2 Kings 8:4

_AND THE KING TALKED WITH GEHAZI THE SERVANT OF THE MAN OF GOD, SAYING, TELL ME, I PRAY THEE, ALL THE GREAT THINGS THAT ELISHA HATH DONE._ The king talked with Gehazi. The circumstances narrated in these opening verses are generally believed to have taken place before the infliction of leprosy upon Gehazi, though they are recorded after the account of it. Kings in the East often talk with the servants of others about the doings and affairs of their masters. 'Goosh Bekee, the prime minister of the king of Bokhara, engaged my Jewish servant in a conversation about my business' (Joseph Wolff, 'Missionary Labours,' p. 493). The providence of God so ordained that king Jehoram had been led to inquire with great interest into the miraculous deeds of Elisha, and that the prophet's servant was in the act of relating the marvelous incident of the restoration of the Shunammite's son, when she made...

1-6 The kindness of the good Shunammite to Elisha, was rewarded by the care taken of her in famine. It is well to foresee an evil, and wisdom, when we foresee it, to hide ourselves if we lawfully may do so. When the famine was over, she returned out of the land of the Philistines; that was no proper place for an Israelite, any longer than there was necessity for it. Time was when she dwelt so securely among her own people, that she had no occasion to be spoken for to the king; but there is much uncertainty in this life, so that things or persons may fail us which we most depend upon, and those befriend us which we think we shall never need. Sometimes events, small in themselves, prove of consequence, as here; for they made the king ready to believe Gehazi's narrative, when thus confirmed. It made him ready to grant her request, and to support a life which was given once and again by mira...

Verse 2 Kings 8:4. _THE KING TALKED WITH GEHAZI_] This is supposed to have happened _before_ the cleansing of Naaman, for is it likely that the king would hold conversation with a leprous man; or that, knowing Gehazi had been dismissed with the highest disgrace from the prophet's service, he could hold any conversation with him concerning his late master, relative to whom he could not expect him to give either a true or impartial account? Some think that this conversation might have taken place after Gehazi became leprous; the king having an insatiable curiosity to know the private history of a man who had done such astonishing things: and from whom could he get this information, except from the prophet's own confidential servant? It agrees better with the chronology to consider what is here related as having taken place _after_ the cure of Naaman. As to the circ

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

AND THE KING TALKED WITH GEHAZI THE SERVANT OF THE MAN OF GOD,.... Elisha's servant, just at the same time the woman made her application to him; so that this was before he was dismissed from the service of the prophet, and consequently before the affair of Naaman's cure, and so before the siege of Samaria: SAYING, TELL ME, I PRAY THEE, ALL THE GREAT THINGS THAT ELISHA HATH DONE; the miracles he wrought, as the dividing of the waters of Jordan, and healing those near Jericho; the affair of procuring water for the armies of the three kings in Edom he needed not to relate, since Jehoram was an eyewitness thereof; the next was the multiplying the widow's cruse of oil, when he in course came to those that were done for the Shunammite woman....

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

ALL THE GREAT THINGS. See note on 2 Kings 2:15....

_the king talked_[R.V. WAS TALKING] _with Gehazi_ For a brief conference we find Naaman coming to the court of Israel and probably obtaining an interview with the king or some of those in immediate attendance on him. So if Jehoram were desirous to know everything about Elisha, he might for a short time converse with Gehazi. The interview appears to have been in some public place, perhaps at the gate of the city, where kings sat to hear appeals and administer justice. The Shunammite finds them together. -The words of Gehazi, the thoughts of the king, the desires of the Shunammite, all drawn together, by the wise providence of God into the centre of one moment, that His oppressed servant might receive a speedy justice" (Bp Hall)....

C. PREDICTION OF FAMINE IN ISRAEL 8:1-6 TRANSLATION (1) Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had revived, saying, Arise, you and your household go, and sojourn wherever you may sojourn; for the LORD has called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years. (2) And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God; and she went, she and her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. (3) Then the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and went out to cry unto the king concerning her house and her land. (4) Now the king was speaking unto Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Relate to me all the great things which Elisha has done. (5) And it came to pass as he was relating to the king how he had revived the dead, then behold the woman whose son he had revived was crying unto the king concerning her hous...

8:4 servant (c-9) Lit. 'young man' as elsewhere....