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2 KINGS 13

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 13:1-9
  ¹In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel at Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. ²He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin; he did not turn from them. ³So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Aram, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. ⁴Then Jehoahaz entreated the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them. ⁵The Lord gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as formerly. ⁶Nevertheless they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained standing in Samaria. ⁷For he left to Jehoahaz of the army not more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁹And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.

13:1 "Jehoahaz. . .reigned seventeen years" See SPECIAL TOPIC: KINGS OF THE DIVIDED MONARCHY.

▣ "He did evil in the sight of the Lord" See note at 2 Kings 12:2.

SPECIAL TOPIC: ANTHROPOMORPHIC LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE GOD

▣ "ths sins of Jeroboam" This was the first King of Israel who set up the golden calves at Dan and Bethel as rival temples to Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. Originally these rival temples were for the worship of YHWH but the "calves" lent imagery to Ba'al worship.

13:3 "the anger of the Lord" See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE.

▣ "into the hand of" See SPECIAL TOPIC: HAND.

▣ "Ben-hadad" This would be the third Syrian king by this name.

1. son of Tabrimmon in Asa, king of Judah's day ‒ 1 Kgs. 15:18,20; 2 Chr. 10:2,4
2. in Ahab, King of Israel's day ‒ 1 Kgs. 20; 2 Kgs. 6:24; 8:7,9
3. son of Hazael, King of Syria ‒ 2 Kgs. 13:3,24,25; Amos 1:4

At this period Assyria had other interests (i.e., Babylon to the southeast) than Syria/Canaan, so Syria reasserted its influence over Israel. But with the reign of Adad-nirari III, Assyria's attention returned to the west.

13:4-5 The ever available mercy of YHWH is amazing (cf. v. 23). The Israeli king who did evil in YHWH's evaluation, beseeched Him to deliver Israel from the prophesied hand of Hazael, and He did!!

Again, the relationship between God and mankind involves both

1. the character of God
2. action of a repentant person

See SPECIAL TOPIC: CHARACTERISTICS OF ISRAEL'S GOD (OT) and SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT.

The continuing sins of Jehoahaz in v. 6 made YHWH's mercy fall short of its intended goal! Jehoahaz turned to YHWH but not from the golden calf worship sites!

The MT has a Hiphil ACTIVE PARTICIPLE (BDB 446, KB 448), which means "deliver." This terminology is similar to the book of Judges. In the OT "salvation" and "deliverance" are synonymous.

SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (OT Term)

▣ "from under the hand" See note at v. 3.

▣ "in their tents" This is imagery from the wilderness wandering period when Israel lived in tents. It became an idiom for "go home."

NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 301, suggests it was an idiom for release from military service. Most of Israel's army was volunteer.

13:6 "Nevertheless" What a sad verse in light of vv. 4-5.

▣ "the Asherah" This was the wooden symbol for the female fertility goddess of Canaan. It was either

1. a live tree, symbol of the tree of life
2. a carved stake, symbol of the tree of life

King Ahab had built a special house for Ba'al in Samaria and placed in it a large piller and Asherah (cf. 1 Kgs. 16:31-33). It is surprising that Jehu's campaign to remove Ba'al worship from Israel did not include the burning of this idol (i.e., 2 Kgs. 10:26-28). Since one cannot burn a stone pillar, possibly v. 26 does refer to a burning of an Asherah pole, but one was remade to replace the burnt one.

SPECIAL TOPIC: FERTILITY WORSHIP OF THE ANE

13:7 "he" The SINGULAR PRONOUN is undefined. It could refer to

1. YHWH
2. YHWH's designated deliverer (v. 5)
3. Hazael, King of Syria
4. even the Assyrian king, Adad-nirari III, who attacked Syria and thereby diverted Syria's military forces to the north
5. Zakur of Hamath, another strong leader of a nation just north of Syria. Information about him is known from basalt stele, called "the stele of Zakur."

All history is in YHWH's hands (i.e., Deut. 32:8).

SPECIAL TOPIC: KINGS OF ASSYRIA

The MT has a MASCULINE SINGULAR NOUN (BDB 766 I) which means "people," but in some contexts, it can mean "army" (cf. Exod. 14:6; 1 Kgs. 16:15; 2 Kgs. 8:21).

▣ "threshing" This was an agricultural process to separate grain from its husk. It became an idiom for military victory (cf. Isa. 21:10; Jer. 50:11; Micah 4:13).

13:9 "slept with his fathers" This is an idiom for being buried in the family tomb. In the ANE "sleep" was a euphemism for "death" (cf. v. 13).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 13:10-13
  ¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. ¹¹He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in them. ¹²Now the rest of the acts of Joash and 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? ¹³So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

The MT has "thirty-seven " (as does Josephus, Antiq. 9.8.6) and the UBS Text Project, p. 357, gives it an "A" rating (highly probable). The problem comes in Josephus (Antiq. 9.8.5) reading "in the twenty-first year of Joash" in v. 1.

See Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, pp. 56-60.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 13:14-19
  ¹⁴When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" ¹⁵Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶Then he said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. ¹⁷He said, "Open the window toward the east," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" And he shot. And he said, "The Lord's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them." ¹⁸Then he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground," and he struck it three times and stopped. ¹⁹So the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times."

13:14-19 This describes a prophetic event. Its symbolism is

1. bow as an instrument of war
2. striking the ground as imagery for military victory
3. the lack of enthusiasm by Joash, the King of Israel, in striking the ground with the arrows only three times, limiting his victory

See NIDOTTE, vol. 2, pp. 242-243 and vol. 3, p. 946, #3, for arrow symbolism.

13:14 "Elisha became sick" Death is the normal and expected end to a human life. Life, health, and death are in the hand of YHWH, not fate, chance, or luck. Healing is possible but not promised.

SPECIAL TOPIC: HEALING

▣ "My father, my father" See full note at 2 Kings 2:12.

▣ "the chariots of Israel and its horsemen" In 2 Kgs. 2:12 it seems to refer to the unseen military of YHWH (i.e., Lord of Hosts, cf. 2 Kgs. 6:17), but here it seems to refer to "the man of God," Elisha.

▣ Joash, King of Israel, came down to him and wept over him. Notice the king comes to Elisha, who is very old and bed ridden at this point. I think he wept, not for the prophet but for himself. His protector would be gone!

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 13:20-21
  ²⁰Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. ²¹As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.

13:20-21 Elisha was buried in a cave or burial chamber. He was laid on a shelf and his body deteriorated there. Later, a marauding band of Moabites put one of their own dead people on this same shelf (i.e., over Elisha's decayed body) and the Moabite raider came back to life.

This miracle

1. was a way to magnify Elisha (i.e., Ecclesiasticus [also known as "Wisdom of Ben Sirach"] 48:13,14)
2. was YHWH's gift of Elijah and Elisha to the northern kingdom as a way to encourage them to repent (as Johoahaz did, v. 4), and seek YHWH in faith and practice
3. was like several of Elisha's miracles which had no stated or obvious purpose. If one asks the hermeneutical question, "why record this?" I wonder if the purpose is related to Elisha wanting a double portion of Elijah's spirit. There are seven recorded miracles of Elijah and fourteen for Elisha (i.e., rabbi's theory).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 13:22-23
  ²²Now Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.

13:22-25 This is the historical account of the prophecy from vv. 15-19.

13:23 "the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them" See SPECIAL TOPIC: CHARACTERISTICS OF ISRAEL'S GOD (OT).

▣ "His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" See SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT PROMISES TO THE PATRIARCHS.

▣ "until now" This is a textual marker of a later editor/scribe.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 13:24-25
  ²⁴When Hazael king of Aram died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. ²⁵Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of Jehoahaz his father. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

13:25 "the cities" This probably refers to the trans-Jordan area north of the Dead Sea.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Why do the numbers of the kings of Israel and Judah differ? (i.e., v. 10)
2. Why is v. 4 so significant a verse?
3. What is an asherah?
4. Did Elisha use magic in v. 18?
5. Why are vv. 20-21 included in the Bible?
6. Why was YHWH gracious to sinful Israel?

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