Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 King 6:8 - 6:8

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 King 6:8 - 6:8


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Elisha's Action in the War with the Syrians. - 2Ki 6:8-10. In a war which the Syrians carried on against the Israelitish king Joram (not Jehoahaz, as Ewald, Gesch. iii. p. 557, erroneously supposes), by sending flying parties into the land of Israel (cf. 2Ki 6:23), Elisha repeatedly informed king Joram of the place where the Syrians had determined to encamp, and thereby frustrated the plans of the enemy. תַּֽחֲנֹתִי...אֶל־מְקֹום: “at the place of so and so shall my camp be.” אַלְמֹנִי פְּלֹנִי as in 1Sa 21:3 (see at Rth 4:1). תַּֽחֲנֹות, the encamping or the place of encampment (cf. Ewald, §161, a.), is quite appropriate, so that there is no need either for the alteration into תֵּחָֽבְאוּ, “ye shall hide yourselves” (Then.), or into תַּנְחֹתוּ, with the meaning which is arbitrarily postulated, “ye shall place an ambush” (Ewald, Gesch. iii. p. 558), or for the much simpler alteration into לִי תַּחֲנוּ, “pitch the camp for me” (Böttcher). The singular suffix in תַּֽחֲנֹתִי refers to the king as leader of the war: “my camp” = the camp of my army. “Beware of passing over (עֲבֹר) this place,” i.e., of leaving it unoccupied, “for there have the Syrians determined to make their invasion.” נְחִתִּים, from נָחֵת, going down, with dagesh euphon., whereas Ewald (§187, b.) is of opinion that נְחִתִּים, instead of being an intrans. part. Kal, might rather be a part. Niph. of חַת, which would not yield, however, any suitable meaning. Thenius renders מֵעֲבֹר, “to pass by this place,” which would be grammatically admissible, but is connected with his conjecture concerning תַּֽחֲנֹתִי, and irreconcilable with 2Ki 6:10. When the king of Israel, according to 2Ki 6:10, sent to the place indicated on account of Elisha's information, he can only have sent troops to occupy it; so that when the Syrians arrived they found Israelitish troops there, and were unable to attack the place. There is nothing in the text about the Syrians bursting forth from their ambush. הִזְהִיר means to enlighten, instruct, but not to warn. נִשְׁמַר־שָׁם, “he took care there,” i.e., he occupied the place with troops, to defend it against the Syrians, so that they were unable to do anything, “not once and not twice,” i.e., several times.