(13) Let some take.--Literally, And (i.e., then) let them take. (Comp. 2Kings 2:9; 2Kings 4:41.)

Five.--Used as an indefinite small number, like our "half a dozen." (Comp. Leviticus 26:8; Isaiah 30:17.) The actual number taken was two pairs (2Kings 7:14).

The horses that remain, which are left in the city.--Literally, the remaining horses that remain in it. The repetition dwells pathetically on the fewness of those that survive. Instead of "in it," the LXX. and Arabic read "here," which may be right, as the two Hebrew terms closely resemble each other.

Behold, they are as all . . . consumed.--The king's adviser supposes two contingencies: the horses (and their drivers) may return safe, in which case they share the fortune of "all the multitude of Israel that are left" (i.e., have survived the famine, but are likely to die of it); or they may be taken and slain by the enemy, in which case they will be "even as all the multitude that are consumed" (i.e., by the famine and fighting). The sense is thus the same as in 2Kings 7:4. The servant is not much more sanguine than the king: he says, "They have to perish in any case; whether here by famine, or there by the sword, makes little difference." "However it may turn out, nothing worse can happen to the men we send out than has already happened to many others, or than will yet happen to the rest." But perhaps Reuss is right in seeing here simply a reference to the wretched condition of the horses. "Qu'attendre de chevaux qui sont extenues de faim?" A natural doubt whether the starving animals are adequate to the service required of them. "Consumed," then, means spent, exhausted.

The multitude of Israel.--The article with the first word in the Hebrew is the error of a transcriber, who, as often occurs, wrote the same letter twice.

The Israelites.--Israel. Syriac: "Let them bring five of the horsemen who are left: if they are taken, they are accounted of as all the people of Israel who have perished; and let us send and see."

Verse 13. - And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain. One of Jehoram's "servants," i.e. of the officers attached to his person, suggested that a small body of horse (four or five) should be sent out to reconnoiter. The besieged had still some horses left, though apparently not many. Note the phrase, "five of the horses that remain." The majority had died of want, or been killed to furnish food to the garrison. (Behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it - i.e. in Samaria - behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed); i.e. they will run no more risk than the other troops who remain in the city, for these, too, "are consumed," i.e. are on the point of perishing. Supposing that they fall into the enemy's hands, it will go no harder with them than with the "multitude" which is on the point of starvation. And let us send and see. We can do nothing until we know whether the siege is really raised, or whether the pretended withdrawal is a mere ruse. We must send and have this matter made clear.

7:12-20 Here see the wants of Israel supplied in a way they little thought of, which should encourage us to depend upon the power and goodness of God in our greatest straits. God's promise may be safely relied on, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. The nobleman that questioned the truth of Elisha's word, saw the plenty, to silence and shame his unbelief, and therein saw his own folly; but he did not eat of the plenty he saw. Justly do those find the world's promises fail them, who think that the promises of God will disappoint them. Learn how deeply God resents distrust of his power, providence, and promise: how uncertain life is, and the enjoyments of it: how certain God's threatenings are, and how sure to come on the guilty. May God help us to inquire whether we are exposed to his threatenings, or interested in his promises.And one of his servants answered and said, let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city,.... Not having died through the famine as the rest:

behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; behold, I say, they are even as the multitude of Israel that are consumed; signifying, there was a like consumption among the horses as among the people, and they that remained were starving as they were; so that should those horses, and the men, fall into the hands of the Syrians, and perish, it would be no great matter; the loss would not be much, since they must perish if they continue in the city: according to the Vulgate Latin version, these five horses were all that were left:

and let us send and see; whether the report of the lepers is true or not.