Who prophesied in 2 Kings 3:16-19, Elisha or the musician?

Question

The Context

In 2 Kings chapter 3, the Kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom are gathered together (v.9a) to go against Moab (v.5-6). But in the hunt with their armies, they were running out of water (v.9b), such that the king of Israel was beginning to believe the three kings were to be delivered by YHWH to Moab.

So the king of Judah inquires if a prophet of YHWH is around, and the answer comes back that Elisha is (v.11). So the kings go to him, and then an exchange occurs where Elisha seems not too pleased to be inquired of by them, only acknowledging Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, the one who sought a prophet of YHWH, per vv.12-14 (NKJV, bolding added):

12 And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. 13 Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” 14 And Elisha said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you, nor see you."

So Elisha then does something interesting (again, bolding added) and a prophecy comes (2 Kg 3:15-19):

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 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.’ 18 And this is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. 19 Also you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall cut down every good tree, and stop up every spring of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”

The Question

Does the "him" (end of v.15) and "he" (beginning of v.16) refer to Elisha or to the musician?

That is, did Elisha call a musician so that the prophecy would be delivered by that musician (but obviously by Elisha's "blessing" so to speak, since he is the one who called for him) instead of directly by Elisha or did the musician simply, in some unexplained way here, play a role of causing Elisha himself to prophesy under these circumstances through the playing of music?

The reasons why I question this at all are:

Against being the musician (so in favor of Elisha)

1. Contextually, Elisha was the prophet sought for by the kings to get an answer from.
2. Contextually, related to #1, Elisha is a recognized prophet within Scripture, so it seems probably he is the one doing the prophesying here.
3. Historically, Elisha is a well known prophet of Scripture, so that also points more to his being the messenger.

Against being Elisha (so in favor of the musician)

1. Contextually, Elisha did not really want to have anything directly to do with the king of Israel's errand.
2. Contextually, since Elisha made the call for the musician, this would likely alleviate any doubts the kings might have had from a prophecy coming from the musician. That is, they would likely see Elisha's "blessing" on the message spoken, since he is the one who called for the musician, and take that message as if Elisha had given it himself. (This is significant, because if true, it takes all the three reasons above for why Elisha might be intended and essentially nullifies them, for Elisha's prophetic authority would be seen as "approving" of the musician's message since Elisha was the one who called for him.)
3. Contextually, no other reason is given why the musician is called for (he does not call for one in any other story of his prophesying, e.g. 2 Kg 4:1-7).
4. Grammatically, the nearest antecedent to "him" and "he" is the musician.
5. Historically, there are other isolated instances in Scripture where those not normally prophetic do prophesy (often in association with prophets). Consider:
   • The elders (Num 11:25-27)
   • Saul before becoming king (1 Sam 10:5-13); interesting to compare to the passage in question here, as there, the prophets themselves played the instruments (is there an implication that the musician was a prophetic student of Elisha?)
   • Messengers from Saul and again Saul (1 Sam 19:24)

The above logic is why I am questioning the intent and form of the wording of the passage with respect to determining who delivered this prophecy.

Answer 1

My seminary proff used to teach us to read a passage within the text style of the ancient middle east. The original first audience of 2 Kings Chapter 3 would definitely read that Elisha spoke the prophecy, not the musician. They would be looking for a phrase like "then the musician prophesied in the place of Elisha saying...". It doesnt exist, so we assume that the prophet did the prophesying, the musician performed the music. Either way, God used Elisha to initiate the prophesy, and they both worked together in the same spirit. This passage is so cool!

Answer 2

Perhaps one cannot answer this question definitively due to the ambiguity of the pronoun referent. The best we can do is make an educated guess based on logic. The strongest argument for it being the musician is the grammatical one of the nearest antecedent. All other arguments favor Elisha. Let’s look at your 5 supposedly in favor of the musician.

1. By calling the musician, Elisha was still involved in accomplishing the king’s errand. If he didn’t want anything to do with it, he could have refused to come rather than call in a musician to prophesy. He got involved for the sake of Jehoshaphat.
2. Again, there is not much difference between whether he blesses a prophecy or prophesies himself. The kings would still value hearing from Elisha rather than some unknown musician.
3. A possible reason is the music helped him overcome his reluctance to help the king of Israel and helped him get into the mental state of hearing from God. If a musician is called and not a prophet, it is safe to assume that he is called to play music and not prophesy especially when a powerful prophet is present.
4. True, but the story revolves around Elisha, not the musician.
5. Sure, God can do anything but we can’t assume anything specific unless it is made clear. There is no compelling reason to believe that God would speak through someone other than the principal prophet of Israel on such an important occasion.

In sum, there is no real good reason to believe that the prophecy was delivered by anyone other than the main protagonist of the story. If it were important that the musician was the one who prophesied, it would likely have been made more clear. We can conclude with reasonable confidence that the prophet Elisha prophesied.

Answer 3

Who prophesied in 2 Kings 3:16-19, Elisha or the musician?

Another way to solve the mystery is to recognize the sensus plenior within. This is a prophetic reference to John and Jesus ministering together.

Mt 11:17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.

Three kings searched for water, Christ as fully God found the land to be desolate (no word of God).

He was to be delivered into the hand "of his Father" (Moab).

Elisha (God is salvation) of Shaphat (god has judged) represents the salvation of God through the judgement of Christ. He removed the ax (judgement) from the stream (water/word).

After the minstrel and the dirge (bad prophecy) there is the utter destruction of the land (flesh) similar to the total consumption of the burnt offering.

The word (water) became life (life is in the blood).

The son of the king was offered as burnt offering v.27

In this case, the dirge came from Elisha, but even the dirge of John proclaimed life through theWord (Christ).

Ultimately, Elijah and Elisha, John and Jesus, speak of Jesus alone. He preached repentence, judged us by his perfect obedience in the midst of temptation, putting us to shame, and provided life through his blood.

Answer 4

In the New Living Translation the verse is as follows

Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I wouldn’t even bother with you except for my respect for King Jehoshaphat of Judah. 15 Now bring me someone who can play the harp.”

While the harp was being played, the power of the Lord came upon Elisha,

It seems like an issue with translation. It would be an odd ocurrance in the old testament for someone other than a prophet or insignificant to have prophesied. The music was most like needed to effect Elisha, maybe in a similar fashion as in 2 Kings 3:14

Some of Saul’s servants said to him, “A tormenting spirit from God is troubling you. Let us find a good musician to play the harp whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you. He will play soothing music, and you will soon be well again.”

Listening to music could have been used to get into the required spiritual state.

Answer 5

I personally think it was Elisha who prophesied. But let's also consider that primitive Israelite prophecy involved music as part of the prophetic experience, not just to assist them to get "in the mood." see 1 Sam 10.5: "...you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying."