2 Kings 8:14

_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._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

7-15 Among other changes of men's minds by affliction, it often gives other thoughts of God's ministers, and teaches to value the counsels and prayers of those whom they have hated and despised. It was not in Hazael's countenance that Elisha read what he would do, but God revealed it to him, and it fetched tears from his eyes: the more foresight men have, the more grief they are liable to. It is possible for a man, under the convictions and restraints of natural conscience, to express great abhorrence of a sin, yet afterwards to be reconciled to it. Those that are little and low in the world, cannot imagine how strong the temptations of power and prosperity are, which, if ever they arrive at, they will find how deceitful their hearts are, how much worse than they suspected. The devil ruins men, by saying they shall certainly recover and do well, so rocking them asleep in security. Hazae...

Hazael omitted the clause by which Elisha had shown how those words were to be understood. He thus deceived his master, while he could flatter himself that he had not uttered a lie....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 8:1 THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY OF THE SHUNAMMITE. THE KILLING OF BENHADAD BY HAZAEL; AND THE WICKED REIGNS OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH IN JUDAH. 2 KINGS 8:1 Elisha is still the _protagonistes_ of the historical drama. The writer brings together in the present section two more occasions of a public character in which he was c

SO HE DEPARTED FROM ELISHA, AND CAME TO HIS MASTER,.... Benhadad king of Syria: WHO SAID TO HIM, WHAT SAID ELISHA TO THEE? concerning his recovery, which was the thing uppermost in his mind, and he was eagerly desirous to know how it would be: AND HE ANSWERED, HE TOLD ME THAT THOU SHOULDEST SURELY RECOVER; which was false; for he only said that he "might", and not that he should; and he concealed what he also declared, that though he might recover of his disease, yet that he should surely die in another way....

ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. HAZAEL, KING OF SYRIA. This chapter is somewhat varied as to composition. It opens with a short story about Elisha (2 Kings 8:1), of which we may presuppose (_a_) that it is earlier than 5, because Gehazi (2 Kings 8:4) is not a leper; (b) that the king of Israel is an admirer of the prophet, By Elisha's advice the Shunammite lady, whose husband is apparently dead, leaves her home to avoid a famine (_cf_. Ruth 1:1), and her lands were restored when the king ascertained who she was. 2 Kings 8:6 is a second narrative of the prophet. Jehoram must have been king of Israel at the time, as Hazael was contemporary with Jehu. Th

SURELY RECOVER. See note on 2 Kings 8:10. A false report....

_So_[R.V. THEN] _he departed from Elisha_ The last words of the prophet had shewn him that his whole aim was clear in Elisha's sight, and his character thoroughly read. He had been treated as a man who would give a soft answer whatever the real message might be, and now he is sent away with the knowledge that the Lord sees all his policy. But he was a determined spirit, and the words of the prophet did not act as a check, but set him on a bolder course of villainy. He first acts the part that had been imputed to him, and with a lying tongue says -He told me thou shouldest surely recover". After that he cannot wait for time to bring about what God had said would be, but by a short road comes to the throne after smothering his master....

D. PREDICTION CONCERNING THE CAREER OF HAZAEL 8:7-15 TRANSLATION (7) Now Elisha went to Damascus when Benhadad the king of Aram was sick. And it was told him, saying, The man of God has come here. (8) And the king said unto Hazael, Take in your hand a present, and go to meet the man of God, that you may inquire of the LORD from him, saying, Shall I recover from this disease? (9) And Hazael went to meet him, and took a present in his hand, even every good thing of Damascus, forty camel burdens, and he came and stood before him, and said, Your son Benhadad, the king of Aram, has sent me unto you, saying, Shall I recover from this sickness? (10) And Elisha said unto him, Go, say to him,[548] You shall surely recover; but the LORD has shown me that he will surely die. (11) And he stood before him, and settled his countenance, and set it until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. (12) An...

ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. ELISHA AND HAZAEL. REIGNS OF JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH OF JUDAH 1. Then spake Elisha] The occasion is not indicated, all the stories related of Elisha in this and the three preceding Chapter s being disconnected. A FAMINE] Perhaps the same as that referred to in 2 Kings 4:38....