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2Ki_3:22-23
The distant Moabites, having no suspicion of the presence of water, and beholding a reddish tinge along the valley, jumped to the conclusion, that the allies had fallen out, and fought together during the night, and that this was the blood of the battle. They probably thought that it was the king of Edom who had risen upon the Israelites, being aware that he was present only by constraint. Under this delusion, they hastened to plunder the camp which they supposed forsaken, but found it full of living and refreshed men, whose swords soon made the visionary blood a truth.
But respecting this water. The time of its coming, and all the circumstances, were framed to evince the miraculous nature of the supply, by the special and extraordinary act of Divine power. We are expressly told there was no rain. Neither was a new spring opened; for in that case the stream would have continued to run, and the trenches would have been unnecessary. The opening of a fountain, also, although a temporary advantage to the Israelites, would have been an enduring benefit to their enemies; and as the allies were not to remain there, and only sought present relief, to render the supply as temporary as the occasion, the more illustrated the miracle, and the more distinctly showed that the waters were meant for them, and for them only. To send a sudden rush of waters, just to fill the trenches at the precise moment, and then to cease, was as distinctly a supply on purpose for them, as if the Lord had sent a host of angels under the guise of water-carriers, to empty full skins of water into the trenches they had made. Nevertheless, the water must have been produced by some means, and one would like to know what took place at the spot from which the stream came. Perhaps something of the same nature that has been occasionally, but rarely, witnessed in different lands, and of which an instance occurred at no remote date in our own country. The journals of the time record, that on the 20th of September, 1810, the inhabitants of the town of Luton, in Bedfordshire, were surprised by a singular phenomenon. The common pond, situated in a rather elevated part of the town, which, as there had been no rain in the neighborhood for some weeks, was gradually becoming shallower of water, suddenly filled, and ejected from its bottom all the filth and sediment. It continued flowing over, and discharging a large quantity of water for some hours; but afterwards remained quiet as usual. It is added, that the town’s people were struck with considerable alarm at the circumstance, and apprehended that there would soon be intelligence of some distant earthquake, as it was remembered that a similar emission of water at this spot had taken place at the precise instant of the great earthquake in Lisbon in 1775.
There are also some curious questions respecting the color of the water. It is stated that it appeared to the Moabites as red as blood. As this appearance was presented when the morning sun shone upon it, the probability seems to be, that the color was reflected from the redness of the horizon at the sun rising. But it may be asked, How could the Moabites be deceived by so common a phenomenon, especially when the glaring sun and the crimson clouds around it must have instantly indicated the cause of this appearance? The answer is, that this would have been the case, had they known there was any water in the valley; but they felt quite sure there was none; and as in the absence of water there could be no reflection from the skies, the reason they assigned was really the most probable that could be suggested under the circumstances. That this was the cause of the redness, is the general sentiment of interpreters. We are of the same judgment, for this reason, among others, that any real redness in the water would have laid its wholesomeness open to doubt, and would have been felt as rendering the boon less valuable than the gift of pure limpid water would have been. Nevertheless, some have thought there may have been something in or on the water to impart to it a red appearance. The possibility of this is not to be denied; and were there not examples—in nature of such redness in water, God might have imparted it supernaturally; for He is not limited to natural agencies, though he commonly works through them when available. And it may be urged, that an adequate motive for such color being given to the water is found in the fact, that the taking it for blood by the Moabites was the means, and was intended to be the means, of giving an immediate victory to the allies, according to the promise of Elisha.
Various instances of the redness of water have been recorded. The most famous instance is that of the river Leontes in Lebanon, which becomes red at a certain time of the year, from its stream then washing or passing over beds of coloring earths. This is, indeed, the common cause of the periodical redness of certain rivers. In this case it was regarded by the Syrians and Phoenicians as an annual commemoration of the death of Adonis—the Thammuz of Scripture—and while it lasted, the mourning rites of Thammuz were celebrated, as alluded to in Eze_8:14. Milton finely refers to this mythological fable—
“Thammuz came next,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer’s day;
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded.”
It is related by Pliny, that the water of the lakes near Babylon was of a red color during eleven days in summer. The water at the mouth of the river Plata has often been observed of a blood-red color; and the French missionary Consag observed, in 1746, that the open sea near California was of a bluish-red color. The same has been observed in the Red Sea, and from this some have been of late inclined to suppose its name was derived. In this case it was shown to be a jelly-like substance floating upon the surface of the water, and composed of a multitude of very small mollusca, each having a small red spot in the center, forming in the mass a bright body of red color.
When observed in the sea, it is probably in most cases of this nature; but when in lakes or rivers, it seems as likely to be a vegetable product or deposit, as in the case of the lake supposed to have been turned into blood towards the close of the last century, near Strautsberg; but, when scientifically examined in January, 1799, the coloring matter was found to be some vegetable substance. Professor Klaproth found, that the coloring substance in another lake (near Lubotin in South Prussia), exhibited a chemical affinity to the coloring matter obtained from the indigo plant; and although the water appeared of a dark-red crimson color, this was merely an optical delusion, occasioned by the refraction of the rays of light, the real color being a pure blue.