2 Kings 3 · WEB
The Moabite Campaign and a Miracle in the Desert
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Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
2He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, but not like his father and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.
3Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he didn't depart from them.
4Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of a hundred thousand lambs and of a hundred thousand rams.
5But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
6King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel.
7He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?" He said, "I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."
8He said, "Which way shall we go up?" He answered, "The way of the wilderness of Edom."
9So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days' journey. There was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them.
10The king of Israel said, "Alas! For Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab."
11But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there here a prophet of Yahweh, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him?" One of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah."
12Jehoshaphat said, "The word of Yahweh is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." The king of Israel said to him, "No; for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab."
14Elisha said, "As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, if it were not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you nor see you.
15But now bring me a musician." When the musician played, the hand of Yahweh came on him.
16He said, "Yahweh says, 'Make this valley full of trenches.'
17For Yahweh says, 'You will not see wind, neither will you see rain; yet that valley will be filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your animals.'
18This is a small thing in the sight of Yahweh. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.
19You shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and shall cut down every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones."
20In the morning, about the time of offering the offering, behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
21When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor and upward, and stood on the border.
22They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood.
23They said, "This is blood! The kings have surely fought together and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the plunder!"
24When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites, so that they fled before them. They went forward into the land attacking the Moabites.
25They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone and filled it. They stopped all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees, until only the stones of Kir Hareseth were left. The men who used slings went around it and struck it.
26When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not.
27Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him and returned to their own land.
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Summary
Israel, Judah, and Edom ally against the rebelling Moabites and march through the waterless wilderness of Edom. When the armies face death by thirst, Jehoshaphat seeks a prophet of Yahweh and finds Elisha, who reluctantly consults God out of respect for Jehoshaphat. Elisha promises both water and military victory: the next morning water miraculously fills the valley, and the Moabites mistake it for blood, rushing headlong into an ambush. Despite total military defeat, the desperate Moabite king sacrifices his own son on the city wall, causing Israel to withdraw.
Themes
- The importance of seeking God's prophet before battle
- God's provision in impossible circumstances
- The contrast between faithful Jehoshaphat and compromised Jehoram
- The horror and desperation of false religion (child sacrifice)
Key verses
- 2 Kgs 3:14 — “As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, if it were not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you nor see you.”
- 2 Kgs 3:17 — “You will not see wind, neither will you see rain; yet that valley will be filled with water.”
- 2 Kgs 3:27 — “Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall.”
Context & background
Moab occupied the territory east of the Dead Sea in what is now modern Jordan. The Mesha Stele (or Moabite Stone), discovered in 1868 and now in the Louvre, is an actual inscription by King Mesha of Moab that describes his rebellion against Israel — one of the most remarkable archaeological confirmations of a biblical event. The campaign route through Edom took the armies around the southern end of the Dead Sea through extremely arid terrain. Kir Hareseth is modern Kerak, Jordan, a strategically placed city on a high plateau still bearing the ruins of a Crusader castle. The practice of a musician preparing Elisha for prophecy suggests music had a role in prophetic experience in ancient Israel.
Cross-references
- 1 Kgs 22:1-40 — Jehoshaphat's earlier alliance with Ahab against Syria, and seeking a prophet before battle
- 2 Chr 20:1-30 — Jehoshaphat's earlier reliance on God when Moab attacked Judah
- Lev 18:21 — God's prohibition of child sacrifice, making the Moabite king's act an abomination
- Num 24:17 — Balaam's prophecy about Moab, previewing Israel's later conflicts
- Ps 33:16-17 — "A king is not saved by the multitude of an army" — the principle behind seeking God first