THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 33.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

INTERNATIONAL SERIES

LESSON X.—SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1898.

THE DEATH OF ELISHA.

Lesson Scripture, 2 Kings 13:14-25, R.V.

14 "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 thine 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, The Lord'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 now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

20 "And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

22 "And Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast He them from His presence as yet. And Hazael king of Syria died; and Ben-hadad his son reigned in his stead. And Joash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash smite him, and recovered the cities of Israel."

Golden Text: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Ps. 116:15.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) In what condition do we now find Elisha? How was the king of Israel affected by the prophet's illness? How did he express his recognition of Israel's loss? V. 14. Note 1. (2) What did Elisha say to the king? How did the king respond? V. 15. (3) What was the next direction of the prophet? What did the king do? And Elisha? V. 16. (4) What further ceremony followed this? As the king shot the arrow, what did Elisha say? V. 17. Notes 2 and 3. (5) What did the prophet again command? As the king took the arrows, what did Elisha tell him to do with them? With what spirit did the king obey? V. 18. Note 4. (6) How was the "man of God" affected by the king's apathy? What would have been the result if he had displayed more energy? V. 19. Note 5. (7) What was the result of Elisha's sickness? And what followed soon afterward? V. 20. (8) What striking incident occurred during this invasion? V. 21. (9) From whom and how long did Israel suffer oppression? V. 22. (10) How did the Lord regard Israel? Why? V. 23. (11) What was the result of this care? V. 24. (12) Then what victories were gained for Israel? How often did Joash "beat" Ben-hadad? V. 25. Note 6.

NOTES.

1. Elisha's death.—The incidents related in this lesson occurred about forty-five years after those of last week's lesson. At that time a vision of the Lord's angelic army was shown to Elisha's servant at Dothan, while an army of Syrians surrounded the place. At the time of our present lesson Elisha was an old man, and had been a prophet in Israel over sixty years. On the occasion of the destruction of the children for mocking him, soon after Elijah's translation, he was not as old as might be inferred from the language of his tormentors, "Go up, thou bald head." The esteem in which Elisha was held by the king is indicated by the expression, "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." It seems to have been a recognition of the great service the prophet had rendered the nation in times of conflict with their enemies. It is worthy of note that these are the very words that Elisha himself had used when his master, Elijah, was taken up from him. See 2 Kings 2:12.

2. Shooting an arrow eastward.—It was an ancient custom to shoot an arrow or throw a spear into or toward the country which an army was to invade. It was a mark not only of intended warfare but of expected victory. No king would think of taking the aggressive in a war in which he did not expect to be successful. So when the prophet told King Joash to shoot eastward, the indication was that he should make victorious war on Syria, and his words, "the arrow of deliverance from Syria," were a confirmation of the symbolic action.

3. Aphek.—A town now called Fik, six miles east of the Sea of Galilee, on the road to Damascus. Thus, beginning with those nearest at hand, Israel should have completely overcome her most grievous enemy.

4. "Smote thrice, and stayed."—Thus the king showed his want of faith in the Word of God as spoken by the prophet. He had not profited by the experience of his predecessors, and the record of God's remarkable deliverances of Israel from this same Syrian power. At this time the physical strength of Israel was at a very low ebb. After the death of Jehu the kingdom became greatly weakened. The Syrians were their chief enemies, and, notwithstanding signal defeats, had taken from Israel all their possessions east of the Jordan (2 Kings 10:32, 33), and had so reduced the resources of the government that there were but fifty horsemen and ten chariots connected with the army of ten thousand footmen (chapter 13:7) when Joash came to the throne. This state of things accounts for the king's lack of faith in smiting the ground in token of victory. However, he is not without his counterparts in our own time—men who can not depend upon the Word of God unless they can see how it is to be fulfilled. From this fact arise the many futile attempts to substitute human effort for the power of God.

5. "Should have smitten five or six times."—He should have shown energy and zeal commensurate with the assurance of success which was guaranteed by the word of prophecy. The "man of God" was wroth, or indignant, because the king was allowing to go by default such a great blessing upon himself and his people. Now they were limited to three victories, which, for want of complete triumph, would be but temporary.

6. Jehoash, Joash.—The two names are the same, Joash being a contraction; just as we have Jehoram and Joram, names given to the son and successor of Ahab, king of Israel, and to the son and successor of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The three times that Joash won decided victories over Ben-hadad were in fulfilment of Elisha's prophecy when the king smote the ground three times.