the command.
- Ask. God is always greater than our faith; we miss much because we ask and expect so little. Joash should have kept striking until told to stop.
And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then wouldest thou have smitten the Syrians till thou hadst consumed [them]; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
Elisha's last act as a prophet was to hand a king arrows and tell him to strike the ground. Joash struck three times and stopped, and the dying prophet's anger at those three strikes has puzzled readers ever since.
For the first act, Elisha's own hands rested on the king's hands as he shot. The second act Joash did alone.
The destruction of Syria would depend on the degree of faith, of zeal, of trust in God which Joash was about to display. The test would show whether this instrument could become a means of complete deliverance for Israel by itself. Sadly, when it came to striking the ground without Elisha's hands over his hands, he was left to his own resources. The king struck the ground with his arrows three times and stopped. Faced with such grace and kindness on God's part, the man showed himself to be not only unequal to it, but faithless... The anger of the man of God, God's anger, blazes against him: I would have completely delivered this people; that depended on you, and you were not willing! You will strike the enemy only three times.
Joash had let Elisha's ministry pass him by, and only turned to him at the end. That neglect is what the arrows expose.
Is the king not reminded here of how much he had lost by neglecting the man of God? If he had only turned to the prophet earlier, would he not have found the power and mercy of God with him to deliver him from all his enemies? Has the king even now learned his lesson? Elisha will put him to the test.
Nothing stopped him from striking again. The arrows were all in his hand.
The faith of the king falls short of the resources of God. The king struck three times and stopped. If his faith had been more simple, would he not have emptied his quiver of arrows? He had power at his disposal to bring about complete deliverance from the enemy. He had neither faith nor spiritual discernment to use it. How often we, like the king, meet circumstances where only faith and spirituality will know how to act.
What the king got afterwards matched what he had done.
The man by his slackness had limited the deliverance of his people. God gave him as much as he had faith for, but no more. "Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel."
Why did God stop at the exact number Joash struck?
Why did he stop? Did he not know what the prophet meant? Did he not grasp the grace of God that was now at work? Why did he stop? Sadly, no man ever outlasts the grace of God, even if it is an Abraham who leaves off when he ought to go on! Yet the grace of God never fails of its purpose. Here, however, it was the judgment of God. Grace had prevailed over Abraham's pleading: God did better than simply sparing the guilty cities for the sake of ten, for He delivered the one righteous man, and for that man's sake He delivered more who were not righteous. Now in judgment God would hold strictly to the letter. Had he struck the ground three times with the arrows? Then three times should the Syrians be struck, and no more.
This was not a one-off failure. The same pattern appears in the widow's jars of oil.
The oil flowed while a vessel remained to take it. It was only when the son said "there is not a vessel more" that the oil stopped. What a lesson is here! The blessing is limited by man only... In Genesis 18 Abraham pleaded for the guilty cities of the plain, and he stopped at ten people. Yet God had given no sign of growing tired of listening to His servant's voice. Sadly, it is always man who limits the blessing.
The scene turns on prayer — on the moment we decide we have asked enough.
God is always greater than our faith. Our faith is feeble and limited. His supplies are boundless and inexhaustible. "You do not have, because you do not ask," and often we dishonour God and miss much because we ask and expect so little. So Joash struck three times, and stopped when he might have struck five or six times. Indeed, he ought to have kept striking until Elisha told him to stop.
- Guided. With Elisha's hands on his, Joash could not go wrong; the test came when he acted on his own.
- Neglect. He had ignored the prophet for years, and the arrows showed him what that neglect had cost.
- Measure. He had a full quiver and stopped at three; God gave him as much as he had faith for, and no more.
- Limit. The oil flowed while jars remained; Abraham stopped at ten. Man sets the limit on blessing, never God.
- Ask. Keep striking until God says stop. Our expectations run out long before His supplies do.