2 Kings 3:1-27
Victory over the Moabites
Pastor Martin expounds 2 Kings 3, detailing the historical account of the three kings (Israel, Judah, Edom) and their campaign against Moab. He frames this historical narrative within the overarching redemptive purpose of God, specifically Genesis 3:15, showing how God preserves the 'seed of the woman' even in precarious situations. The sermon highlights the characters involved, the development and resolution of the crisis (a lack of water and the Moabite rebellion), and the subsequent defeat of Moab. Martin concludes by emphasizing that God's gracious dealings with His people are always based on sacrifice, foreshadowing Christ's atoning work, and calls both believers and unbelievers to find their hope in Christ's finished work.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 8 sections · 64 min
- Introduction: The Redemptive Framework of History 0:05
- Sketch of Main Characters 5:20
- Synopsis of Main Events: Development of the Crisis 22:23
- Synopsis of Main Events: Resolution of the Crisis - Calling the Man of God 32:53
- Synopsis of Main Events: Resolution of the Crisis - The Word of God Through Elisha 36:42
- Synopsis of Main Events: Resolution of the Crisis - The Work of God 44:17
- Synopsis of Main Events: Sequel to the Crisis 50:33
- The Unchanging Basis of God's Gracious Dealings: Sacrifice 54:11
Key Quotes
“And as God accomplishes his purpose to save a people through the seed of the woman, there are times when the seed of the woman is in a very precarious situation, when it appears as though that seed is not merely to be bruised in its heel, but almost crushed and extinguished by the enemy of God and of his people.”
“But now before you can get your instruction, your reproof, your correction, as we often say get your facts before you draw conclusions, well, you must get your facts of any biblical passage before you begin to deduce your application.”
“Excuse me, the psalmist cries out, Oh God, what wilt thou do for thy great name? The name of God was at stake.”
“A guilty conscience may be a tolerable commodity when everything's going well. But when you get your back to the wall, it's the worst of companions.”
“How the word of God is full of these but transitions. Where God brings us right down. To a situation of absolute despair, and then the word of God comes, but God, and here we have it.”
“The blessings that come upon many of you sitting here tonight, they do not come because of what you are, because you're an idol worshiper. If you were taken out of the context of a godly home that has a truly praying mother and father, upon your pagan idol worship. Oh, how merciful God is to you, for the sake of the Jehoshaphat, who's under the same roof with you.”
“It's that sacrifice has been made and the Lord Jesus has laid down his life for his own and as our advocate and high priest who intercedes at the right hand of the Father it's on the basis of that once for all sacrifice that all our blessings are secured to us”
“don't plead for blessings on the grounds of what you are and what you've done there's only one thing you can plead on that basis and that's judgment put on the grounds of what Christ has done and what Christ is”
Applications
All listeners
- Gird up the loins of your mind and think with me for what will constitute at least half, maybe two-thirds of the sermon, the content of this chapter.
- The blessings that come upon many of you sitting here tonight, they do not come because of what you are, because you're an idol worshiper. If you were taken out of the context of a godly home that has a truly praying mother and father, upon your pagan idol worship. Oh, how merciful God is to you, for the sake of the Jehoshaphat, who's under the same roof with you.
- On what basis can we hope that the living God will assuage the thirst that so often we bring upon ourselves because of our own disobedience and because of our own carnal confidence sallying forth into this and that with no sense of seeking the face of God when we bring ourselves into a wilderness of thirst what's our hope that God would yet fill the land with water it's that sacrifice has been made and the Lord Jesus has laid down his life for his own and as our advocate and high priest who intercedes at the right hand of the Father it's on the basis of that once for all sacrifice that all our blessings are secured to us
- Don't plead for blessings on the grounds of what you are and what you've done there's only one thing you can plead on that basis and that's judgment put on the grounds of what Christ has done and what Christ is.
- For you who are still in your sins my friend if you do not have a priest offering sacrifice on your behalf interposing between you and the holy God then you will be like the Moabites the enemies of God who will be utterly destroyed for the scripture says Jesus Christ will come in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that obey not the gospel and what is obedience to the gospel it is fleeing to that fountain open for sin and uncleanness embracing the command to repent and believe the gospel.
- It's when you flee to that one who offered himself without spot to God that the water of life will begin to be tasted by your thirstiness you will find that his word of promise is sure if any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 128 paragraphs, roughly 64 minutes.
Introduction: The Redemptive Framework of History
It was announced this morning that we would be directed in our study of the Word of God to the passage that was read in your hearing, the third chapter of 2 Kings. And as we come to this portion of the Word of God tonight, and again at least one, possibly two more Lord's Day evenings, we need to remind ourselves of that text which, above all others, is the key text in understanding any historical section of the Word of God. And the text to which I refer, of course, is that first intimation of the gospel.
God came to Adam and Eve after they had rebelled against him, and in the midst of his dealings with them, he said in Genesis 3.15, I, that is God, will put enmity between thee and between the woman. Between. Between thy seed and her seed.
And then he went on to say that the head of the serpent would be crushed by the seed of the woman, while in the process the seed of the woman would have his heel bruised by the seed of the serpent. Well, you see, in that text, God gives, as it were, the very framework of the work of redemption. It is a work in which God will take the initiative to engage Satan in his territory He came and was the instrument of the entrance of sin into the human race, and God says to the devil, in your territory that involves your seed and the seed of the woman, there God will take the initiative. God says there will be irreconcilable enmity and warfare, and God says that in the process of ultimately crushing the head of the serpent, bringing about his doom, the seed of the woman would be bruised. And as God accomplishes his purpose to save a people through the seed of the woman, there are times when the seed of the woman is in a very precarious situation, when it appears as though that seed is not merely to be bruised in its heel, but almost crushed and extinguished by the enemy of God and of his people. And yet, again and again, God comes in.
God comes to the rescue of his people and manifests his faithfulness to his own promise. Now as we come to this portion of the Word of God, I say we must view this segment of the history of Israel involving this strange interaction of nations and kings and armies and prophets. We must not regard it as an isolated snippet of events in the life of an interesting people called the Hebrew nation. We must view it continually in that larger context of the ongoing purposes of the great God of redemption who is committed to the bruising of the serpent's head in the pursuit of his redemptive designs. Now one of the wonderful things God does in these historical sections while accomplishing that greater design, he gives us gracious intimations of the principles of his government, and the standards by which his people are to live. He gives us at times almost shocking revelations of what man is apart from the redemptive activity of God. And therefore, all Scripture is not only profitable to see that great sweep of redemption, but as Paul says in 2 Timothy, it's profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
And therefore, in our handling of this passage, we must not only see that great redemption, but we must also be susceptible to its reproofs, to its correction, to its instruction, as well as to its doctrine. But now before you can get your instruction, your reproof, your correction, as we often say get your facts before you draw conclusions, well, you must get your facts of any biblical passage before you begin to deduce your application. And so tonight, I urge you to gird up the loins of your mind and think with me for what will constitute at least half, maybe two-thirds of the sermon, the content of this chapter. Now I've labored many hours to try to reduce it to the most interesting form that I'm capable of reducing it, while not in any way tampering with the content. But having done all of that, there comes a point where my labors stop and yours begin. And I've sought to come as far to that line where I cannot pass any further, and therefore seek to present in your presence the fruit of my labors which will demand some labor on your part if you are to derive the profit from this passage that God intends you should derive.
Sketch of Main Characters
First of all, then, consider with me a sketch of the main characters in the narrative of 2 Kings 3. 1. 2. 2.
3. 4. 5. 6.
7. 8. 9. 10.
11. ř 1. 12. 14.
5. 0. créditosak, 1. 4.
5. 6. 7. 8.
9. 11. 12. 9.
23. 4. 7. 4.
11. 8. materials out of which the abiding message of the passage is constructed. So consider with me then a brief sketch of the main characters in the narrative. Now the first character that confronts us is this man Jehoram, king of the northern kingdom. Now because we have many who have very little Bible history in their backgrounds, it's important to pause for a moment and underscore this simple fact of history, that through the period of David and Solomon, all of Israel was united under one king. But then Solomon's son Jeroboam did a wicked thing, and as a judgment from God for his wickedness, God said that the kingdom would be divided. And so the ten northern tribes of Israel were from there on in generally designated as Israel, and the two southern tribes as Judah. Now this is interesting, because in the book of Deuteronomy, it says that the king of
Israel was in that period subsequent to the rending of the kingdom. And so you will read in Kings and Chronicles the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel. Well this man Jehoram was one of the kings of the northern kingdom, that is the kingdom of Israel, the ten northern tribes. Now the text says that Jehoram was the son of Ahab who began to reign over Israel in Samaria, that was the capital city.
And he was the king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and like his mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, wherewith he made Israel to sin. He departed not therefrom. Now what do we learn about this book of Deuteronomy?
Well we know from the text that he was one of the sons of Ahab. Now to be a son of Ahab at this point in the history of Israel was a frightening thing. For God had already announced through the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 21 verses 21 and 22 this frightening prophecy. 1 Kings 21, 21.
Elijah the predecessor of Elisha is speaking to Ahab and he says, Behold I will bring evil upon thee, and will utterly sweep thee away, and will cut off from Ahab every man child, and him that is shut up, and him that is left at large in Israel. And I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Bashan.
the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and hast made Israel to sin." Now can you imagine what it would be like to be brought up through your teenage years and into your early manhood knowing you're going to have a short life? Knowing that Almighty God who cannot lie has said that you are one of those who shall be cut off. You will never have the joy of dandling your grandchildren on your knees. You will never have the privilege of sitting back and seeing the succession of generations. And so this man, Jehoram, in a real sense was a cursed son of Ahab. And this prophecy was literally fulfilled in 2 Kings chapter 9, when he was slain by Jehu in fulfillment of the Word of God. .
But although he was a cursed man and a wicked man, for the text says in verse 2, he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, the one extenuating circumstance is that he was not quite so blatantly evil as his father. He did not destroy. It says he simply put away the pillar of Baal. And that's a much weaker word than is used particularly in other sections of the Bible.
. The Bible says in verse 2, Jehoram. . He said, .
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. . says, the one extenuating circumstance was that he was not quite as blatantly, as patently evil as his father. How be it, the text says in verse 3, he still cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam.
And that was the calf worship that we spoke about last week. It was that idolatrous worship that went on under the name of Jehovah worship. And that the man's even putting away these images of Baal was probably just an external thing seems to be clearly intimated by verse 13 of the chapter. For when the prophet Elisha is in the presence of this man, he says, what have I to do with thee?
Get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, nay, for the Lord HaShem. call these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And then the prophet says, As the Lord God liveth before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look toward thee nor see thee. He says, I wouldn't give you the time of the day, man. I wouldn't bother to regard you, let alone help you. And speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, there seems to be a clear intimation that whatever external restraint was upon this man, that's all that it was. Now that's not a very pretty character, is it? But that's the character who forms the first or the introduction
of this first part of the narrative. Then in the second place, let's consider a brief sketch of this man, Misha, king of Moab. And he comes on the stage in the next verse, 2 Kings chapter 3 and verse 4. Misha, king of Moab, was a sheepmaster, and he rendered unto the king of Israel the wool of a hundred thousand lambs and of a hundred thousand rams. But it came to pass when Ahab was dead that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. Now this man, Misha, was the king of Moab. Now if you've not looked at a Bible map or a map of Middle East geography, it would help you to do so. As you think of the section of the Middle East with those two bodies of water that usually help you to locate things that are there, the Sea of Galilee and then the Dead Sea down here, well, you had Moab down here to the southeast of Judah, and then Israel was up here.
Now Moab had been conquered during the time of David, and was subject to Israel. But as was common in those days, a subject nation had to be taken over the land, and they became townships. had to pay tribute to the conquering nation. And this passage says that because Misha and his people were excellent cattle raisers, why they got a lot of mutton and a lot of wool from them year by year.
But during this time, he refuses to pay tribute, and the text says that he rebelled against Israel, and it has implied in that word, rebelled, that he was already forming, either amongst his own army or a coalition of the other border countries, this alliance to come against the people of God and to drive them from their inheritance. Now, perhaps you can appreciate something of the feeling that existed between the Moabites and the Israelites when you just think of the feelings that run through the minds of the people of Israel. It runs so deeply now in parts of the world where people have been driven out of lands that were once theirs, and they lay claim to them, and others say, no, it's our land, you can't have it, and the fanatic zeal with which people are prepared to defend their homeland. Now, it's something of that spirit that is working in Misha. That becomes evident later on in the narrative, you'll remember, the last two verses. Even though it's apparent he's defeated, he doesn't quit.
He doesn't quit. There's no white flag run up on a pole and out into the camp of Israel. He takes 700 of his choice men, and he makes a final attack to try to break through the lines and split the armies. And when that doesn't work, he figures his pagan God is not pleased that there may still be hope.
He takes his own son who was heir to his throne and upon the wall of a city offers him up as a human sacrifice. Now, whatever we say by way of disgust at that pagan practice, this man was sold out to his cause. This man Misha was no patsy. He was a great king.
And in the Moabite stone that was discovered in the 1800s, something of the greatness of this man is recorded even in that secular account. Well, in the third place, looking now at this sketch of the main characters, we have this man Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. And verse 7 tells us, that the king of Israel went to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and said, the king of Moab hath rebelled against me. Wilt thou go with me against him to battle?
And he said, I will go. Now, what do we know about Jehoshaphat? Well, we know from reading the other narratives in Chronicles and other parts of Kings that he was one of the few kings of Judah marked by real godliness. Later on, you had Joash and Josiah and Hezekiah, great kings and great men of God.
But this man Jehoshaphat was one of those who cleansed Judah of idol worship. And furthermore, he instituted a new practice. He had men that went out into Judah to teach people the law of God, knowing that if they did not replace idol worship with the knowledge of the true God, it would only be a matter of time in the language of our Lord that seven worse demons would come into the house thus cleansed of idolatry. Now, there seems to be in the midst of this godly man a weakness of character in the area of discernment with respect to his associations.
This is the man who earlier entered a league with wicked King Ahab. He used the very same language when Ahab said, Hey, brother, come help me out. He said, I'm with you. My men, my cattle are yours.
Now, in the midst of that, he manifested his unflinching commitment to the living God. He was not embarrassed, you remember, to call Ahab to bring a true prophet when Ahab was flanked by all his false prophets who were flattering him with their own notions. So he was not a compromiser. He just seemed to lack discernment in terms of the kinds of associations that he ought to establish.
And so we see him here entering into this intimate league with this wicked man, this unprincipled man, Jehoram. Jehoram. And one of the results of that was that his own son married a wicked daughter of Ahab and Jezebel who was just about cut out of the same cloth as her mother. Now, that's the blemish that's on his character.
But overall, he is set before us as a godly man. Well, that's character number three in the passage. Then we have in the fourth place an unnamed king of Edom. Look at verses eight and nine.
And he said, which way should we go up? That is, Jehoram says to Jehoshaphat, and he answered, the way of the wilderness of Edom. So the king of Israel went and the king of Judah and the king of Edom. Now, Edom was a little bit south of Moab.
So if you can get the picture, you have your two bodies of water. You have the tribes, for the most part, settled this side of the Jordan River. Down here, you have Moab and Edom. Now, Edom, south of Moab, was also conquered by David.
Later on, they revolted against the rule of Judah. In 2 Kings 8, verses 20 and 22, you read almost similar words that they rebelled against the conquering nation. Because again, you see, human nature has not changed. And even though they were in subjugation, they never accepted it comfortably.
And there was always that tension of desiring to throw off the yoke of what they regarded as an intruder, a truly nation that came out of Egypt and eventually came in and took away their, quote, homeland. But at this point, they were subject to Judah and willing to make a league with them in battle under the headship of their unnamed king. Well, then the final and fifth character whom we will briefly sketch out who is here in the passage is Elisha, the man of God. Now, at this time, he has been clearly established as a prophet of God in Israel.
You remember his first two miracles. Miracles of judgment and of mercy or mercy and of judgment. And this is so clearly established him as a prophet in Israel that when the question goes out, is there a prophet amongst you? The record says in chapter 3 and verse 11,
And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here and Jehovah is with him. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. He did not say, Let us hope that the word of the Lord is with him. Let us trust there was absolute certainty.
Here Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, was already convinced by the reports that had filtered down to Judah that this man Elisha was more than just a companion and friend of a great man of God with whom the word of God was to be found. He himself was indeed a man of God with whom the word of God was to be found. Now it is in these three kings in military alliance along with their armies set against the king of Moab and his armies with the prophet Elisha in the midst that God himself sets the stage for this skirmish between what? The seed of the woman and the seed, the seed of the serpent. It is in that setting and with these characters that God is going to display his commitment to his promise to bruise the serpent's head while allowing the heel of the seed of the woman to be bruised in the process. Well, having given this sketch of the main characters, now consider with me a synopsis of the main events in the narrative. We've looked at the people, now a synopsis of the main events.
Synopsis of Main Events: Development of the Crisis
Now some of you who occasionally attend an opera or an operetta, you see what I'm doing, don't you? You have little character sketches of the main characters and then you have a little synopsis of the plot in Act I, Act II, Act III and I'm simply using that as a teaching device. A synopsis now of the main events. How can we hold it all together?
Well, as I've meditated upon the passage, I have found it helpful to split it up into three categories or units of events. First of all, what I'm calling the development of the crisis, verses 4 through 10, then the resolution of the crisis, verses 5 through 25, and then the sequel to the crisis, verses 26 and 27. Now that shouldn't be too hard to remember, should it? First of all, then, as we try to get the heart of the main events, consider the development of the crisis.
It all begins with this rebellion of Moab recorded in verses 4 and 5. Now, Misha, king of Moab, was a sheepmaster, but it came to pass when Ahab was dead that he rebelled. Now this was serious because these nations, as I've already suggested, never enjoyed being dispossessed by the people of God. Just as you have this irreconcilable tension between Arab and Jewish, Jew over real estate, each side of the Jordan, it's our land, it's our land, you drove us out, you had no business being there.
Human nature, I say, is exactly the same. However, there is another dimension we must never forget. In those days, unlike our days, when you were able to come as an advancing army and dispossess the nation that was existing in that real estate, this was not regarded so well, so much as a monument to the prowess of the conquering army or the defending army. It was ultimately regarded as a conquest of the God of the one nation and the defeat of the God of the other.
And when you read through Old Testament history, you find this again and again. You remember that incident when the people of God were defeated and the heathen nation was able to take the Ark of the Covenant? Where did they bring it? Into their own temple.
They were saying, in essence, you see, our gods have conquered. And this is why this man, as a fine act, is willing to offer his son to his god Hema, hoping that his god will remedy and bring deliverance. And so as long as Moab, you see, is in subjugation to Israel, every devout worshipper of the gods of Moab feels the shame of their god not being able to vindicate himself. And likewise, every devout worshipper of Moab, every devout worshipper of the gods of Moab, defeat of Jehovah's armies was regarded as a failure of Jehovah. That theme is picked up in the Psalms again and again as the people of God are defeated by their heathen nations, the nations around them. Excuse me, the psalmist cries out, Oh God, what wilt thou do for thy great name? The name of God was at stake. Well, the crisis begins to develop then with this rebellion of
Moab. And then it further develops in this coalition of the three kings, verses 8 through 9a. Here you have the king of the northern tribe saying, Well, I'd like to go down and crush those fellows and bring them back into subjection and say, Cough up your mutton and your wool. But I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to try that. And since he was not a man of faith, he was not a man of God who could lay hold of a promise that, One shall put a thousand to flight and two ten. It is not by might nor by power. There's no record he prayed, no record that he sought the face of God. He says, If we're going to go down and have a fighting chance, we better get us more troops.
So he sends out an SOS to Jehoshaphat. He says, Hello, brother, you're going to come and fight with us. And no record that Jehoshaphat prayed. Now, maybe, and this is only conjecture, maybe Jehoshaphat said, Well, if you can't fight them, join them and join them and then influence them.
Maybe. That was his thought, that by joining himself to this man and showing kindness, he could help return some of the solidarity to the nation of Israel and see some steps made to reunite the northern and southern kingdoms. And perhaps something of the purification that had gone on in the southern kingdom would then spill over. His motives may have been very noble, but there's nothing in the narrative that says he sought the face of God or did this with the explicit approval of God.
All we know, is that he comes together and on the way they pick up the king of Edom and his military strength. And then they say, Now, how are we going to go? Notice what the narrative says, that Jehoram has sense enough to know that Jehoshaphat is a man of God and has more access to the throne of God and to the mind of God than he. So he doesn't impose his own military strategy. He says, How shall we go up to battle? And he said, All right, the way we're going to go is the way that is the long way, but the wise way. Now get the picture. If they were to come in from the north to the northern borders of Moab, there was a river separating them there. And no doubt the Moabites had entrenched themselves well, and anyone tried to come across that river, they'd have zapped them good. So they said, We're going to have to sneak up around the southern way
and come, as it were, at their rear flank and get them that way. So they agreed to do so. Now the crisis begins to develop. Get the picture now.
Here is the army of three nations, the armies of Israel, of Judah, and of Edom. And again, human nature being the same, can you picture something of what it was like for these men going out with this tremendous strength, a sense of strength? The three armies have come together and soldiers telling their rival stories and laughing together and speaking in derisive terms of those that they're going to conquer with ease. But one day, there is no water, and the thirst begins to take hold of them and the cattle. And the absence of water, recorded in the latter part of verse 9, intensifies the crisis. Now notice, and they made a circuit of seven days' journey, and there was no water for the host, nor for the beasts that followed them. Here is that commodity, water. Cheapest commodity there is, but at this point, there is no water for the host, nor for the beasts that followed them.
At this point, it was more precious than gold. No water. They and their cattle, their animals, all of their logistical support, the whole thing is about to come to a grinding halt in the wilderness. And then the crisis reaches its pinnacle in the despairing words of Jehoram in verse 10. Look at them. And the king of Israel said, Alas, for the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand. Of Moab. I say the crisis reaches its zenith when Jehoram, who started this whole mess, says, in essence, God's brought us out to be conquered by Moab. We've had it. And this was probably the cry of a guilty conscience coupled with a pagan fatalism. You see, a guilty conscience may be a tolerable commodity when everything's going well. But when you get your back to the wall, it's the worst of companions. And here this man who had merely gone through the form of a little bit of reformation, but in his heart had not put away Baal worship, in his external conduct was still addicted to the calf worship instituted by Jeroboam. Perhaps he could rationalize all of this,
but when he's really got his back to the wall, he's between a rock and a hard place, then he says with despair, not having a conscience that would make him feel at ease to fall upon his feet. He says, we've had it. Jehovah's brought us out. We're going to get it. And I say, coupled with this, there was probably something of the religious philosophy of the pagan worship that he'd been dabbling with, and that is fatalism. What will be, will be. You see, it's only the living God who can hear the cries of his people and move in mysterious ways to deliver them from their dilemma.
And so the disciples of Jehovah's brought us out to be conquered by Moab. And that's what we're going to do. The spirit of despair reaches its pinnacle, as these three armies, with all the pangs of thirst and seeing the fainting animals about them, sense, we've had it. Now do you see something of the precarious situation of the seed of the woman? In a very real sense, Christ was yet in the womb of the nation of Israel, and the mother is about to be killed before the child is born. This was Israel and Judah out on the plains with no water.
Exposed to these armies, they had hoped to draw them out into battle, but they didn't go for it. And the subsequent history indicates that they're watching and they see what's going on. And they're about to pounce upon them in their weakened condition. Do you see how precarious is the position of the seed of the woman?
Christ was yet in the womb of that nation. If that nation is blotted out, we have no Redeemer. The serpent and his seed had conquered and crushed, not merely bruised the seed of the woman.
Synopsis of Main Events: Resolution of the Crisis - Calling the Man of God
What a wonderful opportunity for God to say, I remember my promise. So let's move very quickly now from the crisis to the resolution of the crisis. Having looked at the development of the crisis now, how did God resolve this? Verses 11 to 25.
Well, it all begins with calling for the man of God.
And in that day, calling for the man of God meant calling for God who had sent his man. And so we read in verse 11, But Jehoshaphat said, do you catch that wonderful transition? How the word of God is full of these but transitions. Where God brings us right down.
To a situation of absolute despair, and then the word of God comes, but God, and here we have it. You have the one king over there with his hands hanging down, gripped with a guilty conscience and pagan fatalism said we've had it. But Jehoshaphat speaks in that situation. And he says in verse 11, is there not here a prophet of Jehovah that we may inquire of the Lord?
By him, if there's a prophet, we can have a true interpretation of the situation. Or we may have a word from God that things are nowhere near as bleak as they appear to the eye of sight. A prophet can tell us what God intends to do. Is there a prophet of God amongst us?
And this is wonderful. Oh, what a web of intricate providence. And I'm resisting the temptation to apply all the way through. You don't know how difficult it is.
Because we've got to get our facts before we draw our conclusions.
But you see, notice what happens. When he asks the question, one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, apparently the king of Israel is ignorant of Elisha's presence. The king of Judah is ignorant of Elisha's presence. All the great ones are ignorant.
But a little servant. God takes the weak things to confound. The things that are not to bring to naught the things that are. One of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Elisha, the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.
And Jehoshaphat said, the word of Jehovah is with him. I've already heard of his reputation. That the mantle of his predecessor fell upon him. That the waters were divided hither and thither when he spoke them with that mantle.
I've heard of the healing of that foul spring of water. I've heard of the tearing of the she-bears at Bethel. The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Eden went down to him.
And now there's a wonderful stroke of genius here. Here you have kings not sending a servant saying, Hey, preacher boy, come on up to us. No, no. The three kings, imagine what that would look like now.
The three big shots with all their entourage. They come down to pay a court visit to the man of God who hasn't been strutting around making his presence known. He's just been there, minding his business, holding communion with God. No doubt carrying on a ministry amongst the armies and preparing them for possible danger and death.
Synopsis of Main Events: Resolution of the Crisis - The Word of God Through Elisha
But you see, the crisis begins to be resolved with the calling, the calling of Elisha. Then in the second place, we have the word of God through Elisha. And when the man of God begins to give the word of God, it's a wonderful indication that God himself is going to take the field. Beginning then in verse 13, And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee?
Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay, for Jehovah hath called thee, and the three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. What does he do in the first place? Well, the first word he utters is a word of bold rebuke.
And I tell you, this thing bristles with boldness. The first thing he does when he sees Jehoram is says in essence, What do I, prophet of the true and living God, have to do with you, you miserable idol worshipper? You like to worship idols? Oh, go get some of your idols now in your crisis.
Go get some of your pop and your mama's favorites. You're very familiar with them. Oh, you may have stuck them behind a veil in your closet, but you haven't smashed them. You haven't manifested any true hatred to idolatry, though you may have for one reason or another, Jehoram, put away some of the grosser forms of your idolatry.
You're still attached to your idols. What are you calling for me for? I'm a prophet of God. Go call upon your own prophets.
He taunts them. You see, he caught something of the spirit of his predecessor. You remember upon Mount Carmel? When he taunted them with the folly of idol worship, he caught something of that spirit.
And he says, What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of thy father and the prophets of thy mother. And you see what the king admits in the face of that rebuke? He says, No, they won't do me any good in this kind of mess.
When things are going well, you can kid yourself that you can worship an idol. You can get fulfillment from something other than the true and living God. But in this situation, he says, No, the idols of my mother and my father will not do. God's brought us out to be destroyed by the king of Moab.
We're in a situation that's too desperate for man-made God. So there's the rebuke. Well then, verse 14 is a word of explanation. Look at it.
And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, and oh, again, how pregnant is that word, but we pass over it. Surely if it were not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee nor see thee. You talk about adding insult to injury. First of all, he says, What in the world have you got to do with me, you old idol worshiper?
Then he goes on to say, If it weren't for the presence of this godly man, I wouldn't give you the time of the day. I wouldn't look upon you, let alone help. So if any help is coming, Mr. Jehoram, it's not coming for anything in you.
It's coming because you happen to be in good company. And I am going to pause to apply for just a few seconds, because this has a powerful word to some of you sitting here. We'll open it up in a subsequent message more fully. The blessings that come upon many of you sitting here tonight, they do not come because of what you are, because you're an idol worshiper.
If you were taken out of the context of a godly home that has a truly praying mother and father, upon your pagan idol worship. Oh, how merciful God is to you, for the sake of the Jehoshaphat, who's under the same roof with you. So he explains to him, the word of God's going to come, and a wonderful word of promise and deliverance is going to come, but Jehoram, remember, it's for the sake of Jehoshaphat, not you. So there's the rebuke, then there's the word of explanation, then there's a word of preparation. Verse 15, look at it. But now bring me a minstrel, one who plays skillfully upon an instrument. And it came to pass when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said, Thus saith the Lord.
After the rebuke, which no doubt had run its current over his own soul, for no man of God can preach the word of God without something of his own blood being mixed with it, his own spirit is so agitated in the presence of this idol worship, and in the midst of that rebuke, his own spirit is so distraught, that he says, Now that I've delivered my soul of the rebuke, bring me a minstrel, that he may play soothing music to quiet my mind and my spirit, and place me in a proper frame to receive the word of God. And that music then has a wonderfully calming effect, and we're going to deal with that in subsequent message, the relationship between music as an art form and the state of the soul of the one who listens to it. And anyone who says music is amoral is a fool. The music was that which God used to prepare the soul of the prophet, and then the word comes in the form of a command and a promise. Look at it.
Verses 16 to 19. And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of trenches. And at that point, I'm sure, if they weren't so desperate, they'd have sent him to the nearest psychiatrist's couch. When you're sitting and dying for this!
What kind of fool's advice is this? But this was the word of Jehovah. And Jehovah says to his prophet, Dig trenches. Why?
Now the promise. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain. Yet that valley shall be filled with water, and ye shall drink both you and your cattle and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord.
He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand, and ye shall smite every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. You see, the command is dig trenches. The promise is that God will meet both prongs of their crisis. What was the crisis?
The armies of Moab and the absence of water. God says, I'll meet them. I'll meet those needs. I will fill this land with water.
Synopsis of Main Events: Resolution of the Crisis - The Work of God
And he says, This is but a light thing in the sight of God. He will deliver the Moabites into your hands with a deliverance that will be so overwhelming as to involve even a form of destruction in the wake of your conquest that was normally forbidden in the book of Deuteronomy. The conquering armies of Israel were not to destroy the fruit trees, but in this instance, because the sin of the Moabites was so deep, God even went beyond that precept and gave them warrant for total destruction of the Moabites and of their property. Well, the crisis is resolved, first of all, with calling the man of God, then with the word of God through Elisha, and then finally with the work of God himself, verses 20 to 25. Now God takes the word of God and takes the field, and hears the language. And it came to pass in the morning about the time of offering the oblation, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. The work of God is first of all manifested in this abundant supply of water.
And the first question you ask is, How did God do it? The answer is, I don't know. Because God doesn't tell us. Well, did He just create water?
Could have. That's no big deal for God. He did it in the beginning. But more likely, since it's His normal pattern, He used things already at His disposal.
He could have broken up some of the fountains of the deep and made some very quick artesian wells. Or He could have caused a storm, in the faraway mountains, in the middle of the night, so that they could not see the wind or the rain. And by morning time, the results of those downpours upon the mountains would have been the flow of water into that area. But however He did it, one thing is clear, the provision came from the hand of Almighty God.
And you see, it came in such a way that no one would know that it was water, but the Israelites who had had the promise. You see, the Moabites had been watching them out there, wearing themselves down in their thirst, waiting to pounce, and they knew there was no water. They could see the dried up streams. They knew the present conditions of the climate.
And they also would know if there had been rain in the immediate area. So the fact that they get up the next morning and they see, and that moves us now into the defeat of the army of Moab, when the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all that were able to put on armor, and stood on the border, and they rose up early in the morning. Now the day has come to pounce on them. And what do they see?
And the sun shone on the water. You know at sunset and at sunrise, if you're by water, when the sun is coming at that sharp angle, how bright the water can be. Well there in that area, the sand, I'm sorry, the soil is of a reddish color. And having filled those newly dug trenches, no doubt the water itself was tinged with the color of the soil.
And then with the brightness of the morning sun striking off those trenches of water, they said, aha, it's happened again. They knew in that moment, in their military history, that many times when different nations would come together in an alliance to fight a common enemy, they'd get fighting amongst themselves, and the enemy would never have to go against them. So they said, aha, it's happened again. Look at the language.
And they said, this is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, for they have smitten each man his fellow. Now you see, that was no odd thing. That was a common occurrence in those days of bloody hand-to-hand combat and jockeying for positions and thrones and places of influence.
So they get together and say, here's the explanation. That's nothing but blood. They've had a mass slaughter. Everything is ready for us.
Up, Moab, to the prey. As they come down into the camp, they're coming with the shouts of victory. No doubt they do not have their weapons strapped to them as soldiers going forth to conflict. They're coming with all the tools and the jocularity and the hilarity of an army that has seen the white flag.
And here they won't even have to worry about taking prisoners. They've all killed each other. All we'll do is reap the spoil. And they come running and shouting and cavorting into the camp.
And suddenly the word of God says that the Israelites turned upon them. Look at the language. Verse 24. And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them.
And they went forward into the land, smiting the Moabites. And they beat down the cities on every good piece of land. They cast every man his stone and filled it and stopped all the fountains of water and felled all the good trees, even unto Kir Haraseth. Only they left the stones thereof, albeit the swingers went about it and smote it.
Now that's a gory, bloody, gruesome tale. But this is how God fulfilled His word of promise. He says it's a light thing for me to give you water. I'll do something else.
Synopsis of Main Events: Sequel to the Crisis
In addition to this, I'll utterly give the Moabites into your hand. Well then, very briefly, the narrative closes with what I'm calling the sequel to the crisis. We've looked at the development of the crisis, the resolution of the crisis. Now here is like an epilogue.
Here's a sequel. Here's something put on the end. The army's already defeated and been dispossessed. But we have this final effort of Nisha.
Verse 26. The king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him. He took him seven hundred men that drew sword to break through unto the king of Edom. You see, he wanted to break through and somehow break up this alliance of the three nations, drive a wedge.
He was using skilled military tactic and with seven hundred of his best swordsmen he makes this final effort. But they are repulsed because the word of God had said the Moabites would be delivered into their hand. And then we see him stooping from the heights of great military bravery to the brutality and barbarism of pagan religion. Verse 27.
And he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel and they departed from him and returned to their own land. Now the last verse is a very difficult one to interpret. I think the best thing I can do is read about six sentences from Kyle who comments on this.
The great wrath was upon them after this offering up of his son. What does it mean? The meaning is this act of abomination to which the king of the Moabites had been impelled by the extremity of his distress brought a severe judgment from God upon Israel. The besiegers, that is to say, felt the wrath of God which they had brought upon themselves by occasioning a human sacrifice which is strictly forbidden in the law.
Either feeling it inwardly in their consciences or some outward visible sign so that they gave up the further prosecution of the siege and conquest of the city without having attained the object of the expedition, namely to renew the subjugation of Moab under the power of Israel. In other words, you see God who often mixes mercy and his wrath is here mixing his chastisement with his mercy. Lest perhaps Jehoram become cocky in his carnal state though God delivers the seed of the woman so it is not exterminated in the wilderness. They do not realize the full conquest of Moab because in great measure Israel was still a sinning nation and God had said that when the nation sins and when it goes forth to meet its enemies it would come back in defeat. Well then, here described in one chapter is a period of a few days in the history of the ancient people of God about 850 years before Christ. And I want to underscore as I close tonight that these were real events. The thirst that those people felt there in the wilderness of Moab was real thirst.
The Unchanging Basis of God's Gracious Dealings: Sacrifice
And the water that God sent was real water and the blood that flowed in the death and in the slaughter of the Moabites was real blood. And the devastation that left the land without trees and left all of the fields cluttered up with rock and with rubble that was real devastation. And when a young lad cried as a knife pierced his breast and was offered up as a sacrifice it was a real cry from a real beating heart. You say, Pastor Martin, you mean to say to me amidst all that gore and blood and carnage that Almighty God is at work?
I mean to say nothing less than that. This is the context of Almighty God fulfilling His promise that the seed of the woman would yet bruise the head of the serpent. There are so many lessons that could be derived from the passage but the time has gone and I had hoped tonight to direct your attention to at least three fundamental lessons concerning the character and ways of God in the passage but I will only give you one and close on this note then we'll pick up the others in subsequent studies. Will you behold in this passage what perhaps is the most fundamental issue in the entire passage behold in this passage the unchanging basis of God's gracious dealings with His people and it's this little stroke in verse 20 that answers the question why would God show mercy to a nation that even at that point in its history was inundated with idolatry and that had a history of such apostasy? Verse 20 says this and it came to pass in the morning
about the time of offering the oblation that behold there came water by the way of Edom and the country was filled with water. Stamped in the mind of every Israelite were certain periods of the day when there at Jerusalem sacrifice was being offered by the appointed priest sacrifice that was being offered by the direction of the God of the covenant who knew that he had taken to himself a sinning people a people whose relationship to him though cemented from the divine perspective by covenantal commitments was nonetheless a relationship that had to have the presence of this great truth without the shedding of blood is no remission and all the blessings of the covenant were committed or were sealed in the blood of a sacrifice there was blood sprinkled upon the people and the book of the covenant and the entire relationship to God in that covenant framework was a relationship steeped in the blood of innocent victims. God is saying by a wonderful stroke of the penman here
that this entire transaction in which God comes and shows mercy to an undeserving people is based upon the engagement of God in sacrifice and my dear friend as you and I sit here tonight we who constitute the new Israel the people of God are we not conscious as any thinking Israelite in that day was of our sin of our declension of our backslidings of our subtle forms of idolatry and departure from the living God on what basis can we hope that the living God will assuage the thirst that so often we bring upon ourselves because of our own disobedience and because of our own carnal confidence sallying forth into this and that with no sense of seeking the face of God when we bring ourselves into a wilderness of thirst what's our hope that God would yet fill the land with water it's that sacrifice has been made and the Lord Jesus has laid down his life for his own and as our advocate and high priest
who intercedes at the right hand of the Father it's on the basis of that once for all sacrifice that all our blessings are secured to us in the language of Romans 8.32 he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all oh my dear fellow Christians don't plead for blessings on the grounds of what you are and what you've done there's only one thing you can plead on that basis and that's judgment put on the grounds of what Christ has done and what Christ is it's at the hour of the offering of the morning oblation let water fill the land and for you who are still in your sins my friend if you do not have a priest offering sacrifice on your behalf interposing between you and the holy God then you will be like the Moabites the enemies of God who will be utterly destroyed for the scripture says Jesus Christ will come in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that obey not the gospel
and what is obedience to the gospel it is fleeing to that fountain open for sin and uncleanness embracing the command to repent and believe the gospel and here you see in this passage amidst all of the gore and the bloodshed and the revelation of the wickedness of the human heart God drops this little gospel nugget and it came to pass in the morning about the time of offering the oblation my friend it's when you flee to that one who offered himself without spot to God that the water of life will begin to be tasted by your thirstiness you will find that his word of promise is sure if any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink let us pray our heavenly father what thanks can we render to you for your holy your infallible your ever living word
we bless you that we have this record of your mighty deeds fulfilling your own promise to send one who would crush the head of the serpent we thank you for your tender and powerful preservation of that seed through which the true seed would come and we thank you that he has come that he has bruised the head of the wicked one we thank you that the hour is coming when that crushing will come to its final manifestation and that wicked one shall be cast into the lake of fire oh God we thank you that a sacrifice has been made we thank you that our Lord Jesus is an able and a willing savior for all who come unto you by him Lord write upon our hearts this narrative and as we further consider its many practical lessons in righteousness its many profound historical displays of doctrine oh God teach us from this portion of your word that we may derive the profit from it that you intended we should have when you inspired the writer of old
to pen these very words seal then your truth to our hearts and hear us in this our prayer we plead in Jesus name Amen
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This entire chapter is the primary text, with Martin systematically working through the narrative to extract historical facts and theological lessons.
Texts Expounded
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