II Kings 7:17
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Now the king had appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king had come to him.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Elisha announced to him the word of the Lord: "At the (this) time to-morrow a seah of wheaten flour (סלת, see at Kg1 5:2) will be worth a shekel, and two seahs of barley a shekel in the gate, i.e., in the market, at Samaria." A seah, or a third of an ephah = a Dresden peck (Metze), for a shekel was still a high price; but in comparison with the prices given in Kg2 6:25 as those obtained for the most worthless kinds of food, it was incredibly cheap. The king's aide-de-camp (שׁלישׁ: see at Sa2 23:8; נשׁען למּלך אשׁר, an error in writing for נשׁ המּלך אשׁר, cf. Kg2 7:17, and for the explanation Kg2 5:18) therefore replied with mockery at this prophecy: "Behold (i.e., granted that) the Lord made windows in heaven, will this indeed be?" i.e., such cheapness take place. (For the construction, see Ewald, 357, b.) The ridicule lay more especially in the "windows in heaven," in which there is an allusion to Gen 7:11, sc. to rain down a flood of flour and corn. Elisha answered seriously: "Behold, thou wilt see it with thine eyes, but not eat thereof" (see Kg2 7:17.). The fulfilment of these words of Elisha was brought about by the event narrated in Kg2 7:3.
Open source ↗Relief is here brought to Samaria and her king, when the case is, in a manner, desperate, and the king despairing. I. It is foretold by Elisha, and an unbelieving lord shut out from the benefit of it (Kg2 7:1, Kg2 7:2). II. It is brought about, 1. By an unaccountable fright into which God put the Syrians (Kg2 7:6), which caused them to retire precipitately (Kg2 7:7). 2. By the seasonable discovery which four lepers made of this (Kg2 7:3-5), and the account which they gave of it to the court (Kg2 7:8-11). 3. By the cautious trial which the king made of the truth of it (Kg2 7:12-15). III. The event answered the prediction both in the sudden plenty (Kg2 7:16), and the death of the unbelieving lord (Kg2 7:17-20); for no word of God shall fall to the ground.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east.
Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame— she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
“Throw her down!” yelled Jehu. So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?