2 Kings 8 Bible Commentary

8:1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou ^a canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

(a) Where you can find a convenient place to dwell, where there is plenty.

8:3 And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth ^b to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.

(b) That is, to complain of them who had taken her possessions while she was absent.

8:5 And it came to pass, as he was telling ^c the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this [is] the woman, and this [is] her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

(c) God's wonderful providence appears in this, that he caused the king to desire to hear him, whom before he contemned and also hereby prepared an entrance to the poor widows suit.

8:6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that [was] hers, and all the ^d fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

(d) The king caused that to be justly restored which was wrongfully withheld from her.

8:9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every ^e 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?

(e) Of all the chiefest and precious things of the country.

8:10 And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly ^f recover: howbeit the LORD hath shewed me that he shall surely die.

(f) Meaning that he would recover of this disease: but he knew that this messenger Hazael would slay him to obtain the kingdom.

8:13 And Hazael said, But what, [is] thy servant ^g a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou [shalt be] king over Syria.

(g) That I should be without all humanity and pity.

8:15 And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped [it] in water, and ^h spread [it] on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.

(h) Under pretence to refresh or ease him, he suffocated him with his cloak.

8:16 And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat [being] then king of Judah, ⁱ Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign.

(i) Read (2 Kings 1:17).

8:18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the ^l daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

(l) The Holy Spirit shows by this the danger of joining with infidels.

8:20 In his days Edom ^m revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves.

(m) Which had been subject from David's time until this time of Jehoram.

8:22 Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then ⁿ Libnah revolted at the same time.

(n) This was a city in Judah given to the Levites, (Joshua 21:13) that later turned from king Jehoram, because of his idolatry.

8:26 ^o Two and twenty years old [was] Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.

(o) Which is to be understood, that he was made king when his father reigned, but after his father's death he was confirmed king when he was forty-two years old, as in (2 Chronicles 22:2).

8:28 And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in ^p Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.

(p) Which was a city in the tribe of Gad beyond Jordan.

8:29 And king Joram went back to be healed in ^q Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael 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.

(q) This is a city belonging to the tribe of Issachar.