_THE SHUNAMMITE HATH HER LAND RESTORED. BENHADAD, BEING SICK, SENDS HAZAEL TO ELISHA, FROM WHOM HE HAS FOR ANSWER THAT HE SHALL DIE. HAZAEL SUCCEEDS TO THE KINGDOM OF SYRIA. JEHORAM'S WICKED REIGN. AHAZIAH SUCCEEDETH HIM._ _Before Christ 885._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SPAKE ELISHA, &C.— _Elisha had said,_ &c. So 2 Kings 8:2. _And the woman had arisen, and done,_ &c. Houbigant: who conjectures from the 4th verse, that this event happened before Gehazi was stricken with leprosy.... [ Continue Reading ]
GO SAY UNTO HIM, THOU MAYEST CERTAINLY RECOVER, &C.— _Go say, Thou shalt certainly not live,_ &c. See Kennicott's first Dissert. p. 163.; but Houbigant thinks that ours is the just translation, and that the words contain a silent reproof from Elisha, who well knew that a courtier like Hazael would c... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SETTLED HIS COUNTENANCE— _"He_ [Hazael] _keeping his countenance, continued with the same look for some time, while the man of God wept."_ Hazael pretended surprise at the answer of Elisha, desirous to conceal from him the satisfaction which he had in the intelligence of his king's death. Hou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WILL DASH THEIR CHILDREN, &C.— That dashing young children against the stones was one piece of barbarous cruelty which the people of the east were apt to run into in the prosecution of their wars, is plainly intimated Psalms 137:8. Nor was this inhuman practice quite out of use among nations pre... [ Continue Reading ]
HAZAEL SAID, BUT WHAT, &C.— When the prophet with tears foretold to Hazael what calamities he should hereafter bring upon Israel, his ambition instantly took fire, and he cried out with transport, _"What! thy servant! a dog! that he should do the great_ [_word_] _deed!"_ This is the _literal_ transl... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK A THICK CLOTH, AND DIPPED IT IN WATER— He did this that no signs of violence might appear upon him; for had the murder been in the least suspected, Hazael could not so easily have acceded to the throne; because, according to the account of Josephus, Ben-hadad was a man of such reputation amo... [ Continue Reading ]
TO GIVE HIM ALWAY A LIGHT, AND TO HIS CHILDREN— _That he should always have a light in his children._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
ATHALIAH, THE DAUGHTER OF OMRI— Houbigant reads it, _The daughter of Ahab, the son of Omri._ REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here, 1. An account of the wicked reign of Jehoram king of Judah, who, during his father's life, was associated with him to govern. Utterly unlike the good Jehoshaphat, he cleaved... [ Continue Reading ]