Did the LORD lose a battle to the deity of Moab in the fight between Israel and Moab?

tonychanyt · May 10, 2024

2 Kings 3:

1In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

Jehoram isn't a good king. He is a polytheist.

His father, Ahab, collected tributes from Moab. Now that Ahab is dead. Moab rebels against Jehoram. Then, Jehoram allied with Judah and Edom to attack Moab. On the way to Moab, the armies run out of water. They go to consult Elisha:

13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the LORD who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.”

Jehoram is rather negative about the LORD. Nevertheless, Elisha prophesies:

16 And he said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ 17 For thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’

That's prophecy #1. Prophecy #2:

18 This is a light thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, 19 and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”

These sound like very solid prophecies. #1 is immediately fulfilled:

20 The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

Prophecy #2 is fulfilled a few verses later:

25 they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. 26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not.

The alliance is doing great, but wait—there is a surprise:

27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

What? What is going on? Whose wrath is that?

Ellicott:

the wrath of Chemosh fell upon the Hebrew alliance. It is certain that belief in the supremacy of Jehovah did not hinder ancient Israel from admitting the real existence and potency of foreign deities.

Did the LORD lose a battle to another deity despite Elisha's prophecy #2?

No, I don't think so. Elisha did not prophecy that Jehoram would conquer Moab. There was some crazy spiritual warfare going on. In the end, Jehoram's lack of faithful loyalty to the LORD caused his failure.

Grip Docility · May 10, 2024

tonychanyt said:
2 Kings 3:

Jehoram isn't a good king. He is a polytheist.

His father, Ahab, collected tributes from Moab. Now that Ahab is dead. Moab rebels against Jehoram. Then, Jehoram allied with Judah and Edom to attack Moab. On the way to Moab, the armies run out of water. They go to consult Elisha:

Jehoram is rather negative about the LORD. Nevertheless, Elisha prophesies:

That's prophecy #1. Prophecy #2:

These sound like very solid prophecies. #1 is immediately fulfilled:

Prophecy #2 is fulfilled a few verses later:

The alliance is doing great, but wait—there is a surprise:

What? What is going on? Whose wrath is that?

Ellicott:

Did the LORD lose a battle to another deity despite Elisha's prophecy #2?

No, I don't think so. Elisha did not prophecy that Jehoram would conquer Moab. There was some crazy spiritual warfare going on. In the end, Jehoram's lack of faithful loyalty to the LORD caused his failure.

Israel demonstrates something that hinges on one bread crumb from scripture....

1 Samuel 8:6 When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the Lord. 7 But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king.

No matter how awesome a country is... human leaders and the collective of people will fail. God has patiently waited for Israel to finally surrender. It will happen. But, the circumstances are going to be terrible.

When a nation has a human king, Other than Our very "Son of Man" (Son of God, God the presence of God)... they will not succeed. This isn't God's punishment, but the National example of a single human failing... in need of Surrender to Christ's work, alone.

I sure wish that Jesus was on election ballads!

Did the LORD lose a battle to the deity of Moab in the fight between Israel and Moab?

tonychanyt

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Grip Docility

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Did the LORD lose a battle to the deity of Moab in the fight between Israel and Moab?

tonychanyt

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