2 Kings 8
DOYLYChap. IX. ver. 1. And Elisha the prophet &c.] The Prophet Elijah was commanded to do this which Elisha was now about to do; but Ahab’s humiliation had moved God to defer the judgment pronounced upon him and his family; and so the execution of it was left to Elisha, who did not go himself because he was better known, and this business required secrecy; or being old, he was unfit for such a journey: for the last time we read of him he was at Damascus. Bp. Patrick.
— take this box of oil] The Jews think that none of the kings of Israel were anointed, excepting at the first promotion of a family to the throne, or when there was a question about the succession. The reason why Jehu was anointed at this time was, because the succession was to be transferred out of the right line of the house of Ahab into his family, which had no right to the kingdom, but merely by the Divine appointment. Reading.
It should be well observed, that Jehu, in all that follows, acted under an express Divine commission. Without this, all his acts against the house of Ahab would have incurred the guilt of treason and murder; and, notwithstanding the demerits of the sufferers, we should have viewed the executioner with abhorrence. Reading.
2 Kings 8:8
- — the whole house of Ahab shall perish.] The severe judgment here pronounced against Ahab and his
house had been denounced before by Elijah, 1 Kings xxi. 21, and is now to be executed in full measure, because that family did not take warning and repent. Thus God suffereth long and is kind; in forbearing He waits to be gracious. But, if the wicked will not turn from his evil way when he has been warned, repeatedly warned, Divine justice will not be mocked; God will whet His sword, He hath bent His bow, and made it ready. By His sparing Ahab on his outward, though not genuine, humiliation, and suspending the punishment so long, we are taught how ready and desirous God is to pardon and forgive the greatest of sinners, if they repent. But if they do not, the judgment which has been deferred will fall so much the heavier. Wogan.
— him that is shut up and left] See note at 1 Kings xiv. 10. In explanation of the term “shut up,” it may be added, that, according to Eastern histories, when a successful prince has endeavoured to extirpate a preceding royal family, some who have escaped have generally secured themselves in some impregnable fortress or place of great secrecy; and to this circumstance the term “shut up” may allude. Harmer.
2 Kings 8:9
- — forty camels’ burden.] There is great pomp in the manner of offering presents in the East; see Judg. iii. 18. Perhaps it is here meant, not that “the good things of Damascus” were sent to an amount which fully loaded forty camels, but that they were distributed on forty camels for the purpose of making a magnificent appearance. Harmer.
2 Kings 8:10
- — Thou mayest certainly recover:] This disease, he intimates, was not of such a nature as would endanger his life, if he did not lose it by other means, as the Prophet foresaw that he certainly would. Josephus says his disease was only a deep melancholy, into which he fell, on the shameful flight of his army, which affected his body, and took away his appetite. Bp. Patrick. It must not be supposed that the prophet deceived Hazael in this answer; for his meaning was, that Ben-hadad would recover of his disease, or that his sickness was not mortal, which was perfectly true. Dr. Waterland.
It ought to be mentioned, that the Hebrew text here has another reading, of which the translation is, “Go say, Thou shalt surely not live; for the Lord hath shewed me, &c.” According then to this reading, the Prophet foretold Ben-hadad’s death: but Hazael, being a wicked man, went and told him quite the contrary, (ver. 14,) and then murdered him. Interpreters have
2 Kings 8:11
-
And he settled his countenance &c.] Elisha looked earnestly on Hazael, till he (Hazael) was ashamed, or put out of countenance; and Elisha fell a weeping. Dr. Wells.
-
— wherefore came this mad fellow] They call him so, either from the abruptness of his arrival and departure, and from appearances of disturbance in his mind; or else, as being profane idolaters, they spake these words in scorn and derision. Jehu thinks to
2 Kings 8:13
- — But what, is thy servant a dog.] Hazael strongly disclaims such barbarity, which he abhorred as only becoming a brute animal. Bp. Patrick.
We are here supplied with a striking instance of the deceitfulness of the human heart. Hazael, not knowing himself, as Elisha knew him by a light darted into his mind from Heaven, was startled and amazed at what was predicted concerning him, and could not believe it possible that a man of his disposition could ever run into such enormous instances of cruelty and inhumanity. Yet, at that very time, he actually was the very man that he could not imagine himself to be; for we find him, on the very next day after his return, murdering his royal master in a treacherous manner, and usurping his kingdom: which was but a prelude to the sad tragedy, which he afterwards acted upon the people of Israel. The case of Hazael is the case of too many amongst mankind. Of the many proud, ambitious, revengeful, envious, and ill-natured persons in the world, few indeed look into themselves with an impartial eye; and few indeed, if they were told by some person of a discerning spirit, of all the evil and absurd actions into which their
Before CHRIST 885. and succeedeth him. Ahasiah’s wicked reign.
and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou shouldst surely recover.
2 Kings 8:16
- And in the fifth year &c.] All the seeming contradictions between this verse and chap. i. 17, and chap.
iii. 1, are thus briefly reconciled by Huetius. Jehoram beginning to reign with his father Jehoshaphat in his seventeenth year, and Joram king of Israel in his eighteenth; the first year of Joram king of Israel will fall out in the second year of Jehoram king of Judah, whose father dying in the twenty-second year of his reign, Jehoram king of Judah began to reign alone in the fifth year of Joram king of Israel. Bp. Patrick.
2 Kings 8:21
- To Zair.] This place seems, from the circumstances of this story, to be in or near the land of Edom. Dr. Wells.
2 Kings 8:22
-
- unto this day.] Unto the time when this book was written, which was not long after this revolt.
Then Libnah revolted] Which was the reason perhaps of Joram not pursuing the victory over the Edomites, and regaining their country. It is probable that the neighbouring cities followed the example of Libnah; and the reason why they revolted was, that he attempted to set up his idolatrous worship among them, contrary to the law of God and of the kingdom. See 2 Chron. xxi. 10, 11. Bp. Patrick.
2 Kings 8:26
- Two and twenty years old was Ahasiah] At 2 Chron xxii. 2, his age is stated at forty and two years; but several ancient versions read there twenty-two years, the same as here. Dr. Hales.
2 Kings 8:28
- And he went with Joram &c.] As is related more particularly in the next chapter; also at 2 Chron. xxii. 5.
Elisha sendeth a young prophet to anoint Jehu at Ramoth-gilead.
Hazel king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was † sick.