I. LOST THROUGH ILLUSION. The manner in which the defeat of the Moabites was brought about is very remarkable. The defeat was caused:

1. Through illusion. Their forces - "all that were able to put on amour, and upward" - were mustered on the mountains opposite, ready for battle on the morrow. As the morning sun rose, its red beams, falling on the pools of water in the valley, gave the water the appearance of blood - an effect to which the red soil may have contributed. This startling appearance the Moabites - who knew nothing of the unlooked-for supply of water - interpreted in their own way. They said, "This is blood," and concluded - remembering a recent experience of their own (2 Chronicles 20.) - that the attacking forces had fallen out, and destroyed each other.

2. Through over-haste and over-confidence. The cry was at once raised, "Moab, to the spoil!" and, casting aside all precautions, the people flew down, to find themselves in the power of their enemies. How many defeats are sustained in life from the same causes! We eagerly snatch at first appearances, which are often so deceptive; we hurry to the fray, without faking due precautions or counting the cost; we are confident in our strength or numbers as sufficient to bear down all opposition, if by chance we should be surprised. Therefore we fail. God often snares men through their own illusions. Haman went to Esther's banquet under the illusion that it was the road to highest honor, and found it the way to death (Esther 5:11, 12; Esther 7.). Of the wicked it is said, "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11).

II. THE MERCILESS PURSUIT. The passage describing this pursuit is a terrible illustration of the severities of war. They were, perhaps, under the circumstances, not needless severities, but they are nonetheless extreme and painful to think of.

(1) The Moabites were pursued into their own country, and cut down in the pursuit.

(2) The cities were leveled to the ground.

(3) The good land was made useless by every man casting on it a stone, till it was covered with stones.

(4) Even fruit trees were cut down, and wells stopped.

(5) There remained only the city of Kir-haraseth, which, on its elevated plateau, defied direct assault; but it they besieged, while the slingers, taking their station on the surrounding eminences, galled it with their missiles. The words of the prophet in ver. 19 are perhaps prediction, not command, but it may be inferred that he gave the policy pursued his sanction. The object was so effectually to cripple the power of Moab that it would not be able to lift up the head for many a day to come.

1. The most direct lesson we can learn from the passage is the dreadfulness of war. Wherever or however waged, wars are a source of incalculable misery. Even just wars entail a loss of life, a destruction of wealth, and a waste of the means of production and of human happiness, which may well make the heart of the lover of his species sicken.

2. An indirect lesson to be gleaned from ver. 25 is the power of little things - "every man his stone." By each man bringing but a single stone, the ground was covered, and the end aimed at attained. The power was wielded here for destruction, but it may be wielded as well for good. Each doing his individual part - though that in itself is little - great results will be achieved.

3. We do well to carry into moral warfare the same thoroughness as is here displayed in physical warfare. Not content with operating on individuals, let us strike at causes and sources - stopping the wells of poisonous influence, etc.

III. THE LAST TRAGIC ACT. The war was brought to a sudden and unlooked-for termination.

1. The fearful sacrifice. Beaten into his last stronghold, driven to desperation, the King of Moab, having made an unsuccessful sortie with seven hundred men, resolved on an act which, he rightly judged, would strike horror into the hearts of his enemies, while it might also propitiate his god. He took his eldest son, the heir to his throne, and offered him up for a burnt offering on the wall.

(1) The fact that he performed the sacrifice upon the wall would seem to show that he had in view as much the effect to be produced on the spectators as the possible effect to be produced on Chemosh.

(2) The deed was awful and inhuman - perhaps, from Mesha's point of view, not without its nobler and patriotic side - but in itself most detestable. We have need to be thankful for a purer religious faith, which teaches us that God does not delight in such unnatural and cruel acts (Micah 6:6-9).

2. Repulsed by horror. "There was," we read, "great indignation against [or, 'upon'] Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land." The meaning seems to be that the ghastly act produced a universal horror, which turned into indignation against Israel as the original authors of the expedition which had so dreadful an end. There is an element of superstition in all men, and sudden revulsions of feeling, caused by an act that powerfully impresses the imagination, are not uncommon. The Israelites themselves so far sympathized with the emotion of horror which brought upon them the indignation of the Moabites, of neighboring tribes, perhaps also of the Edomites and others among their own allies, that they gave up the thought of proceeding further. This seems a more natural explanation than either

(1) that the indignation meant is that of Jehovah; or

(2) that it is the wrath of Chemosh (!); or

(3) the subjective horror of the Israelites themselves. - J.O.

1. The preparation of supplication. The kings, in their need, "inquired of the Lord" (ver. 11) by means of His prophet. The act implies an application for the help of Jehovah. Preparation for the reception of special blessing by means of supplication is a law of God's kingdom. The prayer of the leper made way for Christ's miraculous healing (Matthew 8:2-4); the beseeching entreaty of the Syro-Phenician woman brought down the blessing she desired (Luke 7:24-30). The supplication (Acts 2:14) of the Early Church was the preparation for the descent of the Holy Spirit. Supplication is the placing of the wood in order upon the altar in readiness for the descent of fire from heaven.

2. The preparation of the prophet's mind for the reception of the Divine direction. "When the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him" (ver. 15). The soul that has to bear the message of God to others needs to rise into some degree of harmony with the mind of God, to partake in some measure of the holy calm which belongs to Him. Music prepares the heart of the good man to receive, and hence to be the bearer of special help from the Divine Spirit.

II. THE MIRACLE ITSELF. That the flowing in of the water was miraculous is evident because it came without rain, where there were no natural springs, and in fulfilment of Elisha's prophecy. In the New Testament the supernatural Divine workings are classified into "signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost." (Hebrews 2:2).

III. THE TWOFOLD EFFECT OF THE MIRACLE. It was the occasion of life to one army and of death to the other. The one was brought about by the supernatural interposition, the other by a natural, though mistaken, inference. The cloud that was the help of Israel at the Red Sea, became the destruction of the Egyptians.

(Sermon Outlines.)