2 Kings 13:14

ELISHA'S FINAL ILLNESS; THE PROPHECY OF JOASH'S VICTORY

"Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died: and Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over him, and said, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof! And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows, and he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thy hand upon the bow; and he put his hand upon it. And Elisha laid his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot; and he shot. And he said, Jehovah's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows; and he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground; and he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, "Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times: then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it; whereas thou shalt smite Syria but thrice."

This was the last recorded prophecy of Elisha, and it was exactly fulfilled as recorded in 2 Kings 13:22-25 below. This was another of those enacted prophecies which are so characteristic of those by the great prophets of the O.T. The arrow shot from the window eastward was a prophecy of the defeat of Syria.

"My father! my father! the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (2 Kings 13:14). (See our comment on this greeting under 2 Kings 13:2:12, above, in which Elisha had greeted Elijah with these same words.) Elijah had appointed Elisha as his successor; but Elisha left no one to take his place. The day of grace for Israel was rapidly running out.

"The king of Israel ... wept over him" (2 Kings 13:14). The KJV definitely leaves the impression that the tears of Joash fell upon Elisha; and the king of Israel had every incentive to weep. The dying prophet was the last vestige of hope for apostate Israel. Joash's unusually thoughtful act in calling upon the dying prophet received its immediate reward in Elisha's promise of great victories over Syria. But even in this final interview, the king of Israel failed to measure up to what the prophet expected of him.

Elisha must have been very old at the time of this event. Cook estimated that, "he was about ninety."[18]

"He smote thrice, and stayed" (2 Kings 13:18). Cook's comment here catches the spirit of what actually happened. "The unfaithfulness of man limits the goodness of God. Joash did the prophets bidding, but without any zeal or fervor, and in all probability without any earnest belief in the efficacy of what he was doing."[19] That this was surely the case is evident from the fact that Elisha was angry with Joash for his insufficient and half-hearted obedience.

Whitcomb was of the opinion that Joash, by his quotation of the exact words with which Elisha had long previously addressed Elijah was actually suggesting to Elisha that, "I want to be your successor and inherit the portion of the firstborn as you inherited it from Elijah."[20]

If such a suggestion has any truth in it, Joash's listless obedience to the great prophet's command frustrated any willingness Elisha might have had to grant the petition. "So, far from being a qualified successor to Elisha's prophetic office, Joash was not even qualified to fulfill his own kingly office."[21]