Verse 32
And Elisha sat in his house ,.... In Samaria:
and the elders sat with him ; not the elders of the city, or the magistrates thereof, but his disciples, as Josephus says F16 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.) , the eldest of them, whom he admitted to greater familiarity and converse with him:
and the king sent a man from before him ; to execute what he had sworn should be done that day to the prophet:
but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, see ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head ? which he knew by a spirit of prophecy, and spoke of it before the executioner came; he calls Joram the son of a murderer, because of his mother Jezebel, who killed Naboth, and the prophets of the Lord, and to which his father Ahab also consented, and therefore might be so called too; and he intimates hereby that he was of the same temper and disposition, and as the above oath, and his orders, showed:
look when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door ; and not suffer him to come in:
is not the sound of his master's feet behind him ? that is, of Joram king of Israel, who followed the messenger, either to listen and hear what the prophet would say unto him; or repenting of his order, as Josephus F17 Ibid. thinks, he followed him to prevent the execution.
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