2 Kings 8:7-15

D. PREDICTION CONCERNING THE CAREER OF HAZAEL 8:7-15

TRANSLATION

(7) Now Elisha went to Damascus when Benhadad the king of Aram was sick. And it was told him, saying, The man of God has come here. (8) And the king said unto Hazael, Take in your hand a present, and go to meet the man of God, that you may inquire of the LORD from him, saying, Shall I recover from this disease? (9) And Hazael went to meet him, and took a present in his hand, even every good thing of Damascus, forty camel burdens, and he came and stood before him, and said, Your son Benhadad, the king of Aram, has sent me unto you, saying, Shall I recover from this sickness? (10) And Elisha said unto him, Go, say to him,[548] You shall surely recover; but the LORD has shown me that he will surely die. (11) And he stood before him, and settled his countenance, and set it until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. (12) And Hazael said, Why is my lord weeping? And he said, Because I know the evil which you will do to the children of Israel. Their fortresses you will set afire, and their young men you will slay with the sword, and their little ones you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open. (13) And Hazael said, But what is your servant, a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha said, The LORD has shown me you as king over Aram. (14) So he went from Elisha, and came unto his master, and he said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And he said, He said to me that you will surely recover. (15) And it came to pass on the next day that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael ruled instead of him.

[548] The existing Hebrew text cannot be translated and the slight emendation of to-' (not) to lo (to him) is accepted by almost all authorities.

COMMENTS

The reasons for Elisha's visit to Damascus are not given. Some have attempted to link this visit to the commission given many years earlier to Elijah that he was to anoint Hazael. Others speculate that Jezebel was stirring up trouble for the prophet, and so he determined to leave the country temporarily. Still another possibility is that Elisha was spending part of the time of the national famine outside the land even as his predecessor had once done.[549] Whatever his reasons for going to Damascus, the move was most bold. Not too long previous to this visit, the king of Damascus had made a determined effort to arrest Elisha and punish him for revealing Aramean military plans to Jehoram (cf. 2 Kings 6:13-19). Probably the Lord directed Elisha to make this trip, and the prophet, putting his trust in the Lord, carried out the command.

[549] Gray, (OTL, p. 529) thinks Benhadad sent for Elisha. If this were the case, one would think that Elisha would have been taken directly into the presence of the king.

It so happened that the aged Benhadad was quite ill at the time Elisha visited the city. Since the prophet made no effort to conceal his presence, his coming was soon reported to the king (2 Kings 8:7). Benhadad, knowing of the reputation of this man of God, immediately dispatched his trusted servant Hazael with presents for the prophet. He was instructed to make inquiry of Yahweh through the prophet concerning the prognosis for the king (2 Kings 8:8). The miracles of Elisha had convinced even these idolaters that Yahweh was a great and powerful God. Hazael carried out the instructions of his king, taking with him the choice goods of Damascus carried by forty camels. Through his messenger, Benhadad referred to himself as your son thus indicating the respect he felt toward the prophet (2 Kings 8:9).

Elisha instructed Hazael to tell his master that he would surely recover from that illness. However God had revealed to Elisha that the king would die, not of his illness, but of another cause (2 Kings 8:10). After rendering this answer to Hazael, the prophet fixed a hard stare upon his visitor until Hazael became uncomfortable and ashamed. Hazael had already formed a plan to eliminate his master and the stare of the prophet made him realize that his plans were known.

As the prophet mentally observed what lay in store for his people at the hand of Hazael, he began to weep (2 Kings 8:11). Hazael inquired as to the reason for this unexpected outburst, and in so doing addressed the prophet with the respectful my lord. Elisha explained his emotional outburst by describing the brutal warfare which Hazael would launch against Israelthe burning of cities, slaughter of youth, dashing to pieces of little children, and ripping open of pregnant women (2 Kings 8:12). Hazael shrugged off the implications of this prediction by asking how he, a lowly servanta contemptible dogwould ever be able to launch war against Israel and do the great things Elisha predicted of him. Elisha responded that Hazael would not continue in his lowly position, for the Lord had revealed that he would one day be king of Aram (2 Kings 8:13).

Hazael returned to Benhadad and reported only the first half of Elisha's answer to the king. He suppressed the part of the answer that announced that Benhadad would die, but not of the illness (2 Kings 8:14). On the very next day, Hazael made his move against the king. He took a thick piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and held it over the ailing king's face until Benhadad died of suffocation.[550] Hazael then usurped the throne[551] (2 Kings 8:15).

[550] A few commentators have proposed that Benhadad committed suicide. But Hazael is the natural subject of the verbs in 2 Kings 8:15. Furthermore, 2 Kings 8:11 would be unintelligible if Hazael entertained no murderous intentions.

[551] Hazael's usurpation is noted in Assyrian inscriptions, which refer to him as the son of nobody, the regular designation of a usurper.