2 Kings 3:13-19 - Homiletics

The servant of God in the presence of the great of the earth.

Three lessons may be learnt from the conduct of Elisha before the confederate kings.

I. A LESSON OF ZEAL FOR GOD . Elisha does not allow himself to be abashed by the earthly grandeur and dignity of his visitors, or to be rendered yielding and complaisant by the compliment which they have paid him in seeking him out, instead of summoning him to their presence. As the servant and minister of God, he is always in a grander presence than theirs ("As the Lord God liveth, before whom I stand ," 2 Kings 3:14 ); and as God's mouthpiece he is entitled to be approached, even by the most exalted of human dignitaries, as a superior. Out of zeal for God he asserts himself, and adopts a tone of rebuke, remonstrance, and almost contempt, which would have ill befitted a subject, had he not been acting in the capacity of God's prophet and representative.

II. A LESSON OF FEARLESSNESS . Oriental kings are not accustomed to rebuke, and are apt to resent it. They have despotic, or quasi-despotic power, and can visit with very severe pains and penalties those who provoke them. Ahab imprisoned Micaiah the son of Imlah, and fed him with "the bread of affliction and the water of affliction" ( 1 Kings 22:27 ); Jezebel sought Elijah's life ( 1 Kings 19:2 ); Joash was privy to the murder of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada ( 2 Chronicles 24:20 ). In openly rebuking Jehoram, his sovereign, on account of his idolatry, Elisha showed a boldness and a fearlessness that were at once surprising and admirable. He evidently "did not fear what flesh could do unto him' ( Psalms 56:4 ).

III. A LESSON OF PREPAREDNESS FOR DIVINE EFFLUENCES . Elisha, having exhibited his zeal for God and his fearlessness of man, had finally to address himself to the special needs of the occasion. Three kings had applied to him to know the will of God with respect to a certain difficult conjuncture. He did not yet know it. How could he bring himself into the frame of mind best fitted to receive an effluence from on high? He regarded music as, under the circumstances, the best preparation. His example teaches us