13:1 In the twenty-third year of the reign of Judah’s King Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehu’s son Jehoahaz became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for seventeen years. 

 

Jehoahaz became the next king of Israel.

 

13:2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He continued in the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who had encouraged Israel to sin; he did not repudiate those sins.

 

King Jehoahaz continued in the sin of syncretism, which was mixing the worship of Jehovah with the worship of the calf god of Egypt.

 

13:3 The Lord was furious with Israel and handed them over to King Hazael of Syria and to Hazael’s son Ben Hadad for many years. 

 

Jehovah allowed Syria to afflict Israel with many defeats.

 

13:4 Jehoahaz asked for the Lord’s mercy and the Lord responded favorably, for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria.

 

King Jehoahaz finally turned to Jehovah and received help against Syria.

 

13:5 The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel and they were freed from Syria’s power. The Israelites once more lived in security.

 

The Hebrew word for “deliverer” is מוֹשִׁ֔יעַ (moshiah), meaning a savior. The root word is Yeshua, which is the Hebrew name for Jesus. The savior was either the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III, Elisha, or Jeroboam II. Assyria did attack Syria, causing Syria to recall her forces from Israel in order to fight Assyria.

 

13:6 But they did not repudiate the sinful ways of the family of Jeroboam, who encouraged Israel to sin; they continued in those sins. There was even an Asherah pole standing in Samaria. 

 

Asherah was a Canaanite goddess and a consort of Baal. The Asherah pole was similar to the totem pole of the American Indians. It represented an erect male penis.

 

13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops and trampled on them like dust. 

 

Israel’s sin led to a reduced army compared to the number of troops of Syria and Assyria. Israel did not have enough men to hold off foreign nations, unless Jehovah intervened. Jehovah would not intervene while Israel was living in idolatry. Jehovah gave these other lifeless gods the opportunity to help Israel.

 

13:8 The rest of the events of Jehoahaz’s reign, including all his accomplishments and successes, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

 

"The Annals of the Kings of Israel" was an uninspired secular book that has been lost to this day.

 

13:9 Jehoahaz passed away and was buried in Samaria. His son Joash replaced him as king. 

 

Joash became the next king of Israel.

 

13:10 In the thirty-seventh year of King Joash’s reign over Judah, Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria for sixteen years. 

 

Joash of Judah began his reign in 835 B.C.

 

13:11 He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not repudiate the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin; he continued in those sins.

 

Israel continued in the sin of syncretism.

 

13:12 The rest of the events of Joash’s reign, including all his accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

 

King Joash fought against King Amaziah, who was king of Judah and part of the Davidic messianic line. “The Annals of the Kings of Israel” was an uninspired secular book which has been lost to this day.

 

13:13 Joash passed away and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

 

Jeroboam became the next king of Israel. 

 

13:14 Now Elisha had a terminal illness. King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. He wept before him and said, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!”

 

There was nothing recorded for over 40 years of Elisha’s life. When King Joash called Elisha “the chariot and horsemen of Israel,” he was praising Elisha as the true protector of Israel.

 

13:15 Elisha told him, “Take a bow and some arrows,” and he did so.

 

Elisha was preparing King Joash to fight against Syria.

 

13:16 Then Elisha told the king of Israel, “Aim the bow.” He did so, and Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands. 

 

Elijah was symbolically transferring his miraculous power to King Joash.

 

13:17 Elisha said, “Open the east window,” and he did so. Elisha said, “Shoot!” and he did so. Elisha said, “This arrow symbolizes the victory the Lord will give you over Syria. You will annihilate Syria in Aphek!”

 

Syria was east of Israel. Elisha promised King Joash that he would have victory over Syrian in Aphek. God often teaches with visual props so that he can burn the spiritual lesson into the recipient’s head. The message here was that every arrow that the king shot with his bow would represent one victory over Syria.

 

13:18 Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows,” and he did so. He told the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” He struck the ground three times and stopped. 

 

The king must have thought that this was a stupid command. He only struck the arrow three times on the ground. He may have stopped after three times, thinking that this was foolish and would amount to nothing. He loved Elisha and may have only struck the arrow three time in order to appease a dying man.

 

13:19 The prophet got angry at him and said, “If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! But now, you will defeat Syria only three times.” 

 

If King Joash would have believed Elisha, then he would have struck the whole quiver of arrows into the ground.

 

13:20 Elisha died and was buried. Moabite raiding parties invaded the land at the beginning of the year.

 

Elisha died, meaning that the horse and chariot of Israel was gone. The beginning of the year was Spring, which was the season of war. The Moabites sensed the weakness of Israel and began invading them.

 

13:21 One day some men were burying a man when they spotted a raiding party. So they threw the dead man into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man came to life and stood on his feet. 

 

The dead man was resurrected when he touched the bones of Elisha. This meant that Elisha’s power was still alive after his death. King Joash would still receive those three victories over Syria, even though Elisha was dead.

 

13:22 Now King Hazael of Syria oppressed Israel throughout Jehoahaz’s reign.

 

Syria continued to oppress Israel during their weakness. Their weakness was caused by their involvement in syncretism. The calf god of Egypt could not save them. Israel should have turned to Jehovah, but they refused.

 

13:23 But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. He extended his favor to them because of the promise he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or remove them from his presence to this very day.

 

God continued to save Israel, because of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. Israel was saved by God’s grace, not their goodness.

 

13:24 When King Hazael of Syria died, his son Ben Hadad replaced him as king. 

 

This was the third Ben Hadad who was king of Syria.

 

13:25 Jehoahaz’s son Jehoash took back from Ben Hadad son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from his father Jehoahaz in war. Joash defeated him three times and recovered the Israelite cities. 

 

Just as Elisha predicted, Israel won three more victories against Syria.