2 Kings 3 explained: Water in the Desert, Horror at the Wall

Joram's mixed record (vv. 1-3)

Joram, Ahab's son, removed a sacred stone pillar to Baal, the god his parents had promoted, so the writer judges him less bad than they were. But he kept the golden calf shrines that King Jeroboam had set up long before as rivals to the temple in Jerusalem, and that still counts against him.

Moab revolts, kings march (vv. 4-9)

Moab, a sheep country east of the Dead Sea, had paid Israel a huge yearly tax in lambs and wool, and stopped after Ahab died. To punish this, the three allied kings take a long desert route around the south end of the Dead Sea, and the army runs out of water.

Seeking a prophet (vv. 10-15)

Joram despairs, but Jehoshaphat of Judah asks for a true prophet of the LORD, and they find Elisha, who had once served Elijah. Elisha tells Joram to go ask his parents' prophets and helps only out of respect for Jehoshaphat, then calls for music before God's power comes on him to speak.

Promise of water and victory (vv. 16-19)

Elisha says the dry valley will fill with water with no wind or rain, and that Moab will be beaten, its towns, trees, springs and fields ruined. Translations differ on whether the LORD makes the pools or the soldiers are told to dig ditches to catch the water.

Water that looks like blood (vv. 20-25)

At the hour of the morning sacrifice, water flows in from Edom, which some explain as a storm far off in the hills. The Moabites see it glowing red at sunrise, assume the allies have killed each other, rush in to loot, and are routed as their land is laid waste.

The sacrifice on the wall (vv. 26-27)

Trapped in his fortress at Kir Hareseth, Moab's king fails to break out and then burns his own heir as an offering on the city wall. A great wrath falls on Israel and the armies go home, though the text never says whose wrath it was.

Key verse: 2 Kings 3:18

Where Christians differ

Interpreters differ on whose 'great wrath' sent Israel home in verse 27: the LORD's anger, the anger of Moab's god, the Moabites' desperate fury, or Israel's own horror at what they had driven the king to do.

Something to think about

When rescue and horror come in the same event, as they do in this story, how do you hold both together in your mind?