Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 8

Verses 1-29

Chapter 8

Now Elisha spake unto the woman, whose son had been restored to life, and he said, [You better get out of here because there's going to be a seven-year famine in this area] ( 2 Kings 8:1 ).

And so she left and she moved down to the area of the Philistines and stayed there for seven years. Now after the seven years, she came back from the land of the Philistines and she found that people have moved into her house and on to her property and taken over her land. Now, it so happened that the king at this time was talking with Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, and Gehazi was telling him all of the miracles that Elisha has performed.

And the woman was coming to the king and going to seek that he give her her land back and all. And so Gehazi was telling her about this woman that had this son and how the son died and was healed and all, and at the same time she came up to the king to see if she could get her land back, and Gehazi said, "As the Lord liveth, this is the woman. This is her. This is the one I was telling you about." And so the king inquired. This is the boy; this is the boy that was healed and all. He was dead and was healed. And so the king had her land restored to her plus all of the fruits from the field from the time that she had left.

Now Elisha came to Damascus ( 2 Kings 8:7 );

Now up unto the area of Benhadad.

the king of Syria who was very sick; and they told Benhadad that Elisha is come on up. So he sent Hazael ( 2 Kings 8:7-8 ),

Now you remember that last week as we were studying Elijah's flight down to mount Horeb, and the Lord. He was hiding in the cave, and the Lord said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah said, "I've been jealous for God and you know they have broken Your covenant. They've broken down Your altars and they've killed your prophets. I'm the only one left and all." The Lord said, "No, what are you doing here? You're doing nothing." And God says, "Now look, get out of here. Go up to Damascus and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria."

Now this is sometime later, Elisha is up in Syria. And the king Benhadad is sick and he sends Hazael, the one that Elijah had anointed to be the king over Syria, he sent him to Elisha to inquire whether or not the king was going to recover from this illness. And so Hazael came to Elisha and he said, "The king wants to know if he's going to recover from the illness." And Elisha just stood staring at him. And he said, "Well, what's wrong?" And he said, "Well," he said, "the king is will surely recover from the illness, but he's going to die." And he kept staring at him. And he began to weep, and Hazael was very uncomfortable.

So he said, Why are you weeping, my Lord? He answered, Because, [he said] I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: you're going to set their strongholds on fire, their young men will you slay with the sword, and you will dash their children, and rip up the pregnant women. Hazael said, Am I a dog, that I should do these horrible things? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath showed me that you're going to be the king over Syria ( 2 Kings 8:12-13 ).

Again, here is that marvelous spiritual insight as Elisha could see what the future held, what this man Hazael was going to be doing to the children of Israel. This is much like when Jesus was on the Mount of Olives looking at Jerusalem. On the day of His triumphant entry and as He began to weep, He said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if you'd only known what belong to your peace in this thy day. It's hid from your eyes and now desolation is going to come. Your children are going to be slain in the street." And He was weeping as He could see what lay in store for the city that was before Him as He was there on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city. He could see the devastation that was coming and He wept over it. So here the prophet Elisha could see what this man was going to do. The horrible devastation, the atrocities. And he began to weep, and of course, the guy was embarrassed. He said, "Am I a dog that I would do this kind of thing?" And he said, "The Lord has shown me you are going to be the king over Syria."

Well, he went back to Benhadad and he said, "What did the prophet say?" And he said, "The prophet said you would surely recover from this illness." But he took a wet blanket and he smothered Benhadad, and Hazael became the king over Syria.

Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, Jehoshaphat then being the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah began to reign ( 2 Kings 8:16 ).

So here's where you got these two Jehorams reigning. One is the son of Ahab; the other is the son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat and Ahab were sort of co-conspirators. They were friends, and perhaps they decided to name their son the same names.

He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: because he actually married the daughter of Ahab ( 2 Kings 8:17-18 ):

And thus, the idolatries and all of the northern kingdom were now introduced into Judah, the southern kingdom, through Jehoram. He was a wicked, evil king.

and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. But the LORD would not destroy Judah for David's sake. Now in his days the Edomites revolted against Judah ( 2 Kings 8:18-20 ),

And he came down to smite them but he himself was put to flight by the Edomites. And then Libnah joined in the revolt against Judah.

And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead ( 2 Kings 8:24 ).

Now Ahaziah would be then a relationship to Ahab and Jezebel. He's sort of the grandson.

And in the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign. He was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned only for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah ( 2 Kings 8:25-26 ),

She was a wicked woman.

she was the daughter of Omri the king of Israel. And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael the king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given to him, when he fought against Hazael the king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram the king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick ( 2 Kings 8:26-29 ).

And so Ahaziah went up to see the king to sort of comfort him in his sickness. Now next week we will pick up with chapter nine and we will move on as these two kings are assassinated as they are visiting there. And so Jehu becomes the king over Israel and a new king over Judah.

Shall we stand.

David said, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, O Lord, that I might not sin against Thee" ( Psalms 119:11 ). Also, "the entrance of thy word giveth light" ( Psalms 119:130 ). "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path" ( Psalms 119:105 ). And may God enrich your knowledge of Himself through the study of His word. And may we learn the value of commitment to God. And may we learn the dangers of unbelief. May God teach us through the word how to walk with Him in faith. And may God grant to us spiritual insight in these days to come, especially in which evil days are going to wax worse and worse. If you don't have spiritual insight, you're going to be going under. May God grant to you that spiritual insight that you can see behind the scenes. You can see what the others aren't seeing. That you can see that God is working and that His hand is actually in these things that are transpiring and God is bringing to us His will and His purposes, for Jesus is coming very soon. And may God grant you great spiritual insight as we move into this dark period of the history of the United States. May you be sustained by the power of the Spirit and by the hope that is ours through the Word of God. "