The History of the Old Testament Methodized, Chapter 5 · Section 19 · Concurrent kings · Isreal · Joash
JOASH (the ſecond of the race of Iehu) reigned ſixteen years.The 12th King of Iſrael, JOASH. He did evil in the ſight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of Ieroboam who made Iſrael to ſin. Eliſha being now ſick of his laſt ſickneſs, Ioaſh came to viſit him, and wept over him, ſaying, O my Father, my Father, the Chariots of Iſrael and the horſemen thereof. Eliſha bids him take bow and arrows, he did ſo, and Eliſha puts his hands on the Kings hands (to ſignifie perhaps that God would fight with him, and that no action of ours without Gods aſſiſtance and bleſſing can proſper), and bidding him to open the window Eaſtward (towards Syria) and to ſhoot, he ſaid, This is the arrow of the Lords deliverance from Syria; that is, by this arrow is ſignified that the Lord by thee will certainly deliver his people from the Syrians; for thou ſhalt ſmite them as they were ſmitten in Aphek, 1 King. 29.26. (or mightily *Fortiter & vehementer ſic aliqui reddunt.) till thou haſt conſumed thoſe particular Armies which they ſhall have at that time. Then he bids the King take arrows and ſmite on the ground, which he ſuppoſed he might eaſily underſtand to be a ſign that he ſhould ſmite the Syrians, and thereupon would have been eager to give many ſtrokes on the ground as a ſign that he ſhould often conquer them, but he ſmote only thrice, whereupon the man of God was wroth with him, and told him he ſhould have ſmitten five or ſix times, and then he ſhould have ſmitten Syria till he had conſumed them, and utterly ruined the whole power of their Kingdom, whereas now he ſhould ſmite them but thrice only.
Eliſha now dies, and is laid in his ſepulchre; he had been a famous Prophet about ſixty years; God had manifeſted that the ſpirit of Elijah did reſt upon him by enabling him to do the ſame kind of miracles that Elijah had done: Elijah divided Jordan with his mantle, [2 King. 2.8.] ſo did Eliſha, v. 14. Elijah multiplied the widow of Sarepta's oyl, [1 King. 17.14.] and Eliſha did as much for a poor Prophets widow, [2 King. 4.2.] Elijah brought rain from Heaven after a time of great drought, [1 King. 18.41.] and Eliſha ſupplied three Kings and their armies with water, when they were ready to periſh for want of it, [2 King. 3.16.] Elijah curſed the Captains and their fifties that came to apprehend him, and they were preſently deſtroyed with fire from Heaven, [2 King. 1.10.] and Eliſha curſed the children that reproached and mocked him, and they were preſently torn in pieces by two ſhe-bears, [2 King. 2.24.] Elijah raiſed the Sareptans ſon to life, [1 King. 17.22.] and Eliſha the Shunamites, [2 King. 4.35.] Nay, as Eliſha deſired that a double portion of the ſpirit of Elijah might be given him, ſo ſome obſerve that Eliſha wrought as many more miracles as Elijah did. Sometime after Eliſha's funeral, ſome Iſraelites that were going to bury a dead man eſpied a band of Moabites near them (that were broken into their land to rob and ſpoil) and ſo through fear not daring to carry him to the place prepared for his burial, they removed the ſtone that covered Eliſha's ſepulchre, and in haſt caſt him in there, whereupon the dead man as ſoon as he touched the bones of Eliſha revived and ſtood upon his feet. By this miracle God gave teſtimony to the ſanctity and holineſs of Eliſha that the people might be induced to believe what he had Propheſied concerning their ſmiting the Syrians, and hereby alſo he confirmed to them the hope of a reſurrection and a future life after this.
But to proceed, though Hazael oppreſſed Iſrael all the days that Jehoahaz reigned alone (as we ſhewed before) yet it pleaſed the Lord to make Joaſh very ſucceſsful againſt the Syrians, ſo that in the days of Benhadad (Son of Hazael) he did according to Eliſha's Propheſie obtain three notable victories over them, and recovered out of their hands the Cities his Father had loſt. For the Lord was gracious unto the Iſraelites, and had compaſſion on them becauſe of his Covenant *This Covenant is often ſet down as the ground of Gods doing good to Iſrael, Pſa. 105.8.with Abraham, Iſaac and Jacob, and would not deſtroy them as yet, nor caſt them out of his favour, nor out of the land which he had choſen for his habitation, though he did it afterwards, they perſiſting in their Idolatry and other ſins.
Joaſh alſo conquered Amaziah King of Judah, and took him priſoner, and brake down four hundred cubits of the wall of Jeruſalem, even from the Gate of Ephraim to the corner-gate: And having gotten from him all the Treaſure both of the Temple and of the Kings houſe returned to Samaria, as is more fully related in the life of Amaziah.
Joaſh now died, and was buried in Samaria, and Jeroboam his Son reigned in his ſtead.
2 King. 13. from 10, to the end.
2 King. 14. from 8, to the 17.