And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.
Elijah had just told God that Israel broke the covenant, tore down the altars and killed the prophets, and that he was the only one left. God answers with three names linked in a chain of swords — and the puzzle is the third sword, since Elisha never killed anyone with a blade.
An answer shaped to Elijah's own complaint
Elijah had asked God to act against Israel. The three swords give him what he asked for — and one writer reads that as a rebuke.
Leslie M. GrantThe words of verse 17 are also a serious reproof to Elijah's criticism of Israel. God told him that Jehu would kill whoever escaped the sword of Hazael, and that Elisha would kill whoever escaped the sword of Jehu. God only speaks of judgment against Israel by these three men, and says not a word of the grace that Elisha would minister. God spoke in this way because Elijah had inferred that Israel deserved judgment.
Judgment that answers the storm on the mountain
Wind, earthquake and fire had just passed by Elijah's cave. The judgments God now announces match that pattern, and one writer sums up two of the men in a phrase each.
W. W. FeredayThe judgments which Elijah seemed to feel were necessary would happen. The abandoned covenant, the desecrated altars, and the murdered prophets would all be avenged. The judgments would come in ways that matched the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire. A ruthless destroyer from outside and a fierce reformer within would be let loose upon the guilty nation.
The third sword — the word of God
Hazael and Jehu strike with steel. One writer reads the third sword as something else — and as the one nobody escapes.
The Bible TreasuryThere was another sword still in its sheath, the most terrible of all. Nobody escaped Elisha's sword, and it reached far wider than those of Hazael and of Jehu. Elisha's sword was the word of God. Its judgment overtook the guilty house of Ahab and the idol-worshipping nation, after the swords of Hazael and of Jehu had broken. "Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth." (Hosea 6:5)
Fulfilled to the letter
Years later King Jehoram of Israel fled from Jehu. One writer stops there and points back to this verse.
H. L. RossierJehoram cries while fleeing, "Treachery, Ahaziah!" Not treachery, but judgment! God's word to Elijah comes true to the letter. "And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death" (1 Kings 19:17).
Where commentators differ
Not everyone reads the third sword the same way. Another writer finds no real killing by Elisha at all — only a figure of it, in the last moments of his life.
H. L. RossierNotice too that the word spoken to Elijah — "the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death" — is fulfilled only in these last moments of the prophet's life, and even then only in prophecy. He is so little a prophet of judgment that he carries out judgment only in figure. And even this judgment is nothing other than the salvation of Israel and its deliverance from the yoke of Syria.
Not the only instrument
Elijah thought he was the last faithful man in Israel. God's answer names three other servants, and one writer says the gentlest of them would reach people Elijah never saw.
C. H. MackintoshAnd so Elijah learned that other ministry besides his own had to work on Israel. Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha had yet to appear on the scene. The still small voice had worked to draw him out of his mountain cave. In the same way, the gracious ministry of Elisha would work to draw out of their hiding places the thousands of faithful ones he had completely overlooked. Elijah was not to do everything. He was only one servant.
Summary
- Complaint. Elijah asked God to act against Israel; the three swords are his own prayer handed back to him as a reproof.
- Chain. Hazael strikes from outside, Jehu from inside, Elisha last. Each sword catches whoever slipped past the one before.
- Word. Commentators differ on the third sword. One makes it the word of God, cutting further than either blade of steel. Another says Elisha killed only in figure, at the end of his life, and even that for Israel's rescue.
- Fulfilment. When Jehoram fell to Jehu he called it treachery; it was this verse coming true to the letter.
- Remnant. The swords are not the last word. Elisha's gentler ministry would draw out thousands of faithful people Elijah never knew were there.