Chapter Thirteen

1–25. The reign of Jehoahaz (1–9) and Joash (10–25) of Israel.

2 Kings 13:1. In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned seventeen years, 2 Kings 13:2. and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. 2 Kings 13:3. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad son of Hazael, continually. 2 Kings 13:4. And Jehoahaz prayed before the Lord, and the Lord heard him; for He saw the oppression of the children of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 2 Kings 13:5. And the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as formerly. 2 Kings 13:6. Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin; they walked in them; and the Asherah stood in Samaria. 2 Kings 13:7. For Jehoahaz did not have an army left except fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like dust at threshing time. 2 Kings 13:8. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his mighty deeds are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 2 Kings 13:9. And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Joash his son became king in his place. The struggle with Syria, which began earlier with the dynasty of Omri (Ahab (1 Kgs 20:1) and (1 Kgs 22:1) and Jehoram (2 Kgs 8:28-29)), continued under the dynasty of Jehu: both under Jehu himself (2 Kgs 10:32-33) and under his son Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 13:3), and throughout all this time it was unfavorable for the Kingdom of Israel; only because of the penitent prayer of Jehoahaz did God later give the Israelites a deliverer (moshia, v. 5) from the same dynasty of Jehu—in the person of Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14:26-27): the time of this king was a period of flourishing and peaceful condition of the Kingdom of Israel. But the Kingdom of Israel could not have complete prosperity, since all its kings held to the godless worship of calves, and at times heathendom appeared here as well; despite the reform of Jehu (2 Kgs 10:26), traces of heathendom remained in Samaria, for instance, the Asherah planted there by Ahab (v. 6, cf. 1 Kgs 16:32). This increasingly led the power of the Kingdom of Israel toward decline (v. 7), under the constant blows of the Syrian Hazael (v. 22). The determination of the years of Jehoahaz’s reign in v. 1: he became king in the 23rd year of Joash of Judah and reigned 17 years (consequently until the 40th year of Joash of Judah) does not accord with the date in v. 10, according to which already in the 37th year of Joash of Judah, Joash his namesake, son of Jehoahaz, became king in Israel (consequently Jehoahaz could have reigned only 14 years); it seems that of the two numbers 23 and 37 the first is erroneous and perhaps should be corrected to 21 (see K. Bahr. Die Bucher der Konige, s. 358).

2 Kings 13:10. In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Joash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned sixteen years, 2 Kings 13:11. and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he walked in them. 2 Kings 13:12. Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah are written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 2 Kings 13:13. And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Here are combined: a) the usual introduction (verses 10–11) and b) the conclusion (verses 12–13), which should have been at the end of the chapter (after v. 25). The war of the Israelite Joash with the Judean Amaziah is told.

2 Kings 13:14. Now Elisha had become ill with the illness of which he was to die. And Joash king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, saying: My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! 2 Kings 13:15. And Elisha said to him: Take a bow and arrows. So he took a bow and arrows. 2 Kings 13:16. And he said to the king of Israel: Put your hand on the bow. And he put his hand on it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands, 2 Kings 13:17. and he said: Open the window eastward. And he opened it. And Elisha said: Shoot. And he shot. And he said: A arrow of deliverance from the Lord, an arrow of deliverance against Syria; and you shall strike Syria in Aphek until you have destroyed it. 2 Kings 13:18. And he said: Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel: Strike the ground. And he struck three times, and stopped. 2 Kings 13:19. And the man of God was angry with him, and said: You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria until you had completely destroyed it, but now you will strike Syria only three times. 2 Kings 13:20. So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites came into the land in the following spring. 2 Kings 13:21. And as they were burying a man, behold they saw a band of raiders; and they cast the man into the tomb of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet. At the time of the Israelite Joash, the great prophet of God, Elisha, died. The text contains two accounts: of the death of the prophet and his prediction before death of victory to Joash over the Syrians (verses 14–19) and of a posthumous miracle of the prophet Elisha—the resurrection of a dead man from contact with the bones of the prophet (verses 20–21). The address of Joash to Elisha (v. 14) is identical in both letter and meaning to the address of the prophet Elijah himself to the prophet Elisha at his ascension (2 Kgs 2:12). To the question: “why did the prophet announce the future victory through the bow and arrow?” (v. 15), blessed Theodoret (question 42) answers: “They did not believe so much in words as in predictions through deeds”; in this case the symbolic action directly expressed the reality of war and victory which it signified. The placing of Elisha’s hands upon the king’s hands (v. 16) could indicate the prayer help of the prophet, consequently also of God, to the king of Israel in the coming struggle with the Syrians; the direction of the arrow toward the east (v. 17) referred to the Syrians, who occupied the east-Jordan cities and territories of the Kingdom of Israel (2 Kgs 10:33). Regarding the location of Aphek, see comments to (1 Kgs 20:26); the mention of Aphek here was all the more appropriate in that it brought to mind the victory of Ahab over the Syrians at Aphek (1 Kgs 20:26-29). The further symbolic action commanded to the king by the prophet is explained at once (v. 18–19); instead of “was angry” (Heb. ikkos, v. 19), LXX: ἐλυπὶθη, Slavonic “grieved”.

2 Kings 13:20. So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites came into the land in the following spring. 2 Kings 13:21. And as they were burying a man, behold they saw a band of raiders; and they cast the man into the tomb of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet. The prophet Elisha died in old age, about 100 years old: he entered upon his prophetic ministry under Ahab (1 Kgs 19:19)—around 900 BC, and died under Joash in the thirties of the 9th century (around 835 BC). According to blessed Jerome (Epit Paulae), his tomb was pointed out near Samaria (cf. 2 Kgs 5:9). The posthumous miracle of the prophet, according to blessed Theodoret, had this meaning: “The prophet, even after death, raised to life one brought to him, so that this miracle also would testify to the double grace he had received beyond his teacher.” Besides this, the temporal purpose of the miracle might have been to inspire Israel to struggle with enemies, while the eternal and essential purpose was to testify to the truth of the general future resurrection of the dead (in particular, here one can see a justification for the Church’s veneration of the relics of the saints).

2 Kings 13:22. Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 2 Kings 13:23. But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them; nor has he cast them off from his presence to this day. 2 Kings 13:24. And Hazael king of Syria died; and Ben-Hadad his son became king in his place. 2 Kings 13:25. Then Joash son of Jehoahaz took again from the hand of Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the cities which he had taken from the hand of his father Jehoahaz in war. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel. Despite the continuous onslaught of the Syrian’s conquering ambitions, God, for the sake of his covenant with Israel, showed him mercy: under Ben-Hadad III (Ben-Hadad I is in (1 Kgs 15:18); Ben-Hadad II is (1 Kgs 20:1) and following), the son of Hazael, Joash succeeded in recovering from the Syrians some of the cities captured from them under Jehoahaz (according to cuneiform inscriptions, the Syrian king of this time Mari, probably identical with Ben-Hadad III of the Bible, was defeated by the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III, and this could have facilitated the victory of Joash over the Syrians). But the complete, although brief, restoration of the ancient boundaries of the Kingdom of Israel occurred only under Joash’s son, Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14:25).