2 Kings chapter 7
7:1 Jehoram had felt that all was really lost (6:33). Elisha's words were designed to give the discouraged king new
assurance that the Lord was in charge of the whole situation and was ever merciful toward a repentant and obedient
heart.
7:2 The officer's disbelief would cause him to fail to partake of any of the promised plenty, even though he would live
to see it (verses 19, 20).
7:3,4 Lepers were not allowed inside the cities (Leviticus 13:46).
7:6 These Hittites were the Neo-Hittite descendants of that great Hittite nation in ancient Anatolia (i.e., modern
Turkey).
7:9 Failure to share their good fortune with others would be a sin worthy of judgment against the lepers (Proverbs 15:
27; 21:17, 18; 1 Corinthians 10:24). So ought to share the Good News of the gospel with all (Romans 10:13-15).
7:18 For the term man of God, see the note on 1 Samuel 9:6-11.
2 Kings chapter 8
8:4-6. The Lord had sovereignly arranged the circumstances so that as the king’s curiosity concerning Elisha was
being satisfied by Gehazi, the needs of the lady from Shunem could be met. How often the Lord weaves together
the little threads of the believer’s life for God’s glory and the believer’s good.
8:12. Such barbaric actions were not unknown in the ancient Near East (cf. Hos. 13:16; Amos 1:13). Hazael would
indeed perpetrate these shameful practices (cf. 10:32; 13:3-7, 22).
8:13-15. For the dog as a symbol of abasement or contempt, see 1 Samuel 24:14; 2 Samuel 9:8; 16:9. Perhaps
Elisha had been appointed to fulfill Elijah’s commission to anoint the Aramean general Hazael as the successor of
Ben-hadad II (cf 1 Kings 19:15). Hazael apparently had plotted Ben-hadad’s demise previously and used Elisha’s
prophecy as a pretext for his crime. Elisha had foreseen his evil deeds. Hazael’s usurpation does not pass without
notice in the secular records of the ancient Near East. The Assyrian king Chalmaneser III called him “son of a
nobody” (i.e., a usurper). Hazael reigned from around 842 to 802 B.C. and was a constant enemy of Israel.
8:16. Jehoram became co-regent with his father Jehoshaphat. See the not on 1:17.
8:18. Jehoram’s sins included the murder of his own brother (cf. 2 Chr 21:2-4). The influence of Athaliah may be felt
in this (cf. 11:1) for Jehoram was greatly influenced by his wicked wife, who as the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.
Therefore, the Lord sent judgment against Jehoram and Judah in the form of several political and military problems
(cf 2 Chr. 21:8-17). He himself died of a loathsome disease (2 Chr. 21:18,19).
8:19. The Lord’s faithfulness to the Davidic covenant remained despite the king’s debased character. See the note
on 2 Samuel 7:12-16.
8:22. Israel’s conflicts with Edom were often accompanied by Philistine pressure on her western border (cf 2 Chr 21:
16; 26:6,7; 28:17-19; Joel 3:4-8; Amos 1:6-8).
8:25. Ahaziah had escaped the earlier Philistine and Arabian invasions (cf. 2 Chr 21:16, 17). He remained under the
influence of Athaliah’s paganism (cf. 2 Ch 22:3-5).
8:26. Athaliah is called the daughter of Omri. Thus her descent by marriage is linked to the founder of Israel’s Third
Dynasty, Omri, the father of Ahab. For Ahaziah’s age at his accession, see the note on 2 Chronicles 22:2.
8:28. Another Aramean/Israelite war at Ramoth-gilead again spells disaster for Israel (cf. 1 Kin. 22:35, 36).
2 Kings chapter 9
9:1, 2. The original commission to Elijah is thus finally carried out by Elisha' s students (cf. 1 Kin. 19:16, 17). For the
girding up of the lions, see the note on 1 Kings 18:46.
9:3. For anointing the head of a future king, see 1 Samuel 10:1, 2.
9:8-10. The announcement of Jehu repeats the prophetic threat of 1 Kings 21:21-23 (cf. 1 Kin. 19:15-17).
9:23. Joram turned his hands on the reins. He had not anticipated Jehu's treachery and so, having driven the chariot
himself, he turned it around to make his escape.
9:26. Elisha's prophetic sentence at last found its final fulfillment. See the note on 1 Kings 21:19.
9:27, 28. According to 2 Chronicles 22:9. Ahaziah had managed to make it as far as Samaria, where he was at last
apprehended by Jehu's men. Apparently he was taken from there to Megiddo, where he was executed. His body was
returned to Jerusalem for interment in the royal tombs.
9:30, 31. Jezebel died in queenly fashion. She made herself up so as to be in proper appearance and cast Jehu's
words relative to peace (cf. v. 22) back in his teeth, calling him Zimri- a murderous traitor (cf. 1 Kin. 16:10, 11).
9:36, 37. The words of Elijah's prophecy were literally fulfilled (1 Kin. 21:23).
2 Kings chapter 10
10:8. Such grisly deeds were often practiced in the ancient Near East.
10:9-11. Jehu's edict was calculated to remove all opposition to his kingship. He assured the officials in Samaria that
they were only carrying out God's known will in accordance with the prophecies of Elijah (cf. 1 Kin. 19:17).
10:14. Jehu's bloodbath was also directed at Ahaziah's close relatives. Since the two crowns of state had been
brought into close relationship during the Third Dynasty of Israel, Jehu intended to eliminate any rival, however
remote.
10:15. Jehonadab was a religious zealot who was the leader of a pious separatist sect of nomads (cf. Jer. 35).
Because he was opposed to the great spiritual compromises in Israel, Jehonadab probably hoped that Jehu was
likewise a zealous patriot who would also restore true religion in the northern kingdom.
10:17. By this act Ahab's dynasty was completely ended. The full weight of Elijah's prophecy had come down on the
house of Ahab (cf. 1 Kin. 21:21).
10:28-31. Jehu is commended and rewarded by the Lord for his carrying out of God's sentence against the house of
Ahab. However, Jehu's zeal for God was halfhearted at best. Although he stamped out Baalism, he did so more than
likely because Baal had been so distinctly associated with the previous Third Dynasty. He did not turn the nation
back to God, but back to the state religion of Jeroboam I. He himself had no heart for the law of the Lord. Therefore,
he is justly condemned by the later prophet Hosea (Hos. 1:4), for having used the command of God to mask his own
lust for power. Jehu's willingness to do anything to further his own ends and to sustain himself at any cost is reflected
in the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III which depicts his submission to the Assyrian king.
10:32. The year 841 B.C. was a pivotal in history. Since both Joram of the northern kingdom and Ahaziah of the
southern kingdom had been killed, there was a change of ruler ship in both kingdoms. Jehu began a new (fourth)
dynasty in Israel that was to span four generations. Athaliah usurped the throne of Judah and held it for seven years
(ch. 11). Shalmanesar III managed at last to break the back of the Syro-Israelite coalition in the same year. However,
increasing pressures in the east kept him closer to home after this, and so Hazael began a severe and extensive
affliction of Israel. It was to last all the days of Jehu and his son Jehoahaz (c. 841-798 B.C.; cf. 13:1-3).
2 Kings Chapter 11
11:1. Athaliah duplicated the wicked deeds of her husband, Jeroham (cf. 2 Chr. 21:4). See the note on 8:18.
11:2. Jehosheba was Ahaziah's half sister. Since Joash had been born to Joram through a mother other than
Athaliah (cf. 2 Chr. 24:1), perhaps this was the case with Jehosheba also. She was married to the high priest
Jehoiada (cf. 2 Chr. 22:11). Thanks to her courage, the sole surviving son Ahaziah escaped notice in Athaliah's
bloody purge.
11:4-11. Jehoiada's plan to unseat the idolatrous usurper Athaliah was carefully orchestrated (cf. 2 Chr. 23:1-11).
11:12. The young Joash held a copy of the law in accordance with the directions of Deuteronomy 17:18. The ideas
of crown and testimony are also closely associated with the concept of covenant, so that Jehoiada's putting the
crown on Joash's head and the testimony in his hand was likewise a symbolic proclamation that the young lad was
David's rightful heir. His ceremony of national covenant renewal followed Athaliah's execution (v. 17).
2 Kings Chapter 12
12:2. The high priest, Jehoiada, was Jehoash's counselor and spiritual advisor. Despite the reform during Joash's
kingship, it appears that the young king's religious experience was heavily dependent upon the high priest and was
decidedly less than a full commitment to the Lord (cf. 2 Chr, 24:2). After Jehoiada's death, Jehoash found new
counselors and friends who turned his heart away from God, so much so that he did not intervene when his new
associates put to death Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, for his faith (cf. 2 Chr. 24:17-22). Faith must be personal, not just
"official".
12:4-6. The repair of the temple was a matter of some urgency due to the destructive acts in Athaliah's day (cf. 2
Chr, 24:7).
12:7-11. A lagging work schedule caused the king to take a more direct hand in matter. The Jehoash chest made the
offering process more visible and the money was more efficiently put into the hands of those responsible for the
repairs. The people responded well (cf. 2 Chr. 24:10) and gave freely and willingly (cf. Ex. 25:2).
12:17, 18. The renewed Aramean pressure under Hazael was severe, including not only attacks against Jehoahaz
and the northern kingdom (13:1-3), but also the Philistine coast. Even Jerusalem came under dire threat. Because
Joash's faith had become apostate after Jehoiada's death, God used Hazael to attempt to bring Joash and Judah to
repentance (cf. 2 Chr. 24:23, 24). Joash became wounded in the battle (2 Chr. 24:25) and brought Hazael off with a
bride in order to deliver Jerusalem.
12:20. A spiritually defeated Joash died in a palace intrigue was excluded from the royal burial chamber (2 Chr. 24:
25).
12:21. The variation between the names of the assassins given here and those in 2 Chronicles 24:26 are merely
minor alterations, easily reconcilable on the basis of known manuscript evidence, and writing and spelling practices.
2 Kings Chapter 13
13:3. For Hazael and the Aramean problem, see the notes on 10:32 and 12:7, 18.
13:4-6. Jehoahaz's repentance was apparently genuine but not total. Nevertheless God sent a savior (or deliverer),
probably Adad Nerari III of Assyria, who launched a series of campaigns against southern Syria that ultimately
brought about the capture of Damascus in 802 B.C. This significantly reduced the Aramean pressure. Hazael himself
died about this time, the throne being taken by his son Ben-hadad III (c. 802-? B.C.), who was not at all his father's
equal (cf. vv. 22-25).
13:14. For this ascription of praise, see the note on 2:12.
13:19. Despite his prowess as a fighter (cf. v. 25; 14:8-15), Joash was a man of little faith.
13:21. This miracle authenticated Elisha's last prophecy (v. 19). As Elisha's body had brought life to the dead, so
would his prophecy attest God's provision of new life for Israel under Joash and Jeroboam II.