Verse 12. - And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah King of Judah (see 2 Kings 14:11-14), are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Either this and the next verses have been displaced from their rightful position by some accident, or the author at one time intended to terminate his account of Joash at this point. The formula used is one, which regularly closes the reign of each king. The proper place for it would have been after ver. 25.
13:10-19 Jehoash, the king, came to Elisha, to receive his dying counsel and blessing. It may turn much to our spiritual advantage, to attend the sick-beds and death-beds of good men, that we may be encouraged in religion by the living comforts they have from it in a dying hour. Elisha assured the king of his success; yet he must look up to God for direction and strength; must reckon his own hands not enough, but go on, in dependence upon Divine aid. The trembling hands of the dying prophet, as they signified the power of God, gave this arrow more force than the hands of the king in his full strength. By contemning the sign, the king lost the thing signified, to the grief of the dying prophet. It is a trouble to good men, to see those to whom they wish well, forsake their own mercies, and to see them lose advantages against spiritual enemies.
Wherewith he fought.--Or, how he fought. In 2 Kings 14:15 and is prefixed, and should be restored here.
Against Amaziah.--See the account of 2 Kings 14:8, seq.
and his might; or valiant actions in war with the Syrians, 2 Kings 13:25,
and wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah; of which there is an account in the following chapter:
are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? in the history of the transactions of their reigns.