2 Kings 3

Jehoram goes out to fight Moab. He asked Jehoshaphat, king of Judah to go with him. Jehoshaphat is known as one the most faithful kings of Judah, after David. Yet he allies himself with one he knows to be an idolator. Why? We really are never told.

Yet together they make a bad decision. Instead of taking the direct route over the Jordan River they take the long route around the Dead Sea and come at Moab from the south, through Edom. By going this way they enlist Edom into their alliance.

Yet by walking through the desert, finding on oases or not enough anyway they come to Moab exhausted and weak from thirst.

We are not told how Jehoshaphat feels about all this. We just hear that Jehoram is panicked. He is so panicked that he is willing to consult Jehoshaphat's God. He does not go to the priests of Baal, some of whom he likely has with him in his camp.

A servant knows Elisha is in the camp and these kings humble themselves to go to him and accept his hospitality, however humble. Elisha tells Jehoram bluntly that he would not even let the king of Israel see his face had it not been for Jehoshaphat, who he highly respects. He suggest he go to his own priests, thereby giving us to understand that there are priests of another god in his camp.

Why did Elisha follow this army? He obviously does in incognito. Neither king seems to know he is here. It seems God must have told him to go but we are never told how he came to be here.

By the very fact of their asking for advice are they helped. They do not directly ask for help, just advice.

Can we learn from this? When we find ourselves at wits end we should come to God for advice. In so doing we may just find our deliverance. God may give us wisdom or he may just give us a miracle as he does here.

Elisha predicts that the next morning water will appear. We do not know if it flows from somewhere else or springs up out of the ground. We know it does not come by wind or rain. This water refreshes them and their animals. It also fools the Moabites who advance in disarray and get slaughtered as a result.

Elisha also tells them how to punish Moab after they win the day. It seems that they do it.

Then something mysterious happens. The King of Moab, in desperation, sacrifices his first born son the crown prince on the wall of their city. How awful! Their god Chemosh is used to human sacrifice it seems. He is one of the gods that children were sacrificed to. Why this changes the situation I do not understand. The description is confusing here. Is it the superstition of the victorious army that causes the retreat? Or is it out of respect for the Moabite king who in such desperation sacrifices his son? Or is there some other reason.