The background to the story is that of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, a relatively good, God-fearing King, but he made a critical mistake by making an alliance with the wicked son of Ahab, Jehoram.
2Kings 3:5-24
But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at that time King Joram….7 sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”
Israel was at war with the Moabites but their king had led them in a roundabout route for 7 days, leaving them with no water and dwindling hope.
Kings 3:9-26, 9 “So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched on that roundabout route seven days; and there was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them. 10 And the king of Israel said, “Alas!
King Jehoshaphat
המלך יהושפט
Yehoshaphat.
Phonetic Spelling: (yeh-ho-shaw-fawt’)
Definition: the LORD has judged or
Yah Hath Judged/Yahweh Has Judged/The Lord Judges.
The name Jehoshaphat consists of two elements:
1) The name יה(Yah) = יהו(Yahu) = יו(Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton; the name of the Lord: YHWH.
2) The verb שפט (shapat), meaning to judge or govern:
King Jehoshaphat plan was to try to take over the land of Moab…but as we know, the end doesn’t justify the means. The plan backfired on him and he found himself with thousands of soldiers and animals and no water.
God never wants us to align ourselves in a common goal with wickedness, those not walking in covenant relationship with Him.
Both old and new testaments remind us
32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. Exodus 23:32-33
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Cor. 6:14
Jehoshaphat had not done right in terms of separating himself from unbelievers, and it ended up costing his people because now their very lives were in danger.
Having commanded some 40,000 men to march 7 days over a hot desert with minimal food and water.
When his options had run out, he finally decides to go to the man of God for counseling; this should have been his first action along with seeking the Lord for His direction. He realized he needed to separate from them, and yet there is no water…
What was the answer to his dilemma?
“Let’s consult ELISHA, a prophet and a man of God to inquire of him. He knows about water. He poured water on the hands of Elijah.”
And Jehoshaphat said, Whether any prophet of the Lord is here, (so) that we (can) beseech the Lord by him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here, that poured water upon the hands of Elijah (Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here, who poured water upon Elijah’s hands). 2Kings 3:11
Elisha
אלישע
Modern: ʼElīšaʻ, My God is salvation or
God is salvation
Greek: Ἐλισ[σ]αῖος, Elis[s]aîos or Ἐλισαιέ, Elisaié)
So they did, however, the answer was probably not what they were expecting because…..
Sometimes He asks us to be a part of His solutions….
and sometimes in rather strange and unusual ways.
Elisha says:
2Kings 3:15-17
15 But now bring me a musician.”. Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. 16 And he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of [ a]ditches.’ 17 For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’.
This word “valley” in the Hebrew is
ואדי
“wadi“,
which is a “dry riverbed
More Hebrew words for wadi.
noun וָאדִי.
gully, ravine.
noun נַחַל. s
tream, river, brook, valley, ravine.
“Cherith, Kerith (Hebrew: נַחַל כְּרִית Naḥal Kərīṯ), or sometimes Chorath (/ ˈ k ɔːr ɑː θ /; from the Septuagint’s Greek: Χειμάῤῥους Χοῤῥάθ cheimárrhous Chorrháth), is the name of a wadi, or intermittent seasonal stream mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
Now bring me a minstrel/musician… One that can sing and play well upon an instrument of music.
He sent for a minstrel, possibly to calm his mind from the impressions of the physical problem and having been disturbed at the sight of idolatrous Jehoram,
the soft tones of the lyre/harp brought composure to his mind and soul so that he might be inspired to more fervent prayer, and thereby be prepared to receive the prophetic inspiration.
When the musician played, the hand of the Lord came on him and his spirit gave instructions to work the miracle.
minstrel
2 Kings 3:15
HEB: קְחוּ־ לִ֣י מְנַגֵּ֑ן וְהָיָה֙ כְּנַגֵּ֣ן
NAS: bring me a minstrel. And it came
KJV: But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrelalso
נָגַן Nagan
Phonetic Spelling: naw-gan’
Definition. to touch or play a stringed instrument. NASB Translation. minstrel (1), minstrel played (1), musician
Strongs #5059
2 Kings 3:16-18
“This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver Moab into your hands.“
God lays it on Elisha’s heart what
He,
the Lord,
will do to rescue them:
All they have to do is dig some ditches!
Why?
It sounds completely crazy!
So Why? ….
Because God said to.
Even though He said in v. 17 there won’t be storms or rain!
…but
there’ll be water…
God has spoken.
Dig ditches…..
תְעָלָה
ditch, channel, canal, gutter, culvert, water course
They needed
to act
on their faith,
regardless of how illogical it sounded!
Imagine what passers-by must have thought….
an army digging ditches???
Digging a valley full of ditches,
for water,
to win a battle with no sign of rain!
He didn’t need human logic,
no rain was required,
no river,
just
His power and
simple faith, trusting in Him.
if He says it, He does it!
From the irrational display of desperation to the next morning
….they find that…
Water has flowed uphill and across this ancient plain
that was once a stream bed.
In verse 20, the valley is full of water for the troops
Then a further miracle happens:
the Moabites mistake the water for blood and through this they are defeated.
Nothing is impossible for God, and He achieves it through
His plans,
no matter how illogical and unexplainable they are to us.
He even provides in abundance,
far more than we would expect, for them
AND their animals.
But they had to trust God,
His plan
and what He asked them to do.
So should we.
We think often that God will give us faith to change or to persevere and stand until the situation changes.
However, true faith comes when we walk into the valley, often situations that are opposite to mountain top experiences; and instead of trying to fill the valley, we instead dig until they are filled with ditches.
The Lord requires places/ containers for His waters to collect, so that it won’t run off and dissipate into another stream.
He wants to fill our valleys.
biqah: a valley, plain
בִּקְעָה
Phonetic Spelling: bik-aw’
Strongs#1237
Not only so we can drink, but to have enough for everyone around us who needs it, including crops and animals/ livestock.
Faith is not looking up and seeing rain clouds and seeing the rain fall.
Faith is looking at a clear sky
but being full of expectancy
that the valley will be filled.
You will not see wind nor rain.
He wants us to do things like, dig ditches, with the promise to fill them and in unexpected unconventional ways.
He wants a faith filled people.
He is looking for people who don’t need rain in order to have rainfall!
Faith people who will dig ditches to collect water that never falls from the sky!!!
People who will believe
He will bring water
in His own way and time
all we have to do is act in obedient response,
that is faith!
The ‘ridiculous’ faith of Elisha!
We must sometimes dig a ditch so God can fill it!
That is a clear lesson from this scripture account.
Our Heavenly Father specializes in
FILLING
things
which are
EMPTY.
We are to empty ourselves of the cares of this world, and that makes room for God to fill us!
As we remember, the cares of the world choke the Word of God.
When we empty ourselves of the flesh
and then the Spirit comes flowing in like a rushing river,
filling the valley of our souls!
Our Heavenly Father gets all the glory when He uses our provision of emptiness to fulfill His will in and through us in overflowing ways!
His OUTPOURING into our need!
In the following chapter we see the familiar story of the widow and her empty vessels which God filled for her. Elisha, who challenged the widow woman to create more emptiness for the Lord to fill, had just seen it happen himself as he dug ditches so God could fill them.
Have faith…trust…
lay aside all self-sufficiency,
and instead,
find some emptiness!
The widow of 2Kings 4 brought all the jars she had faith to bring!
How many would we bring?
Sometimes we are called to create some emptiness so God can fill it.
… Dig a ditch,
or God won’t fill it!
A mind occupied with planning
pays homage to the idol of control.
Planning takes little to no faith because it is fore-thought and carefully and deliberately arranged and what is worse, it leaves God completely out of the picture and then we ask Him to bless our way.
Many spend all week planning the weekend, thinking it is Gods’ will when in fact it is just simply what they want to do.
One of the greatest hindrances to living a faith filled life is not making room for God.
In this account, Elisha shows how faith works.
It is echoed in Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.
The principle here is
putting
faith
into
action.
Don’t just say you have faith!
Show it by our actions
James said in 2:17…
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” shew me thy faith without thy works/actions, and I will shew thee my faith by my works/actions.