And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold now, the situation of the city is good, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren.
The men of Jericho come to Elisha with an honest report about their own city. Its setting is fine, but its water and its land are not. Can the prophet do anything for a place under a curse?
The bad water had a history behind it. It goes back to the man who rebuilt the city against God's word.
Jericho, rebuilt on the place of judgment and against the thoughts of God, was good as far as its situation went. Choosing Jericho was not the bad thing. When the people first entered Canaan, this enemy city had become the place of divine power and victory. What was bad was what men had made of it — a city contrary to the thoughts of God, a real offence against His will. Hiel's disobedience left the spring supplying the town corrupted, and people had to die there.
The two halves of the men's report do not match. One writer sees the whole world in that.
The situation was pleasant, but the water was bad and the ground barren. Such is this world; at times outwardly fair, but over it all the blight of the curse. Its sources of refreshment fail to satisfy. It promises much but brings nothing to fruition. It cannot meet the needs of man.
Men could rebuild this city. That was the limit of what they could do.
Man's proud unbelief could rebuild the city in defiance of the Word of God. But it was powerless to remove the curse that lay on it. Men work out scheme after scheme, and still they have to admit everywhere that the world is very far from what they would like it to be. A blight rests on every human device. The high hopes of today are the bitter disappointments of tomorrow. The "pleasantness" is there, for God has created it. But "the water" — the spring from which men would draw satisfaction and pleasure — "is bad," and "the land is unfruitful" — no fruit is produced for God. For God and for man alike, everything is the exact opposite of what it should be.
Elisha did not act at once. He stayed in the city, and one writer reads that waiting as deliberate.
From the time the city was founded on the ruins of the one before it, a curse had been on it. Its waters were tainted at their spring, and the land around it yielded only thorns for the labour of its people. It had not always been like that. At one time it was called "the city of the palm trees," but that was ancient history. That fact was on record, and its pleasant situation made them feel better things were possible. So the people had hoped and laboured — all in vain… And "he stayed there." I am sure I am not far from the truth when I say he did so because he wanted to bless the city. He lived among them until they were humble enough and honest enough to tell him the state they were in.
Their coming to Elisha says something about them, not only about their city.
Elisha, however, is present with healing grace. He is a beautiful picture of Christ, who has nothing of this world's goods, yet gives out blessing on every hand, using His grace for the good of others. The men of the city have faith to make use of the grace that is in Elisha. They come to him with their need.
Look at what Elisha uses, and where he puts it.
The remedy was "a new jar, with salt in it," with its contents thrown into "the spring of the waters." Here we learn God's way of blessing for man. It is not by patching up an old thing, but by bringing in something altogether new… God puts something "new" into the very "spring" of a man's moral being.
The vessel itself carries a meaning.
The prophet asks for a new jar with salt in it. This speaks of the preserving character of grace, linked not with the flesh, but with a "new vessel." Was not Christ the "new vessel" filled with the preserving grace of God?
What happened at Jericho was small in scale. The writer does not leave it there.
"And he went out to the spring of the water" — so he was dealing with the source itself. … Jericho is a sample of what the Lord Jesus Christ will do everywhere in the day of His appearing. He means to reconcile all things to Himself. It might be only a little here, but it is the sample of a very great result.
- Cursed — the location was fine. What men made of it was not: they rebuilt the city against God's word.
- Pleasant — a fair setting with bad water pictures a world that promises much and satisfies nobody.
- Powerless — men could rebuild the city, but they could not lift the curse. Every scheme carries the same blight.
- Confessed — Elisha waited until the men owned their true state. Blessing began there.
- Renewed — the cure was salt in a new vessel, poured into the spring. Not a repair of the old, but a sample of the greater healing to come.
And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt in it. And they brought it to him.
Elisha's first act after Elijah is taken up is not judgment but healing. The men of Jericho bring him their ruined water, and he asks for a new bowl and salt — which raises two questions: why new, and why salt?
The object Elisha asks for is everyday kitchenware.
tselochith, dish or pan. 2 Kings 2:20.
The one condition placed on it is that it be new. Commentators find the whole lesson there.
Elisha called for a new bowl, with salt in it. Its contents went into the spring of the waters. Here we learn God's way of blessing for man. It is not by patching up an old thing, but by bringing in something altogether new. Those who have not lost confidence in flesh are all the time trying to repair its obvious defects.
Salt preserves. Writers read that quality into the sign.
The curse is removed. Salt brought in a new bowl heals the spring of waters for good. This is a type, I have no doubt, of the purifying power of grace. That grace separates man from evil. It removes evil as contrary to man's relationship with God. It is a moral power, and it will take away the curse from the world. Salt represents purifying power in the effectiveness and permanence that mark the work of God which heals the object of blessing. The new vessel is a picture of the renewed condition of all things through resurrection.
Elisha himself is part of the picture, and so is the vessel he asks for.
Elisha, however, is present with healing grace. He is a beautiful picture of Christ, who has none of this world's goods, yet hands out blessing on every side, using His grace for the good of others. The men of the city have faith to make use of the grace that is in Elisha. They come to him with their need. The prophet asks for a new bowl with salt in it. This speaks of the preserving character of grace, linked not with the flesh but with a "new vessel." Was not Christ the "new vessel" filled with the preserving grace of God?
A new bowl implies an old one. One writer names the old one.
He came with the new bowl, which was grace. The truth in the old bowl was the law, and it could only condemn us. The blessings it did speak of could only be gained and held by absolute and continual obedience to its commands. Its curse rested on all who did not continue in all the things written in it to do them. But the truth in the new bowl brought nothing but blessing. It was the declaration that God is love, and that His love was set on blessing men.
Elisha did not treat the water where the people drew it. He went up to its source.
He went out to the spring of the waters, and so was dealing with the fountainhead. There he cast in the salt and said that the LORD had healed these waters. Can anything show more clearly that here we have to do with a new character of action? Undoubtedly this new bowl with the salt in it is the type of the new creation. Jericho is a sample of what the Lord Jesus Christ will do everywhere in the day of His appearing. He means to reconcile all things to Himself. It might be only a little here, but it is the sample of a very great result.
The healing of the water was not the end of it.
At Jericho fruit followed the applying of the salt. So in our case, having "salt in ourselves" (Mark 9:50), we are able to be fruitful for God in the middle of a barren world.
- New, not mended. Elisha asks for one thing: a bowl never used. God blesses by bringing in something altogether new, not by patching up the old.
- New vessel. The new bowl pictures the renewed condition of all things through resurrection. Commentators also see Christ in it — the new vessel filled with the preserving grace of God.
- New contents. Salt stands for the purifying power of grace. That power is effective and lasting. It separates man from evil and removes it.
- New source. The cure went into the spring, not the stream. This is a new character of action, dealing with the source.
- New harvest. Fruit followed the salt at Jericho. Jericho is only a sample of the great result Christ will bring when He appears.
And he went forth to the source of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith Jehovah I have healed these waters there shall not be from thence any more death or barrenness.
Elisha's first act after Elijah is taken up is not judgment but a cure: he heals a bad spring at Jericho with salt from a new bowl. Why this place, why salt, and why a new bowl — these are the questions commentators press.
Why did this town need a cure at all?
Man's unbelieving pride could rebuild the city against the Word of God. But it had no power to remove the curse that lay on it. And what can men achieve in their own little world today? They work out long and careful schemes. Yet everywhere they have to admit that the world is very far from what they would like it to be. A blight clearly rests on every human device. The high hopes of today are the bitter disappointments of tomorrow. The "pleasantness" is there, for God created it. But "the water is bad" — the spring from which men would draw satisfaction and pleasure. And "the ground is barren."
He does not ask for any container. He asks for a new one.
The remedy was "a new bowl, with salt in it," and Elisha threw its contents into "the spring of the waters." Here we learn God's way of blessing for man. It is not by patching up an old thing, but by bringing in something altogether new. Those who have not lost confidence in the flesh spend all their time trying to repair its obvious defects. But God declared long ago that the flesh is incurable in its evil, and He condemned it as such in the death of Christ. Nothing works but a new nature. God puts something "new" into the very "spring" of a man's moral being.
Elisha uses one common substance. Why salt?
The curse is removed. Salt brought in a new bowl heals the spring of waters for good. I have no doubt this is a type of the purifying power of grace. That grace separates man from evil. It removes evil as something contrary to man's relationship with God. It is a moral power that will take the curse away from the world. Salt stands for purifying power — for the effectiveness and permanence that mark God's work when He heals the object of blessing. The new vessel is a picture of the renewed condition of all things through resurrection.
Commentators differ over the exact force of the symbol. One reads the salt against the specific wrong that brought Jericho under judgment:
The new bowl speaks of new creation, setting the old aside. The salt pictures righteousness, in contrast to the unrighteousness that had brought the curse on Jericho.
Elisha does not sweeten the water where people drew it. He walks up to where it comes out of the ground.
"Then he went to the spring of water" — so he was dealing with the source itself — "and threw salt in it." Nothing could show more clearly that here we have a new kind of action. There is no longer the deathbed judgment of Jehovah delivered through the prophet's word. Here we have the power of sin and the power of evil, and, according to the purpose of God, the new creation. This new bowl with the salt in it is surely the type of it. Jericho is a sample of what the Lord Jesus Christ will do everywhere in the day of His appearing. He means to reconcile all things to Himself. It might be only a little here, but it is the sample of a very great result.
Why did the cure not come through Elijah? One writer sets Elijah's ministry alongside the law.
There was no hope for Israel in Elijah's ministry, and there is no hope in the law for us. It is "weak through the flesh," says Paul, who knew it by experience. It cannot make us what we ought to be. It cannot change the barren land or sweeten the bitter waters; it can only expose and show up the barrenness and the bitterness, and condemn us.
The promise attached to the healing reaches past one town's water supply.
So it will be in the days yet to come: in the very place where the curse was pronounced, where the curse has fallen, there the curse will be removed. God will dwell with men — new vessels, made like Christ, filled with preserving grace. Then indeed there will be no more death nor curse, for the former things will have passed away.
- Curse. Jericho was pleasant to look at and cursed at the root; people could rebuild the city but could not lift the blight.
- New. God's remedy came in a new bowl — He does not patch up the old thing, He brings in something altogether new.
- Salt. Salt stands for purifying power: it removes evil, and it keeps the cure in place for good.
- Source. Elisha treated the spring, not the stream — the point where the trouble began.
- Sample. One healed spring is a small sample of a very great result: the day when the curse is gone and there is no more death.
And the waters were healed to this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spoke.
Verse 22 ends a small miracle with a large claim: the water stayed healed because of Elisha's word. Commentators read this healed spring at Jericho as the start of a new ministry, and as a small sample of what God plans on a far bigger scale.
Jericho was not a random location. Long before Elisha arrived, Joshua had cursed the site. That curse had already come true in living memory.
Elisha is a witness to the grace of God in a world that does not believe. That unbelief has left it a world under the curse. So it is fitting that Elisha's mission of grace starts at Jericho, the place of the curse. Joshua had said, "Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho…" So it came about. In the days of Ahab a man defied the Lord by rebuilding Jericho, and it cost him his two sons.
Elisha does not treat the stream lower down. He goes to the spring itself.
"Then he went to the spring of water" — so he was dealing with the source itself… Can anything show more clearly that we now have a new character of action? The prophet's word no longer brings the Lord's judgment to a death-bed. Here we have the power of sin and the power of evil. And, according to the purpose of God, we have the new creation. Surely this new jar with the salt in it is the picture of it. Jericho is a sample of what the Lord Jesus Christ will do everywhere in the day of His appearing. He means to reconcile all things to Himself. It might be only a little here, but it is the sample of a very great result.
The prophet asks for a jar nobody has used before. One writer sees Christ Himself in that vessel.
Elisha, however, is present with healing grace. He is a beautiful picture of Christ, who has nothing of this world's goods, yet gives out blessing on every hand and uses His grace for the good of others. The men of the city have faith to make use of the grace that is in Elisha. They come to him with their need. The prophet asks for a new jar with salt in it. This speaks of the preserving character of grace, linked not with the flesh but with a "new vessel." Was not Christ the "new vessel" filled with the preserving grace of God?
Why salt in particular? One writer ties it to a grace that both cleanses and lasts.
Jericho was pleasant in itself, yet a cursed place. It stops being cursed. The curse is removed, and the spring of waters healed for good, by salt brought in a new jar. That salt is a picture, I have no doubt, of the purifying power of grace. Grace separates man from evil, and removes evil as something contrary to man's relationship with God… Salt stands for purifying power. It works, and it lasts. These two marks belong to the work of God that heals the one He blesses.
Elisha's ministry looked nothing like Elijah's.
Elijah represented the law and pressed its demands on the people… They did not give God His rights, and they were not what they ought to be. So condemnation and judgment always went with his ministry among them. But Elisha came not demanding, but giving. He showed the goodness of God to a wretched people. He handed out grace and mercy. He blessed all sorts of people, and he turned no one away who came to him admitting their need.
The verse ties the lasting result to the spoken word. Nothing here was a temporary fix.
Salt is a well-known symbol in Scripture. Here it stands for the healing power of grace, which flows through the death and resurrection of Christ. The whole scene is blessed richly, and the blessing lasts. Evil is overcome. The curse is lifted from the ground — the world — and above all from His people Israel. The spring of waters, the fountain of blessing, is secured for ever… Yet here is a solemn and weighty warning for today, and for all time. If people despise the testimony of the grace of God and mock His messengers, judgment must take its course.
- Curse. Jericho was the one cursed spot in the land, and that is exactly where this ministry of grace begins.
- Source. Elisha treats the spring, not the stream — the cure goes to where the trouble starts.
- Vessel. The new jar carries the remedy: grace that preserves belongs to the new, not to the old.
- Permanence. Salt pictures a work of God that cleanses and lasts — "to this day" is the proof.
- Sample. One healed spring shows what Christ means to do everywhere. Yet mocked grace brings judgment instead.