2 Kings 13:10 - Meaning and Application

Here we have Jehoash, or Joash, son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu, on the throne of Israel. It is likely that Jehu’s family meant to show some respect to David’s house by giving this heir the same name as the king of Judah then reigning. The general account of his reign is much the same as what we have already seen, and there is little in it that stands out (2 Kings 13:10-13).

He was not one of the worst kings, yet he kept up the old and clever idolatry of Jeroboam’s house. For that reason, Scripture says that he did evil in the Lord’s sight. That one sin was enough to stain his name with lasting shame, because however small people may have thought it, it was very wicked in God’s sight. His judgment is always true. It is striking how lightly the inspired writer passes over his deeds and military strength, leaving those to ordinary history. He records only the respect Joash showed to Elisha. One good act will shine more brightly in God’s book than many great achievements. In God’s view, honoring a prophet is a greater credit than conquering a king and his army.

The special account of what happened between Joash and Elisha has several striking details. Elisha fell sick (2 Kings 13:14). He lived a long life, since it had been about sixty years since he was first called as a prophet. This was a great mercy to Israel, especially to the sons of the prophets, because he remained among them as a bright and faithful light for so long. Elijah, by contrast, finished his witness in only about a quarter of that time. God appoints different lengths of service for his prophets, some longer and some shorter, as infinite wisdom sees fit.

In all the later part of Elisha’s life, from the anointing of Jehu, which had been forty-five years earlier, we hear nothing of him until this deathbed scene. He may still have been useful to the end, even if he was no longer famous as he had once been. His time of public honor was shorter than the time of his life. Older people should not complain if they become less noticed, but should be glad to live quietly.

Elisha had received Elijah’s spirit, yet he was not taken to heaven in a fiery chariot like Elijah. He went the ordinary way all people go out of the world, and he came under the common fate of mankind. If God chooses to honor some above others, even though they are not less gifted or faithful, who has any right to object? May he not do what he wills with his own?

King Joash visited Elisha in his sickness and wept over him (2 Kings 13:14). This showed some good in Joash, because he valued a faithful prophet and loved him. He did not treat him as a troublemaker in Israel, but as one of the greatest blessings in his kingdom. He mourned the loss of the one he had honored. Some people will not obey God’s word, yet their consciences still make them respect faithful ministers of it.

When the king heard that Elisha was sick, he came to receive his final counsel and blessing. It was no disgrace for a king to honor one whom God had honored. It can be very helpful to visit the sickbeds and deathbeds of good ministers and other godly people, so that we may learn how to die and be strengthened by the comfort religion gives them in their last hour. Though Elisha was very old and could not, by nature, live much longer, Joash wept when he saw him sick and near death. The old are the most experienced, and they are the hardest to lose. In many cases, one old witness is worth ten young ones.

Joash spoke the same words Elisha had once spoken when Elijah was taken away: “My father, my father.” He probably had heard or read those words in that famous story. Those who give proper honor to the generation before them are often given the same honor by the generation that follows. Whoever waters others with tears will also be watered himself in his own time (Proverbs 11:25).

Yet Joash was also thinking of himself. He lamented Elisha because Elisha was “the chariot and horsemen of Israel,” and Israel had very little military strength. They had only fifty horsemen and ten chariots (2 Kings 13:7). When people think how much good godly men do in defending a nation and holding back God’s judgments, they have reason to grieve when such men are taken away.

Elisha then gave the king strong assurance that he would succeed against the Syrians, Israel’s current oppressors, and encouraged him to press the war with courage. He understood that Joash was reluctant to lose him because he saw him as the kingdom’s great protection against that common enemy, and depended much on his prayers and blessing in the conflict. Elisha said, in effect, that Joash need not fear, because he would still defeat the Syrians after Elisha was dead. Though he was dying, God would not be absent. God still had more Spirit to give, and could raise up other prophets to pray for Israel. God’s grace is not limited to one servant. He can bury one worker and still carry on his work.

To stir the king up for battle, Elisha gave him a sign. He told him to take a bow and arrows (2 Kings 13:15), showing that Israel’s deliverance would require a military posture and a readiness for the hardship and danger of war. God would be the one acting, but the king had to be the instrument. Then Elisha told him to shoot an arrow toward Syria (2 Kings 13:16-17). Joash surely knew better how to handle a bow than the prophet did, but the arrow had special meaning from God’s command, so he received the order from Elisha: take the bow, open the window, and shoot. Elisha even put his hands on the king’s hands, as if Joash were a child who had never drawn a bow before.

This showed that in all his campaigns against Syria, the king must look to God for direction and strength. He could not trust his own hands alone, but had to rely on divine help. “He teaches my hands to war” (Psalm 18:34; Psalm 144:1). The trembling hands of a dying prophet, because they showed God’s power at work, gave that arrow more force than the king’s own strong hands could have done. The Syrians had made themselves masters of the land east of Jordan (2 Kings 10:33).

The prophet directed the king’s arrow toward Syria, and then explained what the sign meant. Though the arrow was, in one sense, shot at random, God used it to give a clear message. It was a commission for the king to attack the Syrians, despite their strength and their control of the land, and it was also a promise of success. This was the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, the arrow that would bring rescue from Syria. God alone commands deliverance, and when he chooses to bring it, no one can stop him. He sends out his arrows, and the work is done (Psalm 18:14). The meaning was, “You will strike the Syrians at Aphek, where they are now gathered, until you destroy those who have oppressed you and your kingdom.”

Then the prophet told him to strike the ground with the arrows (2 Kings 13:18, 19). Since he had already promised victory in God’s name, he now tested what the king would do with that promise. Would he press the victory with zeal, unlike Ahab, who let Benhadad live when he had him in his power? To test him, the prophet told him to strike the ground. It was as if he were saying, “See these enemies brought low by the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, lying at your feet. Now show me what you will do to them while they are down. Will you act like David, who, when God gave him the necks of his enemies, crushed them as dust before the wind?” (Psalm 18:40, 42)

The king did not show the eagerness one might have expected. He struck only three times. Maybe he felt a foolish softness toward the Syrians, as if he were afraid of hurting or destroying them, even though they had never shown mercy to him or to his people. Or perhaps he struck three times, and no more, because he thought the whole action seemed childish, and he was unwilling to keep playing along with the prophet. But by treating the sign lightly, he lost the blessing it pointed to. This deeply grieved the dying prophet, who was angry with him and told him he should have struck five or six times. Since God’s power and promise were not limited, why should the king have limited his own hope and effort?

This is a sad thing for good people to watch. It troubles them to see others stand in their own way and turn from their own good. It hurts to see people lose the ground they might have gained against their spiritual enemies, and even give those enemies an advantage.