2 Kings 6 · a question people ask
Who said "This evil is from the LORD", and why turn on Elisha?
The king swore, "God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today" (6:31). The chapter doesn't give a reason for the oath. Elisha, sitting with the elders, said the king had "sent to take away my head" (6:32). Then "the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “Behold, this evil is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”" (6:33). The WEB says only "he said", and so does the Hebrew. Both readings agree that the words come from the king's side, and that Elisha's answer is the next verse: "Hear the LORD’s word" (7:1). They read who spoke in two main ways, each resting on verses.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The king
Those who hold this view note Elisha's words, "Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?" (6:32): the king was coming behind his messenger. They read the next chapter the same way: the captain died "as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him" (7:17), and in 7:2 "the captain on whose hand the king leaned" is there to answer Elisha.
2 Kings 6:32 · 2 Kings 7:2 · 2 Kings 7:17
The messenger
Those who hold this view note that 6:33 names only one person arriving: "the messenger came down to him. Then he said" (6:33). They read the words as the messenger's, spoken for the king who "sent a man from before him" (6:32).
2 Kings 6:32-33
The verses
“Elisha said, “Hear the LORD’s word. The LORD says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’””