John Gill Commentary 2 Kings 6:32

"But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him; and [the king] sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away my head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him: is not the sound of his master`s feet behind him?" — 2 Kings 6:32 (ASV)

And Elisha sat in his house
In Samaria:

and the elders sat with him ;
not the elders of the city, or the magistrates thereof, but his disciples, as Josephus says ^F16 , the eldest of them, whom he admitted to greater familiarity and converse with him:

and the king sent a man from before him ;
to execute what he had sworn should be done that day to the prophet:

but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, see you how
this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head ?

which he knew by a spirit of prophecy, and spoke of it before the executioner came. He calls Joram the son of a murderer, because of his mother Jezebel, who killed Naboth, and the prophets of the Lord, and to which his father Ahab also consented, and therefore might be so called too; and he intimates hereby that he was of the same temper and disposition, and as the above oath, and his orders, showed:

look when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the
door ;
and not suffer him to come in:

is not the sound of his master's feet behind him ?
that is, of Joram king of Israel, who followed the messenger, either to listen and hear what the prophet would say unto him; or repenting of his order, as Josephus ^F17 thinks, he followed him to prevent the execution.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F16: Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4.)
• F17: Ibid.