seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 3:1 Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.
4 Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. 7 He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”
“I will go with you,” he replied. “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
8 “By what route shall we attack?” he asked.
“Through the Desert of Edom,” he answered.
9 So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.
10 “What!” exclaimed the king of Israel. “Has the Lord called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?”
11 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?”
An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”
12 Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why do you want to involve me? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.”
“No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab.”
14 Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you. 15 But now bring me a harpist.”
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.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read.But not like his father and mother: Jehoram was better than his father and mother, but he was still a wicked man. He was the ninth consecutive bad king over the Northern Kingdom, which never had a godly king.
“The ‘sins of Jeroboam’ that Jehoram perpetuated were not related to the worship of Baal but to the false worship of Yahweh under the calf (or ox) images that Jeroboam set up in Dan and Bethel. This was primarily a political strategy rather than a religious one.” (Dilday)
Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheepbreeder: The Moabites lived on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, and were under tribute to Israel. When King Ahab died, the king of the Moabites saw an opportunity to escape the taxation that the king of Israel forced upon him.
Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him: Both Jehoram and Jehoshaphat believed there was a spiritual, divine element to their current crisis. Jehoram believed that God was to be avoided because of the crisis, while Jehoshaphat believed that God should be sought because of the crisis.
The Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: The ditches caught the water and saved the armies of these three kings from dehydration. They were also the means of confusion and defeat to the enemies of the people of God. When they saw the sun shining on the water collected in the ditches, they thought it was blood, from the three kings fighting each other.
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.
So they departed from him and returned to their own land: 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)
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This whole chapter came about because the king of Moab didn't want to pay his taxes [tribute].
Moab was protected by Israel. Moab paid a "tribute" to Israel so that Israel will leave them alone and let them raise their sheep and goats on the hillside in peace.
When Joram became king of Israel, the king of Moab saw an opportunity to "balance his books". Why pay a "tribute" [tax] to Joram? His people could use that money for better supplies or housing or emergency services.
The king of Moab said it was "stupid to pay tribute [tax]".
The king of Israel got the king of Judah and the king of Edom to join him when he went in to force the king of Moab to pay his "tribute" [tax].
Finally... The king of Judah asked if anyone had "inquired of the Lord". They sent for Elisha.
Elisha told the three kings to dig ditches so they could "control" the flash flood that was on the way. The three kings did what Elisha told them to do.
When the flash floods came, the valley was flooded. The reflection of the desert sun on the water made it appear blood red.
This confused the king of Moab. He thought the three kings had killed each other in a horrible battle that filled the valley with blood.
The king of Moab decided that with all three kings and their soldiers slaughtered, he could just go pick up the plunder.
The king of Moab was going to get his "tribute return" [tax return].
Well, he was wrong, of course, and the battle quickly turned against him.
The king of Moab sent for his oldest son, slung him up on the wall, and slammed a knife through is own son's heart.
That grossed everyone out. The battle ended, and everyone went home. Moab was completely destroyed anyway. Point made.
The king of Moab would still have to pay his "tribute" [taxes] but now he would have to rebuild his kingdom with what was left.
Point made.... Sacrificing your son is gross!
