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2 Kings 6 Bible study: Open his eyes

The army sent to Dothan came with "horses, chariots" (6:14); the mountain around Elisha was "full of horses and chariots of fire" (6:17), the same two Hebrew words with fire added. And the verb of "strike this people with blindness" (6:18) is the one Elisha used to tell the king, "You shall not strike them" (6:22).

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“He answered, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.””
2 Kings 6:16 · World English Bible

Try it · Did you catch it?

“In 2 Kings 6, both the man who lost the ax head and Elisha's servant at Dothan cried out, "Alas, my master!"”

Is that in 2 Kings 6, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

A borrowed ax head

In the text

The chapter opens on a small loss. The sons of the prophets went to the Jordan to cut beams for a bigger place (6:1-4), and Elisha went with them because one of them asked (6:3). Then "the ax head fell into the water" (6:5), and the man cried, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed" (6:5) (tap borrowed). In Hebrew, ax head is the iron (tap iron). Elisha asked, "Where did it fall?" (6:6). "He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float" (6:6) (tap float). Then he said, "Take it" (6:7), and the man "put out his hand and took it" (6:7). The chapter doesn't say what the stick did or why Elisha used one; it tells what happened.

Where it leads to Jesus

That those who don't see may see

Interpretation

2 Kings 6:17leads toJohn 9:39

At Dothan the LORD opened the young man's eyes, "and he saw" (6:17). At Elisha's prayer the army that came to take him was struck "with blindness" (6:18), and in Samaria "The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw" (6:20). After Jesus gave sight to a man born blind (John 9:1-7), he said, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind" (John 9:39), and he went on to speak of more than eyes (John 9:40-41). John doesn't cite 2 Kings 6. Setting Jesus's words beside this chapter is a reading, not a link the New Testament draws; others read 6:17-20 only as the LORD protecting Elisha, with nothing said about Jesus.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about 2 Kings 6

That was a taste

The rest of 2 Kings 6 is waiting in Favor

  • Horses and chariots, and horses and chariots of fire
  • Strike them; don't strike them
  • Bread and water for an enemy
  • Twice the king of Israel can't help
  • 10 questions as you read
  • 12 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

פָּקַחpaqachsay pa-KAKH

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "open eyes". Strong's: "to open (the senses, especially the eyes)". Elisha prays, "LORD, please open his eyes, that he may see" (6:17), and "the LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw" (6:17). In Samaria he prays the same for the blinded army: "LORD, open these men’s eyes, that they may see" (6:20), and "The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw" (6:20). The verb comes four times in those two verses. In 2 Kings it is also the verb when the Shunammite's son "opened his eyes" (4:35), and in Hezekiah's prayer, "Open your eyes, LORD, and see" (19:16). It is the verb of Genesis 21:19: "God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water". A psalm says, "The LORD opens the eyes of the blind" (Psalm 146:8).

For your group

2 Kings 6 Bible study questions

  1. 1Elisha said, "those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (6:16), before his servant could see anything. What are you facing right now where all you can see is the army around the city?
  2. 2Elisha told the king to set bread and water before the men who had come to take him (6:22). Who has come against you, and what would setting bread before them look like?
  3. 3The chapter ends with "Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?" (6:33). When have you felt that, and what helped you keep waiting, or what would?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Kings 6 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

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