“Hitherto Elisha has been the minister of grace in a limited circle: he now commences his public ministry in connection with the apostate nation. Through his intervention, three kings and their armies are saved from destruction, and a great victory gained over the enemies of God's people.
The whole scene vividly portrays the low and humiliating condition of the professing people of God. Jehoram, the king of the ten tribes, though putting away certain idols, wrought evil in the sight of the Lord, and departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin. In the government of God, Moab is allowed to rebel. To quell this rebellion Jehoram seeks the aid of the king of Judah. Jehoshaphat, himself a God-fearing man, falls into the snare. He abandons godly separation, enters into an unholy alliance with Jehoram, and thus sinks to the level of this wicked king. He joins with him to fight his battles, saying, " I will go up, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses."
Moreover, both these kings—who profess the worship of Jehovah—are found in alliance with the heathen king of Edom, an enemy of God. Thus we have the strange alliance of a wicked king, a God-fearing king, and a heathen king.
Without thought of God or reference to God, these three kings make their plans, and proceed to put them into practice. All seems to promise well until, at the end of seven days, they are confronted with circumstances that threaten their destruction, not by hand of the enemy, but from lack of water.
Stirred by an uneasy conscience, the king of Israel sees in these circumstances the hand of the Lord, who, he assumes, has called together these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab. If, however, the trial arouses the guilty fears of the apostate king, it also manifests the God-fearing character of the king of Judah. Both kings think of the Lord; one can only see in the trial that the Lord is against them in judgment; the other sees in the trial an occasion to turn to the Lord as their only resource. Jehoshaphat says, " Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?" Far better had he inquired of the Lord before starting on this expedition in company with the king of Israel. However, faced with the terrible circumstances, he is recalled to the Lord.
This inquiry brings Elisha to the front. The prophet's first words bear a bold witness against the wicked king of Israel, with whom he refuses to be associated, for, he asks, " What have I to do with thee?" This question is not only an exposure of the apostasy of the king of Israel, but a rebuke to the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, a true saint, but who, walking according to the flesh, had formed an unholy alliance with Jehoram, and said, " I am as thou art, and my people as thy people." Elisha, walking according to the spirit of Elijah, refuses all association with Jehoram, saying, " What have I to do with thee?"
Doubtless, the king of Judah would never have consented to bow down with Jehoram before the golden calves. Nevertheless, he is ensnared into joining with one to fight the Lord's enemies with whom he cannot worship. Alas! how often in Christian days, has this scene been re-enacted. Under the plea of love, and helping in the service of the Lord, the believer has been drawn into association with those with whom he could not join in worship before the Lord. Such alliances set the blessing of men above the honor of the Lord. Are we not thus warned against the easy-going kindness of human nature that can at times betray us into thoughtlessly saying to those who are in a false position, "I am as thou art, my people as thy people"? Again does not this scene warn us to "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation"? Not only to "watch" against the snares of the enemy, but to "pray," so that every step is taken in dependence upon God. It is well that we turn to God when a false step has plunged us into difficulty; but better far to walk in the spirit of prayer and dependence, and thus escape every crooked path.
Elisha, while refusing all association with Jehoram, and indirectly rebuking Jehoshaphat, does not hesitate to link himself with what is of God, and with the man that is in any little measure standing for God. He thus regards the presence of Jehoshaphat; otherwise he would not have looked toward the king of Israel, nor seen him.
None the less, the confusion caused by this unholy alliance between the two kings, is so great, that Elisha is hampered in discerning the mind of the Lord. Hence he calls for a minstrel. His mind must be diverted from all that is around him, and put in touch with heavenly scenes to know the Lord's mind. No minstrel was needed to condemn the apostate king of Israel, nor rebuke the folly and weakness of the king of Judah; when, however, it is a question of discerning the mind of heaven, then at once there is the need of the minstrel. The man of God must have his mind diverted from the utter confusion around, the destruction with which God's people are faced, and the consequent distress into which they are plunged. He cannot learn the mind of the Lord by dwelling upon the sorrowful circumstances. He is not indifferent to them; he does not ignore them; but if he is to learn how the Lord would have him to act he must be lifted above the distressing circumstances of an earthly scene into the serene calm of that heavenly scene into which Elijah had ascended, and from which Elisha had come forth to minister the sovereign grace of God in the midst of a ruined people.
In our own day, do we not at times need the minstrel—or that which the minstrel signifies? Are we not often faced with circumstances in which the evil is so apparent that it is easily detected, and condemned without any great call upon our spirituality? To discern, however, the mind of the Lord in the circumstances, demands far greater spirituality. For this we need to have our spirits withdrawn from the things of earth so that, undistractedly looking to the Lord, we may be able to see the condition of His people as He sees it, and thus gain His mind. The fact that it is easy to expose the evils that afflict the people of God, but difficult to find the remedy, only proves how much we need the minstrel—the abstraction of spirit from the confused issues amongst the people of God, that will alone enable us to learn the mind of the Lord.
Had Elisha only taken into account the wickedness of Jehoram, the failure of Jehoshaphat, and the distressing circumstances into which they were brought by this unholy alliance, he might have argued that the kings were only reaping what they had sown, and that evidently it was the Lord's mind that they should suffer a great defeat.
By the minstrel Elisha is lifted above the circumstances of God's people on earth into the calm of the Lord's presence in heaven, there to learn that the mind of the Lord is very different from what the mind of nature might expect. Elisha discovers that the Lord was going to use the occasion of His people's failure, and distress, to vindicate His own glory and magnify His grace. Not only would He preserve His people from the destruction that their own folly merited, but He would grant them a signal victory over their enemies. And thus it came to pass, the kings and their armies are saved, by God's gracious and miraculous intervention, and a great victory is gained over their enemies.
Nevertheless, it is well for us to note that, in spite of God's grace delivering His people from destruction, and giving them a victory over their enemies, there is no revival Godward. In Judah, there are indeed revivals Godward, as well as victories manward; but in all the sad history of Israel, though God may come to their help in their distress, there are no recorded revivals toward God.