2 Kings 3 Pools of Blood

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
2 Kings 3:While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha 16 and he said, “This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 17 For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver Moab into your hands. 19 You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.”

20 The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was—water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.

21 Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border. 22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red—like blood. 23 “That’s blood!” they said. “Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!”

24 But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. 25 They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it.

26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. 27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.​

Now this is from the easy English site.

So Elisha began to pray. Then he felt God’s power upon him. And God gave him a message for the kings. God would do two things. Firstly, he would provide plentiful water for them, their armies and their animals. And secondly, they would win the battle against Moab. That water would supply proof that they would win the battle. They would overcome Moab completely. And these things would show the kings that the Lord is the only real God.

Elisha told the kings to order their soldiers to dig ditches for the water. In Jerusalem, the priests offered the first sacrifice daily soon after dawn. At that same time, water came from Edom into the desert where the armies were camping. However, nothing else showed that it might have rained. Perhaps there was a storm in the mountains that were in Edom. And the result was a sudden flood. It was a great relief for the armies when they got the water. Soon afterwards, their success in the battle would be even better news for them.

Water came early in the morning. The sun was red at that time, and it was shining on the water. The people from Moab did not expect to see any water there. And they thought that the water was blood. They imagined that the three armies had fought each other.

The people from Moab hurried in to take the goods from the camp. But then their enemies, the Israelites, attacked them. The Israelites chased them back into Moab, into their own cities. The Israelites destroyed the cities. And they made it impossible to get water. The people in Moab could not dig the ground either because of the stones in their fields.

The Israelites did not destroy the city called Kit Hareseth, which was the capital of Moab. But they surrounded it and they attacked it.

The king of Moab tried to escape from the city. Perhaps he hoped to persuade the king of Edom to help him. Or perhaps he thought that Edom’s army would be weaker than the other armies. But the king of Moab failed in that. His situation was very desperate. So he took his oldest son. That son would have been the next king of Moab. But the king of Moab killed that son, in public. He did it on the city wall where everyone could see, including the surrounding armies. That was how the king sacrificed his oldest son to his god called Chemosh.

The king of Moab hoped that in this way he would get help from his god. But it was a very terrible thing to do. It frightened the Israelites so much that they went back to their own country. Perhaps they were afraid of what Chemosh might be able to do. Or perhaps they were afraid of what God would do as a result.

This is from blueletterbible.org.

He took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall: This shows how desperate the King of Moab was following his defeat on the field of battle. He did this to honor his pagan gods and to show his own people his determination to prevent defeat.

The radical determination of the King of Moab convinced the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom that they could not completely defeat Moab. They left content with their near-complete victory.

"Sickened by the maddened spectacle of senseless human sacrifice, the allies lifted the siege and returned to their homes." (Patterson and Austel)​

There are two parts to this story.... Weather and Horror....

Weather in the desert is unusual. The weather is so dry... it'll suck the rain out of a hurricane. When it does rain.... it's so dry... it'll suck the rain drops right into a fog. When it does rain.... there is so much surface tension due to the lack of water... the rain will fill up gorges in no time flat. A running gorge will wipe away a car in no time flat. Flash Floods come out of no where and they will take out anything and anyone in the path. There's no time to get out of the way. Once the flood has subsided.... there are generally pools of water left in the low parts of the gorge. It was a flash flood that God used. The water clogged gorges must have glistened in the red morning sun. To the Moabites, it must have truly looked like the gorges were running with blood.

The Horror was provided by the Moabite king. He was so freaked out he took his own first born son up to the top of the wall and murdered him in the name of some made up little god.

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seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
A picture

This story needs a picture....

redsky.jpg

[video=youtube;NL8_rSaiI1E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL8_rSaiI1E[/video]

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seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
While I'm waiting for football to begin..... I thought would lament the Moabite prince who was murdered on the wall that day.

We read about Abraham. He packed out wood for a sacrificial offering and his son. Once they had reached the alter, Abraham loaded the wood onto the alter. I wonder how he felt when his son asked him where the sacrificial lamb was. It was in Genesis 22. Abraham was displaying faith when he loaded his son Isaac onto the alter. God saw that faith and then provided a sacrifice for him. Isaac survived.

Here.... it was a different story. Moabites were use to sacrificing their babies to the gods. I dare say, religion was the abortion of the day. It was a general practice... they had a god that they heated up until it glowed red and then they laid their baby on that screaming hot metal.... I bet the skin was gone almost immediately.... they didn't hear the baby's screams tho... they were singing praise to their little god.

In this story... it wasn't like that... the Moabite king loaded his son up on the top of a wall for everyone to see.... then he murdered his own son....

It grossed everyone out.... the battle ended... I guess the Moabite king got his wish... he survived the battle.... not so good for his son... but the king made it through the battle... long live the king.

Now.... here's my question.... God let a Moabite join the Hebrew family. Ruth gave up her family's child sacrificing ways and put her faith in the one true God. The God of Abraham. Does that mean that God will allow baby killers in the family of God? [My answer is... if God wants to include baby killers in the family of God... then He will.... it's adoption]

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