2 Kings 8 · WEB
Shunammite Restored; Elisha Weeps; Kings Jehoram and Ahaziah of Judah
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Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will also come on the land seven years."
2The woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and lived in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3At the end of seven years, the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines. She went out to cry to the king for her house and for her land.
4Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, "Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done."
5As he was telling the king how he had restored to life the one who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house and for her land. Gehazi said, "My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life."
6When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, "Restore all that was hers, and all the revenues of the field from the day that she left the land until now."
7Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben Hadad the king of Syria was sick. It was told him, saying, "The man of God has come here."
8The king said to Hazael, "Take a present in your hand and go meet the man of God, and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'"
9So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden. He came and stood before him and said, "Your son Ben Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'"
10Elisha said to him, "Go, tell him, 'You shall surely recover;' however Yahweh has shown me that he shall surely die."
11He settled his gaze on him and stared until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept.
12Hazael said, "Why does my lord weep?" He answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and will dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women."
13Hazael said, "But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Elisha answered, "Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria."
14Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" He answered, "He told me that you would surely recover."
15On the next day, he took the blanket and dipped it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died. Hazael reigned in his place.
16In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign.
17He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
18He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did; for he had the daughter of Ahab as wife. He did that which was evil in Yahweh's sight.
19However Yahweh was not willing to destroy Judah, for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give a lamp to him and to his children always.
20In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves.
21Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all the chariots with him. He rose up by night and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, and the captains of the chariots; but the people fled to their tents.
22So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.
23The rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
24Joram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.
25In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.
26Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
27He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did that which was evil in Yahweh's sight, as the house of Ahab had done; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
28He went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.
29King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
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Summary
Elisha warns the Shunammite woman — whose son he had previously raised from the dead — to leave Israel before a seven-year famine, and on her return the king providentially restores her land. Elisha then travels to Damascus, where he delivers a strange dual answer to Ben-Hadad's inquiry about his illness: the king will recover from the sickness but will in fact die. Elisha weeps as he foresees the brutal atrocities that Hazael will commit against Israel after seizing the throne by smothering Ben-Hadad. The chapter closes with brief, unflattering summaries of two kings of Judah — Jehoram and Ahaziah — both of whom walked in the sinful ways of Ahab's house through their marriage connections.
Themes
- God's sovereign providence working even through wicked rulers
- The grief of God's servants over coming judgment on his people
- The corrupting influence of ungodly marriage alliances
- God's covenant faithfulness to David's line despite human failure
Key verses
- 2 Kgs 8:11-12 — “The man of God wept. Hazael said, 'Why does my lord weep?' He answered, 'Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel.'”
- 2 Kgs 8:13 — “Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria.”
- 2 Kgs 8:19 — “However Yahweh was not willing to destroy Judah, for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give a lamp to him and to his children always.”
Context & background
Damascus (modern Damascus, Syria) was the capital of Aram (Syria) and remains one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Ramoth Gilead was a strategically important city east of the Jordan River in modern northwestern Jordan, disputed between Israel and Aram throughout this era. The Jezreel Valley (modern Jezreel Valley, northern Israel) was a major agricultural plain where the royal house of Ahab had their secondary palace. Edom's revolt from Judah (verses 20-22) fulfilled Balaam's prophecy in Numbers 24:18 and represented a significant blow to Judah's territorial control south of the Dead Sea toward modern southern Jordan.
Cross-references
- 1 Kgs 19:15 — God's original commission to Elijah to anoint Hazael as king over Syria
- 2 Kgs 4:8-37 — The original account of the Shunammite woman and Elisha raising her son
- 2 Sam 7:12-16 — God's eternal covenant with David, referenced in verse 19
- Amos 1:3-4 — Amos later prophesies against Damascus and the house of Hazael
- Num 24:18 — Balaam's prophecy that Edom would be conquered, now reversed in Edom's revolt