2 Kings 6:16

2Ki 6:16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that [be] with us [are] more than they that [be] with them.

Ver. 16. Fear not: for they that be with us, &c.] How many do ye reckon me for? said Antigonus to his soldiers, fearing the numbers of their enemies. God is for us, and so are all his hosts, his upper and nether forces, as the Rabbis style the creatures in heaven and earth.

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.

2Ki 6:16. He answered, Fear not — He was concerned to remove the fears of his servant, and impart to him the same satisfaction and peace of mind he possessed himself in this time of extraordinary danger; for good men desire not only to be easy themselves, but to make those about them easy. And all those whose faith is strong, ought tenderly to consider and compassionate those who are weak, and of a timorous spirit, and do what they can to strengthen their hands. For they that be with us — To protect us, Are more than they that be against us — To destroy us: the angels are unspeakably more numerous, and God infinitely more powerful.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:16-17 Elisha asked the Lord to open the young man’s eyes, revealing an angelic force protecting the city. Angels are active in the affairs of the world (Ps 34:7; Dan 10:20–11:1; Heb 1:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For he was assured of God’s help, and that millions of Angels camped about the godly to deliver them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 16. For they that be with us are more, &c.] What astonishing intercourse had this man with heaven! It seems the whole heavenly host had it in commission to help him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) They that be with us . . . with them.—Comp. Num_14:9; Psa_3:6, “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about”; and 2Ch_32:7-8, with Notes.

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

16. they that be with us] Elisha speaks as a man whose eyes are opened, and who in consequence is sure of Jehovah’s protection, whether he beholds the angelic host about him or not.

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 when they came down to him,.... The Syrian army, from the hill on which they were first seen, who came down from thence to the bottom of the hill on which the city stood; and whither Elisha came out, in order both to meet them, and proceed on his journey to Samaria:

Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness; or "blindnesses" (g); with great blindness, such as the men of Sodom were smitten with; the same word is here used as of them, Gen 19:11.

and he smote them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha; not in such manner that they could discern no object, for then they could not have followed Elisha; but their sight was so altered, that they knew not the objects they saw; they appeared quite otherwise to them than they were; they saw the city, but knew it not to be the same, and Elisha, but knew him not to be the man of God, though they might have some in the host that knew him personally.

(g) "in caecitatibus", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

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

They that be with us ... - Elisha gave utterance to the conviction of all God’s saints when the world persecutes them (compare marginal references). God - they know - is on their side; they need “not fear what flesh can do unto them.” His angels - an innumerable host - are ever guarding those who love Him.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And hei.e. Elishaanswered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Elisha did not need to see the forces arrayed on his side. He knew that God and God"s strength was "with him," and cared not who, or how many, might be against him. Psa_3:6, "I will not be afraid for ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about;" and Psa_27:3, "Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident". His confidence reminds us of that shown by Hezekiah (2Ch_32:7) on the invasion of Sennacherib.

Vers. 16, 17. The spirit-world, and the power to discern it.

The little episode of the alarm felt by Elisha"s servant, and the manner in which Elisha removed it, teaches us principally three things.

I THE REALITY, AND PERPETUAL PRESENCE, AROUND US AND ABOUT US, OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD. The existence of an order of spirits intermediate between God and man, who are closely connected with man, and play an important part in the Divine government of the world wherein we live, is an essential part of the scheme of things set before us in the Scriptures. "The doctrine of angels," as it has been called, is this: "That there lives in the presence of God a vast assembly, myriads upon myriads of spiritual beings (Psa_68:17; Dan_7:10) higher than we, but infinitely removed from God, mighty in strength, doers of his word, who ceaselessly bless and praise God, wise also, to whom be gives charge to guard his own in all their ways, ascending and descending to and from heaven and earth (Gen_28:12, Gen_28:13; Joh_1:51) and who variously minister to men, most often invisibly. All these beings are interested in us and in our well-being. When our earth was created, " all the sons of God burst forth into jubilee" (Job_38:7) in prospect of our birth, who were to be their care here, their fellow-citizens hereafter in bliss. At the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, they were present in myriads. When God vouchsafed his presence on Mount Zion, and the holy place became a new Sinai, "twice ten thousand angels, yea, thousands many times repeated" (were Psa_68:17) there. They are present with God, witnessing the trials of our race (Job_1:6 Job_2:1; 1Ki_22:19) Their love for man is indicated by the charge given to them when they are set to destroy the guilty in Jerusalem, "Let not your eye spare, neither have pity", (Eze_10:5) as though they would have pity, only that they must needs be of the same mind with God. There is a distinction, or gradation of ranks, among the members of the heavenly host Cherubim, seraphim, archangels, principalities, powers" (abridged from Fusey"s "Daniel the Prophet," pp. 517-524). It is irrational to explain away as embellishment or poetic imagery a representation of the actual condition of things in God"s universe, which is so frequent, so all-pervading, so harmonious, and, it may be added, so consistent with what we should have naturally expected apart from revelation.

II THE PERPETUAL REALIZATION OF THIS PRESENCE BY THOSE POSSESSED OF FAITH. There is no reason to believe that Elisha saw the angels that compassed him round, with his bodily eyes. But he knew that they were there. He was sure that God would not desert him in his peril, and had such a confident faith in "the doctrine of angels," that it was as if he could see them. And so it was with David. "The angel of the Lord," he says, "encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth. (Psa_34:7) So with Hezekiah, who, when Sennacherib invaded his land, "spake comfortably to the people, saying, Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him". (2Ch_32:7) Judas Maccabaeus had probably the same faith when he uttered the words, "It is no hard matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few; and with the God of heaven it is all one, to deliver with a great multitude, or a small company: for the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of a host; but strength cometh from heaven". (RAPC 1Ma 3:18, 19) St. Paul realized the continual angelic presence when he declared, "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to 1Co_4:9. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews realized it when he told the Jewish converts, Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels". (Heb_12:22) St. John the divine realized it, when he gave the angels a large share in all the later judgments that should befall the earth, and made them dispensers of the blessings and of the wrath of God. (Rev 7:1-20:3) If the doctrine has been at any time obscured, it has been when faith wavered, and there was a tendency to confine the supernatural within the narrowest possible limits. It was easy to suggest that the expression, "the angels of God," was a periphrasis for God himself, and that he had no need to act, and therefore probably did not act, by intermediaries. But the faith of the Church has always been different. The festival of St. Michael and All Angels has been generally celebrated from a very ancient date; and the Collect for that festival has borne witness to the perpetual ministration of angels, not only in heaven, but also upon earth, and to the part borne by them in the succor and defense of God"s people.

III THE POSSIBILITY OF A MANIFESTATION OF THE PRESENCE IN QUESTION TO THE BODILY SENSES OF THOSE WHOSE FAITH IS TOO WEAK TO APPREHEND IT. Elisha"s servant did not see a vision. It was not his mind only that was impressed. His bodily eyes beheld an appearance as of chariots and horses of fire (ver. 17), which was based on the objective reality of the actual presence of an angelic host upon the hill whereon Dothan was situated. The prophet prayed that his eyes should be opened, and his, prayer was granted. "The Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. Physicists are probably right in saying that what is absolutely immaterial cannot be seen by the optic nerve. But we are nowhere told that angels are absolutely immaterial. It is the belief of many philosophers that all finite spirits are attached to bodies of some kind or other bodies more or less volatile and ethereal. We can readily conceive that the optic nerve may, by an increase of its sensitiveness, be made to see these; and in this way we may account, not only for the wonderful sight beheld on this occasion by Elisha"s servant, but for the many other appearances of angels to men and women recorded in Scripture (Gen_3:1 Gen_19:1-15 Gen_32:24-30; Jud 6:11-22; 2Sa_24:16, 2Sa_24:17; 1Ki_19:5-7; Dan_6:22 Dan_9:21 Dan_10:16-21; Zec_1:11-19 Zec_4:1, etc.; Luk_1:11-19, 26-38 2:9-13; Joh_20:12; Act_5:19 Act_8:26 Act_12:7-10; Revelation, passim) Miraculously, power is given to the optic nerve, which it does not ordinarily possess, and it is enabled to see beings actually present, who under ordinary circumstances are invisible to it.

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

They - Angels, unspeakably more numerous, God, infinitely more powerful.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Those who are with us. To help us.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.