2 Kings 3:13-27 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 2 Kings 3:13-27. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
2 Kings 3:13-14 (NIV)
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” “No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the LORD who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab.”
14 Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you.
On verses 13-14: Elisha the prophet is approached by three kings: the idol-worshiping Joram king of Israel, the God-fearing Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom. Together they ask Elisha for guidance on what to do in their fight against the king of Moab. Knowing that Joram was a notorious idol worshipper who consistently disrespected the Lord, Elisha wonders, “Why are you coming to me when you can be consulting your idols?” Joram’s response: “It’s because the Lord has called us here only to be defeated by Moabites” (v13) There goes Joram blaming God again for something God never told Joram to do. Elisha states that the only reason he would even consider being in contact with Joram is because he respects King Jehoshaphat who is standing beside Joram (v14).
What can we learn from this? Just as Jehoshaphat was the only reason Elisha could look at Joram, Jesus is the only reason God the Father can look at us. It is not our own righteousness or merit that allows us into the presence of God. Rather it’s Jesus — God’s most incredible gift to us — and our affiliation to Jesus that enables us to enter the Father’s presence.
2 Kings 3:15 (NIV)
15 But now bring me a harpist.” While the harpist was playing, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha
On verse 15: To help Elisha focus on the presence of God, he asks for a harpist to play background music. While the harpist is playing and Elisha is praying, the presence of God comes.
What can we learn from this? God gave us the gift of music so that we could more easily access His presence. When played skillfully, sensitively and with a worshipful attitude, music can be a powerful tool to help people enter God’s presence. So practically speaking:
– If you are wanting to draw near to God, take advantage of the power of music. One of my favourite ways to connect with God is just to sit in His presence and pray while my favourite worship music plays in the background. Use worship music to your advantage.
– If you are a musician who plays background music in church while people pray and worship, remember that you are not just playing music. Through your music you are ushering people into God’s presence. Musicians, you have an important role to play in the church, so keep refining both your musical skills and your spiritual sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
2 Kings 3:16-20 (NIV)
16 and he said, “This is what the LORD says: Make this valley full of ditches.
17 For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink.
18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD; he will also hand Moab over to you.
19 You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.”
20 The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was–water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.
On verses 16-20: With a harpist playing in the background, Elisha consults the LORD on behalf of the three kings and delivers a couple promises to them. First, the LORD would mercifully and miraculously provide water to the three kings while they are in the desert (v17). Second, the LORD will give the three kings victory over Moab (v18-19).
What can we learn from this?
1. What is impossible for people is possible for God. To make abundant drinking water all of a sudden appear in the desert is an amazing miracle to us, but “an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD” (v18). I have a tough enough time fixing the boiler in my home, but God can make streams flow in the desert.
2. Notice that the LORD told the three kings to make the valley they were in full of ditches. Why? It was so that they would have a way to contain the water that God was going to miraculously provide for them. At first digging those ditches would mean that they would find themselves in some big holes, but God was going to fill those holes with water.
Likewise, Jesus likens the Holy Spirit to living water. If you want to experience the living water of God’s Spirit, you need to make room for Him. You might be tempted to think that making room for the Holy Spirit is a waste, or puts you further in the hole, like digging a ditch in a desert. But it’s not a waste. The wisest thing you can do is to make room for the Holy Spirit.
2 Kings 3:21-25 (NIV)
21 Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border.
22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red–like blood.
23 “That’s blood!” they said. “Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!”
24 But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites.
25 They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.
On verses 21-25: When God provided water in the desert for the three kings to drink, God had a second purpose in doing so. In a way that recalls Exodus 7 where God turned water into blood in Egypt, here God would make the water appear like pools of blood to the Moabites (v22). Presuming that this meant that the Israel-Judah-Edom alliance had imploded, the Moabites hastily launch an attack, only to be ransacked by the Israel-Judah-Edom alliance. In improbable and unexpected fashion, the Israel-Judah-Edom alliance conquers the Moabites, just as Elisha predicted.
What can we learn from this?
1. In the Bible, water is sometimes a picture for God’s word (e.g. Ephesians 5:26). Just like the Moabites saw the water which God sent from a distance and mistook it for blood, people who have never gotten close to God’s word, who have never tasted it themselves, often assume from a distance that God’s word is disgusting, abhorrent and a bringer of death. It’s those who come close to God’s word and taste it who find that the opposite is true: God’s word is good and gives life! Thank God for the gift of His word.
2. God has a way of confounding the enemy. He works in ways that no one else can. So don’t be like Joram and count God’s people out too quickly or assume that God’s plans are to ruin you. God’s plans are for your good. If you’ll trust in Him, He’ll bring about deliverance, salvation and provision in ways you could have never expected or accomplished yourself.
2 Kings 3:26-27 (NIV)
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed.
27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.
On verses 26-27: Seeing that he is losing the war, the King of Moab takes some desperate measures. First, he tries to break through to the king of Edom, but that doesn’t work. Then, he sacrifices his firstborn son on the city wall, but that it’s also no use. Nothing can stop the LORD from accomplishing His purposes.
Holy Spirit, You are worth making room for. Thank You that You are far greater than any enemy that could ever try to rise up against us. Thank You that You work in ways that are far beyond all we can imagine and that Your plans are always good. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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