1 Kings 19:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 19:16
And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Nimshi
נִמְשִׁ֔יnim.Shi
H5250
Nimshi · proper noun, a man's name
anoint
תִּמְשַׁ֥חtim.Shach
H4886
to rub with oil · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
king
לְמֶ֖לֶךְle.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
Elisha
אֱלִישָׁ֤ע'e.li.Sha'
H477
Elisha · proper noun, a man's name
son
בֶּןben-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Shaphat
שָׁפָט֙sha.Fat
H8202
Shaphat · proper noun, a man's name
Abel-meholah
מֵאָבֵ֣לme.'a.Vel
H65
Abel-Mecholah · preposition + proper noun, a place name
anoint
תִּמְשַׁ֥חtim.Shach
H4886
to rub with oil · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
prophet
לְנָבִ֖יאle.na.Vi'
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 19:19-21 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: an…
2 Kings 2:9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.…
2 Kings 9:1-14 And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine h…
2 Kings 2:15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came…
Judges 7:22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host f…
1 Kings 4:12 Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to…
Luke 4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 19:9-18
Here is, I. Elijah housed in a cave at Mount Horeb, which is called the mount of God, because on it God had formerly manifested his glory. And perhaps this was the same cave, or cleft of a rock, in which Moses was hidden when the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed his name, Exo 33:22. What Elijah proposed to himself in coming to lodge here, I cannot conceive, unless it was to indulge his melancholy, or to satisfy his curiosity and assist his faith and devotion with the sight of that famous place where the law was given and where so many great things were done, and hoping to meet with God himself there, where Moses met with him, or in token of his abandoning his people Israel, who hated…
Abel-meholah--that is, "the meadow of dancing," in the valley of the Jordan.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 19:16
Elisha - shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room - Jarchi gives a strange turn to these words: "Thy prophecy (or execution of the prophetic office) does not please me, because thou art the constant accuser of my children." With all their abominations, this rabbin would have us to believe that those vile idolaters and murderers were still the beloved children of God! And why? Because God had made a covenant with their fathers; therefore said the ancient as well as the modern siren song: "Once in the covenant, always in the covenant; once a son, and a son for ever." And yet we have here the testimony of God's own prophet, and the testimony of their history, that they had forsaken the coven…
And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel,.... This was a son of Jehoshaphat, and a grandson of Nimshi; nor does he appear to have been anointed by Elijah, but by Elisha; and being done by his order and direction was the same as if it was done by himself, unless he was twice anointed, see 2 Kings 9:1.
and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room; which was in the half tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan; See Gill on Judges 7:22.
Dictionary and topics
Abel-meholah — Meadow of dancing, or the dancing-meadow, the birth-place and residence of the prophet Elisha, not far from Beth-shean (1 Kings 4:12), in the tribe of Issachar, near where the Wady el-Maleh emerges…
Abelmeholah — (meadow of the dance), in the northern pat of the Jordan valley, (1 Kings 4:12) to which the routed Bedouin host fled from Gideon, (Judges 7:22) Here Elisha was found at his plough by Elijah…
Anoint — The practice of anointing with perfumed oil was common among the Hebrews. (1.) The act of anointing was significant of consecration to a holy or sacred use; hence the anointing of the high priest…
Anointing — in Holy Scripture, is either, I. Material—with oil—or II. Spiritual—with the Holy Ghost. I. MATERIAL.—
Elijah — Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made…
Elisha — God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his…
Messiah — (Heb. mashiah), in all the thirty-nine instances of its occurring in the Old Testament, is rendered by the LXX. “Christos.” It means anointed. Thus priests (Ex. 28:41; 40:15; Num. 3:3), prophets (1…
Nimshi — Saved. Jehu was “the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi” (2 Kings 9:2; comp. 1 Kings 19:16).
Shaphat — Judge. (1.) One of the spies. He represented the tribe of Simeon (Num. 13:5). (2.) The father of Elisha (1 Kings 19:16-19). (3.) One of David’s chief herdsmen (1 Chr. 27:29).
Appearance of God at Horeb. - Kg1 19:9. When Elijah arrived at Horeb, he went into the cave (the definite article in המּערה, with the obvious connection between the appearance of God, which follows here, and that described in Exo 33:12., points back to the cleft in the rock, נקרת הצּוּר) in which Moses had stood while the glory of Jehovah passed by (see at Exo 33:22), and there he passed the night. And behold the word of the Lord came to him (in the night): "What doest thou here, Elijah?" This question did not involve a reproof, as though Elijah had nothing to do there, but was simply intended to lead him to give utterance to the thoughts and feelings of his heart.
Kg1 19:10
Elijah answered:…
Go back . . . and travel: In loving patience, God renewed his prophet’s commission (cp. John 21:15-19). God directed Elijah to retrace his steps back to the place where he had strayed from God’s mission; from there he could move forward. • Hazael and Jehu both became instruments of God’s judgment (2 Kgs 8:7-15; 9:14-37). • Elisha, Elijah’s successor, would bring spiritual discernment and the Lord’s further judgment to Israel (2 Kgs 3:10-19; 8:7-15; 9:1–10:31; 13:3, 15-19). • Abel-meholah was located south of Beth-shan, where the valley of Jezreel and the Jordan Valley come together (see 1 Kgs 4:12; Judg 7:22).
Rashi on 1 Kings 19:16
You should anoint as prophet in your place. [God said,] “I do not want your prophecy, because you plead for the prosecution of My children.10Alternatively, “you should appoint another prophet in your place because you had asked to die, and for God to take your soul,” in v. 4 above.—Radak
Anointing Of The Holy Spirit · Typified — Typified
Anointing, Sacred · Persons who received: Prophets — Persons who received: Prophets
Doubting · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Elijah · .Es — .Es
Elisha · Elijah instructed to anoint — Elijah instructed to anoint
Jehu · 2. — 2.
Oil · Used: For anointing to offices of trust — Used: For anointing to offices of trust
Prophets · Mentioned in scripture: Elisha — Mentioned in scripture: Elisha
Shaphat · 2. Father of Elisha — 2. Father of Elisha
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
