(21) As they were burying.--They--i.e., a party of Israelites. The story is told with vivid definiteness.

A band.--Rather, the troop. The particular troop of Moabites which happened to be making an inroad at the time.

They cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha.--Comp. Mark 16:3-4. In this case, we must suppose that the tomb was more easily opened, as the action was obviously done in haste.

And when the man was let down, and touched the bones.--Rather, and they departed. And the man touched the bones. The order of words in the original, as well as the sense, supports old Houbigan?s conjecture. If the meaning were, "and the man went and touched," the subject in the Hebrew would have followed the first verb, not the second. Moreover, the verb would hardly have been h?lak.

He revived.--Literally, and he lived. Thenius thinks that the sacred writer regarded this miracle as a pledge of the fulfilment of Elisha's promise to Joash Bahr says: "Elisha died and was buried, like all other men, but even in death and in the grave he is avouched to be the prophet and servant of God." Dante's warning may not be out of place here:--

"O voi che avete g?intelletti sani,

Mirate la dottrina, che s asconde

Sotto il velame degli versi strani."

Inf. 9:61, sqq.

Verse 21. - And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that. "They" is used indefinitely of some unnamed Israelites, like the French on. Certain persons, it does not matter who, were burying a man, i.e. about to bury him, and were carrying the corpse to the grave, when an interruption occurred. Behold, they spied a band of men - rather, the band, i.e. the band of that year - and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha. There was no time for ceremony. Hastily, and somewhat roughly, it may be, the bearers of the body thrust it into Elisha's tomb, which happened to be at hand, and from the mouth of which they were able to remove the closing stone. They did not "throw" the body in, but pushed it in. And when the man was let down. The man was not "let down." Our translators seem to have been unacquainted with the Jewish mode of burial. They imagine that Elisha's tomb is a pit dug in the ground from the surface downwards, like a modern grave, and the man has therefore to be "let down," or to "go down" (marginal translation) into it. The Revised Version avoids the mistranslation, but weakens the force of the original. Translate, and when the man came, etc. And touched the bones of Elisha, he revived. The violent push given to the corpse imparted to it a movement which brought it in contact with the bones, i.e. the body (1 Kings 13:31) of Elisha, as it lay, wound in its grave-clothes, but uncoffined, on the floor of the sepulchral chamber. At the moment of contact the dead man came to life - "revived." And stood up on his feet. In many Jewish tombs the sepulchral chamber would allow of this.

13:20-25 God has many ways to chastise a provoking people. Trouble comes sometimes from that point whence we least feared it. The mention of this invasion on the death of Elisha, shows that the removal of God's faithful prophets is a presage of coming judgments. His dead body was a means of giving life to another dead body. This miracle was a confirmation of his prophecies. And it may have reference to Christ, by whose death and burial, the grave is made a safe and happy passage to life to all believers. Jehoash was successful against the Syrians, just as often as he had struck the ground with the arrows, then a stop was put to his victories. Many have repented, when too late, of distrusts and the straitness of their desires.And it came to pass, as they were burying a man,.... That is, as they were going to bury him; for as yet they were not come to the place they designed to bury him at, as appears by what follows:

that, behold, they spied a band of men; one of the bands of the Moabites, which came to rob and plunder, and which was about the place where they intended to bury the man; or they supposed would be there by that time they got to it, or at least before they could bury him, and therefore being frightened stopped:

and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha; that being nearest, they opened it, or rather rolled away the stone from it, and threw the body in great haste:

and when the man was let down, and touched the bone's of Elisha; or "went and touched" (r); that is, as Kimchi interprets it, being cast in, he rolled till he came to the body of the prophet, and touched it:

he revived, and stood upon his feet; which might serve to confirm the faith of Joash in the predictions of the prophet concerning his victories; is a proof of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal life, and an emblem of our being quickened through the death of Christ. The Jews say (s) this man was Shallum the son of Tikvah, and husband of Huldah the prophetess, and was a good man, much given to alms, for which he was rewarded; and they further say, he went to his own house, and lived many years, and begat children, and particularly Hananeel, mentioned in Jeremiah 32:7, which is not likely; though others say (t) he was a wicked man, Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, 1 Kings 22:24 and therefore not suffered to continue in the prophet's grave; but the former is more probable; and, according to Josephus (u), it was the band of robbers that left this man, whom they had murdered, in the grave of Elisha. This grave seems to have been in the field, where the Jews of old, and in later times, buried, as in the field of Hebron, the potter's field, &c. so the Greeks, as Pausanias relates (w), and the Romans also (x), buried by the wayside.

(r) "abit et tetigit", Pagninus, Montanus. (s) Pirke Eliezer, c. 33. (t) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol, 47. 1. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 11. 2.((u) Antiqu. l. 9. c. 8. sect. 6. (w) Corinthiac. sive, l. 2. p. 97. (x) Vid. Kirchman. Funer. Roman. l. 2. c. 22.