2 Kings 3:6–19 (AV)
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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 3:6–19, “And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel. And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses. And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom. So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab! But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And 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. 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 the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. But now bring me a minstrel. 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, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.”
After the king of Moab refused to pay any more tribute, Jehoram decided that he should go and teach him a lesson. He made a census of Israel so that he could muster an army. He also asked Jehoshaphat, who still hadn’t learnt his lesson, to come and help him force the king of Moab to pay his tribute again. They decided to attack through the kingdom of Edom and seek help from their king as well. This involved going south, around the bottom of the Dead Sea and coming up to Moab from the south. They marched through the desert for seven days and ran out of water. Jehoram blamed the Lord for bringing the three kings and their armies into the desert to destroy them but Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet for he understood that the Lord often used difficult times to give His people lessons. One of Jehoram’s attendants told his king that Elisha was there. When they consulted Elisha, he rebuked Jehoram for Israel’s sinful ways and then asked for someone to play music while he waited for the Lord’s message. The Lord gave Elisha a message and he told the kings to get their troops to dig many ditches in the area where they were camped. The Lord promised that water would come down the dry water courses and they would have plenty of water. They were to do this so that they could deal with Moab properly and completely destroy the people and the capacity of the Land to support any people at all.
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