Sermon Tone Analysis

Elijah and Elisha 16.

Today we are going to look at an intriguing story; it is found in 2 Kings 3 [P].

It is a longish passage, so I will tell you the story and focus just on the portion in which Elisha figures.

Time has moved on, Ahaziah is no longer king of Israel [P]; he had no son, so another son of Ahab, Jehoram, [P] took the throne.

It was still the dynasty of Omri, he was still a godless idolater, but not as bad as Ahab.

Moab was a country to the east of Israel [P] and was subject to it, it had to pay a heavy annual tribute.

But now that Ahab was gone, the king of Moab, a bloke called Mesha [P]; decided not to keep paying the tax.

As you can imagine, Jehoram wasn’t too happy not to receive this guaranteed income.

So, he decided to bring Moab into line, and go to war against them.

But he was canny, he didn’t just attack; he sought to strengthen his forces.

Not only did he enlist men from Israel, he approached Jehoshapat, [P] the king of Judah; asking him to join forces.

[2 Kings 3:7 Then he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me.

Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”

And he said, “I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”]

Now, Jehoshapat was a good king (black for bad, gold for good), he was faithful to יהוה.

They consulted together and decided to launch their campaign through Edom, enlisting their help.

So, you had the armed forced of three nations [P].

The common enemy had united them: Israel and Judah who had divided, and even Israel with Esau, the twins who had fallen out centuries before.

They took a circuitous route, and had been on the march for seven days; and they encountered no water along the way.

Three armies along with all their supplies, because they took livestock with them, fainting from thirst.

They were defeated, dying before they even encountered the enemy!

The campaign was not going well.

Perhaps God was not in it, after all?

They had not consulted God.

Now, suddenly, when it all was turning to custard, Jehoram suddenly starts talking religious – funny, isn’t it?

We have no thought of God until things go wrong, then we cry out to him.

Let’s pick it up at verse 10: [2 Kings 3:10–27 Then the king of Israel said, “Alas!

For יהוה has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” (the godless king had a superstitious notion of God – had יהוה called them?

No, it was his idea) But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not a prophet of יהוה here, that we may inquire of יהוה by him?”

(Whereas to the godly king, יהוה was personal, could be consulted.

It was not just fate, God could intervene) And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”

Jehoshaphat said, “The word of יהוה is with him.”

(although Elisha was prophet to Israel, the king of Judah knew of his reputation, that he was a genuine man of God) So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have to do with you?

Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.”

(Ahab and Jezebel.

Elisha didn’t want anything to do with Jehoram) And the king of Israel said to him, “No, for יהוה has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.” (he repeated his dogma) Elisha said, “As יהוה or armies lives, (He is a living God, in contrast to the lifeless idols that Jehoram worshipped) before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.

(he didn’t want to be involved; he only did so because of Jehoshaphat) “But now bring me a minstrel.”

And it came about, when the minstrel played, that the hand of יהוה came upon him.

He said, “Thus says יהוה, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’

“For thus says יהוה, ‘You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, (they were dying of thirst, יהוה would amply supply their need.

Did they deserve it?

No.

It was יהוה’s goodness) so that you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your beasts.

‘This is but a slight thing in the sight of יהוה; He will also give the Moabites into your hand.

(He did exceedingly abundantly above what they asked.

They just wanted water; יהוה gave them victory.

Super-abundant grace!) ‘Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’”

It happened in the morning about the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

(just as יהוה said – how did it happen?

No rain, no storm; just water – supernatural!

A miracle!

The intervention of יהוה!

Hallelujah!) Now all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them.

And all who were able to put on armour and older were summoned and stood on the border.

They rose early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.

Then they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together, and they have slain one another.

Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!”

But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites arose and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land, slaughtering the Moabites.

Thus they destroyed the cities; and each one threw a stone on every piece of good land and filled it.

So they stopped all the springs of water and felled all the good trees, (just as יהוה had said) until in Kir-hareseth only they left its stones; however, the slingers went about it and struck it.

When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him 700 men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not.

Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall.

And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.]

This unexpected turnaround from utter defeat to retreat of attackers was celebrated in Moab.

Meesha was so taken by this that he recorded it.

It went down in history – it is written in stone.

[P] It is known as the Moabite stone or the stele of Mesha and is in the Louvre in Paris today.

A contemporary independent account of what took place.

The monument records the victory over Omri – but the battle wasn’t with Omri himself; the stele is referring to the house, the dynasty of Omri: his grandson Jehoram.

There is a lot in this story, we can’t deal with all of it; so, we will focus on where it involves Elisha.

What have we got here?

We have an unholy alliance!

[P] We have a coalition of three nations: Israel was apostate, Judah was godly, and Edom was godless – an unholy alliance.

Jehoram was a bad king; the Bible says “He did evil in the sight of יהוה”.

He cooked up this scheme to attack Moab.

It was his idea, he had no thought of consulting יהוה.

Then he sought Jehoshaphat’s assistance.

Jehoshaphat was a godly king.

We have the godly joining with the apostate!

This should not be!

[2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

“Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.

“And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.

“And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.]

And Elisha did not want a bar of it.

He just didn’t want to be involved with such an enterprise.

Just supposing; your cathedral is munted, it is going to cost a lot of money to fix; so, you take money from the government, the council, fundraising organisations.

They now have a financial stake; and the one who has the purse strings controls the policy decisions.

You are running a youth group; the government is concerned for at risk youth; they will give you a grant to support your work – do you accept it?

Do you join with that which is godless?

Examples can be multiplied – it costs a lot of money to run a school, your Christian school could make that education accessible to so many more; if only it would integrate.

Some years ago, some Christians decided to set aside their differences and work together for the common goal of spreading the Gospel.

It sounds very noble.

It was called C.E.T. Catholics and evangelicals together.

The only trouble is that Roman Catholics say that Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t do a good enough job; you need Mary as a co-redemptrix.