Глава 3

1–27. Allied war of the Kings - Joram of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah and the King of Edom against the Moabites. 2 Kings 3:1. Jehoram the son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years, 2 Kings 3:2. and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not as his father and his mother did: he took down the image of Baal which his father had made; 2 Kings 3:3. however, he held on to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin, and did not lag behind them. For the year of the beginning of the reign of Joram of Israel (v. 1), see the note on 2 Kings 1:17. Regarding the “sin of Jeroboam,” i.e., the cult of the bulls introduced by Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28), Joram shared (v. 3) the general policy of the kings of the Kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 15:26, etc.), but made attempts to abolish the cult of Baal (v. 2), to which his father Ahab and mother Jezebel were so devoted ( 1 Kings 16:31–33 etc.), and brother – Ahaziah (1 Kings 22:53–54). 2 Kings 3:4. Mesha, the king of Moab, was rich in livestock and sent the king of Israel one hundred thousand sheep and one hundred thousand unshorn rams. 2 Kings 3:5. But when Ahab died, the king of Moab broke away from the king of Israel. The separation of the Moabites from the kingdom of Israel immediately after the death of Ahab, with the accession to the kingdom of Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:1); here this postponement is repeated (v. 5) as the reason for the allied war depicted in this chapter; the deposition was expressed in the cessation of the annual tribute, which had previously been paid by the Moabite king Mesa, Heb. Mesha, LXX: Μωσά – large cattle breeder, Heb. knocked ; according to some Greek codes πομνιοτρόφς (accepted, text LXX: νωκήδ), who paid Ahab an annual tribute (cf. Is. 16:1) according to the custom of antiquity in kind, from the main works of the country (according to Strabo, the Cappadocians annually paid tribute to the Persians: 1500 horses, 2000 mules, 100,000 sheep): the fertile and water-rich plains of Moab were very suitable for cattle breeding (Winer. Bibli. Real. - Woerterboch. Vd. I, 5, 99), as, according to the Bible, says the inscription of the king of Moab Mesha, discovered in 1868 by the missionary Klein and now located in the Louvre museum. (From the extensive literature about this inscription, one can mainly name: Smend und Socin. Die Inschrift des Konigs Mesa von Moab. 1886; in Russian literature: Prof. D. A. Khvolson. Newly discovered monument of the Moabite king Mesha, a contemporary of the Jewish king Jehoshaphat. Christian Readings. 1870, nos. 7–8). The content of the inscription (it has 34 lines) is very close to the story of this chapter: the inscription tells about the benefits Mesha gained from the struggle with the son of Omri (i.e., Ahab) and about the liberation of Moab from 40 years of slavery to Israel (2 Kings 3:5–8); but the inscription says nothing about the siege of Kir-haritet, the capital of Moab, which the Bible speaks of (2 Kings 3:25–27), one might think that Joram’s campaign with the failed goal of once again subjugating the Moabites falls at a time that closely followed the facts of the conquest of various Moabite cities by this king from Israel described in the Mesha inscription. 2 Kings 3:6. And King Joram came out from Samaria at that time and made a review of all Israel; 2 Kings 3:7. and he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has deserted me; will you go with me to war against Moab? He said: I will go; as you are, so am I, as is your people, so is my people; both your horses and my horses. 2 Kings 3:8. And he said: Which way should we go? He said: by the way of the wilderness of Edom. 2 Kings 3:9. And the king of Israel, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, went, and they marched seven days, and there was no water for the army or for the livestock that followed them. 2 Kings 3:10. And the king of Israel said: Ah! The Lord called these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab. Having decided to undertake a campaign to conquer the Moabites and having prepared his own army (v. 6), Joram of Israel invites Jehoshaphat of Judah with him, as Ahab once called the latter with him against the Syrians (1 Kings 22:2), and Jehoshaphat, as at that time (1 Kings 22:4), responds this time with complete readiness (v. 7), although he had already had instructions more than once the prophets that his alliance with the wicked kings of Israel was displeasing to God (2 Chronicles 19:2–3, 20:37); Apparently, both under Ahab and under his sons, the kingdom of Judah was somewhat dependent on the Kingdom of Israel. The question “which way should we go” (v. 8) probably belongs to Jehoshaphat, as a subordinate participant in the campaign. Instead of a close route to the land of Moab - through the Jordan, along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea and then to the northern borders of Moab through the Arnon stream - the allied army chooses a more difficult roundabout route: along the western border of the Dead Sea to its southern borders, then along part of the Idumean desert, so that an attack from the south would strike the Moabites with surprise. An invasion of the Moabite land from the north could present two difficulties for the Israeli state and army: for them there would be a danger from the Syrians, since the time of Ahab, who had firmly established themselves in Gilead, and in addition, on the northern side of the Moabite country, Mesha, as can be seen from his inscription, built a number of fortresses that made it difficult to invade from the north; moreover, when moving in the first direction, both kingdoms would remain unprotected by Idumea: the king of Idumea, his vassal (1 Kings 22:47), Jehoshaphat therefore takes with him on a campaign (v. 9), although little was relied on for his loyalty (1 Kings 3:26). After the Edomites joined the allied Jewish kings, the troops walked for 7 days through a desert, waterless area south of the Dead Sea, “because the guides had lost their way” (I. Flav. Jude. Ancient. 9: 3, 1), and the kings, especially Joram, became despondent. 2 Kings 3:11. And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord through him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, who brought water into the hands of Elijah. 2 Kings 3:12. And Jehoshaphat said, He has the word of the Lord. And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom, went to him. The pious Jehoshaphat, in difficult circumstances, as under Ahab (1 Kings 22:5), demands to question the prophet of Jehovah, and this is indicated in the prophet Elisha (whose presence in the Israeli camp for some reason has not been mentioned until now), “who poured water on the hands of Elijah” (v. 11), i.e. was a constant servant of the prophet Elijah, and therefore is a prophet worthy of complete trust, as Jehoshaphat said about him (v. 12), apparently having already heard about the prophet Elisha. “They said about Elisha in praise of him: he poured water on the hand of Eliel. So many people were surprised at the great prophet. But need also forced the wicked kings to resort to the glorious Elisha” (Blessed Theodoret, question 11). 2 Kings 3:13. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What do you and I have to do? go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said to him, “No, because the Lord has called these three kings here to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” 2 Kings 3:14. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand! If I had not respected Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not have looked at you or seen you; It is not the prophet who is called to the kings, but they themselves go to him (1 Kings 3:12), and Joram, the initiator of the campaign and the culprit of the general disaster of the allied army, listens to a sharp, impartial denunciation from the lips of the prophet Elisha; “the prophets of the father” of Jehoram, i.e. Ahab - known from (1 Kings 22), the prophets of the cult of the bulls at the court of Ahab, the “prophets of the mother” (Jezebel) - the prophets-priests of Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18:19 et seq.), - the contrast between true and false prophecy appears here with no less force, as in the history of the prophet Elijah and the prophet Micah. Despite the attempts discovered by Joram to abolish the cult of Baal (1 Kings 3:2), the priests remained afterwards (cf. 2 Kings 10:19), next. and the cult of Baal continued to persist. Jehoram’s repetition of the phrase: “Jehovah called together these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab” (v. 13; cf. 1 Kings 3:10) indicates, perhaps, that before the campaign, probably at the request of Jehoshaphat, they asked Jehovah. The prophet Elisha directly declares that he will give a prophetic word only for the sake of Jehoshaphat’s piety. “Thus, the reproof was made in good time, when need humbled the arrogance of the ruler” (Blessed Theodoret, question 11). 2 Kings 3:15. now call me the guslist. And when the harpist played the harp, then the hand of the Lord touched Elisha, The fact that the prophet Elisha, in order to prepare his spirit for the reception of revelation or to calm his spirit from anger at Jehoram (1 Kings 3:13–14), resorted to the action of string music, after which “the hand of the Lord was upon him” (cf. 1 Kings 18:16; Jer. 1:9), is seen, firstly, as a well-known ancient custom of resorting to music (cf. 1 Samuel 16:16) to distract the spirit from the outside world, calm or excite (Cicero says something similar about the Pythagoreans); secondly, the use of music (with the singing of hymns) in prophetic schools (1 Samuel 10:5 ff), with which, as it is said, the prophet Elisha stood in close connection. According to Blessed Theodoret, “the priests, according to the Mosaic Law, used trumpets, and the Levites used harps, psalteries, cymbals and other musical instruments. Their use of this was David’s spiritual sweetness. The prophet ordered to call one of these singers. And when the singer sang, the grace of the Spirit indicated what to do” (question 12 on the 4th book of Kings). 2 Kings 3:16. and he said, Thus says the Lord: Make in this valley ditches after ditches, 2 Kings 3:17. For thus says the Lord: You will not see wind and you will not see rain, but this valley will be filled with water, which you and your flocks and herds will drink; Under the valley (Heb. nahal), in which the prophet Elisha orders to dig ditches or cisterns, according to interpreters, there is the valley of Wadi-el-Ahsa, on the southern border of the Moabite country, called in (Is. 15:7) nahal ha-Arabim; Perhaps this area had the property that rainwater accumulated under the soil on the rocky subsoil: perhaps the prophet Elisha gives advice to take measures that the native inhabitants also resorted to (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 12). 2 Kings 3:18. but this is not enough in the eyes of the Lord; He will deliver even Moab into your hands, 2 Kings 3:19. and you will smite all the fortified cities and all the main cities, and cut down all the best trees, and dam up all the springs of water, and spoil all the best fields of the field with stones. 2 Kings 3:20. In the morning, as the grain offering was being offered, water suddenly began to flow along the road from Edom, and the land was filled with water. After delivering the necessary water to the allied troops, Jehovah has to grant Israel complete victory over the Moabites, and the picture of destruction that, according to the prophet, will be carried out by the victors in the land of Moab (v. 19), undoubtedly does not have the nature of a command: in (Deut. 20:19-20) Israel is expressly forbidden during a war or siege to commit the senseless destruction of fruit trees; here the prophet simply foretells a future fact without touching on its moral assessment. Abundant water appeared, in the direction from Idumea, “during the offering of the morning sacrifice” (Heb. mincha, actually a bloodless sacrifice - a flour offering and a libation) (cf. Exodus 29:39; 1 Kings 18:29,36). 2 Kings 3:21. When the Moabites heard that the kings were coming to fight with them, then everyone was gathered, from the one wearing the belt upward, and stood on the border. 2 Kings 3:22. In the morning they got up early, and when the sun shone over the water, the Moabites from afar seemed to see the water as red as blood. 2 Kings 3:23. And they said: This is blood; the kings fought among themselves and destroyed each other; now to the spoils, Moab! 2 Kings 3:24. And they came to the camp of Israel. And the Israelites stood up and began to beat the Moabites, and they fled from them, and they continued to come at them and beat the Moabites. 2 Kings 3:25. And they destroyed the cities, and each one threw a stone at every best spot in the field and pelted it; and all the channels of water were dammed up and all the best trees were cut down, so that only stones remained in Kir-Hareshet. And the slingers surrounded it and destroyed it. The second, main half of Elisha’s prediction also came true (1 Kings 3:18–19). And here, as when supplying the allied army with water, a purely natural circumstance served the allies to the benefit and death of the Moabites: the latter, with the rising sun, mistakenly take the color of the water for the appearance of blood (verse 22) and just as mistakenly make the not impossible, however, assumption of mutual extermination in the allied armies (v. 23; cf. Judges 7:22; 2 Chronicles 20:33), - and instead of the expected spoils they met defeat and the complete devastation of the country, including the fortified capital of Moab - the city of Kir-Haresheth (LXX, verse 25: τοὺς λίθους τοῦ τοιχου, Vulg.: muri fictíles, slav.: “stone walls”), otherwise called Kir-Moab (Is. 15:1 ) or Kirg-Herem (Is.16:1); it is now identified with el-Kerak, east of the southern part of the Dead Sea (Onomasticon, 389; Winer, Bibl. Keal Worterbuch, I, 658). The king of Moab was besieged at Kir-Haresheth. 2 Kings 3:26. And the king of Moab saw that the battle was overpowering him, and he took with him seven hundred sword-wielding men to fight his way to the king of Edom; but they couldn't. 2 Kings 3:27. And he took his firstborn son, who should have reigned in his stead, and offered him up as a burnt offering on the wall. This caused great indignation among the Israelites, and they retreated from him and returned to their own land. After an unsuccessful attempt by the king of Moab to break through with a detachment of armed men to the position of the King of Edom (the besieged rushed to the latter either because they expected to meet less resistance on this side, or they hoped to persuade him to defect from the Jews and Israelites), Mesa resorted to a desperate means of saving his own state: wanting to appease the Deity - the god of war he revered, Chemosh (cf. comments on 1 Kings 11:7 ) and have a softening effect on the besiegers - he, according to the widespread custom of antiquity (cf. Mic. 6: 7) to make the most expensive human sacrifices in extreme state and public disasters (Eusebius, Praeraat. Evang. IV, 16), sacrificed his first-born son, the heir to the throne, on the city walls, in full view of the enemies (the rabbis and Philippson believed that Mesha sacrificed not his own son, but the son of the king of Edom, captured by him during the raid, v. 26 or earlier; Am. 2:1 was cited as proof, but this explanation is completely arbitrary, and the reference is unsubstantiated). “This caused great indignation in the Israelites” (LXX: καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰμεαος μεγας επὶ Ισραήλ, Vulg.: et facta est indignatio magna in Israel, slav.: “and there will be great repentance in Israel"): Heb. ketzef, actually “anger,” cannot mean here either the anger of the Edomites against the Israelites (the opinion of Derezer, Philippeon, standing in connection with the rejected assumption above), nor the anger of Jehovah against Israel (Keil), since the latter was not directly guilty, nor, however, the anger of Chemosh (Kittel), since if individual Jews were not alien to the recognition of the real existence of pagan gods and their real power ( Judges 11:24; 1 Samuel 26:19), then, without a doubt, the divinely inspired writer could not think and judge this way. Rather, here we are talking specifically about the deep unrest of Israel, for which human sacrifices were prohibited under threat of death (Lev. 18:21,20:3) and for whom the sight of the desperate deed of the king of Moab aroused horror and fear of disaster in his country (cf. Ps. 106:37-39), and the allies hastened to retreat from the borders of Moab and returned to their countries. The displeasure of the whole enterprise to God and, in particular, the alliance of the pious Jehoshaphat and the wicked Joram, displeasing to Jehovah, were the hidden reasons for the failures of the allies (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 13). You might be interested in: