8:1 Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”
The Book of 2 Kings was not written in chronological order. The Shunammite woman was advised to move somewhere else, because there was to be a seven-year famine in Israel. She had a lot of money from the selling of her olive oil, so she could afford to move wherever she wanted.
8:2 So the woman did as the prophet said. She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
The Shunammite woman and her boy moved to one of the Philistine cities for seven years.
8:3 After seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to ask the king to give her back her house and field.
The king was the judge of all legal disputes.
8:4 Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the prophet’s servant, and said, “Tell me all the great things which Elisha has done.”
The king asked Gehazi to give him a report of all of Elisha’s miracles. This event must have happened before Gehazi sinned and contacted leprosy.
8:5 While Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!”
The Shunammite woman arrived for her court case at the same time that Gehazi was telling the king about Elisha’s miracle.
8:6 The king asked the woman about it, and she gave him the details. The king assigned a eunuch to take care of her request and ordered him, “Give her back everything she owns, as well as the amount of crops her field produced from the day she left the land until now.”
The king judged that the Shunammite woman was to receive back not only all of her land, but the land earnings as well. Since Israel was not taking care of its widows, then God stepped in and assisted in a supernatural way.
8:7 Elisha traveled to Damascus while King Ben Hadad of Syria was sick. The king was told, “The prophet has come here.”
Damascus was the capital of Syria. Elisha traveled to a foreign nation to visit a foreign king. King Ben Hadad of Syria was sick at this time. Jehovah was very involved with the surrounding nations.
8:8 So the king told Hazael, “Take a gift and go visit the prophet. Request from him an oracle from the Lord. Ask him, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’ ”
Hazael name means “God sees.” Hazael was a servant of King Ben-Hadad. He was not a member of the royal family. Assyrian records called him the “son of a nobody,” although he reigned for forty years. His lineage was not recorded in Assyrian records, because he was of the middle or peasant class.
8:9 So Hazael went to visit Elisha. He took along a gift, as well as forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, “Your son, King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’ ”
Damascus was a large trade center between Egypt, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. Damascus had some of the finest merchandise of the ancient Near East. King Ben-Hadad was hoping that a large gift would influence Elisha’s prediction. This was pagan superstition. Elisha was not a pagan judge who could be bribed.
8:10 Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover,’ but the Lord has revealed to me that he will surely die.”
King Ben Hadad of Syria would recover from the sickness, but he would die in a different way.
8:11 Elisha just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable. Then the prophet started crying.
The Lord revealed to Elisha that Hazael was planning to murder the Syrian king and take the throne. This made Hazael uncomfortable, because Elisha knew of his assassination motives. Elisha cried, because Hazael would later commit atrocities against Israel.
8:12 Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.”
Elisha predicted the evils in which Hazael would inflict upon Israel.
8:13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?” Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.”
Hazael feigned false humility by calling himself "a dog". Jehovah revealed to Elisha that Hazael would be king and he would commit terrible atrocities against Israel.
14 He left Elisha and went to his master. Ben Hadad asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael replied, “He told me you would surely recover.”
This statement was half of the truth.
15 The next day Hazael took a piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben Hadad’s face until he died. Then Hazael replaced him as king.
Hazael murdered the King of Syria and made himself the king. Elisha’s prophecy was fulfilled.
8:16 In the fifth year of the reign of Israel’s King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram became king over Judah.
This is a different spelling and different king that King Jehoram of Israel. King Joram of Judah was a part of the messianic line of David. Jehoram of Judah was co-regent with his father Jehoshaphat for about four years.
8:17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.
Obadiah most likely prophesied during this reign.
8:18 He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.
King Joram of Judah made a big mistake. He married Athaliah, who was the daughter of the wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. She brought Baal worship to Judah. Judah was beginning to be effected and seduced by the sin of her next door neighbor (Israel).
8:19 But the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah. He preserved Judah for the sake of his servant David to whom he had promised a perpetual dynasty.
Judah was being preserved because of the Davidic Covenant. God promised to place a heir from the house of David on the throne of Israel forever. Therefore, he did not destroy Judah at this time.
8:20 During his reign Edom freed themselves from Judah’s control and set up their own king.
The Edomites were descendants of Esau. Esau was the twin brother of Jacob. Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of soup. The Edomites had become a vassal nation under Israel since her conquest by King David. With a new king in town, she decided to rebel.
8:21 Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. The Israelite army retreated to their homeland.
The exact location of Zair is unknown. The Edomites executed a night attack on King Joram and defeated him.
8:22 So Edom has remained free from Judah’s control to this very day. At that same time Libnah also rebelled.
Numbers 24:18 predicted that the Messiah would possess Edom. Since none of the Davidic kings controlled Edom during this time, none of them could be the Messiah.
Libnah was a town located on the border with Philistine territory. The rebellion of Libnah was probably connected with that of the Philistines and Arabians mentioned in 2 Chronicles 21.
8:23 The rest of the events of Joram’s reign, including a record of his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
This was an uninspired history book which has been lost to this day.
8:24 Joram passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His son Ahaziah replaced him as king.
Ahaziah of Israel should not be confused with Ahaziah of Judah. They were two different kings. Each ruled only one year and their reigns did not coincide.
8:25 In the twelfth year of the reign of Israel’s King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoram’s son Ahaziah became king over Judah.
King Ahaziah became the next King of Judah.
8:26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter of King Omri of Israel.
King Ahaziah possessed a very evil mother. Athaliah was the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Athaliah influenced her husband (King Joram) to bring Baal worship into Judah. Satan was attempting to destroy Israel and Judah internally from the seduction of two evil and beautiful queens.
Omri was the founder of the dynasty that included Ahab, Jehoram and Ahaziah. Athaliah was a daughter of Omri in that sense, but was biologically his granddaughter.
8:27 He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty and did evil in the sight of the Lord, like Ahab’s dynasty, for he was related to Ahab’s family.
King Ahaziah continued the Baal worship in Judah.
8:28 He joined Ahab’s son Joram in a battle against King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram.
King Ahaziah and King Joram of Judah joined forces against King Hazael of Syria and lost. Elisha predicted this defeat.
8:29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.
The King of Judah (Ahaziah) went down (from Jerusalem) to visit the injured King of Israel (Joram).