Commentary - 2 Kings 13:14-21

Bird's-eye view

This passage records the final acts and the death of the great prophet Elisha. It is a striking account, divided neatly into two parts. The first is a prophetic encounter with Joash, the king of Israel, where God offers a great deliverance from the Arameans, but the king's weak faith limits the scope of the victory. It is a powerful lesson in the necessity of zealous, wholehearted faith. The second part records Elisha's death and burial, which is immediately followed by one of the most remarkable miracles in the Old Testament. A dead man is raised to life simply by touching the prophet's bones. This posthumous miracle is a thunderous testimony to the fact that the power of God is not constrained by the death of His servants, and serves as a glorious signpost pointing toward the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Outline

The Death of Elisha

14 Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die. So Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

Elisha, a man through whom God had performed extraordinary miracles, still had to face the last enemy, which is death. Godly men get sick and die. This is the common lot of man under the curse. But King Joash comes to him, and his grief is telling. He weeps and cries out with the very words Elisha himself had cried at the departure of Elijah (2 Kings 2:12). This is not just personal affection; it is a cry of national panic. Joash recognizes that Elisha is the true defense of Israel. The spiritual power resident in the prophet of God is of more value than all the military hardware of the nation. The king sees his true protector, his true father, his true army, slipping away. He is right to see this, but his subsequent actions will show that this flash of insight is not matched by a robust and active faith.

15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands.

In his weakness, Elisha prepares to deliver one final prophecy. This is a sacramental action, a physical sign that communicates a spiritual reality. The king is commanded to take up the instruments of war. He is to do the work of a king. But then the prophet, the man of God, lays his hands over the king's hands. This is a beautiful picture of how God's power works through human agency. The king must draw the bow, but the strength and the victory are from the Lord, mediated through His prophet. God does not ask us to be passive; He calls us to act, but He provides the power for the action to be effective. Our hands must do the work, but His hands must be over ours.

17 And he said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “Yahweh’s arrow of salvation, even the arrow of salvation over Aram; for you will strike the Arameans at Aphek until you have consumed them.”

The window is opened eastward, toward the enemy, Aram. The king is commanded to shoot, and he obeys. This act of obedience becomes the vessel for the prophetic word. Elisha declares that this is not Joash's arrow, but "Yahweh's arrow of salvation." God claims the action and invests it with His purpose. The promise is specific and sweeping: a complete victory over the Arameans at Aphek. God is offering total deliverance. The promise is on the table, clear as day. The only thing required is for the king to take God at His word.

18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stood still.

Here is the second test, and it is a test of the king's heart. The first action was a straightforward command. This one is more open-ended. "Strike the ground." How many times? The command doesn't specify. The action is meant to be an expression of the king's desire and faith. How much do you want this victory that God has just promised? How zealous are you for the glory of God and the deliverance of His people? Joash strikes the ground three times and then stops. It is a polite, measured, reasonable response. And it is a total failure.

19 So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have consumed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”

Elisha's anger is a righteous anger. He is angry because the king's half-hearted action has placed a limit on God's promised deliverance. Joash's faith was real enough to shoot the first arrow and strike the ground, but it was not zealous enough to take hold of the full blessing. He wanted relief, but he did not hunger and thirst for total victory. His three strikes were a picture of his soul: content with a partial triumph. And so, the consequence is a partial triumph. He will get exactly what his faith reached for, and no more. This is a sobering lesson for the church in every age. God often offers us complete victory, but we settle for skirmishes because our zeal is weak and our faith is tepid. We strike the ground three times and call it a day.

20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the marauding bands of the Moabites would enter into the land in the spring of the year.

The great prophet dies and is buried. Life goes on. The threats to Israel do not die with Elisha. The Moabites are still a problem, raiding the land every spring. The death of God's servants does not mean the end of God's covenant or the end of the world's troubles. The battle continues, and the next generation must take up the fight.

21 Now it happened that they were burying a man, and behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he became alive and stood up on his feet.

And now we come to this astonishing event. A funeral procession is interrupted by a Moabite raiding party. In their panic, the pallbearers dispose of the body in the most convenient place, which happens to be the tomb of Elisha. The moment the corpse touches the prophet's bones, the man is resurrected. He stands up on his feet, alive. What are we to make of this? This is not about magical relics or the inherent power of Elisha's bones. This is a sign from God, a divine exclamation point at the end of Elisha's ministry. It is a declaration that the power of the covenant-keeping God of Israel is not buried with His prophets. Death does not have the final say. The life that God gives is stronger than the grave. This miracle is one of the clearest Old Testament foreshadowings of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If the bones of a dead prophet can be the instrument of resurrection for one man, how much more will the resurrected body of the Son of God give life to all who are united to Him by faith? This is God's final testimony through Elisha, pointing beyond himself to the one who is the resurrection and the life.

Application

This passage confronts us with two profound truths. First, the story of King Joash is a sharp rebuke to all half-hearted Christianity. God lays before us promises of total victory over sin and promises for the advance of His kingdom. He invites us to act in faith, to shoot the arrow of His deliverance. But then He tests our zeal. He tells us to strike the ground. Do we strike with the passion of those who long to see God's enemies utterly defeated and His name completely vindicated? Or do we strike three times, politely, and then stop, content with a manageable, respectable level of sanctification and cultural influence? Joash received three victories. He got what he asked for. We must ask ourselves what blessings we are forfeiting through our lack of zeal.

Second, the resurrection from Elisha's bones is a massive encouragement. The power of our God is not limited by human frailty or even by death itself. The cause of Christ does not depend on the charisma or strength of any one man. The power that raised that anonymous Israelite is the same power that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and it is the same power that is at work in us who believe. Our hope is not in our own ability to strike the ground, but in the God who can bring life from dead bones. This story reminds us that our ultimate hope is in the resurrection, and it calls us to live as people who truly believe that the tomb is empty and that our King has conquered death.