Flood of Victory

INTRO

In today’s lesson, we’ll see a picture of God’s provision for the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom through God’s Word delivered by Elisha. Wiersbe states, “Elisha’s miracles were primarily revelations of God’s grace and mercy.”1 Elisha’s life points to the coming Messiah as the Surviving Seed.

TEACHING

2 Kings 3:1–3: Ahab was king over Israel, and Jezebel was his queen. Ahab and Jezebel had two sons: Ahaziah and Joram. Ahaziah had been king before Joram, but he only ruled for two years (1 Kings 22:51).

2 Kings 3:4–5: King Mesha of Moab rebelled against King Ahaziah. King Ahaziah accepted Mesha’s rebellion and did nothing to force Mesha to continue to pay tribute from Moab. But when Ahaziah’s brother Joram became king, he decided to force Moab to start paying the tribute again.

2 Kings 3:6–9: King Joram from the northern kingdom asked King Jehoshaphat from the southern kingdom to join him against Moab. His request was based on the family relationship between them—Jehoram, one of the sons of Jehoshaphat, was married to Joram’s sister, Athaliah. Jehoshaphat, who had defeated the Moabites the year before with God’s help, agreed.

The kings of Israel and Judah approached Moab from the back way, which would have been the more indirect route to attack. King Mesha would not have been expecting an attack to come from this direction. As they traveled through Edom, the king of Edom also joined them to fight against Moab. It was a good plan, but Joram and Jehoshaphat didn’t take the availability of supplies into account. They must have thought they would eventually run across a river or stream, but after seven days, they had not come across water, and their supplies were exhausted.

2 Kings 3:10–12: Jehoshaphat suggested they seek the prophet Elisha to hear what God wanted them to do. Joram didn’t like Elisha because Elisha never had anything good to say about him, but Joram listened to Jehoshaphat’s advice to go talk to Elisha. Joram seemed to be one of those guys who defaulted to a worst-case scenario mindset. When they didn’t have any supplies, he immediately concluded God had brought them together only to have the Moabites defeat them.

2 Kings 3:13–14: Elisha initially told Joram to go talk to the prophets of his mother and his father. Joram’s parents were King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, with whom Elijah had many dealings. Joram was probably one of the worst kings in either of the kingdoms of Israel or Judah, being just a tad bit better than Ahab or Jehu. Jehoshaphat was on the other end of the spectrum. Jehoshaphat wasn’t quite as good as David, but he was still a righteous king who served the Lord. Elisha served as a buffer here. He tried to reign things in and keep the kings on track.

2 Kings 3:15: Elisha’s request of a musician was reminiscent of when David played the harp to calm Saul: “Now the Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the LORD began to torment him, so Saul’s servants said to him, ‘You see that an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord command your servants here in your presence to look for someone who knows how to play the lyre. Whenever the evil spirit from God troubles you, that person can play the lyre, and you will feel better.’ Then Saul commanded his servants, ‘Find me someone who plays well and bring him to me.’ One of the young men answered, ‘I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is also a valiant man, a warrior, eloquent, handsome, and the LORD is with him.’ . . . Whenever the spirit from God troubled Saul, David would pick up his lyre and play, and Saul would then be relieved, feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him” (1 Samuel 16:14–18, 23). There is something about the playing of a melody on the ear that can affect the spirit.

2 Kings 3:16–20: Elisha instructed the kings to dig trenches and proclaimed that God would fill the trenches with water to provide for their immediate need by quenching their thirst. But God would also go one step further by giving the Moabites into their hands. We don’t know how severe this drought was for the armies, but without God intervening through Elisha they could have been facing death.

2 Kings 3:21–23: Moab’s army may have gone over to Judah’s camp without their armor or weapons because they didn’t think there was an oncoming battle. They thought the three kings in Judah’s camp had turned on one another, and they were simply going to gather the spoils of battle.

2 Kings 3:24–26: The king of Edom may have been somewhat neutral in the battle, which led the king of Moab to take seven hundred swordsmen to break through the lines to him. Edom and Moab were neighbors, so they may have had a good relationship. The Moabites were probably peace-loving people. They were known for herding sheep, and you don’t think of shepherds as being war-makers.

2 Kings 3:27: When the king of Moab sacrificed his firstborn son as a burnt offering, it’s almost as though the other kings asked one another in disgust, “What’s he doing?” and went home. “The New English Bible reads, ‘The Israelites were filled with such consternation at this sight, that they struck camp and returned to their own land.’”2

CLOSING

Joram, the king of Israel, was another evil king who did evil in God’s sight. Yet, God allowed him a victory of sorts over the Moabites because Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, was with him. Once again, God preserved the lineage of David through the kings of Judah.