In 2nd Kings 10, we will see the difference between Yehu (Jehu) and Yehonadab (Jehonadab) the son of Rechab. Yehu respected Eliyahu (Elijah) and Elisha and he hated the Baal, but he did not respect and love the true God. Yehonadab the son of Rechab understood and loved God. It’s useful to see what God respects in a man and what he does not because God never changes, we do.
It was Ahab’s house that was asking for peace, but they were asking for physical peace, not God’s peace. God does not like the world’s definition of peace, which is, “Leave me alone! I enjoy my miserable life.” When someone is at war with God and they are about to see God’s sword coming down on them, they will ask for “peace.” But in this account, they were lying.
Following on the message of 2nd Kings 6, with leaders of Israel who were supposed to be able to see God’s actions actually being “blind” to them, 2nd Kings 7 through the saving actions of four lepers — the rejected of society — also points us to the actions of Messiah Yeshua, Who was rejected by the people He came to save.
In 2nd Kings 5, we should see a connection between Yeshua (Jesus) and Elisha the prophet. Aramite captain Naaman, a pagan, was not the only one being examined in his healing from leprosy. The king of Israel and Elisha’s servant Gehazi were also being examined or tested.
In an account of Yeshua’s healing 10 lepers, only a Samaritan, a “foreigner,” returned to give God praise. Both Naaman and the Samaritan paid spiritually by having to acknowledge that salvation comes from Israel, not from their false views of God.
We have two parallel foreshadowings — prophecies — of Messiah Yeshua in the accounts of Elisha in 2nd Kings 4 and Eliyahu (Elijah) in 1st Kings 17. In this shadow of things to come, the lesson is that people from the nations, aka “gentiles” or “goyim,” can have a lot of power of the Spirit of God but lack “understanding” about God, while people of Israel can have “understanding” about God but lack the power of the Spirit. Both can be “saved” — fully enter the Kingdom of God — if they are willing to seek what they are lacking.
Elisha is a representation of the Messiah, Who is the ultimate high priest. Both Elisha and Messiah gave a profound gift directly to the people. It’s strictly symbolic, but it’s beautiful. The story of Elisha happened about 700 years before “the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” These accounts in 1st and 2nd Kings were recorded so Israel could recognize the Messiah when He came about seven centuries later.
There are many strange details in 2nd Kings 3, but the backstory is a rebellion of the ancient kingdom of Moab that roped in the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Edom to the southeast.
This chapter helps illustrate apostle Paul’s teaching that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). In this case, the wages of Moab’s rebellion was death.
Did you realize that the ministry of the apostle Peter was prophesied in Scripture? Just as Eliyahu (Elijah) has a New Testament equivalent in Yokhanan (John the Baptist), Elisha also has a New Testament equivalent: Peter.