2 Kings, Chapter 13
Synopsis: Jehu’s son, Jehoahaz, becomes King of Israel. Then his son, Jehoash, becomes King of Israel. Both are evil. Both have similar encounters with Hazael and Ben-Hadad, father and son, who both served as King of Aram. These Kings of Aram oppress Israel and despite the Kings of Israel being evil, God shows compassion because of 1) how severely Israel was being treated and 2) His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Two things leap out.
One is, that to save Israel from Hazael, while under Jehoahaz’s rule, it is written that the Lord provided a deliverer. The identity of the deliverer is not given to us. Perhaps because the most important thing is that the origin of the deliverer, God, is more important in the narrative than the means and mechanism of the deliverer.
Second, this chapter details Elisha’s death from an unspecified illness. His life ends with a prophecy that is basically that because Jehoash only struck the arrows on the ground three times he will only destroy Aram three times, whereas he should have struck the floor 5 or 6 times in order to completely defeat Aram. I assume the anger from Elisha to Jehoash is because he wasn’t amped up enough? In fact, yes, Elisha’s anger seems to be linked to a half hearted obedience and lack of faith from the King of Israel. Elisha had, I have learned, spent his whole life fighting for Israel and this was a moment that God was showing the King how to win out, but Jehoash isn’t committed.
And then it is simply written “Elisha died and was buried.” That’s it for Elisha.
I think the encounter with Elisha and the arrow/ground striking is particularly interesting.