The passages of story recorded in this chapter
oblige us to look back. I. We read before of a Shunammite woman
that was a kind benefactor to Elisha; now here we are told how she
fared the better for it, afterwards, in the advice Elisha gave her,
and the favour the king showed her for his sake,
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 canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. 2 And 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. 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 to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. 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. 5 And 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. 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 fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.
Here we have,
I. The wickedness of Israel punished with a long famine, one of God's sore judgments often threatened in the law. Canaan, that fruitful land, was turned into barrenness, for the iniquity of those that dwelt therein. The famine in Samaria was soon relieved by the raising of that siege, but neither that judgment nor that mercy had a due influence upon them, and therefore the Lord called for another famine; for when he judgeth he will overcome. If less judgments do not prevail to bring men to repentance, he will send greater and longer; they are at his beck, and will come when he calls for them. He does, by his ministers, call for reformation and obedience, and, if those calls be not regarded, we may expect he will call for some plague or other, for he will be heard. This famine continued seven years, as long again as that in Elijah's time; for if men will walk contrary to him, he will heat the furnace yet hotter.
II. The kindness of the good Shunammite to
the prophet rewarded by the care that was taken of her in that
famine; she was not indeed fed by miracle, as the widow of Sarepta
was, but, 1. She had notice given her of this famine before it
came, that she might provide accordingly, and was directed to
remove to some other country; any where but in Israel she would
find plenty. It was a great advantage to Egypt in Joseph's time
that they had notice of the famine before it came, so it was to
this Shunammite; others would be forced to remove at last, after
they had long borne the grievances of the famine, and had wasted
their substance, and could not settle elsewhere upon such good
terms as she might that went early, before the crowd, and took her
stock with her unbroken. It is our happiness to
foresee an evil, and our wisdom, when we
foresee it, to hide ourselves. 2. Providence gave her a comfortable
settlement in the land of the Philistines, who, though
subdued by David, yet were not wholly rooted out. It seems the
famine was peculiar to the land of Israel, and other countries that
joined close to them had plenty at the same time, which plainly
showed the immediate hand of God in it (as in the plagues of Egypt,
when they distinguished between the Israelites and the Egyptians)
and that the sins of Israel, against whom this judgment was
directly levelled, were more provoking to God than the sins of
their neighbours, because of their profession of relation to God.
You only have I known, therefore will I punish you,
III. Her petition to the king at her
return, favoured by the seasonableness of her application to him.
1. When the famine was over she returned out of the land of the
Philistines; that was no proper place for an Israelite to dwell
any longer than there was a necessity for so doing, for there she
could not keep her new moons and her sabbaths as she used to do in
her own country, among the schools of the prophets,
7 And Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither. 8 And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and enquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? 9 So 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, Thy son Benhadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? 10 And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die. 11 And he settled his countenance stedfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. 13 And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. 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. 15 And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.
Here, I. We may enquire what brought Elisha
to Damascus, the chief city of Syria. Was he sent to any but the
lost sheep of the house of Israel? It seems he was. Perhaps
he went to pay a visit to Naaman his convert, and to confirm him in
his choice of the true religion, which was the more needful now
because, it should seem, he was not out of his place (for Hazael is
supposed to be captain of that host); either he resigned it or was
turned out of it, because he would not bow, or not bow heartily, in
the house of Rimmon. Some think he went to Damascus upon account of
the famine, or rather he went thither in obedience to the orders
God gave Elijah,
II. We may observe that Ben-hadad, a great king, rich and mighty, lay sick. No honour, wealth, or power, will secure men from the common diseases and disasters of human life; palaces and thrones lie as open to the arrests of sickness and death as the meanest cottage.
III. We may wonder that the king of Syria, in his sickness, should make Elisha his oracle.
1. Notice was soon brought him that the
man of God (for by that title he was well known in Syria since
he cured Naaman) had come to Damascus,
2. To put an honour upon the prophet, (1.)
He sends to him, and does not send for him, as if,
with the centurion, he thought himself not worthy that the man of
God should come under his roof. (2.) He sends to him by Hazael, his
prime-minister of state, and not by a common messenger. It is no
disparagement to the greatest of men to attend the prophets of the
Lord. Hazael must go and meet him at a place where he had appointed
a meeting with his friends. (3.) He sends him a noble present,
of every good thing of Damascus, as much as loaded forty
camels (
IV. What passed between Hazael and Elisha is especially remarkable.
1. Elisha answered his enquiry concerning
the king, that he might recover, the disease was not mortal, but
that he should die another way (
2. He looked Hazael in the face with an
unusual concern, till he made Hazael blush and himself weep,
3. When Hazael asked him why he wept he
told him what a great deal of mischief he foresaw he would do to
the Israel of God (
4. Hazael was greatly surprised at this
prediction (
5. In answer to this Elisha only told him he should be king over Syria; then he would have power to do it, and then he would find in his heart to do it. Honours change men's tempers and manners, and seldom for the better: "Thou knowest not what thou wilt do when thou comest to be king, but I tell thee this thou wilt do." Those that are little and low in the world cannot imagine how strong the temptations of power and prosperity are, and, if ever they arrive at them, they will find how deceitful their hearts were and how much worse than they suspected.
V. What mischief Hazael did to his master
hereupon. If he took any occasion to do it from what Elisha had
said the fault was in him, not in the word. 1. He basely cheated
his master, and belied the prophet (
16 And 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. 17 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 And 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. 19 Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children. 20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. 21 So 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. 22 Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. 23 And 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? 24 And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
We have here a brief account of the life
and reign of Jehoram (or Joram), one of the worst of the kings of
Judah, but the son and successor of Jehoshaphat, one of the best.
Note, 1. Parents cannot give grace to their children. Many that
have themselves been godly have had the grief and shame of seeing
those that came forth out of their bowels wicked and vile. Let not
the families that are thus afflicted think it strange. 2. If the
children of good parents prove wicked, commonly they are worse than
others. The unclean spirit brings in seven others more wicked than
himself,
Concerning this Jehoram observe,
I. The general idea here given of his
wickedness (
II. The occasions of his wickedness. His
father was a very good man, and no doubt took care to have him
taught the good knowledge of the Lord, but, 1. It is certain he did
ill to marry him to the daughter of Ahab; no good could come of an
alliance with an idolatrous family, but all mischief with such a
daughter of such a mother as Athaliah the daughter of Jezebel. The
degeneracy of the old world took rise from the unequal yoking of
professors with profane. Those that are ill-matched are already
half-ruined. 2. I doubt he did not do well to make him king in his
own life-time. It is said here (
III. The rebukes of Providence which he was
under for his wickedness. 1. The Edomites revolted, who had been
under the government of the kings of Judah ever since David's time,
about 150 years,
IV. The gracious care of Providence for the
keeping up of the kingdom of Judah, and the house of David,
notwithstanding the apostasies and calamities of Jehoram's reign
(
V. The conclusion of this impious and
inglorious reign,
25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign. 26 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. 27 And 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. 28 And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth-gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29 And 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.
As among common persons there are some that
we call little men, who make no figure, are little regarded,
as less valued, so among kings there are some whom, in comparison
with others, we may call little kings. This Ahaziah was one
of these; he looks mean in the history, and in God's account vile,
because wicked. It is too plain an evidence of the affinity between
Jehoshaphat and Ahab that they had the same names in their families
at the same time, in which, we may suppose, they designed to
compliment one another. Ahab had two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, who
reigned successively; Jehoshaphat had a son and grandson
named Jehoram and Ahaziah, who,
in like manner, reigned successively. Names indeed do not make
natures, but it was a bad omen to Jehoshaphat's family to borrow
names from Ahab's; or, if he lent the names to that wretched
family, he could not communicate with them the devotion of their
significations, Ahaziah—Taking hold of the Lord, and
Jehoram—The Lord exalted. Ahaziah king of Israel had
reigned but two years, Ahaziah king of Judah reigned but one. We
are here told that his relation to Ahab's family was the occasion,
1. Of his wickedness (