Introduction: A Chapter of Miracles and Open Providence
Chapter 6 of Melachim B is one of the richest chapters in the wonders of Elisha. It opens with a seemingly minor story of the disciples of the prophets for whom the place has grown too cramped, continues with the miracle of the axe head floating on the water, and from there moves into an entire episode of Aram's war against Israel: the prophet who knows the secrets of the bedchamber of the king of Aram, the ambush that turned into a feast, and finally the terrible siege of Shomron and the famine that led to the eating of children. We will follow the order of the pesukim, explain according to the Malbim and the other commentators, and learn the lesson that emerges from each matter.
The Place Is Too Cramped for Us: The Fruit of Gechazi's Dismissal
וַיֹּאמְרוּ בְנֵי־הַנְּבִיאִים אֶל־אֱלִישָׁע הִנֵּה־נָא הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אֲנַחְנוּ יֹשְׁבִים שָׁם לְפָנֶיךָ צַר מִמֶּנּוּ׃ - And the disciples of the prophets said to Elisha: Behold now, the place where we sit before you is too cramped for us.
The disciples of the prophets tell Elisha that the place in which they sit before him has become crowded. The students had multiplied. And how does this connect to the previous chapter, to the episode of Gechazi and Naaman? Chazal say: when Gechazi was driven out from before Elisha, the students multiplied. As long as Gechazi was there, many were afraid to come before Elisha, for he would rebuff them: What do you have to hear here? Do not waste your time, go work, there is nothing to hear here. Once Gechazi was pushed away, the students began to stream in. From this arose the situation that the place was too small to hold them, and now it had to be expanded.
Chazal further say that Elisha sat in Shomron, and "dwelling in cities is hard" - it is hard for a person to dwell in a city, meaning primarily because of the expensive costs. In the city, expenses are always higher than in remote places. Today, however, the situation is sometimes reversed: apart from the cost of housing, it is generally cheaper to live in a city, because in remote places the grocery store sells at inflated prices and there is no competition, whereas in the city there are many competitors. But as far as the cost of housing goes, both then and today, the city is very expensive. And there is another explanation: in their day they needed cattle, cheese, and milk, and they made their living from them. In the moshavim and rural places there were the cowsheds, the coops, and cattle in large quantities, and therefore it was cheap. In the cities there was less of all this, they had to bring it from remote places, and it had to be sold fresh (there was no such thing as from yesterday or frozen), so it was much more expensive. This is what they meant by: dwelling in cities is hard.
נֵלְכָה־נָּא עַד־הַיַּרְדֵּן וְנִקְחָה מִשָּׁם אִישׁ קוֹרָה אֶחָת וְנַעֲשֶׂה־לָּנוּ שָׁם מָקוֹם לָשֶׁבֶת שָׁם וַיֹּאמֶר לֵכוּ׃ - Let us go now to the Yarden, and let each take from there a single beam, and let us make ourselves a place there to dwell in. And he said: Go.
Let us go to a place that will be cheaper. Each one of us will take a single beam, and from them we will build ourselves a place to dwell there: a residence, a large beit midrash. And Elisha agrees: Go.
וַיֹּאמֶר הָאֶחָד הוֹאֶל נָא וְלֵךְ אֶת־עֲבָדֶיךָ וַיֹּאמֶר אֲנִי אֵלֵךְ׃ - And one of them said: Please consent to go with your servants. And he said: I will go.
Why do they need Elisha himself to come with them? The Ralbag says: so that he will be a help to them in whatever may arise for them there. Perhaps we will need you, perhaps something will happen in which we will require your help. And we will immediately see that this request was well placed.
The Miracle of the Floating Axe Head
וַיְהִי הָאֶחָד מַפִּיל הַקּוֹרָה וְאֶת־הַבַּרְזֶל נָפַל אֶל־הַמָּיִם וַיִּצְעַק וַיֹּאמֶר אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנִי וְהוּא שָׁאוּל׃ - And as one was felling a beam, the iron fell into the water, and he cried out and said: Alas, my master, for it was borrowed.
"Dropping the beam" - he came to hew the beam with an axe. "וְאֶת הַבַּרְזֶל נָפַל אֶל הַמָּיִם": one could interpret "את" as denoting a tool, as in "and they beat their swords into plowshares (אתים)," but that is not the plain meaning here. Since the "את" is vocalized with a segol, it means "with," as in "את יעקב איש וביתו באו" (each man came with his household). That is, the beam together with the iron fell into the water.
"And he cried out and said, Alas my master, and it was borrowed" - had it been a monetary loss of my own, fine. But the axe is borrowed, and what shall I say to its owner? I am obligated to return it and I have nothing with which to do so.
וַיֹּאמֶר אִישׁ־הָאֱלֹהִים אָנָה נָפָל וַיַּרְאֵהוּ אֶת־הַמָּקוֹם וַיִּקְצׇב־עֵץ וַיַּשְׁלֶךְ־שָׁמָּה וַיָּצֶף הַבַּרְזֶל׃ - And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. And he cut off a stick, and threw it there, and the iron floated.
Elisha asks: where did the axe fall? Show me its place. "ויקצב עץ" - קצב is from קצוב, to cut. He cut a piece of wood and threw it into the water, and through this the iron floated. Why did he need to cut off a piece of wood, when the handle remained in his hand, and even if not, he could have taken any ordinary piece of wood? The Radak says: the rule is that miracles are performed by means of something new. Thus they took a new flask to sweeten the water, and so too here. And why something new? Because an old object has already been used for some purpose; when you come to perform a miracle, you need something new that has never been used, something that comes clean, without "memories" of prior uses, designated solely for the purpose of the miracle. "ויקצב" - he cut it to a certain measure. This is also why the butcher (קצב) is called קצב, for he cuts all the pieces according to one measure, according to one uniform standard.
And thus the Ralbag explains in his own words: "The intent in saying he threw it there is that he already threw a piece of wood there with force, so that because of this necessary motion it would descend. And the wood was of a size that could overcome its own lightness against the heaviness of the iron, and float it up with itself upon the water." The Ralbag's principle is that every miracle is performed in as natural a manner as possible, in a way that appears less like a miracle and more like something possible according to nature. Therefore, according to him, Elisha did not take just any piece of wood and throw it into the water, but took a piece of wood large enough that by its mass it could float and carry the iron up with it, and shaped its end to the size of the slot in the axe, and threw it forcefully into the water so that it would lodge in the slot and float the iron.
But the Malbim disputes this sharply: "And he cut off a stick - he showed that the prophet has the power to reverse natures, that the wood and the iron exchanged their natures with one another." The wood sank in the mighty waters like lead, and the iron floated up like light wood. And regarding the Ralbag he writes: "And the Ralbag sought natural devices in this, as is his way; were the matter not written I would not say it, and his words are vanity." And this was the twelfth miracle in the count of his wonders. That is: you have no need to explain how the miracle was performed by natural means. There was a miracle here, and the prophet is capable of taking something light and sinking it and something heavy and floating it. In any case you need a miracle: if you say that he threw and aimed, can one really aim like that? You could throw a million times and not succeed in getting the wood to enter forcefully and lodge in the iron and float it. If so, a miracle is required regardless, so why seek explanations? Say from the outset that it is a miracle: the wood sinks and the iron floats, to show that the prophet has the power to reverse natures.
וַיֹּאמֶר הָרֶם לָךְ וַיִּשְׁלַח יָדוֹ וַיִּקָּחֵהוּ׃ - And he said, Take it up for yourself. And he put out his hand and took it.
After the iron floated, he had to take it up from the surface of the water. From here we see that a miracle is not performed for something in which there is no need. Seemingly the axe could have come out on its own to the riverbank, but it says "take it up for yourself": it is enough that it floats on the surface of the water, up to this point we perform the miracle, and from here on take it with your hands. Similarly we find with Batya the daughter of Pharaoh, from whom too we learned that a person must do his own part: she sent her maidservant, stretched out her hand, and then the miracle occurred and her arm was extended many cubits and she took the basket. The Holy One, blessed be He, performs a miracle, but you too must do your part.
The Prophet Who Knows the Secrets of the King of Aram
וּמֶלֶךְ אֲרָם הָיָה נִלְחָם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּוָּעַץ אֶל־עֲבָדָיו לֵאמֹר אֶל־מְקוֹם פְּלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי תַּחֲנֹתִי׃ - And the king of Aram was warring against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
Here a new matter begins, almost a chapter unto itself. The king of Aram was warring against Israel for years, and he would take counsel with his servants, with his security forces and intelligence personnel, the keepers of the secret, and say to them: in such and such a place shall be my encampment. This is a secret operational code that no one is supposed to know: from where the attack will come, where the surprise attack will be positioned. No one knows except his servants. "פלוני" is from "and it was wondrous (פלאי)", something concealed and hidden. "אלמוני" is from concealment, like mute (אילם), something that is not spoken of, something unknown. And the Ralbag brings another possibility: the aleph interchanges with an ayin, as in "עלמוני," from נעלם ונסתר, hidden and concealed.
וַיִּשְׁלַח אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר הִשָּׁמֶר מֵעֲבֹר הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה כִּי־שָׁם אֲרָם נְחִתִּים׃ - And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware of passing this place, for there Aram is coming down.
Here we are told just how great the prophet was: the spirit of God rested upon him, and he knew even the most hidden things. The man of God sends a warning to the king of Israel: my lord, be careful, they are setting an ambush for you. "Nechitim" comes from the root meaning to descend, for that is where they were coming down. The prophet's "GPS" scans the entire land and knows every single place.
וַיִּשְׁלַח מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אָמַר־לוֹ אִישׁ־הָאֱלֹהִים וְהִזְהִירֹה וְנִשְׁמַר שָׁם לֹא אַחַת וְלֹא שְׁתָּיִם׃ - And the king of Israel sent to the place of which the man of God had spoken and warned him, and he guarded himself there, not once and not twice.
The king of Israel would receive such a warning, send men to see whether it was so, and take care not to pass there. "Not once and not twice" - he did this again and again. The king of Aram would plan ambushes, the prophet would inform the king of Israel, and the king of Israel would send men there. The very act of sending reveals to some degree the king of Israel's lack of faith, for each time he had to check anew whether the prophet was right this time too. In any case he took care, and saw again and again that the matter was true.
וַיִּסָּעֵר לֵב מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם עַל־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וַיִּקְרָא אֶל־עֲבָדָיו וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם הֲלוֹא תַּגִּידוּ לִי מִי מִשֶּׁלָּנוּ אֶל־מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And the heart of the king of Aram was troubled over this matter, and he called to his servants and said to them: will you not tell me who among us is for the king of Israel?
The king of Aram is going out of his mind. "Vayisa'er" - he was seized by storm and confusion, trembling like a storm wind. He is certain there is a mole here, someone revealing a secret, a spy for the king of Israel. It cannot be that they know over there everything that happens here.
וַיֹּאמֶר אַחַד מֵעֲבָדָיו לוֹא אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ כִּי־אֱלִישָׁע הַנָּבִיא אֲשֶׁר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יַגִּיד לְמֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר תְּדַבֵּר בַּחֲדַר מִשְׁכָּבֶךָ׃ - And one of his servants said: no, my lord the king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.
There is no spy here, my lord the king. They have a prophet, and Elisha the prophet tells the king of Israel even what you spoke with your wife at night. He knows everything, even what is said in the innermost chambers.
וַיֹּאמֶר לְכוּ וּרְאוּ אֵיכֹה הוּא וְאֶשְׁלַח וְאֶקָּחֵהוּ וַיֻּגַּד־לוֹ לֵאמֹר הִנֵּה בְדֹתָן׃ - And he said: go and see where he is, that I may send and take him. And it was told to him, saying: behold, he is in Dotan.
The king of Aram hears such a thing and says: a card like that? This is a joker with which you win every battle. A country would pay millions of dollars for a single man like this, who could tell us whether an attack is being planned against us, where a war is supposed to take place, and what the enemy's strategic moves are. "That I may send and take him." And they tell him he is in the city of Dotan.
This recalls the naval commando operation of those years: Egypt had a sophisticated radar system that the Russians had supplied, and it created great danger for our planes flying over it. What did they do? They flew there in a helicopter, tied up the radar, lifted it and brought it back here. For them it was a terrible disgrace: a radar worth millions, and perhaps they had not even had time to learn how to use it. The very thing meant to protect them all was taken away. And this is exactly what the king of Aram wanted here: the one who protects everyone, the prophet, let us take him. But the wonder is enormous: the prophet is not a radar. Can you simply take him? And if you force him, will he speak when he does not want to? And if he knows what is in your bedchamber, surely he also knows that you are planning to take him. How does one plan such a thing?
וַיִּשְׁלַח־שָׁמָּה סוּסִים וְרֶכֶב וְחַיִל כָּבֵד וַיָּבֹאוּ לַיְלָה וַיַּקִּפוּ עַל־הָעִיר׃ - And he sent there horses and chariots and a heavy force, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
The Malbim says: in truth the king of Aram's plan was not to take the prophet by force, which would be a foolish act beyond imagination, but to take him in a pleasant way. The proof is in his own words: "go and see eichoh hu." What is this word? Not "where is he," but according to the Malbim: go and see what his situation is, whether he is rich or poor. If he is poor, he is easy to buy; if he is rich, I will have to give him abundant gifts and payment until I persuade him that it is worthwhile for him to serve me rather than the king of Israel. "Eichoh hu" comes from the sense of what is his condition. If so, why did he send a heavy force? Because he knew the king of Israel would not readily allow his "radar" to be released. He went out with a heavy force to keep Elisha with him even by force, and if he saw that Elisha wished to go, he might even try to kill him, for under no circumstances would he agree that Elisha pass into the enemy's hands. Therefore he sent a large force to fight the king of Israel if he prevented him from buying the prophet with money.
"For those with us are more than those with them"
וַיַּשְׁכֵּם מְשָׁרֵת אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים לָקוּם וַיֵּצֵא וְהִנֵּה־חַיִל סוֹבֵב אֶת־הָעִיר וְסוּס וָרָכֶב וַיֹּאמֶר נַעֲרוֹ אֵלָיו אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנִי אֵיכָה נַעֲשֶׂה׃ - The attendant of the man of God rose early and went out, and behold, an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots. His servant said to him: Alas, my master, what shall we do?
Elisha's attendant rose early in the morning. The Malbim says that this was by Divine providence: even before anyone else awoke and noticed the siege, the first to see it was precisely the one through whom the problem could be addressed, Elisha's attendant, so that he would inform Elisha. It is also possible, says the Malbim, that Elisha himself woke his attendant early so that he would go out and see, enabling him to carry out the action we will read about later.
Why does the lad ask "how shall we do" rather than "what shall we do"? The Malbim explains: "how shall we do" means, I know we have the power to be saved, and my only question is how. There are many ways to be saved, and it is clear to me that we will be delivered, for the prophet is with me; the only question is in what manner the rescue will take place.
וַיֹּאמֶר אַל־תִּירָא כִּי רַבִּים אֲשֶׁר אִתָּנוּ מֵאֲשֶׁר אוֹתָם׃ - He said: Do not fear, for those with us are more than those with them.
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל אֱלִישָׁע וַיֹּאמַר יְהֹוָה פְּקַח־נָא אֶת־עֵינָיו וְיִרְאֶה וַיִּפְקַח יְהֹוָה אֶת־עֵינֵי הַנַּעַר וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה הָהָר מָלֵא סוּסִים וְרֶכֶב אֵשׁ סְבִיבֹת אֱלִישָׁע׃ - Elisha prayed and said: Hashem, please open his eyes that he may see. And Hashem opened the eyes of the lad, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.
You see here an enormous army, thousands, Elisha tells him, and even so our army is greater. The lad does not understand what is meant, and Elisha prays that his eyes be opened, and Hashem opens his eyes, and he sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha, who have come to guard him. Now he is able to see that the force with Elisha was greater than the force with the king of Aram.
And why was this miracle needed? Seemingly it was a miracle for no purpose, especially since we will see later that Elisha did not use at all the chariots of fire and the horses of fire that the lad saw on the mountain; everything was done in a much simpler and easier way. Does Heaven perform a miracle for nothing? The Ralbag offers an explanation: a person gripped by fear, by dread, by battle shock, is liable to scream, and when he screams in such a state he cannot be silenced, for it is not a rational situation. The result of the scream would be that all the people of the city would wake up, and this would only complicate the situation, and Elisha would not be able to control it as he was about to act. Therefore it was necessary to calm the lad at that moment, and the way to calm him was for him to see that those with us are more than those with them, so that he would compose himself and Elisha could control the situation. A further explanation: there was a concern that they would recognize that Elisha was here and would come by force.
And a further explanation: the Gemara says that a person who is afraid, his fortune weakens, and this is learned from Iyov, "that which I feared has come upon me." That is, when a person is afraid of something, his fortune, the angel guarding him in Heaven, is weakened. The Gemara in Bava Kama says that every person has an angel guarding him, which is why an animal dies more easily than a person, for a person has a guardian angel. And when a person is afraid, as it were that angel is weakened and the person becomes more exposed to harm: "that which I feared has come upon me," and another verse in Iyov: "the fear I dreaded has come upon me," I feared something and in the end it came upon me. From here we learn that part of the protection from fear is trust in Hashem: one who trusts in Hashem, kindness surrounds him, and one who does not trust, the very fear he brings upon himself is liable to harm him. Here too there was a concern that their fortune would weaken as a result of the lad's fear, and therefore it was necessary to strengthen him in trust in Hashem, and through this they could go out and act.
And the Malbim adds: the angels through whom Elisha truly saved the city and escaped the whole affair are the same ones that now appeared to the lad's eyes as angels of fire and chariots of fire. The Holy One, blessed be He, sends His angels before you to save you, and He sent an angel before Elisha to be his helper, and that angel materialized before the lad's eyes as a chariot of fire and horses of fire and an enormous army. This was not merely to calm the lad, but rather this is the angel that was meant to help Elisha, which materialized before his eyes, and in the process the lad was calmed.
Whom are you with: the lesson of "those with us are more"
From here the masters of mussar say that a person must take a great lesson in all the wars against the heretics and against those who do not do Hashem's will, and the lesson is: "for those with us are more than those with them." Once the rabbi of a town came to the Chafetz Chaim and told him about the difficult situation, how the maskilim were fighting him and harassing him at every turn, having already conquered the town hall, the school, and here and there. He said to him: there is a struggle here between the God-fearing and the maskilim, and I feel that the God-fearing are dwindling and growing weaker, and the maskilim are raising their heads and succeeding on every front; I do not know what to do, it seems the situation is nearing the point of giving up. The Chafetz Chaim said to him: what is even the question? When there is a battle between two sides, whoever wants to succeed should go with the stronger side. The rabbi did not understand: what does it mean to go with the stronger side, shall I surrender to the maskilim? The Chafetz Chaim said to him: make a reckoning, who is stronger, the Creator of the world or them? And ultimately, am I with the Creator of the world or with them? And if you have the Creator of the world, what good will it do to tell me how many they have, when on the other side I have the Creator of the world? Everything they have is nothing compared to the Creator of the world.
And this is exactly what is being said here. A person who wants to be strengthened should know: those who are with us are more than those who are with them. He looks around and says: their courts, their police, their media, their parliament, everything is theirs, what can we possibly do? He is told: those who are with us are more than those with them. You simply do not see it; we lack an Elisha to open our eyes. Had we an Elisha to open our eyes, we would see how many are with us compared to them, and we would understand that all of this is transient. The one who endures forever is the true, rooted people of Israel, "and you who cling to Hashem your God are all alive today."
The Plague of Blindness and Bringing Them into Shomron
וַיֵּרְדוּ אֵלָיו וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל אֱלִישָׁע אֶל־יְהֹוָה וַיֹּאמַר הַךְ־נָא אֶת־הַגּוֹי־הַזֶּה בַּסַּנְוֵרִים וַיַּכֵּם בַּסַּנְוֵרִים כִּדְבַר אֱלִישָׁע׃ - And they came down to him, and Elisha prayed to Hashem and said: Strike this nation, please, with blindness. And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
They come down and advance toward Elisha's dwelling place, and he asks that they be struck with sanverim. What is the plague of sanverim? Rashi says: an illness of bewilderment, one sees but does not know what he is seeing. Like a person who walks about dazed, sleepwalking. It does not mean blindness, for they did indeed see. Rather it is the intellectual sight: the Rambam says that the opening of the eye mentioned in Scripture refers to the eye of the intellect being revealed, not the physical eye. And when they were struck with sanverim, it was the eye of their intellect that was struck: they saw yet did not know what they were seeing.
Let us note the wording precisely: "And he said: Strike this nation, please, with blindness, and He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha." It does not say "And Hashem said: Strike, please," nor does it say "And Hashem struck them with blindness." Rashi explains: because the name of Hashem is not invoked over a curse; the name of Hashem is invoked only over a matter of blessing. By contrast, when their eyes were opened, there the name of Hashem is indeed mentioned.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אֱלִישָׁע לֹא זֶה הַדֶּרֶךְ וְלֹא זֹה הָעִיר לְכוּ אַחֲרַי וְאוֹלִיכָה אֶתְכֶם אֶל־הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר תְּבַקֵּשׁוּן וַיֹּלֶךְ אוֹתָם שֹׁמְרוֹנָה׃ - And Elisha said to them: This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Shomron.
If you think the prophet's place is elsewhere and you are only passing through here, "this is not the way"; and if you think the prophet is here and that is why you came, "this is not the city," for the prophet is not here. And how is he not here? The meaning is: you do not see him, and therefore it is as if he is not here. I will lead you to a place where you will see him, and there he is. And he brings them into Shomron, the seat of the rule of Yehoram son of Achav, the royal city.
וַיְהִי כְּבֹאָם שֹׁמְרוֹן וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלִישָׁע יְהֹוָה פְּקַח אֶת־עֵינֵי־אֵלֶּה וְיִרְאוּ וַיִּפְקַח יְהֹוָה אֶת־עֵינֵיהֶם וַיִּרְאוּ וְהִנֵּה בְּתוֹךְ שֹׁמְרוֹן׃ - And it came to pass, when they came to Shomron, that Elisha said: Hashem, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And Hashem opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were within Shomron.
Note: over the opening of their eyes the name of Hashem is mentioned, and over the closing it is not mentioned. The name of Hashem is invoked only over the good and not over the bad. He removed from them the plague of sanverim and they saw. And it is quite possible that these are not the same sanverim as those in Sodom, for here the Malbim says: it is clear that the sanverim mentioned is not blindness, but only a confusion of the faculty of perception.
"Would you strike those whom you took captive with your sword and your bow?"
וַיֹּאמֶר מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־אֱלִישָׁע כִּרְאֹתוֹ אוֹתָם הַאַכֶּה אַכֶּה אָבִי׃ - And the king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them: Shall I strike them, shall I strike, my father?
Let us grasp the situation: imagine that an entire company is taken, struck with blindness, and suddenly they find themselves in the central square of Damascus. A group of soldiers, their eyes are opened, they were led like a flock of blind men. And does anyone come out of Damascus alive? Eli Cohen was hanged. Entering Damascus is a one-way ticket. In such a situation there is nothing left for you to do, they have brought you into the lions' den and seated you before them. The king sees this and says: excellent, no war is needed, I have men here with swords, let us begin striking and the whole affair is over.
וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא תַכֶּה הַאֲשֶׁר שָׁבִיתָ בְּחַרְבְּךָ וּבְקַשְׁתְּךָ אַתָּה מַכֶּה שִׂים לֶחֶם וָמַיִם לִפְנֵיהֶם וְיֹאכְלוּ וְיִשְׁתּוּ וְיֵלְכוּ אֶל־אֲדֹנֵיהֶם׃ - And he said, You shall not strike them. Would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
Look at how piercing this ruling is, and see the moral standard of the prophets. What nation would even think of such a thing? A nation would say: what difference does it make how and what, they are here, kill them all and leave none, let them learn their lesson. But the prophet says: what right do you have? Did you capture them with your sword and your bow? These men were brought here, and I brought them by the power of Hashem. And people whom you take captive, would you kill them? Killing is permitted only against one who comes in the way of war, but a prisoner, would you slay him? Especially since they had not come to do evil at all, but rather, according to what we explained, they came to do good with the prophet: what wages do you receive from Yehoram? We will give you double. That is what they thought. Therefore: set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
וַיִּכְרֶה לָהֶם כֵּרָה גְדוֹלָה וַיֹּאכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתּוּ וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם וַיֵּלְכוּ אֶל־אֲדֹנֵיהֶם וְלֹא־יָסְפוּ עוֹד גְּדוּדֵי אֲרָם לָבוֹא בְּאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And he prepared a great feast for them, and they ate and drank, and he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the raiding bands of Aram no longer came into the land of Israel.
"And he prepared a great feast for them" - he made a great banquet for them, a large meal, they ate and drank, and he sent them off to their land. "And the raiding bands of Aram no longer came into the land of Israel."
The Siege of Shomron and the Terrible Famine
וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי־כֵן וַיִּקְבֹּץ בֶּן־הֲדַד מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם אֶת־כׇּל־מַחֲנֵהוּ וַיַּעַל וַיָּצַר עַל־שֹׁמְרוֹן׃ - And it came to pass after this, that Ben Hadad king of Aram gathered all his camp, and went up and laid siege to Shomron.
There seems to be a contradiction here from one verse to the next: you said that the bands of Aram no longer came, and immediately after, the king of Aram gathers all his camp and goes up and lays siege to Shomron. But the explanation is: "no longer" means at that time, and "and it came to pass after this" means, according to the Radak, after a long period. And another answer: "the raiding bands of Aram no longer came" in this manner, in the manner of setting ambushes. From here on they no longer came in ambushes, but rather in open battle. And in truth an open battle is far easier than dealing with commandos and ambushes: in battle I know whom I am fighting, who the army is, what my forces are, and I go and fight. But when you are struck by guerrilla warfare, this is the hardest thing, which no country wants to stand up against. The way of murder and plunder and attempts to set ambushes for the king ceased, and then he gathered his entire army for the way of war. Therefore the verse is precise: at first "the raiding bands of Aram no longer came," bands meaning small groups, like commandos, undermining the quiet and calm through acts of terror; whereas afterward "the king of Aram gathered all his camp," not bands but an entire camp coming for battle, and he laid siege to Shomron.
וַיְהִי רָעָב גָּדוֹל בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן וְהִנֵּה צָרִים עָלֶיהָ עַד הֱיוֹת רֹאשׁ־חֲמוֹר בִּשְׁמֹנִים כֶּסֶף וְרֹבַע הַקַּב דִּב־יוֹנִים בַּחֲמִשָּׁה־כָסֶף׃ - And there was a great famine in Shomron, and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a quarter of a kav of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
The siege was such that one could not go out or come in, and it coincided with the years of famine, for there were seven years of famine in the days of Elisha. There was no grain ready in the storehouses, since there was famine anyway, and now the siege was added on top. Had there been food in the storehouses, as in the siege of Yerushalayim where Chazal said they had enough for three years were it not for the zealots who burned everything, they would have managed and organized themselves; but here, since there were already years of famine, there was nothing to eat, and when the siege was added the famine reached an unbearable level. To the point that a donkey's head cost eighty pieces of silver.
And what is "divyonim"? Dove's dung. And note: the written form is "charyonim" and the read form is "divyonim." "Charyonim" means the dung that comes out of their holes, and this is a less clean expression, and therefore the read form is "divyonim," from the expression of something that flows from the doves, like the expression "niddat davotah" from the language of her flow. And why would they buy a quarter of a kav of divyonim for five pieces of silver? One explanation: they would kindle fire with the dove's dung, since they had no wood and could not go out to chop, and they would kindle with it the little that they had to eat, or to warm themselves. The Radak brings in the name of his father that the "divyonim" are what is in the crop of the doves: the doves are not confined, they go out and eat from the grain fields in places where there was no famine, and when they flew over the city they would catch them and extract the grain from their crops. Understand what poverty and what famine this was. And there is another view, of the Ralbag, that it was not only from the crop but also from the actual dung, as we find that she would glean grains of produce from the dung of the animals of the Arabs: the grains are not always digested and not always ground down in eating, and when they would take the dung and clean and rinse it, they would find grains in it, gather them, and eat them.
The Woman's Cry Upon the Wall
וַיְהִי מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל עֹבֵר עַל־הַחֹמָה וְאִשָּׁה צָעֲקָה אֵלָיו לֵאמֹר הוֹשִׁיעָה אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ - And it came to pass, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, that a woman cried out to him, saying, Help, my lord the king.
וַיֹּאמֶר אַל־יוֹשִׁעֵךְ יְהֹוָה מֵאַיִן אוֹשִׁיעֵךְ הֲמִן־הַגֹּרֶן אוֹ מִן־הַיָּקֶב׃ - And he said: If Hashem does not save you, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?
The king understood, according to the plain meaning, that she was requesting salvation from the terrible famine, and he answered her: Hashem is the One who has the power to save, and He did not save you. And I, who from the outset have no power to save, from where shall I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress? Yet I have neither threshing floor nor winepress. Who is called a savior? One who has the power to save, and I have no such power.
וַיֹּאמֶר־לָהּ הַמֶּלֶךְ מַה־לָּךְ וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה הַזֹּאת אָמְרָה אֵלַי תְּנִי אֶת־בְּנֵךְ וְנֹאכְלֶנּוּ הַיּוֹם וְאֶת־בְּנִי נֹאכַל מָחָר׃ - And the king said to her: What troubles you? And she said: This woman said to me, Give your son that we may eat him today, and we shall eat my son tomorrow.
What does "What troubles you?" mean, when he had already told her that he had no power to save? Rather, he is saying to her: I see that even though I told you I have no power to save, you are still here. This means you are asking for something else. If so, what troubles you, what more do you want, what can I actually do for you? Then the woman says "this woman," a phrase of pointing with the finger, meaning that she had come together with her for a judgment of Torah law. She argues: it was she who began with the plan, she who first proposed that we give my son and eat him, and after I gave my son and we ate him, now she is unwilling to give her own son. And the other argues that there are no binding acquisitions in such a matter: I cannot make a binding acquisition to kill someone, there is no obligation to kill.
וַנְּבַשֵּׁל אֶת־בְּנִי וַנֹּאכְלֵהוּ וָאֹמַר אֵלֶיהָ בַּיּוֹם הָאַחֵר תְּנִי אֶת־בְּנֵךְ וְנֹאכְלֶנּוּ וַתַּחְבִּא אֶת־בְּנָהּ׃ - So we cooked my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give your son that we may eat him, but she hid her son.
And what does "but she hid her son" mean? There are two explanations: one, that she took and ate her son by herself; a second, that she had mercy on him and was unwilling to kill him.
וַיְהִי כִשְׁמֹעַ הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־דִּבְרֵי הָאִשָּׁה וַיִּקְרַע אֶת־בְּגָדָיו וְהוּא עֹבֵר עַל־הַחֹמָה וַיַּרְא הָעָם וְהִנֵּה הַשַּׂק עַל־בְּשָׂרוֹ מִבָּיִת׃ - And it was, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his garments, and he was passing along the wall, and the people saw, and behold, the sackcloth was upon his flesh underneath.
The king heard this terrible and dreadful thing, understood how grave the situation was, and tore his garments out of great grief. And since at that moment he was passing along the wall, the people saw, and behold, the sackcloth was upon his flesh underneath. And when the people see that the king is tearing his royal garments and beneath them there is sackcloth, the thing casts dread into their hearts and brings them to despair: see to what a state we have come, that even the king sees no hope, no chance of being saved, and he has placed sackcloth upon his flesh. And in a king who does not fear God, the thing shows the magnitude of the crisis all the more. If someone told you that the prime minister was going to seek counsel through all sorts of readings in crystal balls and coffee grounds in order to know how to lead the country, we would say that this man is in total despair. For who turns to raising the dead through a medium? Shaul, and only when every path was closed off. There is no choice, so one turns to a woman who is a medium. And if this king, who was wicked like his father and served idols like his father, turned to sackcloth and ashes, something he was not familiar with, it is a sign that he understood there is no hope and that one must turn to the Creator of the world. All the doors are locked, and one door remained in which there is a chance. And because the people saw the sackcloth upon his flesh underneath, despair fell upon them.
The King's Decree Against Elisha's Head
וַיֹּאמֶר כֹּה־יַעֲשֶׂה־לִּי אֱלֹהִים וְכֹה יוֹסִף אִם־יַעֲמֹד רֹאשׁ אֱלִישָׁע בֶּן־שָׁפָט עָלָיו הַיּוֹם׃ - And he said: So may God do to me and more, if the head of Elisha son of Shafat shall remain upon him this day.
"So may God do to me and more" is a fixed expression in the Prophets: a person wishes to say that the terrible and dreadful thing should befall him, and he does not want, God forbid, to spell it out about himself, for a person is forbidden to say that some evil thing should happen to him, and therefore he says in general terms: May Hashem do to me such and such, without saying what, so that it not be fulfilled in him, God forbid. And what does he swear? That the head of Elisha son of Shafat shall not remain upon him this day; he intends to make a separation between Elisha and his head. And why? Why does the prophet not pray for the people, why does he see this terrible situation and not try to seek mercy for us? And some say that Elisha rebuked him but did not inform him that there would be seven years of famine, and because he did not know, he did not prepare for such a great calamity, and consequently the situation led him to such a terrible crisis, that they reached the point where a woman eats the fruit of her own nurturing, a thing spoken of in the harshest prophecies in the Torah, in the most terrible situations of the people of Israel.
וֶאֱלִישָׁע יֹשֵׁב בְּבֵיתוֹ וְהַזְּקֵנִים יֹשְׁבִים אִתּוֹ וַיִּשְׁלַח אִישׁ מִלְּפָנָיו בְּטֶרֶם יָבֹא הַמַּלְאָךְ אֵלָיו וְהוּא אָמַר אֶל־הַזְּקֵנִים הַרְּאִיתֶם כִּי־שָׁלַח בֶּן־הַמְרַצֵּחַ הַזֶּה לְהָסִיר אֶת־רֹאשִׁי רְאוּ כְּבֹא הַמַּלְאָךְ סִגְרוּ הַדֶּלֶת וּלְחַצְתֶּם אֹתוֹ בַּדֶּלֶת הֲלוֹא קוֹל רַגְלֵי אֲדֹנָיו אַחֲרָיו׃ - And Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him, and the king sent a man from before him. Before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders: Do you see that this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? See, when the messenger comes, shut the door and press him back with the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?
The verse is complex, so let us see how it is explained. According to Rashi, "and he sent a man from before him" means the king sent a messenger to kill him, and told him: You go first, and I will come after you, to make sure the task is done properly. And Elisha, who knows through prophecy, says to the elders sitting with him, even before the messenger arrives: Do you see that this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? When he comes, close the door and do not let him enter, and press him against the door, for the sound of the feet of his master, Yehoram, is already heard behind him.
The Malbim explains differently: Elisha was sitting in his house and not in the study hall with the disciples of the prophets, and the elders, the Sanhedrin, were sitting with him and judging the people. When he saw through the holy spirit that Yehoram's messenger was about to arrive, he sent away from before him all the people who were sitting before him and left only the elders. And why? Because he did not want the matter to become known among the masses, and he wanted only the important elders to remain. And so it is explained: "and he sent" - Elisha sent "a man from before him," every man who sat before him he dismissed from his presence, "before the messenger came to him." If so, according to Rashi "and he sent a man from before him" means the king sent a messenger ahead, and according to the Malbim it means Elisha sent away those sitting before him. And from where does the Malbim derive his interpretation? From the fact that at first it says "a man" and afterward "the messenger." According to Rashi there is a slight difficulty: why is the messenger first called "a man" and afterward "a messenger"? Why does it not say from the outset "and he sent a messenger from before him"? From this the Malbim concluded that the "man" here and the "messenger" afterward are two different things.
The Malbim explains further: even the king in his time did not have the power to put a person to death without any transgression by way of murder, but only through a legal trial. And a proof: Navot the Yizreelite, about whom we already spoke, that they were obligated to run the kingdom according to basic rules of governance, and the rules state that the king cannot murder a person who has done no wrong. Even in the time of Achashverosh there were laws, that the king could not kill a person unless he convened the seven ministers who sat first in the kingdom. And who changed the law? Haman, who changed it so that the king could kill without consulting anyone. And why did he change it? So that they would kill him: for when the time came to kill Haman and it says "hang him upon it," where were the seven ministers? He himself had changed the law. Well and good. That is to say, there are fundamental rules, and especially in their time when it was easy to carry out a coup: a king who behaved in a murderous manner, the people would not tolerate him for long and would overthrow him, and therefore there were basic rules.
Therefore Elisha says to the elders: See that he is coming to kill me by way of murder. He asks them to speak with him, for these elders are the Sanhedrin. It is not that Elisha was afraid of him, but that they should tell him that this is a murderous way and it is not conduct befitting a king. Therefore: seize and close the door and press him against the door. "Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him" - do not worry that the messenger may be mighty and stronger than you, break the door, enter, and kill; for his master is right behind him. With the messenger there is nothing to discuss, for what is a messenger if not a thug with a weapon in hand; the complaints are only with the king. And therefore he says to the elders: stop him and do not be alarmed, for the king is right behind him, and to the king you can say: how do you wish to kill Elisha without a trial?
"Why should I wait for Hashem any longer"
עוֹדֶנּוּ מְדַבֵּר עִמָּם וְהִנֵּה הַמַּלְאָךְ יֹרֵד אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה־זֹאת הָרָעָה מֵאֵת יְהֹוָה מָה־אוֹחִיל לַיהֹוָה עוֹד׃ - While he was still speaking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him, and he said: Behold, this evil is from Hashem; why should I wait for Hashem any longer?
Who is the one saying "Behold, this evil is from Hashem, why should I wait for Hashem any longer"? There are several explanations here. Rashi explains that the king said it: this is one of the curses with which the Holy One, blessed be He, cursed Israel, "and you shall eat the fruit of your womb in siege and distress," behold this evil is from Hashem. And "why should I wait for Hashem any longer" - what more is there to pray and hope to Hashem, for it will no longer help. All these things the king said.
The Ralbag explains that the messenger, the emissary who now came down to Elisha, told him that he had come to kill him over the matter of the famine, by the king's command. Elisha said to him: And will you thus escape the decree of famine? The way is to pray to Hashem. The messenger replied to him: Since this evil came from Hashem, it is in vain to pray to Him; for you see that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought such evil and distress, and after Hashem brought such a calamity, it is impossible to be saved from it. For the messenger thought: an evil that someone else caused - pray to Hashem and He will remove it, but an evil that Hashem Himself brought upon you, what use is there in praying to Him? The messenger in his folly understood that there is evil from Hashem and evil that is not from Hashem, while we know that there is nothing in the world that is not from Hashem. But in his great foolishness he thought that there are evils stemming from the heavenly bodies, from the stars, from the idols, and from all sorts of forces in creation, and for those one prays to Hashem; but if Hashem brought something upon you, what point is there in praying to Him.
A third explanation is brought by the Metzudat David: he too holds that the messenger is the one saying "Behold, this evil is from Hashem," except that he did not say it to Elisha as the Ralbag holds, but to the king. That is, the messenger says to the king: This evil that has come upon us is from Hashem, a punishment for our crimes and sins, and now you are sending me to kill Elisha? You want me to add sin upon crime, is it not enough with the crimes until now that I should sin even more? And if so, "why should I wait for Hashem any longer" - if until now there was still a chance that we would pray to Hashem, after such a great evil is done, what room for prayer will remain for you? His intent is to say "why should you wait for Hashem any longer," except that out of respect for the monarchy he attributed the matter to himself and said "why should I wait," and his meaning is: after there will be upon you yet another transgression of killing the prophet, what face will you have to pray to Hashem?
In summary:
This chapter opens with the expansion of Elisha's study hall after the removal of Gechazi, and with the miracle of the axe head that floated on the water - a miracle in which the Malbim emphasizes that the prophet actually transforms nature, and that a person is still required to reach out his hand and take it. From there rises the greatness of the prophet who knows the secrets of the bedchamber of the king of Aram, who saves Israel from repeated ambushes, strikes the army with blindness, and leads it to Shomron - and there teaches the ethics of the prophets: one does not kill captives whom you did not capture with your sword and your bow, but rather one sets before them bread and water. In the middle of the chapter stands the key statement "for those who are with us are more than those who are with them," from which we learned the foundation of trust: fear itself weakens one's fortune, and one who looks correctly sees that whoever stands with the Creator of the world stands with the strong. The chapter concludes with a descent from light into darkness: the siege, the terrible famine to the point of dove droppings and the eating of the flesh of sons, the despair of the king who tore his garments and wore sackcloth, and his decree upon Elisha's head - and the messenger's cry "why should I wait for Hashem any longer," which is the exact opposite of the trust the prophet taught at the start of the chapter.