“And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However the Lord has shown me that he will really die.” Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept. And Hazael said, “Why is my Lord weeping?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you will dash their children, and rip open their women with child.” So Hazael said, “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?” And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will become king over Syria.””
II Kings 8:10-13 NKJV
a. Go, say to him, “You shall certainly recover.” However the LORD has shown me that he will really die: God gave Elisha insight into more than the health of the king of Syria. He also saw the inevitable and ultimately God-ordained political machinations that would unfold.
i. Elisha rightly said that the king would certainly recover from his illness, and he did. However, he also saw that the same servant he spoke with at that moment would engineer an assassination and take the throne.
ii. This is how Elisha’s statement was true. The king certainly did recover from his illness, and he really did die soon – but not from the illness.
b. He set his countenance in a stare… I know the evil that you will do: This was a dramatic, personal confrontation between this prophet and the high official of the king of Syria. Elisha stared at him so because he had prophetic knowledge of future events, and how this man would trouble Israel in the future.
i. “The prophet gazed long and fixedly into the eyes of Hazael. It would seem that he saw far more in the soul of the man than any other had seen, perhaps more than the man himself was conscious of.” (Morgan)
c. And the man of God wept: God told Elisha more about the coming situation than he wanted to know. He showed the prophet that the messenger of the king (Hazael), after he took the throne from the present king of Syria, would do evil to the children of Israel.
i. Elisha’s prophetic calling and gift was at times more of a burden than a blessing. He could clearly see what would befall Israel through Hazael, but he was powerless to prevent it.
ii. “The nearer we live to God, the more we deserve to be known as men and women of God, the more will our tears flow for the slain of the daughters of our people.” (Meyer)
iii. “His tears were in themselves signs of his understanding of the necessity for those severe judgments which must fall upon the guilty nation; but they were the outcome of his deep love for his people.” (Morgan)
d. But what is your servant – a dog, that he should do this gross thing: Perhaps Hazael had planned this assassination and simply acted ignorant at Elisha’s announcement. Perhaps he had not yet planned it, but did not know the evil capabilities in his own heart.
i. Either way, his offense was inappropriate. He should have taken this warning as an opportunity to confront himself and to do right, instead of turning an accusation back upon Elisha.
ii. “Our ignorance of the depravity of our own hearts is a startling fact. Hazael did not believe that he was bad enough to do any of the things here anticipated… I appeal to you, Christian men and women, if anyone had told you that you would have loved your Savior so little as you have done; if any prophet had told you, in the hour of your conversion, that you would have served him so feebly as you have done, would you have believed it!” (Spurgeon)
(Guzik)
Depravity of Our Own Hearts!
Spurgeon’s comment is so true! I admit the depravity of my own heart and without the grace of Jesus Christ I would be doomed!
My wife also keeps me in check by reminding me that Jesus loves them too!
The last sentence should give us pause, “that you would have served him so feebly as you have done, would you have believed it!”
I am going to have to chew on that sentence and let it sink in!
How about you?
Blessings
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