2 Kings 2:19-22 And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, I pray you, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees… This first miracle is a fitting introduction to - in some respects a symbol of - the whole ministry of Elisha. In contrast with his predecessor, Elisha was a gentle, beneficent power in Israel. His miracles, like those of Christ, were, with two exceptions only (in this like Christ also), miracles of mercy, not of judgment. He is the "still small voice" coming after the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire (1 Kings 19:11, 12). He is as Melancthon to Elijah's Luther; we may even say, with reverence, as the "Son of man" to Elijah's John the Baptist. Unlike Elijah, he is not a child of the desert, but a man of the city. He came "eating and drinking" (Matthew 11:19). He mixed with the people; lived a homely life; was the friend and counselor of kings. Of all this, his first deed of mercy is the image. I. THE REBUILT CITY AND THE UNHEALED SPRING. 1. The city and its curse. The city was Jericho. After the curse pronounced on it by Joshua (Joshua 6:26), it had lain in ruins till the reign of Ahab, when it was rebuilt by Hiel the Bethelite, at the cost of his eldest and youngest sons' lives (1 Kings 16:34). 2. The unhealed spring. The city was rebuilt, but the spring on which its prosperity then, as ever since, depended, remained unhealed. The situation of the city was pleasant, but the water was bad, and the laud "miscarried," i.e. the water had a deleterious effect on those with child. 3. The heart and its issues. How striking an image is this rebuilt city, with its unhealed spring, of godless civilizations, founded on self-will and defiance of God's counsel (Genesis 4:17), often stately and imposing, yet ending in vanity, because no means exist to cure the spring of the corrupt human heart! "Of republican Athens, of imperial Rome, it might well be said, 'The city was pleasant.' In both there was learning, genius, high civilization, the cultivation of the fine arts to an extent that has made the Elgin marbles, for example, the wonder of the world. But 'the water was naught, and the ground was barren,' because there was the absence of true religion. No country whatever can in the highest sense prosper without it" (Revelation T.H. Howat). Politics, literature, art, science, material civilization, will dwindle and decay unless a pure stream can be made to flow from the people''s heart; for "out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). II. THE PROPHET'S HEALING OF THE SPRING. The case of the city of Jericho was brought under the notice of Elisha by the men of the city - a lesson to us not to fail to improve our spiritual opportunities. 1. The means of cure. The means by which Elisha effected the cure of the unwholesome waters wore exceedingly simple. He obtained "a new cruse" - new, and therefore free from all defilement, and in this was put some salt. The salt appears here as the symbol of what is uncorrupt and purifying. There lay in it no natural virtue to heal the water - a circumstance which made the miracle more conspicuous. 2. The Agent in the cure. In casting the salt into the spring, Elisha spoke in the name of the Lord, and attributed, as was right, all the power to him. "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters." The miracle looks back to an earlier wonder - that of the healing of the bitter waters at Marah, where God declared, "I am the Lord that healeth thee" (Exodus 15:26). One act of mercy lays the foundation for expecting a second. 3. The effect of the cure. There was not to be from thence (the spring) any more death or barrenness. The result of Elisha's word was that "the waters were healed unto this day." "Down to the present hour all travelers to Palestine - Robinson, Dean Stanley, Professor Porter - speak in glowing terms of the cool, sweet, and pleasant waters of the 'Fountain of Elisha.' The soil is extensively cultivated. Sugar-yielding canes are plentiful. Fig trees abound on all sides" (Howat). All which things may again be interpreted as a parable. The gospel is the new cruse, and in it is the healing salt - the word of truth - which, cast into the diseased spring of the human heart, heals and purifies its waters; yet is the effect not wrought by the natural action of the truth, apart from the Divine and omnipotent operation of the Holy Spirit, who works through human means, yet is himself the efficient Agent in all conversion. The work is of God, and the effects are incalculable. "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The most marvelous influence is exerted by Christianity on the spring, not only of private, but of public and social life; and State as well as Church is blessed. Christianity is the salvation of peoples - the source of true national as well as of individual well-being. - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. |
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