(32) But Elisha sat . . . with him.--Rather, Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. This shows the important position which the prophet occupied at the time. The elders, who were the nobles and chiefs of Samaria, were gathered round him in his house to learn the will of Jehovah, and to receive comfort and counsel from his lips. (Comp. the way in which Zedekiah and his princes consulted Jeremiah during the last siege of Jerusalem--Jeremiah 21:1-2; Jeremiah 38:14, seq.)

And the king sent a man.--To behead the prophet, according to his oath.

From before him.--Comp. 2Kings 5:16; 2Kings 3:14; 1Kings 10:8. One of the royal attendants--probably a soldier of the guard--is meant.

But ere.--"But" is wanting in the Hebrew. (The conjunction w? has, perhaps, fallen out after the preceding w.)

He said to the elders.--Elisha foreknew what was about to happen. (Comp. 2Kings 5:26.) The he is emphatic: "He (the prophet) said."

This son of a murderer.--Referring to Ahab's murder of Naboth (1Kings 21:19) and the prophets of Jehovah; as if to say, "The son takes after his father" (filius patrissat). At the same time, we must not forget the idiom by which a man is called a son of any quality or disposition which he evinces. (Comp. "son of Belial," "sons of pride," "sons of wickedness;" 2Samuel 7:10; Job 41:34).

Hold him fast at the door.--Literally, press him back with the door. The door opened inwards, and the prophet bade his friends the elders hold the door against the messenger of death.

Is not the sound . . . behind him?--Elisha's reason for bidding the elders hold the door. He foresaw that Jehoram would hasten in person after his messenger, to see that his savage order was carried out. (Bahr and Keil think, with Josephus, that Jehoram repented, and hurried off to restrain the sword of his minister.)

Verse 32. - But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him. It is best to translate, Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him, when the king sent a man from before him. Elisha had a house in Samaria, where he ordinarily resided, and from which he made his circuits. He happened to be sitting there, and the elders of the city to be sitting with him, when Jehoram sent "a man from before him," i.e. one of the court officials, to put him to death. The "elders" had probably assembled at Elisha's house to consult with him on the critical situation of affairs, and (if possible) obtain from him some miraculous assistance. But ere the messenger came to him; he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head; Elisha was supernaturally warned of what was about to take place - that an executioner was coming almost immediately to take away his life, and that the king himself would arrive shortly after. He calls the king "this son of a murderer," or rather "this son of the murderer," with reference to Ahab, the great murderer of the time, who had sanctioned all Jezebel's cruelties-the general massacre of the prophets of Jehovah (1 Kings 18:13), the judicial murder of Naboth (1 Kings 21:9-13), the attempt to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:2) - and had, by a fierce and long continued persecution, reduced the worshippers of Jehovah in Israel to the scanty number of seven thousand (1 Kings 19:18). Jehoram had now shown that he inherited the bloodthirsty disposition of his father, and had justly earned the epithet which Elisha bestowed on him. Look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door. Keil renders the last clause, "force him back at the door;" the LXX. "press upon him in the doorway" - παραθλίψατε αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ θύρᾳ ( τηεψ were not to allow him to enter the apartment. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? Elisha adds this as a reason why the elders should stop the messenger. He could not in a general way have expected them to resist the king's will as declared by his representative; but he might reasonably ask a short respite, if the king was just about to arrive at the house, to confirm the order that he had given, or to revoke it.

6:24-33 Learn to value plenty, and to be thankful for it; see how contemptible money is, when in time of famine it is so freely parted with for any thing that is eatable! The language of Jehoram to the woman may be the language of despair. See the word of God fulfilled; among the threatenings of God's judgments upon Israel for their sins, this was one, that they should eat the flesh of their own children, De 28:53-57. The truth and the awful justice of God were displayed in this horrible transaction. Alas! what miseries sin has brought upon the world! But the foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord. The king swears the death of Elisha. Wicked men will blame any one as the cause of their troubles, rather than themselves, and will not leave their sins. If rending the clothes, without a broken and contrite heart, would avail, if wearing sackcloth, without being renewed in the spirit of their mind, would serve, they would not stand out against the Lord. May the whole word of God increase in us reverent fear and holy hope, that we may be stedfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labour is not in vain in the Lord.And Elisha sat in his house,.... In Samaria:

and the elders sat with him; not the elders of the city, or the magistrates thereof, but his disciples, as Josephus says (p), the eldest of them, whom he admitted to greater familiarity and converse with him:

and the king sent a man from before him; to execute what he had sworn should be done that day to the prophet:

but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, see ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? which he knew by a spirit of prophecy, and spoke of it before the executioner came; he calls Joram the son of a murderer, because of his mother Jezebel, who killed Naboth, and the prophets of the Lord, and to which his father Ahab also consented, and therefore might be so called too; and he intimates hereby that he was of the same temper and disposition, and as the above oath, and his orders, showed:

look when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door; and not suffer him to come in:

is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? that is, of Joram king of Israel, who followed the messenger, either to listen and hear what the prophet would say unto him; or repenting of his order, as Josephus (q) thinks, he followed him to prevent the execution.

(p) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.) (q) Ibid.