2 Kings 8:7-15--Hazael Murders Ben-hadad

2 Kings 8:7-15
English Standard Version
​
Hazael Murders Ben-hadad
7 Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, “The man of God has come here,” 8 the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’” 9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels' loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’” 10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die.” 11 And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” 13 And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” 14 Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” 15 But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

---

Elisha went to Damascus, the capital city of Syria, apparently to visit Ben-hadad the king of Syria.  Ben-hadad heard that Elisha had come and told Hazael to take a present with him and to go meet Elisah so that he could inquire of the LORD as to if he would recover from the sickness.  Hazael went and met with Elisha and did just as Ben-hadad had asked with a generous gift for Elisha that had to be carried by forty camels.

Elisha answered Ben-hadad saying "You will certainly recover, the the LORD has shown me that [you] shall certainly die."  That is that something else other than this sickness was going to kill the king.  Apparently Elisha started to weep after this and Hazael asked why Elisha was weeping.  Elisha answered him, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel.  You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women."

Hazael is confused on how he could be responsible for things such as this when he is simply a servant of Ben-hadad, but Elisha answered him and said, "The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria." (Remember that the LORD used His prophets to be king-makers, and while we may have originally assumed Elisha was there to heal Ben-hadad, it seems he was really there to tell Hazael that Ben-hadad was going to die and that Hazael would be his successor).  Nothing in Elisha's message tells Hazael to murder the king and take his place by force, but that is exactly what Hazael will do.

Hazael returns to the king and when asked, "What did Elisha say to you?," Hazael answeres, "He told me that you will certainly recover." (He only delivered half of the message, but concealed the part from Ben-hadad that warned him that his life was still in peril).  The next day, Hazael dipped the bed cloth in water and spread it over the face of Ben-hadad to smother him until he died, and Hazael become king in his place.  Hazael would do all the terrible things that the LORD prophecied through Elisha as the LORD would continue to use Syria to judge the nation of Israel for its wickedness and idolatry (and the LORD would continue to use Israel to judge Syria for its wickedness and idolatry).

We won't hear much from Elisha for the rest of the book.  He is going to anoint one more king in chapter 9 and then the book doesn't mention him at all until his death in chapter 13 (there are 25 chapters in the book of 2 Kings, so if Elisha was the one writing this history so far, another author would have to pick up the story from there to finish it out).  This book is going to take us all the way to the time of Captivity and there will be many other prophets in Israel and Judah during these days, but none like Elijah and Elisha were where even the people of the surrounding nations called them "the man of God' (not just "a prophet" or "a man of God").  It was clear to everyone that the LORD was using these men in a special way during this time.