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has shown to be irrevocable, would render necessary means that were extraordinary,
even in the miraculous history of the Old Testament. And if the mission of the
prophets was in itself an extraordinary means, chiefly necessitated by the condition
of the people, these means now required to be intensified. Accordingly Elijah and
Elisha were to be prophets of the prophets - if we may use the expression - in order
that this great truth, which alone could have saved the people, might be presented in
a concrete and most vivid manner; that Jehovah was the living and the true God,
ever-present with His own, whether for blessing or in judgment. And this must be
always kept in view when studying this history. Nay, is it not the great truth which
should always be present to our minds, alike as the outcome of all history, the lesson
of our experience, and the guide in our acting?^221
From this point of view much additional light is thrown on this particular event.
Elisha, summoned to be among these poor, simple-hearted workers for God, could
not have been deaf to their appeal, nor appeared helpless in presence of their felt
need, however humble. Its very humbleness was only an additional reason for the
Divine help. It would have been a contradiction in this special history, nay, in the
history of Elisha generally, who seemed to embody the eternal presence of the living
God among them. And as the man received back the lost ax-head - really to him a
new ax-head, now to be used with a new ax-handle, it would teach him many lessons,
not the least of them the constant care and provision of the God Whose messenger
and representative the prophet was, and which extended as far as our need, however
small and humble it might be.
Of this very truth, both Israel, as a nation, and their enemies, were presently to
receive evidence, and that on a much larger scale. And this explains the next
recorded event, without requiring us to regard it as having followed in strict
chronological order on that just commented upon. The sacred text informs us that
"the king of Syria was warring against Israel" - indicating rather a state of chronic
warfare and marauding expeditions, such as are common in the East, than a regular
campaign. In his consultation with his "servants" what place to occupy, there seems
to have been a scheme to lay an ambush for the capture of the king of Israel, whether,
as Josephus suggests (Ant. 9:4, 3), when Joram was on a hunting expedition, or else
when he passed from one palace to another. But each time the prophet sent timely
warning, and the king was wise enough to avoid the locality indicated, and, instead
of passing that way, to send and obtain confirmation of what had been foretold
him.^222 As this happened repeatedly, the king of Syria suspected a traitor among his
counselors, probably the more readily, that information of the king of Israel's
projected movements must in every case have come to the Syrians from some
confederate at the Israelitish court.
(^)