Three armies — Israel, Judah, and Edom — march the long way round to put down a Moabite revolt, and after seven days they run out of water in the desert. The king of Israel is sure the LORD has gathered them only to hand them to Moab. Jehoshaphat asks the question that should have come first: is there a prophet here? Elisha comes, calls for a minstrel, and gives a strange order — make this valley full of ditches — and promises water with no cloud and no wind to bring it.
A study in 2 Kings 3 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 7 min read
He Put Away The Image Of Baal
“And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.”
2 Kings 3:2-3
Jehoram is a half-measure. He pulls down the pillar of Baal his father Ahab set up — a real, public break with his mother’s religion — and then keeps the golden calves of Jeroboam, the state cult that lets Israel worship without going up to Jerusalem. He reforms what is embarrassing and keeps what is convenient. The verdict is still “he wrought evil,” because a tidied-up idolatry is idolatry.
“Jehoram himself ‘wrought evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jereboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.’”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 212
Is There Not Here A Prophet Of The LORD?
“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.”
2 Kings 3:11-12
The campaign was planned, provisioned, and under way before anyone thought to ask God about it. Now, dry and cornered, Jehoram assumes the worst about the LORD — “the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” It is Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who asks for a prophet, and a servant who knows exactly where one is: the man who used to pour water on Elijah’s hands. The kings have to go down to him; he does not come up to the camp.
Elisha is blunt with Jehoram: go to your parents’ prophets. He will act at all only “because I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat.” One believing man in a coalition of unbelievers is reason enough for God to move.
“Elisha’s was a more peaceful mission; his it was to build up and strengthen the work that Elijah had begun; to teach the people the way of the Lord.”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 235
Ye Shall Not See Wind, Neither Shall Ye See Rain
“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.”
2 Kings 3:16-18
The order comes first, and it is work: dig. An exhausted army is told to spend the night cutting trenches across a dry wadi for water they cannot see, hear, or smell coming. There will be no storm on the horizon to make the digging feel reasonable. The sign that they believe the promise is a valley full of empty ditches by morning.
Rain had fallen in the Edomite hills, out of sight; the flood would arrive down the wadi with no weather where the armies stood. God’s supply was already on its way before the command was given — but it would fill only what they had dug. “This is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD”: the water was the small part; the victory over Moab was thrown in.
The Country Was Filled With Water
“And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. … And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.”
2 Kings 3:20-23
The water arrives “when the meat offering was offered” — at the hour of morning sacrifice in Jerusalem, as if to sign whose gift it was. The same water that saved the three armies destroyed Moab: red in the dawn light, it looked like a battlefield, and Moab charged in to loot a camp that was very much alive.
The chapter ends dark. Cornered in his last city, the king of Moab offers his own heir as a burnt offering on the wall, in full view of the besiegers, “and there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed.” The relief was real; the campaign of a compromised king still trailed off in horror. Elisha’s ministry from here on will be mostly this — God’s mercy reaching people through him even in an age that keeps making a ruin of itself.
“Inspiration pictures him as coming into personal touch with the people, surrounded by the sons of the prophets, bringing by his miracles and his ministry healing and rejoicing.”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 235
