2 Kings 2:18

(18) For he tarried.—Now he (emphatic) was abiding in Jericho (while they were searching).

Did I not say.—Or, command. Elisha could now fairly remind them of his authority. So the phrase “Go not” is, in the Hebrew, imperative. (Comp. “Ye shall not send,” 2Ki_2:16.) With these words, the history of Elijah significantly closes. “Elias resembled Moses in courage and eloquence, and no other prophet was his equal. But when he withdrew from the world, that Providence which guided the destinies of Israel did not, therefore, forsake His people. A portion of Elijah’s spirit passed to his disciples; and they are forbidden to seek their departed master in the desert: they must find among themselves the means of carrying on his work” (Reuss).

Thenius considers the entire section (2Ki_1:2 to 2Ki_2:18) to be a distinct fragment of a lost history of Elijah. Its contents, he says, betray the same poetical (?) spirit as 1 Kings 17-19.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 2:18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?

Ver. 18. Did not I say unto you, Go not?] The uncounsellable are commonly unhappy in their attempts.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. And when [R.V. omits when] they came again [R.V. back] to him, (for [R.V. while] he tarried at Jericho)] The alteration of the R.V. of course removes the parenthesis. The Hebrew has in both places only the conjunction usually rendered ‘And’. The two clauses are literally ‘And they came back and he was tarrying’ &c. Having acceded to their request, he waited for the return of the searching party. ‘They turn back as wise as they went. Some men are best satisfied when they have wearied themselves in their own ways. Nothing will teach them wit but disappointments’ (Bp Hall).

We cannot dismiss the history of Elijah, which is brought to a close in this chapter, without some notice of the powerful hold which that history took upon the minds of the Jewish people, and of the prominent place which the prophet fills in the writings of the New Testament. In the Old Testament Elijah is rarely mentioned except in these chapters of the books of Kings, yet from the way in which Malachi (2Ki_4:5-6) foretells his coming again we can see that the character of his mission had been fully appreciated. It was felt to be a mission suited for evil times, for times when God might be expected to come and smite the earth with a curse, if men repented not. Elijah is therefore set forth as mighty rather in works than in words. His was hardly the day for preaching. He is also, nearly always, seen to be supported by the loftiest faith, and his message is on that account attested by signs more striking than usual. On the contrary among his countrymen the decay of faith was so complete, that no work of mercy was wrought by this prophet except for a stranger, the widow of Zarephath.

The son of Sirach (Sir_48:1-12) speaks of Elijah as a fire, no unfit comparison, and of his word as a lamp. He calls him a prophet ordained for the reproof of the times in which he lived, and to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgement before it brake forth into fury. The day of the Lord was at hand, and his warnings were sent by a startling messenger. And although the wrath of the Almighty was not ultimately diverted from Israel, we can see how the mighty works of Elijah stirred up a more devout spirit in the land, and thus put back the day of vengeance. This influence of Elijah’s life is specially to be noted in the days of his successor. We come constantly upon evidence that even in the house of Ahab itself the prophet of the Lord was held in some esteem, while Jehovah was truly worshipped by not a few in the land, though Baal and the calves had captivated the multitude.

Hence in later days, to the mind of the pious Jew, Elijah was deemed to be ever interested in the spiritual welfare of the Lord’s people, and a place was set for him at every circumcision-service. We can see too how his ministry for help was in all men’s minds from the mistake which was made at the Crucifixion, when our Lord’s cry of agony was interpreted into a call for Elijah. That his intervention was ever expected to be salutary is testified by the language ‘Let us see whether Elijah will come and save him’. The large place which Elijah filled in the thoughts of the Jews of our Lord’s day is shewn by the mention in the New Testament of his name and his work more frequently than those of any other prophet; while both in his despondency over the evil condition of the nation (Rom_11:2) and in the mention of his effectual prayer (Jas_5:17) he is identified most closely with the people whom he so earnestly served as ‘a man subject to like passions as we are’.

For such a prophet men were looking in those evil days which preceded the coming of Christ, and from a like obscurity in the desert John the Baptist suddenly emerged in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luk_1:17) and all men recognised him as God’s prophet. ‘Art thou Elijah?’ was the first question of those who saw and heard him (Joh_1:21) and Jesus pointed out to His disciples that the office of Elijah was truly fulfilled by the Baptist (Mat_11:14).

The ‘taking up’ of Elijah was accepted by the Jews as a testimony to the doctrine of man’s immortality. ‘Blessed are they that saw thee’ … says the writer of Ecclesiasticus … ‘for we shall surely live.’ Hence the great fitness of the appearance of Elijah with Moses at our Lord’s, Transfiguration. Christ came and brought life and incorruption to light, the former by the fulfilling of the Mosaic law, the latter by taking again His body after it had lain three days dead in the grave. The discourse on the mount of Transfiguration was of the decease which He was shortly to accomplish at Jerusalem. The presence of the prophet who had long before been taken from this world by the chariots of heaven calmed the minds of the disciples concerning the coming decease, taught them that to disappear from among men was not to perish, and so prepared them in a measure to believe the Master’s promise ‘In three days the Son of Man shall rise again’. Hence at a later time they could return in joy to Jerusalem when the angel had announced that this same Jesus whom they had seen taken up, should come again in like manner as they had seen Him depart. They had seen Elijah and by that they were assured that Jesus would be sent again. Thus they became preachers of the times of refreshing when God should send Jesus, the Christ, to bless men, as Elijah in his day fain would have done, by turning them away from their iniquities.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the men of the city said unto Elisha,.... The inhabitants of Jericho, perceiving him to be a prophet, and endowed with a power of working miracles:

behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; in a plain, surrounded with gardens and orchards, with vineyards, oliveyards, and groves of palm trees, and other odoriferous ones:

but the water is naught, and the ground barren; that is, that part of it where this water was, or ran, for from thence it became barren; or "caused to miscarry", as the word signifies (q); not only trees cast their fruit, which it watered, but women became abortive that drank of it, as Josephus says (r), and so cattle. Abarbinel thinks it was so from the times of Joshua, being cursed by him; but, if so, it would not have been inhabited again; rather this was owing to a new curse, upon its being rebuilt; though this might affect only a small part of the ground, not the whole, as before observed.

(q) "orbans", Montanus, Vatablus; "facit abortum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (r) De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not? The prophet was not above vindicating the propriety of his past conduct. He waited at Jericho until the fifty men returned from their vain search, and then reminded them that his advice to them had been not to start on a useless errand. The ministers of God have to vindicate themselves, because God"s honor is concerned in their being without reproach.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.