2 Kings 3--Moab Rebels Against Israel

2 Kings 3
English Standard Version

Moab Rebels Against Israel
3 In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. 5 But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. 7 And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 8 Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. 10 Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! The LORD has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 11 And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?” Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who 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.

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the LORD who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 14 And Elisha said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. 15 But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him. 16 And he said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ 17 For thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ 18 This is a light thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, 19 and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” 20 The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

21 When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border. 22 And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23 And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” 24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went. 25 And they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. 26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. 27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

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We are now getting caught up on some of the political things that are happening in Israel again.  We know that Ahab's firstborn son died quickly after taking the throne from him, but apparently he had another son named Jehoram who took the throne in the 18th year of King Jehoshaphat (the king of Judah).  Jehoram was king in Israel for 12 years.  He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD though was relatively better than his father and mother (unlike the first son who took the throne after Ahab who followed in Ahab's and Jezebel's footsteps).  While Jehoram put away the pillar to Baal that Ahab had made, he still worshiped the idols that Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made (golden calves) which he called "the LORD" just as Israel had done at Mount Sinai.

​Now Moab had been subjugated to Israel and had to pay them tribute in the form of 100,000 lambs and the wool from 100,000 rams every year.  When the king of Moab heard that Ahab had died, he decided to see what would happen if he stopped paying tribute to Israel.  Ahab's son, Jehoram, knew this was a sign of rebellion, and he asked the king of Judah to join him in going to war against Moab and like when Ahab had asked for his assistance, Jehoshaphat agrees because he know the LORD still wants all the tribes to defend each other.  They decided that they would have to go through Edom to attack Moab, so they would also need to talk to the king of Edom.

When they had taken a seven day journey and had run out of water, the king of Israel was sure that the LORD had allowed the three of them to come together to be defeated by Moab.  However, once again, Jehoshaphat asks the question about if there was any prophet of the LORD that they could make inquiry to as if this was the will of the LORD.  The king of Israel tells them about the prophet Elisha, and the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom go to Elisha to make inquiry of what the LORD's will is.

At first, Elisha asks the king of Israel what he has to do with Elisha (the prophet of the LORD) and that he should go inquire of the prophets of his father (the false prophets that were on Ahab's payroll and would tell Ahab whatever he wanted to hear).  Essentially, Elisha is saying that if Jehoram wants to hear a prophet give him the news that he's already decided he wants to hear, then Elisha is not the prophet that he wants to seek out.  Elisha has some strong words for Jehoram when he claims that the LORD had brought Israel, Judah and Edom together to be defeated by Moab.  Elisha says that it is only because the king of Judah being in their party and that Elisha has great respect for him that Elisha is paying attention to them.  If it was just the nations of Israel or Israel and Edom, Elisha would act like he neither saw them, nor heard them (and he wouldn't be upset if the LORD did judge them).

Elisha calls for a musician (apparently the prophecy he was going to give was in the form of song, which is not unusual as we see nearly the whole book of Isaiah written in poetry and many of the Psalms contain prophetic passages).  Elisha prophecies that the LORD will do something easy for Him--He is going to cause a small, dried up creek bed to overflow with water like a rushing river with enough water for all of the armies of the three nations and their animals, and this would be a sign to them that the LORD would give Moab over into their hands.  They would not see where the water was going to come from, but it was going to be more than enough.  Elisha tells that that they will tear down every fortified city, cut down every good tree, and stop up all sources of water so that Moab will become a lifeless wasteland.  Then the LORD sent water that came in from Edom and it was just as He promised it would be--more than enough for them and all their animals.

​When Moab heard about Israel, Judah, and Edom marching against them, they put armor on everyone who could wear it, young and old, and compelled them to fight.  When Moab rose early in the morning and looked out over the water opposite them, it looked like blood to them.  They were sure that the three kings had been fighting each other and killed each other so that the water had become like blood and that whoever was the winner among them was going to take Moab as their spoil.

The Moabites came to the camp of Israel and the Israelites rose up and attacked them, striking them down as they fled before Israel.  All the words of Elisha's prophecy (the word of the LORD) came true.  The king of Moab tried to shift the battle in his favor by focusing his attention on the king of Edom, but he was unsuccessful.  Then the king of Moab took his son that was to rule in his place and offered him as an offering on the wall of the city and the wrath of the Moabites was hot against the Israelites so that they withdrew from Moab and went back to their land.  Moab definitely lost that day, but the LORD did not allow them to be completely defeated at this time.