II Kings 7:6
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For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”
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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As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because this will mean that the LORD has marched out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.
A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.
They also had thoraxes like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.
Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous.
For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”