2 Kings 3

Jehoram reigns but became not as bad as his father 1
Rebellion of Moab 6
Is there a prophet of the Lord 11
Water promised 16
Water appeared as blood 20
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Text
Explanation
.1 ¶ Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
.2 And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. 
 3 Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.
.4 And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.
 5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
  1 - Jehoram ... began to reign ... Samaria. See quotation below.
  1 - Eighteenth year of J. 2ki0117.
  1 - Ahab He had died in battle 1ki2234.
  2 - Not like his father Not the usual trend. His father was like wicked Ahab 1ki1630. The ministries of Elijah and Elisha apparently have an effect.
  "To reconcile the statements in the two passages [above and 1ki2251], we must suppose that Ahaziah, having reigned during the seventeenth and the greater part of the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, was succeeded by his brother Joram or Jehoram, in the end of that eighteenth year, or else that Ahaziah, having reigned two years in conjunction with his father, died at the end of that period when Jehoram ascended the throne. His policy was as hostile as that of his predecessors to the true religion; but he made some changes. Whatever was his motive for this alteration--whether dread of the many alarming judgments the patronage of idolatry had brought upon his father; or whether it was made as a small concession to the feelings of Jehoshaphat, his ally, he abolished idolatry in its gross form and restored the symbolic worship of God, which the kings of Israel, from the time of Jeroboam, had set up as a partition wall between their subjects and those of Judah." (JFB).
.6 ¶ And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel.
 7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses.
 8 And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom.
.9 So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them.
  6 - Numbered Rather "mustered" or "called to service."
  7 - I will go Previously the prophet, Jehu, had rebuked the king for such an idea 2ch1902.
  9 - Fetched a compass That is, "took an indirect route."
  9 - No water They would have known the area. This seems like poor planning.
  9 - Cattle For food and to carry loads.
 10 And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!
.11 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.
 12 And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
  10 - The Lord hath ... to deliver Joram blames God without cause. We can see that the Lord allowed this.
.13 And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
 14 And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.
 15 But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.
  13 - What have I to do with thee? A rebuke – an idiom understood in certain cultures. Compare the words of Jesus at Canna jn0204. Here Joram had "wrought evil in the sight of the Lord" v2 and had blamed Him for the result of bad human judgment.
  13 - To the prophets That is, of Baal and Asherah.
  15 - Minstrel Appropriate music helps calm the mind.
.16 And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.
 17 For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
 18 And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.
 19 And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.
.20 ¶ And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
 21 And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border. 
 22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:
 23 And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.
  20 - When the meat offering This would have been the morning offering which was a burnt offering.
  20 - Way of Edom "Far from the Israelitish camp, in the eastern mountains of Edom, a great fall of rain, a kind of cloudburst, took place, by which the wady was at once filled, but they saw neither the wind nor the rains. The divine interposition was shown by introducing the laws of nature to the determined end in the predetermined way [KEIL]. It brought not only aid to the Israelitish army in their distress, by a plentiful supply of water," (JFB)
  22 - Saw the water ... as blood It may have been a mirage. The providence of God works in mysterious ways.
 24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country. 
 25 And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: only in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof; howbeit the slingers went about it, and smote it. 
.26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not.
.27 Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
  27 - Son ... offered him What terrible extremes Satan drives his followers to! The god the king tried to appease was Chemosh.
  27 - Indignation The word qseph often means an act of God. There is here none in sight and no apparent reason for one. Qseph also means human anger ge4002, ex1620, 1sa1904, es0112.
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