Verse 33
33. While he yet talked with them While Elisha was yet in the act of telling the elders to fasten the door and keep the messenger out.
And he said Who said? It seems at first difficult to determine whether the words that follow are the words of the prophet, the messenger, or the king.
But on closer study they seem best to suit the mouth of the king, and the obscurity of the passage must be attributed to the brevity of the narrative.
This evil is of the Lord These words of the king are a part of his countermand of the order to behead Elisha, and a reason for it. He is convinced that the famine is a Divine judgment on the nation for his sins.
What should I wait for the Lord Rather, Why should I wait, etc. These words are virtually a prayer for the Lord to come and remove the famine. The passage may be thus paraphrased: I acknowledge that this evil is a punishment for my sins; the Lord thus chastens me sorely. But now, when all this people are brought to such an extremity of woe, why should I wait longer for the Lord to interpose and deliver his people from their sufferings?
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