Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 8:7–15, “And Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither. And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and enquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the LORD hath shewed me that he shall surely die. And he settled his countenance stedfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept. And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou shouldest surely recover. And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.”
Elisha was well known throughout the entire region. Even Benhadad, the Syrian king, knew of Elisha and his reputation as a great man of God. Benhadad already had experience with the Lord’s Almighty power in his dealings with Elisha. Elisha went to Damascus. He was able to go into enemy territory with complete confidence because he had absolute faith in the Lord. Benhadad was ill in bed and wanted to find out if he was going to recover so he sent one of his senior staff members, Hazael, to ask Elisha what would happen. Elisha told Hazael that he could tell Benhadad that he would get better but that Benhadad would certainly die. Before this we heard that during Ahab’s time the Lord had sent a lying spirit among Ahab’s prophets so that they would entice Ahab to his death. The Lord gave Elisha permission to send Hazael as a lying spirit to Benhadad to entice the king to his death. Elisha then looked into Hazael’s eyes and wept. Hazael was embarrassed and asked the prophet what he was going. Elisha told Hazael that he was concerned for the future of Israel and all the cruelty that Hazael would inflict on Israel throughout the years to come. Hazael went back to Benhadad and told him that he would okay then smothered him with a wet cloth.
No comments:
Post a Comment