Why does Eliseus forbid the king of Israel to kill the Syrians brought into Samaria?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Eliseus says the king did not take them with his sword or bow so that he might kill them. He tells him instead to give them bread and water, let them eat and drink, and send them to their master. They are fed and released, and the robbers of Syria come no more into Israel.

Chapter breakdown

The sons of the prophets tell Eliseus that the place where they dwell with him is too small for them. They propose going as far as the Jordan, each man taking a piece of timber from the wood to build a place there to live. Eliseus tells them to go. One asks him to come with his servants, and he agrees. He goes with them to the Jordan, where they cut down wood.

While one man is felling timber, the ax head falls into the water. He cries alas three times and tells his lord it was borrowed. Eliseus asks where it fell, and the man shows him. Eliseus cuts off a piece of wood and casts it into that place, and the iron swims. He tells the man to take it up; the man puts out his hand and takes it.

The king of Syria wars against Israel and takes counsel with his servants to lay an ambush at a particular place. Eliseus sends to Israel’s king, warning him not to pass there because the Syrians are in ambush. The king sends to the place Eliseus has warned him about and looks well to himself there, not once or twice.

The Syrian king’s heart is troubled by this. He gathers his servants and asks why they will not tell him who betrays him to Israel’s king. One answers that no one does: Eliseus, the prophet in Israel, tells Israel’s king all the words the Syrian king speaks in his private chamber.

Syria’s king tells his servants to find Eliseus so he may send and take him. They report that he is in Dothan. The king sends horses, chariots and the strength of an army there; they come by night and surround the city. Eliseus’s servant rises early, goes out and sees the army around the city with horses and chariots. He cries alas three times and asks his lord what they shall do.

Eliseus tells him not to fear, because more are with them than with the enemies. He prays for the Lord to open the servant’s eyes so he may see. The Lord opens his eyes, and he sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire around Eliseus.

The enemies come down to Eliseus. He prays to the Lord to strike this people with blindness, and the Lord strikes them with blindness according to his word.

Challoner’s separate note explains this as a particular kind of blindness: they could not see the objects really before them, and different objects were represented to their imagination. They no longer perceived Dothan or recognized Eliseus. Taking him for another man, they were easily led by him to Samaria. The note says he truly told them this was not the way or city because he spoke in relation to the way and city represented to them.

Eliseus tells them this is not the way or the city, asks them to follow him, and says he will show them the man they seek. He leads them into Samaria. There he prays for the Lord to open these men’s eyes so they may see. The Lord opens their eyes, and they see themselves in the midst of Samaria.

Seeing them, Israel’s king addresses Eliseus as father and asks whether he shall kill them. Eliseus tells him not to kill them: he did not take them with his sword or bow so that he might kill them. He tells him to set bread and water before them so they may eat and drink and go to their master. A great provision of meats is set before them; they eat and drink, and he lets them go. They return to their master, and the robbers of Syria come no more into the land of Israel.

After these things, Benadad, king of Syria, gathers all his army and besieges Samaria. A great famine follows. The siege lasts so long that an ass’s head is sold for eighty pieces of silver and a quarter of a cabe of pigeons’ dung for five pieces of silver.

As Israel’s king passes by upon the wall, a woman cries to him to save her, addressing him as her lord and king. He asks how he can save her if the Lord does not, whether from the barnfloor or the winepress. He asks what ails her, and she answers.

The woman says another woman told her to give her son so they could eat him that day, and that they would eat the other woman’s son tomorrow. She reports that they boiled and ate her son. On the next day she asked the other woman to give her son so they could eat him, but the other woman had hidden him.

When the king hears this, he tears his garments and passes by upon the wall. All the people see the haircloth he wears underneath, next to his flesh. He says may God do so and so to him and add more if the head of Eliseus, son of Saphat, remains on him that day.

Eliseus sits in his house with the ancients sitting beside him. The king sends a man ahead. Before the messenger comes, Eliseus asks the ancients whether they know that this son of a murderer has sent to cut off his head. He tells them to watch for the messenger, shut the door when he comes and not let him enter, because the sound of his master’s feet is behind him.

While Eliseus is still speaking to them, the messenger appears, coming to him. The verse then says he declared that so great an evil was from the Lord and asked what more he should look for from the Lord. It does not name the speaker beyond that pronoun.

The story inside

The chapter first follows the sons of the prophets from a request for more room to timber cutting at the Jordan. A borrowed ax head falls into the water; the place is shown to Eliseus, who casts wood there, and the iron swims and is taken up. During war, Eliseus’s warning about Syrian ambushes leads Israel’s king to guard himself repeatedly. Syria’s king asks who is betraying him, receives his servant’s explanation about Eliseus and sends an army to Dothan to take him. Eliseus answers his servant’s question with a comparison of those with them and the enemy, then prays for his eyes to open. His next prayer asks blindness for the enemies. They follow him to Samaria, where another prayer precedes their opened eyes. The king’s question about killing them receives a prohibition, a stated reason and instructions to feed and release them. The robbers cease coming to Israel, but the account next describes Benadad gathering his army and besieging Samaria. The long siege brings famine and the named prices. A woman’s appeal leads to her account of eating her son and the other woman hiding hers. The king tears his garments and makes an oath against Eliseus’s life. Eliseus tells the ancients in his house what to do when the messenger comes. The messenger appears while he is speaking, and the chapter ends with a declaration about the evil being from the Lord and a question about what more to expect.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The account gives a chain of warnings and responses. Eliseus warns Israel’s king about an ambush; Syria’s king becomes troubled, asks who betrays him and hears his servant identify Eliseus as the source of the warnings. This leads to the search for Eliseus and the army’s arrival at Dothan. Keeping those stated links explains the pursuit without inventing a spy, a new military plan or a private motive.
2
The king’s question in Samaria receives a specific answer. Eliseus forbids killing the Syrians and says the king did not take them with sword or bow so that he might kill them. Food and release follow. The source says the robbers of Syria came no more, then separately recounts Benadad’s siege. These two events keep the result of the release distinct from a claim that all Syrian war ended.
3
The ending distinguishes what is seen, said and ordered. All the people see the king’s haircloth after he tears his garments; he then makes an oath against Eliseus. Eliseus orders the ancients to shut the door against the coming messenger, and the messenger appears. The passage supplies no narrated closing of the door or explicit arrival of the king. Retaining the last question also preserves how the chapter ends rather than replacing it with invented motives or emotions.

Test your recall

How do the repeated ambush warnings lead to the attempt to take Eliseus at Dothan, and how do the king’s questions in Samaria lead first to feeding the Syrians and later to the account that precedes his oath against Eliseus?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 38621–38641
4 Kings Chapter 6 Eliseus maketh iron to swim upon the water: he leadeth the Syrians that were sent to apprehend him into Samaria, where there eyes being opened, they are courteously entertained. The Syrians besiege Samaria: the famine there causeth a woman to eat her own child. Upon this the king commandeth Eliseus to be put to death. 6:1. And the sons of the prophets said to Eliseus: Behold, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. 6:2. Let us go as far as the Jordan, and take out of the wood every man a piece of timber, that we may build us there a place to dwell in. And he said: Go. 6:3. And one of them said: But come thou also with thy servants. He answered: I will come. 6:4. So he went with them. And when they were come to the Jordan, they cut down wood.
Lines 38642–38651
6:5. And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of the ax fell into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed. 6:6. And the man of God said: Where did it fall? and he shewed him the place: Then he cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in thither: and the iron swam. 6:7. And he said: Take it up. And he put out his hand, and took it.
Lines 38652–38661
6:8. And the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying: In such and such a place, let us lay an ambush. 6:9. And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware that thou pass not to such a place: for the Syrians are there in ambush. 6:10. And the king of Israel, sent to the place which the man of God had told him, and prevented him, and looked well to himself there not once nor twice.
Lines 38662–38669
6:11. And the heart of the king of Syria, was troubled for this thing. And calling together his servants, he said: Why do you not tell me who it is that betrays me to the king of Israel? 6:12. And one of his servants said: No one, my lord, O king: but Eliseus, the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel all the words, that thou speakest in thy privy chamber.
Lines 38670–38679
6:13. And he said to them: Go, and see where he is: that I may send and take him. And they told him: saying: Behold he is in Dothan. 6:14. Therefore, he sent thither horses, and chariots, and the strength of an army: and they came by night, and beset the city. 6:15. And the servant of the man of God, rising early went out, and saw an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and he told him, saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we do?
Lines 38680–38687
6:16. But he answered: Fear not: for there are more with us than with them. 6:17. And Eliseus prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about Eliseus.
Lines 38688–38691
6:18. And the enemies came down to him: but Eliseus prayed to the Lord, saying: Strike, I beseech thee, this people with blindness: and the Lord struck them with blindness, according to the word of Eliseus.
Lines 38692–38700
Blindness.... The blindness here spoken of was of a particular kind, which hindered them from seeing the objects that were really before them; and represented other different objects to their imagination: so that they no longer perceived the city of Dothan, nor were able to know the person of Eliseus; but were easily led by him, whom they took to be another man, to Samaria. So that he truly told them, this is not the way, neither is this the city, etc., because he spoke with relation to the way and to the city, which was represented to them.
Lines 38701–38708
6:19. And Eliseus said to them: This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will shew you the man whom you seek. So he led them into Samaria. 6:20. And when they were come into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.
Lines 38709–38720
6:21. And the king of Israel said to Eliseus, when he saw them: My father, shall I kill them? 6:22. And he said: Thou shalt not kill them: for thou didst not take them with thy sword, or thy bow, that thou mayst kill them: but set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 6:23. And a great provision of meats was set before them, and they ate and drank; and he let them go: and they went away to their master: and the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
Lines 38721–38729
6:24. And it came to pass, after these things, that Benadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. 6:25. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeons’ dung, for five pieces of silver.
Lines 38730–38735
6:26. And as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain woman cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord, O king. 6:27. And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered:
Lines 38736–38742
6:28. This woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. 6:29. So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day: Give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son.
Lines 38743–38750
6:30. When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next to his flesh. 6:31. And the king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add more, if the head of Eliseus, the son of Saphat, shall stand on him this day.
Lines 38751–38757
6:32. But Eliseus sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him. So he sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he said to the ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer hath sent to cut off my head? Look then when the messenger shall come, shut the door, and suffer him not to come in: for behold the sound of his master’s feet is behind him.
Lines 38758–38762
6:33. While he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared, who was coming to him. And he said: Behold, so great an evil is from the Lord: what shall I look for more from the Lord?