CHAPTER 8

(885 B.C.)

A SEVEN-YEAR FAMINE

¹Then spoke Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life (4:18-37), saying, Arise, and go you and your household, and sojourn wheresoever you can sojourn: for the LORD has called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. (Almost everything that happened to Elijah was doubled with Elisha, which pertained to the double portion received by Elisha. The famine in the days of Elijah was three and a half years, and this famine under Elisha is seven years. With the double blessings also came double judgment.)

²And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years (the Lord sent the famine on Israel because of her sin; the famine did not include the land of the Philistines).

THE SHUNAMMITES INHERITANCE RESTORED

³And it came to pass at the seven years end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land (evidently, other people had taken it over).

⁴And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray you, all the great things that Elisha has done. (Yet all of these great things had not served the purpose to cause this king or Israel to repent. The king desired to hear the story of miracles, but nothing could be said of Righteousness, Temperance, or Judgment to come. Regrettably, it is the same presently!

Chapter 5 records Gehazi being stricken with leprosy. So, the account of the healing of Naaman may not have been given in chronological order. In other words, it is possible that it happened after this incident. If that is incorrect, then possibly Gehazi had been healed; however, there is no Scriptural record of such.)

⁵And it came to pass, as he was telling 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.

⁶And 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 fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. (The Holy Spirit went to great lengths in relating this, for the express purpose of showing Gods watchful care over this woman. The Lord had her come to the palace at exactly the same time that Gehazi was telling her story. For the good deed she had done to the Lords Prophet, in building him an apartment onto her house some ten years earlier, the Lord would continue to bless her. Our gifts to Him are so fleeting. His Blessing to us is everlasting.)

HAZAEL BECOMES KING OF SYRIA

⁷And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither (it seems that respect for Elisha had grown considerably, even in the heathen country of Syria).

⁸And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in your hand, and go, meet the man of God, and enquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? (Its amazing how much faith a wicked king like Ben-hadad would have in Elisha, and in the Lord, as well, and still not repent of his wrongdoing.)

⁹So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? (Whether Elisha received or accepted this gift is not known. To be sure, it was a gift of sizable proportions.)

¹⁰And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, You may certainly recover: howbeit the LORD has showed me that he shall surely die. (In other words, he could recover, but he wont. The reason? Hazael will kill him.)

¹¹And he (Elisha) settled his countenance stedfastly, until he (Hazael) was ashamed: and the man of God wept. (Elisha fixed on Hazael a long and meaning look, until Hazael felt embarrassed, and his eyes fell. Elisha wept, because of the long series of calamities which Israel would suffer at the hands of Syria during Hazaels reign.)

¹²And Hazael said, Why weeps my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that you will do unto the Children of Israel: their strong holds will you set on fire, and their young men will you kill with the sword, and will dash their children, and rip up their women with child.

¹³And Hazael said, But what, is your servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD has showed me that you shall be king over Syria.

¹⁴So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to you? And he answered, He told me that you should surely recover.

¹⁵And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his (Ben-hadads) face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.

JEHORAM REIGNS OVER JUDAH

¹⁶And in 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. (At this point, the history of the kingdom of Judah is taken up. Jehorams reign was sometimes counted from the seventeenth year of his father, when he was given the royal title; sometimes from his fathers twenty-third year, when he was associated; and sometimes, from his fathers death, in his twenty-fifth year, when he became sole king. In other words, he reigned jointly with his father Jehoshaphat for a period of time.)

¹⁷Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

¹⁸And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD (these Verses proclaim the result of Jehoshaphats sin regarding his union with Ahab and that wicked family).

¹⁹Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David His servants sake, as He promised him to give him always a light, and to his children. (The light here refers to a king and a kingdom according to the Davidic Covenant of II Sam., Chpt. 7. A natural consequence of Jehorams apostasy would have been the destruction of the house of David, and the starting of another dynasty, as in the case of Jeroboam [I Ki. 14:10], but the promises to David prevented this, and Jehoram was punished in other ways.)

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

²¹So Joram (because this king of Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, the Holy Spirit excises from his name the Jehovah-syllable, reducing it to Joram) went over to Zair, and all the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots: and the people fled into their tents.

²²Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time (all as a result of sin).

²³And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

²⁴And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead (Joram died after an illness that lasted two years, of an incurable disease of his bowels; there was no regret at his death).

AHAZIAHS ONE-YEAR REIGN IN JUDAH

²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign (it is conjectured that he began to reign as viceroy to his father during his severe illness in Jehorams eleventh year, and became sole king at his fathers death in the year following).

²⁶Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.

²⁷And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab (Jehoshaphats sin of unity would take its deadly toll for years to come).

²⁸And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth-gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.

²⁹And king Joram went back to be healed in 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. (This Joram is the king of Israel, while the Joram of Verse 21 was the king of Judah.)