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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 King 7:1 - 7:1
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Elisha announced to him the word of the Lord: “At the (this) time to-morrow a seah of wheaten flour (סֹלֶת, see at 1Ki 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 2Ki 6:25 as those obtained for the most worthless kinds of food, it was incredibly cheap. The king's aide-de-camp (שָׁלִישׁ: see at 2Sa 23:8; נִשְׁעָן לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר, an error in writing for נשׁ הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר, cf. 2Ki 7:17, and for the explanation 2Ki 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 2Ki 7:17.). The fulfilment of these words of Elisha was brought about by the event narrated in 2Ki 7:3.