Slices
Prepare
Still your heart and mind before God. Note down and put aside for later any thoughts that might distract you.
Bible passage
Moab revolts
3 Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.
4 Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilised all Israel. 7 He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: ‘The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?’
‘I will go with you,’ he replied. ‘I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.’
8 ‘By what route shall we attack?’ he asked.
‘Through the Desert of Edom,’ he answered.
9 So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.
10 ‘What!’ exclaimed the king of Israel. ‘Has the Lord called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?’
11 But Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may enquire of the Lord?’
An officer of the king of Israel answered, ‘Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.’
12 Jehoshaphat said, ‘The word of the Lord is with him.’ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘Why do you want to involve me? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.’
‘No,’ the king of Israel answered, ‘because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab.’
14 Elisha said, ‘As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you. 15 But now bring me a harpist.’
While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha 16 and he said, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 17 For this is what the Lord says: you will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver Moab into your hands. 19 You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, block up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.’
20 The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was – water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.
21 Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border. 22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red – like blood. 23 ‘That’s blood!’ they said. ‘Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!’
24 But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. 25 They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it.
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. 27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.
Explore
Verse 2 tells us that King Joram was not a good king, but neither was he as bad as the previous generation. Although he removed the ‘stone of Baal’ (v 2), Joram continued in the ‘sins of Jeroboam’ (v 3) which were the worship of other gods.
Although King Joram twice asserts that the Lord has brought the armies together in a desert to die (vs 10,13), there is no mention of the Lord’s involvement in the decision of the three kings to go to war against Moab. Despite his general lack of respect for the Lord, Joram views Moab’s rebellion against Israel as an affront against the Lord and the war on Moab, therefore, as God’s battle. So King Joram of Israel blames the Lord when the armies find themselves in a place without water (v 10). However, King Jehoshaphat of Judah suggests finding a prophet of the Lord to ask for guidance (v 11). Joram is ready to blame the Lord for his problems, but doesn’t think to seek him for a solution. Happily though, he goes along with the plan to consult Elisha.
People are often quick to blame God when things go wrong, but slow to seek him for guidance either before embarking on a course of action or when it all goes pear-shaped. Let’s be those who seek the Lord at every step.
Respond
Ask the Lord for fresh guidance in your current circumstances.
Deeper Bible study
Lord God, there are many parts of Scripture that I do not understand and some parts, even, that I may not like. Help me to learn in submission to you.
In this chapter, Elisha is instrumental in bringing about another miracle concerning water. He also executes a different kind of miraculous event, for the Moabites mistake the water for blood when they see the sun shining on it. These two events lead to Israel winning the battle.
The ending is troubling. The Moabites make a human sacrifice and then a great fury comes on Israel and they withdraw. It might be that the battle goes against Israel (perhaps the Moabites were inspired by the public sacrifice), but commentators have also suggested (eg Hobbs in the Word commentary series) that the Israelites withdraw in disgusted fury. The wider context of the Old Testament precludes the possibility that a human sacrifice to a foreign god would have been effective.
In chapter 1, King Ahaziah fell through the lattice window and injured himself, so he wanted to enquire of foreign gods if he would recover. On the face of it, it might have seemed to Ahaziah that the God of Israel was ineffectual, for he did not prevent the king’s fall. As readers of faith, we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that we would have behaved better and would not have been tempted to doubt God or his power. On the face of it, the ending to chapter 3 suggests the human sacrifice works, for the Israelites go home. Perhaps we are now in a quandary. Do the foreign gods after all have power to accept a human sacrifice and to turn the tide of war against God’s people? Such thinking brings us closer to Ahaziah, for we too are now doubting God’s power by looking no further than the face of the situation, even though we have just read a few verses earlier of God’s miraculous interventions.
Interpreting Scripture well is both an art and a science, needing practice and discernment. We may frequently get it wrong, but let our starting point be God’s goodness and power.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 59,60; Psalms 110,111
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks for God’s gifting and direction as over the summer we have re-envisioned aspects of our Revealing Jesus offering. Pray that through this development, we will be able to support a wider number of local churches in using our mission framework to journey alongside the 95 in their communities.
