2 Kings 8 Ben-hadad and Hazael
Ben-hadad, king of Syria is deathly ill. He sends his servant, Hazael, to ask Elisha if he will survive. Elisha says ‘Yes and No’. The illness won’t kill him, Hazael will.
Elisha’s fame is not limited to Israel. The surrounding nations know of him as well. Syria certainly does, for he healed Naaman. Why he is in Damascus is not explained to us. Maybe he was only there to speak the very words we read today.
I wonder if Hazael had this plan in his mind before going to see Elisha. Or did Elisha’s words put his mind to thinking? God knew what was going to happen at this point in history and later on. One might wonder why he didn’t prevent the later one by dealing with the ‘now’ events.
It’s because he gave man free will. We are NOT walking on a predetermined path without the ability to affect our direction. It is simply that God is outside of time and already know the choices we will make and what it will bring when we make them. To Him, it has already happened. Which is why He KNEW before even speaking the first words of creation that man would fail and Jesus would have to pay the ultimate sacrifice to buy us back.
Let’s rejoin our journey featuring Elisha’s ‘greatest hits’ and see where the Spirit takes us today.
♥ ♦ ♥
Morning is just peeking through the curtain of Elisha’s rooftop room in Shunem. He stopped in last night after a long day of ministering to the people in nearby towns. As the sun peeks in, Elisha stirs from his sleep. He takes little time to move from fast asleep to wide awake.
Elisha raises up in bed and hangs his feet over the edge. The cool floor is refreshing and brings him even fuller awake. After stretching to get all the kinks out, Elisha kneels down, facing Jerusalem, and begins his morning ritual. He greets every day by greeting the Lord and asking what His plans are for today.
“Lord God of my fathers; Lord God of creation itself; thank You for the restful night and the joy on the faces of those who received Your words yesterday. As I prepare for this day, give me direction regarding where to go, whom to see, and what to say when the time comes. You are in control. I give You all of myself to use how You see fit.”
As Elisha rises from his knees, he hears “Go to Damascus” rise up in his spirit. He doesn’t question it, he doesn’t argue, he simply begins gathering what he will need for the journey. One thing he will need is food and water. “I’m certain Dina will provide me with both of these. I need but to ask” he tells himself.
Elisha also needs to rouse his servant. Elisha looks over and sees the young man sprawled out on a pallet in a corner of the room. He shakes his head and smiles. Elisha thinks, “He could sleep through a whirlwind.” Elisha steps over and gives his shoulder a gentle shake.
“Elias, it’s time to get up. We have a long journey ahead of us.”
Elias stretches his arms above his head with a mild groan accompanying his movements. He rises from his bed and is quickly ready to do whatever Elisha needs. “Where are we going today, my father?”
“We are going to Damascus.”
“Why? What is in Damascus?”
“I have no idea. Only that the Lord spoke to my spirit and told me to go there. I suppose we will see what He has for us to do when we get there.”
Elian nods. He is used to this kind of answer. Elisha goes wherever the Lord tells him to, and he goes wherever Elisha goes.
The two finish washing their faces and preparing to meet the day. They descend the stairs and greet Dina who is on the porch.
“Shalom Dina. Did you rest well last night?”
“I did indeed; especially knowing that you were above me as I slept.”
“I have a request to make of you.”
“Whatever I can do for you, you have but to ask.”
“First, I am wondering if those amazing smells are from breakfast, and if we can join you.”
Dina laughs. “You know you are always welcome at my table. What is your other request?”
“I have a long journey ahead of me. The Lord has called me to go to Damascus. I will need food for my journey.”
“Say no more. I will have provisions for your journey ready and waiting when you have finished eating breakfast.”
“You are a marvel, Dina. A true blessing to my soul.”
Dina bats his remarks away with her hand, then rises to lead them inside the house for breakfast. Dina sees to Elisha’s and Elias’ needs during their meal, bringing whatever they request. It is the custom. The women serve the men and then they eat. Elisha had tried repeatedly to coax Dina to join them, but she won’t. She likes the order of things as they are.
After finishing their meal, Dina hands Elisha and Elias each a bag with bread, figs, and dried meat. She also returns to them their refilled waterskins. “Enjoy your journey. I hope this is enough to hold you until you reach your destination. Will you be stopping by on your way back?”
“That I do not know. It depends on where the Lord calls me to next.”
Dina waves goodbye as they head off down the path. Malachi joins her on the porch to bid farewell to Elisha. His hair is sticking out everywhere as he rushed from bed at the sounds of their departure. He didn’t want to miss it. Dina smooths down a few especially wild areas and waits with him at her side until Elisha and Elias are out of sight.
“Let’s get your breakfast and then you need to get to your chores.”
“Yes Ima” replies Malachi with a true servant’s heart.
Elisha and Elias walk in companionable silence. Neither feel the need for conversation. Occasionally, a conversation naturally bubbles up from the events surrounding them on their journey. This is their normal routine. It provides Elisha time to commune with the Lord as he walks. It also allows Elias to let his thoughts have free reign. He enjoys writing, and he composes stories in his mind as they walk. It takes two days of walking before they reach the city of Damascus.
Two weeks before Elisha even set out for Damascus, King Ben-hadad started getting sick. It started as a normal cold, but it settled into his chest very quickly. Within days, he was having trouble breathing. The day that Elisha sets out for Damascus, Ben-hadad is finding it hard to even speak. And he is so weak from his illness that he has taken to his bed. He has begun running a fever as well. He knows enough to know that these are bad signs.
Elisha arrives in Damascus and it begins an immediate stir. Only an hour after his arrival, the king hears of it. Ben-hadad knows Elisha’s power. He is the man who healed Naaman of his leprosy. “Surely he can tell me if I will recover from this illness” thinks Ben-hadad. Asking for him to heal him doesn’t even cross his mind.
Ben-hadad calls his closest servant, Hazael to his bedside. “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?’” (2 Kings 8:8).
Hazael bows low. “It will be done as you have commanded. I will personally go to the man and inquire, and I will bring word to you of his answer.”
Hazael hurries off to get an appropriate gift together. He gathers gold, silver, precious oils, fine foods, clothing, jewels, jewelry, and anything else he thinks the man of God might find desirable. When he is finished gathering his gift, he calls for camels to be brought to carry all the things he will present to Elisha. It takes 40 camels to carry it all!
It is easy to locate Elisha. All Hazael has to do is look for the biggest crowd. The people are so thick that, if Elisha wants to move, he has to practically swim through them. When Hazael locates Elisha, he begins ‘peeling’ the back layer of people off. He tells them to disperse by order of the king, but it still takes him time to make his way into Elisha’s presence.
When Hazael finally stands face to face with Elisha, he bows low and waits for Elisha to speak. “What is it that you want, my son” Elisha asks.
“First, please accept this gift from the hand of your servant, who wishes to honor you.”
Elisha looks at the line of heavily laden camels. “I cannot accept this gift, but I will hear your request.”
“Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’” (2 Kings 8:9).
The Lord speaks the answer into Elisha’s spirit. “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die” (2 Kings 8:10).
Hazel is confused. “How can he live and die at the same time” he thinks.
Elisha says nothing else but stares at Hazael for a long period. Hazael doesn’t feel free to leave, or to even say anything to the man of God. He stands there with Elisha boring holes into him until he is utterly embarrassed. He ducks his head.
As Elisha is looking intently in Hazael’s direction, if front of his eyes is playing out scenes of horrific atrocities to come. They will all be committed by the hand of Hazael or under his command. Then, out of nowhere the man of God begins to weep bitter tears.
This snaps Hazael from his embarrassment immediately. He looks at Elisha with concern.
“Why does my lord weep?” (2 Kings 8:12a) asks Hazael.
“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” (2 Kings 8:12b)
Hazael is aghast and Elisha’s words. Even if he ‘felt’ like doing these things, he had no power to carry them out. “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” (2 Kings 8: 13a).
Elisha stares him straight in the face and answers. “The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria” (2 Kings 8:13b).
These words confuse Hazael even more. He doesn’t know what to think of them. “How would I be king of Syria?” The though almost makes him laugh. He turns to leave and notices the gift he brought with him waiting to be delivered. The very same one Elisha refused to take from his hands.
Hazael begins to make his way back to the palace with the camels trailing behind him. He is lost in thought; considering everything that the man of God has said. “The king will survive his illness, but die anyway. And at some point, I will be king.” He will keep mulling this over in his mind.
When Hazael reaches the palace, he hands the lead of the camels to one of the guards. “Hold these for me. I will be along later to unpack them. Or I may send one of the servants, if I am detained.”
Hazael goes to the king’s bedside. He is so pale and has to stop between words to catch his breath when he speaks. “What did Elisha say to you?” (2 Kings 8:14a).
“He told me that you would certainly recover” (2 Kings 8:14b), Hazael tells his king. He did NOT tell him the rest of the words of Elisha.
Hazael thinks over Elisha’s words all night and into the next day. “If I am to be king, I will have to bring about the second half of Elisha’s words regarding the king’s recovery. His illness won’t kill him, but he will die. So, that probably means that Elisha’s God says that I can kill him. I like that idea.”
When evening comes, Hazael goes in to check on the king. “I will stay with him tonight. You get some rest” he tells the attendant. He steps over to the king’s bed. “How are you feeling, my lord?”
The king can barely lift his hand and he can only speak in one syllable whispers. “Not …so good …prophet …got …it …wrong.” Exhausted, the king drops his head further back in his pillow.
“I’m sorry to hear that, my lord. Maybe you just need to be patient a little longer.”
The king does a barely perceptible nod. Hazael pats the back of his hand. “You just rest. I will stay with you tonight. Who knows, you might be completely over this in the morning.”
Ben-hadad slips into a deep sleep. Once his breathing slows into a night rhythm, Hazael goes over to the bucket of water, warms some of it near the fire, then dips a cloth in it. After he wrings it out, he drapes it over Ben-hadad’s face. He leaves it there. The king’s breathing is already congested, but with the water, it becomes so thick that he can’t get a full breath. Hazael replaces the cloth several times in the night until the king finally stops breathing all together. Once his breathing stops, Hazael waits ten minutes, then cleans up the evidence.
When morning comes, Hazael lets out a cry of mourning. Everyone nearby comes rushing in. “I fell asleep. When I woke, I found the king dead.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We will burry him and then move on from there. I have the most experience at running the kingdom. I have been doing it for years.”
“What about the commander of the guard? Shouldn’t he have a say in it?”
“He can try, but I have enough support on my side to take the throne if necessary.”
After the burial of the king, the kingdom falls into a ‘civil war’. After three months of bloody fighting, Hazael takes the throne. And his reign is just as bloody.
(to be continued)
I looked up King Hazael’s reign because of Elisha’s prophecy. The man was excessively bloody and brutal. It’s hard imagining God letting a man be that evil, but history is rife with such murderous men. God does not make them evil. But He uses some of the evil men in His plans. He allows their natural personality to do the work of discipline that is NECESSARY. God does NOT ‘beat someone down’ for the ‘fun’ of it. His discipline has a purpose and is only as strong as needed to bring about a good result. And discipline ONLY comes when correction is needed.
This does NOT mean that we won’t have trouble in our lives, or suffer under the umbrella of correction going on in the world. But we have hope beyond this world. Nothing of this world is worth more than relationship with God. And, when the discipline isn’t ours, He holds us safe during it.
Father God, this world today is in a mess! I know that serious discipline is coming. Those who refuse You will truly suffer. I pray that my children and grandchildren turn to You before that day comes. Help me to discern what discipline is for my benefit, and change quickly in its wake. And hold me safely in You hands when the discipline is for global reasons. Come quickly Lord Jesus!
