"Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, 'The man of God has come all the way up here,' he said to Hazael, 'Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him; ask him, 'Will I recover from this illness?'" (2 Kings 8:7-8) We don't know why Elisha is in Damascus but Ben-Hadad, like so many who have very little use for the Lord when things are going well for them, wants the Lord's counsel now that he fears for his life.
Hazael is evidently one of Ben-Hadad's top officers. Some scholars believe Hazael replaced Naaman, who was formerly the general of the Aramean army, and they speculate that Naaman was replaced because he converted to the God of Israel. But it may be that by now Naaman has grown too old to go into battle and has retired, for other scholars propose that Elisha is in Damascus for the purpose of visiting Naaman because Naaman's testimony has been converting many others in Aram. I think the reason for Elisha's presence in Damascus may be simply be because the Lord has called him to be in this place at this time. In our last study session we looked at a case of "divine timing" and I think we may be looking at another example of "divine timing" today.
"Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, 'Your son Ben-Hadad son of Aram has sent me to ask, 'Will I recover from this illness?' Elisha answered, 'Go and say to him, 'You will surely recover.' Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.' He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep." (2 Kings 8:9-11) I don't believe Elisha is instructing Hazael to lie to the king. It's true that the king's illness would not have proven fatal; in time he would have recovered from it. The king will die, however, by the hand of the man standing before the prophet. I don't know whether the Lord has shown Elisha that Hazael will murder Ben-Hadad but the Lord has shown Elisha how cruelly Hazael will behave toward the nation of Israel.
When Elisha begins to weep, Hazael is puzzled. "'Why is my lord weeping?' Hazael asked. 'Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,' he answered. 'You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.' Hazael said, 'How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?' 'The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram,' answered Elisha." (2 Kings 8:12-13) Hazael may be the commander of the army of Aram but Elisha speaks of these future atrocities as though Hazael is committing them by his own power and not under the authority of the king. In response, Hazael says something like, "How can you say these things of me? I am a nobody. I go where I am told and I do what I am told." Some commentators think he is protesting the idea that he would violently put women and children to death along with the soldiers of Israel but I am not so sure he's saying something like, "How could I do such things? Your servant is not an animal." It was actually very common in ancient times for armies of heathen nations to do the very things Elisha says Hazael and his soldiers will do and I have my doubts that these things would have seemed all that abominable to this man.
Hazael reacts as though he had been unaware that he is to take Ben-Hadad's place as king of Aram. Did Elijah not go and anoint him as instructed by the Lord in 1 Kings 19? Did Elijah pass this duty on to Elisha, his successor, to perform? Does Elisha anoint Hazael before Hazael returns to Ben-Hadad's palace? The Bible doesn't provide us with the answers to these questions but we can be certain that Elisha is not giving Hazael permission to assassinate the king. Elisha does not approve of murder. He may not even know that murder is the means by which Hazael will ascend to the throne. In fact, if it's the Lord's will for Hazael to ascend to the throne, this could have been accomplished by other means, such as at the time when Ben-Hadad leaves the world due to natural causes. Many times in history an army commander was appointed to take the place of a dead king, especially if a king had no son or if the king's son was not well-liked or had some type of mental or physical disability. Also, army commanders were very popular among the people if they had led numerous successful battles, and if a nation was facing threats by other nations, choosing a general to be the king sometimes seemed like the best option in times of war or impending war.
Hazael doesn't handle the news of his destiny in a godly manner. Unlike David, who didn't lift a finger against the wicked King Saul but waited approximately fifteen years for the Lord to bring to pass the kingship He promised him, Hazael takes matters into his own hands. "Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, 'What did Elisha say to you?' Hazael replied, 'He told me that you would certainly recover.' But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 8:14-15)
The author is careful to tell us that it is the next day when Hazael takes action against the king. This tells us that his actions are cold-blooded premeditated murder. I think that, after telling Ben-Hadad the good news that his illness won't result in death, Hazael went home and thought on the matter all evening, all night long, and all morning until he went back to the palace. He knew that if Ben-Hadad recovered from his current illness, it might be many years before the king either died in battle or contracted a different illness that would be terminal. Hazael doesn't want to wait. By the time he goes to the palace the next day, he has come to the conclusion that no one will question whether Ben-Hadad's death is a natural death if he perishes during this current illness. The message from Elisha that the illness is not terminal is a message likely known only by the king and Hazael. Hazael decides to make it look as if Ben-Hadad died in his sleep from his illness by making sure he smothers to death. The fact that the king doesn't wake up or struggle suggests that he might be under the influence of some type of medical potion concocted by his physicians or sorcerers. He passes away without knowing anything is even happening to him, then Hazael announces he has found the king dead, and is declared king either by himself or by the army (with whom he may be incredibly popular) or by the king's officials who may have been eyeing him for some time as a likely successor.
Why does the Lord allow this to happen? Why does He allow Hazael to murder a man in cold blood, take his place, and eventually do the terrible things Elisha said he would do? I don't believe for one minute that the Lord caused Hazael to commit murder; He would have brought about Hazael's ascension to the throne in due time and in the right way. But the Lord didn't prevent Hazael from murdering the king. Ben-Hadad was marked for death much earlier in our study of the kings but King Ahab of Israel didn't kill him in battle as the Lord commanded but instead made a treaty with him. So although Hazael commits the sin of murder, Ben-Hadad is not a sympathetic character in the Bible and has committed many atrocities of his own. As far as we know, he may have committed some cold-blooded murders of his own. However, Hazael won't be any better. Elisha has already seen into the future and was horrified by what he saw concerning Hazael.
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