2 Kings 3:25-27
And they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
Tag: God’s Plans Never Go Against His Word
We can’t really understand the above passage without the context of the entire chapter. The three kings of Edom, Israel and Judah have come to the prophet Elisha and asked if God had given them Moab into their hands. Note what Elisha prophecies:
2 Kings 3:18-19
This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”
As we can see, Elisha prophesied and the three kings conquered Moab ... to a point. However, at the very end, the King of Moab prevails. The question must be asked, “Did Elisha offer a false prophesy?” Remember, the measure of a real prophet was wether they gave a true prophecy. In this story what we see is that Elisha’s prophesy does come true, to a point. Everything Elisha did proclaim came true. But, his prophesy did not say they would utterly Moab. To the extent that Elisha prophesied, the three kings prevailed. Elisha gave the prophecy that God gave Him. We know this by this portion of the story:
2 Kings 3:15
But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him.
The prophet s subject to the “hand of the Lord” upon him. Elisha said they would prevail against Moab and destroy cities and fields and trees. They did. It would be natural for the three kings to besiege the King of Moab, but that is t not what Elisha said to do. Plus, if they were going to besiege the city they would NOT be commanded to cut down the good trees that don’t bear fruit. That was strictly forbidden in the Law:
Deuteronomy 20:19-20
“When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
The Kings of Israel and Judah should have known that. They did not rely on the Word of God to give them direction. Elisha would not have prophesied against the Law. It was up to the kings to confirm the prophets words with the Law. Had they done so, they would not have suffered defeat. Elisha gave them truth, but not all truth. The Word of God would supply the remaining truth.
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