It is remarkable perhaps that so evil a person as Joash, King of Israel, should visit Elisha upon his death bed, yet so it was (2 Ki. 13:14-1914Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. 15And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. 16And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. 17And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. 18And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. 19And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. (2 Kings 13:14‑19)). He seems to have had some respect for the man of God, as Herod at a later date respected John the Baptist, though quite unwilling to conform his ways to his teaching. The sight of the stricken prophet brought tears to the eyes of the king, and he exclaimed, “Oh my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!” A truly wonderful thing for a sovereign to say of a humble subject, possessed neither of wealth nor power. But the king rightly felt (and wicked though he was, he could not but acknowledge it) that the presence and prayers of such a man as Elisha was a valuable asset to his nation. The king was right, and the same principle applies today. Who can estimate the priceless value to the British nation of the presence and prayers of God’s saints at this tremendous crisis! When the history of earth is fully known it will be found that Britain owes much to the Christians in her midst. But men of time and sense cannot be expected to understand this; with them “men, money, and munitions” are all in all.
The dying prophet sought to turn the king’s mind towards Jehovah as the only true Deliverer of his people. Israel was being sorely harassed at that time by the depredations of Hazael, King of Syria. Elisha bade Joash take bow and arrows. He would teach him by a parable. The prophet put his hands upon the hands of the king. The prophet’s hands are suggestive of the power of God, without which all human efforts are in vain. Both John in Patmos (Rev. 1:1717And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (Revelation 1:17)) and Daniel at the river Hiddekel (Dan. 10:1818Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, (Daniel 10:18)) were strengthened when the Lord’s right hand was laid upon them.
“Open the window eastward,” said Elisha. If the shut door of 2 Kings 4:44And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. (2 Kings 4:4) speaks of the soul’s seclusion with God, the opened window of 2 Kings 13:1717And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. (2 Kings 13:17) speaks of the soul’s expectation from God. Oh, that we all knew more experimentally of these things! Daniel opened his window when he prayed daily towards Jerusalem (Dan. 6:1010Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. (Daniel 6:10)). “Shoot,” said the prophet, and the king shot. The interpretation was then given: “The arrow of Jehovah’s deliverance, and the deliverance from Syria; for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.” Joash had reached a critical moment in his history, and in the history of his kingdom, had he been able to perceive it. The very suggestion that blessing and deliverance from his dreaded foes was signified in the arrows should have prepared him to act worthily at the next stage. Alas, for him, and for man everywhere and always! God always so willing to bless, and man always so blind to his true advantage!
Elisha next bade the king take up the arrows and smite upon the ground. “And he smote thrice, and stayed.” Oh, the pity of it! Need we wonder that the man of God was wroth with Joash? “Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice” (v. 19). The man by his slackness had limited the deliverance of his people. God gave him as much as he had faith for but no more. “And Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again out of the hand of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz, his father, by war; three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel” (v. 25).
What a lesson is here for us all! We have to do with a God who is boundless in resources, and who delights to bless His people, yet so poor are our thoughts and expectations that we limit Him continually. So little satisfies us. So slow are we, so lacking in spiritual energy, to go in boldly, and “possess our possessions.” Would that there were among us more of that holy yearning which filled the soul of the apostle when he wrote, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfected, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:12-14).
Elisha might well be angry with Joash, as Nehemiah with the faulty Jews of his day (Neh. 13:2525And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. (Nehemiah 13:25)). Lack of faith in the one case, and unholy alliances in the other, dishonored God, and hindered the blessing of His people. Similar holy indignation (though not perhaps so vigorously expressed as by Nehemiah) is not unsuitable for our time also.