Elisha and the Conquest of Moab: Elijah has gone, and Elisha has been authenticated as his successor. We expect, on the analogy of Elijah’s own life (and because of God’s words in 1 Kgs. 19:15–18), that succession means involvement in politics, and this is what we now find as Elisha is consulted about a military campaign. Echoes of 1 Kings 22:1–28 are everywhere to be heard, especially in Jehoshaphat’s renewed alliance with the house of Ahab. We must listen to these words intently if we are to understand what is happening in this rather puzzling narrative.

3:1–3 We expect that Jehoram (the NIV’s Joram), as a son of Ahab, will be the one to see God’s judgment falling at last upon Ahab’s house (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:21–24). It is surprising, then, to find that the description of his reign distances h…