2 Kings 2:19-25 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 2:19-25

Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of Elijah's spirit, that he wrought more miracles than Elijah. Some reckon them in number just double. Two are recorded in these verses?a miracle of mercy to Jericho and a miracle of judgment to Bethel, Ps. 101:1. I. Here is a blessing upon the waters of Jericho, which was effectual to heal them. Jericho was built in disobedience to a command, in defiance to a threatening, and at the expense of the lives of all the builder's children; yet, when it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:19

And the men of the city said unto Elisha ,.... The inhabitants of Jericho, perceiving him to be a prophet, and endowed with a power of working miracles: behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth ; in a plain, surrounded with gardens and orchards, with vineyards, oliveyards, and groves of palm trees, and other odoriferous ones: but the water is naught, and the ground barren ; that is, that part of it where this water was, or ran, for from thence it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:20

And he said, bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein ,.... One that had never been used, that it might not be thought that the virtue was owing to anything that had been, or was, put into it: and they brought it to him ; the pot with the salt in it. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:21

And he went forth unto the spring of the waters ,.... The fountain from whence they flowed, the head of them: and cast the salt in there ; which was an unlikely means of making bad water good, since that makes it brackish, and not so drinkable, and what makes ground barren; but this method, contrary to nature, was taken, that the miracle might appear the greater; or, as the Jews express it, be a miracle within a miracle: and said, thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters ; he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:22

So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. In the name of the Lord; and not only they remained so unto the time of the writer of this history, but to the times of Josephus, as he testifies F19 De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 3. , and even to ours; for there is a spring now called Elisha's spring or fountain, of which Mr. Maundrell says F20 Journey from Aleppo, &c.; p. 80. ,"its waters are at present received in a basin about... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:23

And he went up from thence unto Bethel ,.... From Jericho, which lay in a plain, to Bethel, situated on an hill, and therefore is said to go up to it; hither he went, to acquaint the sons of the prophets with the assumption of Elijah, to condole their loss of him, and to comfort and encourage them, and confirm his own authority among them as a prophet in his stead: and as he was going up by the way ; the ascent to the city: there came forth little children out of the city ; the word... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:24

And he turned back, and looked on them ,.... With a stern countenance, thereby reproving them, and in order to intimidate them, and make them ashamed, and cause them to leave off, but to no purpose; they repeated their mockeries with great vehemence: and cursed them in the name of the Lord ; moved thereunto, not from passion and a spirit of revenge, but by an impulse of the Spirit of God: and there came forth two she bears out of the wood ; which are fiercest, and especially when... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:25

And he went from thence to Mount Carmel ,.... Where Elijah used to frequent, and where also there might be a school of the prophets; this, according to Bunting F1 Travels, &c.; p. 206. , was fifty six miles from Bethel: and from thence he returned to Samaria ; the capital of the kingdom of Israel; there to bear his testimony against idolatry, to reprove for it, and reclaim from it; this, as the same writer says F2 Ibid. , was thirty two miles from Carmel. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 2:19

The water is naught , and the ground barren - The barrenness of the ground was the effect of the badness of the water. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 2:21

And cast the salt in there - He cast in the salt at the place where the waters sprang out of the earth. Jarchi well observes here, "Salt is a thing which corrupts water; therefore, it is evident that this was a true miracle." What Elisha did on this occasion, getting the new cruse and throwing in the salt, was only to make the miracle more conspicuous. If the salt could have had any natural tendency to render the water salubrious, it could have acted only for a short time, and only... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 2:19-25

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:24

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 2:25

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 2:19

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 2:21

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