2 Kings 5:7

(7) He rent his clothes.—As if he had heard blasphemy. (Comp. Matthew 26:65.)

Am I God, to kill and to make alive?—Deuteronomy 32:39, “I kill, and I make alive;” 1 Samuel 2:6, “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive.” Leprosy was a kind of living death. (Comp. Numbers 12:12, Heb., “Let her not become as the dead, who, when he cometh forth of his mother’s womb, hath half his flesh consumed.”)

Wherefore.—Heb., For only know (i.e., notice), and see. Plural verbs are used, because the king is addressing his grandees, in whose presence the letter would be delivered and read.

He seeketh a quarrel.—This form of the verb (hithpael) occurs here only. (Comp. the noun, Judges 14:4.) Jehoram was hardly in a position to renew the war, after the severe defeat of his father (1 Kings 22:30, seq.).