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The succession of Kings of Israel continued. In the previous chapter, Joash, King of Judah, was killed and his son, Amaziah, became the 9th. King of Judah. Two years before Joash was killed, Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, became the 11th. King of Israel. Because of the evil of Israel, God allowed Hazael, King of Syria, to continually oppress them. King Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord's help and the Lord raised up leaders in Israel to rescue the people from the Syrians. But, they continued in their evil ways.
Jehoahaz died and was buried in Samaria and his son, Jehoash (Joash) became the 12th. King of Israel. He became King of Israel in the 37th. year of the reign of King Joash of Judah. Jehoash encouraged his people to worship idols. He reigned 16 years and died and was buried in Samaria. His son, Jeroboam II became the 13th. King of Israel. Before Jehoash died, Elisha became ill and the King went to him and wept over him. Elisha told him to take a bow and arrow and shoot the arrow out of the east window toward Syria. As Jehoash pulled the bow back, Elisha placed his hand upon the hand of Jehoash and when he shot the arrow, Elisha said, "This is the arrow of deliverance from Syria." He prophesied that Israel would defeat the Syrians at Aphek, this being where the Syrians were encamped that was raiding Israel.
Then Elisha "tested" Joash. He commanded Joash to take some arrows and strike the ground. Joash took the arrows and struck the ground 3 times and Elisha was disappointed. Why? Elisha related the number of times that Joash struck the ground with his enthusiasm for the job. He had already told Joash that God would deliver the Syrians into his hands. To what extent Joash would go to accomplish this was up to him. To Elisha, only striking the ground 3 times indicated that Joash had no stomach to totally defeat the Syrians.
Elisha died. His ministry had lasted 50 years. We do not know where he was buried. It is believed that he was taken back to his birthplace near Jabesh-gilead. Stories of his power lingered long after his death. Many healings were attributed to being close to his sepulcher. Here in Chapter 13, we read of one of those miraculous healings. It seems that a man was being buried close to Elisha's sepulcher. The burial was interrupted by a band of raiding Moabites. In their haste to leave, the pallbearers threw the man into Elisha's sepulcher. When the dead man's body touched the bones of Elisha, it came back to life.
The chapter ends with another demonstration of God's Grace. In spite of Israel's disobedience and sin, God had compassion upon them. He honored the covenant that He had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would not allow the Syrians to destroy Israel at this time. In the meantime, Hazael died as King of Syria. His son, Ben-ha-dad became king. Joash, King of Israel, was then able to recover the Israeli cities that had been taken by the Syrians.
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