35 RESTORATION FOR ONE AND MURDER FOR ANOTHER

God punished the wickedness of Israel with a long famine, one of God’s sore judgments which is often threatened in the law. Canaan, that fruitful land, was turned into barrenness, for the iniquity of those that lived in it. The famine in Samaria recorded earlier was soon relieved by the raising of the siege, but evidently neither that judgment nor that mercy had a due influence on them, and therefore the Lord called for another famine. God intends for His fair judgments to accomplish His purpose. If lesser judgments are not successful in bringing men to repentance, He is willing in mercy to send greater and longer ones; they are subject to His command and will come when He calls for them. He does, by His ministers, call for reformation and obedience, and, if those calls are not regarded, we may expect He will call for some other plague or difficulty for He will be heard. This famine continued seven years, as long as the one in Elijah’s time. If men will walk contrary to God, He will heat the furnace yet hotter. We know judgments are a corrective—a mercy.

The kindness of the good Shunammite woman to the prophet was rewarded by the miraculous birth and equally miraculous raising of her son and then also the care given to her in the famine. She was not fed by a miracle, as the widow of Zarephath was, instead she was warned of this coming famine before it came, so that she might prepare accordingly and was directed to move to some other country, where she would find plenty—anywhere but in Israel which was being judged. 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 move at last, after they had long endured the inconvenience and hunger of the famine, had used up their substance and could not settle in another place on very good terms. But the Shunammite woman went early, before the crowd, and took her personal things and some provisions with her.

God is good. It is our happiness to know in advance about an approaching evil, and our wisdom, when we foresee an evil, to prepare for it. God lovingly gave her a comfortable settlement in the land of the Philistines. It seems the famine was limited to the land of Israel, and that other countries which joined close to them had plenty at the same time. Wouldn’t this plainly show the immediate hand of God in it as in the plagues of Egypt, when they came on the Egyptians, but not the Israelites? Would this not demonstrate that the sins of Israel who knew God and knew better, and against whom this judgment was directly leveled, were more provoking to God than the sins of their neighbors?

The more we know about sin the greater our responsibility to avoid it. Isn’t that the message of Amos 3:2 which says, “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins”? Other countries had rain when disobedient Israel  had none, were free from locusts and caterpillars when they were eaten up with them. It is possible this famine was the one spoken of in Joel 2:3,4, “Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. 4 What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.” It is strange that when there was plenty in the neighboring countries there were not those that made it their business to import corn from them into the land of Israel, which might have prevented the inhabitants from moving out, but, as they were confused with their idolatries, so they were also unwise also in matters of practical business.

When the famine was over, the Shunammite woman returned out of the land of the Philistines. That was no proper place for an Israelite to live any longer than necessary, for there she could not keep her new moons and her sabbaths as she used to in her own country among the schools of the prophets. At her return she found herself kept out of the possession of her own estate. It was either confiscated by a creditor, seized by a lord, usurped in her absence by some of the neighbors, or perhaps the person to whom she had entrusted it’s management proved false and would neither return the land nor give her the profits gained from them.

So she made her application to the king himself for justice for, it seems the king was easy to approach and did himself understand the complaint of his injured subjects. Time was when she lived so securely among her own people that she had no occasion to be “spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host,” but now her own familiar friends, in whom she had trusted, evidently proved unjust and unkind so she had to appeal to the king against them. Such uncertainty there is in humans that they may fail us when we most depend on them.

She amazingly found the king just then talking with Gehazi about Elisha’s miracles. It was his shame that he needed to be informed concerning them, when he might have become familiar with them from Elisha himself as they were being done. If he had only truly recognized Elisha earlier! Yet it was to his credit that he was now more willing to talk with a leper who was able to give a good account of them than to continue to be ignorant of them. The law did not prohibit all conversation with lepers, but only living among them. There being then no priests in Israel, perhaps the king, or some one appointed by him, examined lepers, and gave the required testings and judgments on their sickness, which might bring him into contact with Gehazi.

This surprising coincidence—actually a divine intervention—united the story Gehazi was just then telling and the woman’s petition. God’s wisdom and attention to the details of our situations are to be acknowledged in ordering the circumstances of events like this one. Sometimes those that are minute in themselves prove to have great consequence, as this did. This miracle in the timing of Gehazi’s story and the woman’s arrival made the king ready and willing to believe Gehazi’s narrative when it was confirmed miraculously by the very persons most involved. Verse 5 says, “Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, ‘This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.’”

God seems to even force the king to believe what he might have had some hesitation to believe if he had had only Gehazi’s word for it. Gehazi had earlier, you will recall, been branded a liar as his leprosy can remind us. This coincidence made the king ready to grant her request. Who would not be ready to favor one whom heaven had favored, and to support the life of the boy who was given once by one miracle and then again by another miracle? In view of this, the king gave orders that her land should be restored to her along with all the profits that were made from it in her absence. If it was from himself that the profits would be restored to her, it was generous and kind to make this restitution. Pharaoh, by contrast, did not do this kindness in Joseph’s time as he enriched himself by the calamities of his subjects.

If, on the other hand, it was by some other person that her property had been invaded and profits taken, it was an act of justice on the part of the king, and the duty of his position, to have her now treated fairly. Psalm 82:3,4 say, “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” And Proverbs 31:9 says, “Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” It is not enough for those in authority that they do no wrong themselves, but they must support the right of those that are wronged. We do not see the prophet Elisha personally actively involved in this story, but we certainly can see that long after he had been active in the miracles involving the Shunammite, his influence continued. Years after we do whatever we do for the Lord while we are alive, the results of our service may continue to be felt. This is one of the lessons we can learn from this story.

2. Ben-Hadad 2 Kings 8:7-15   7 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,” 8 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?’” 9 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 king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’” 10 Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” 11 He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep. 12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “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.” 13 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. 14 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.” 15 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.

It is important for us to ask what brought Elisha to Damascus, the chief city of Aram, as there are several meaningful possibilities. Was he going as a missionary? Possibly. Perhaps he went to visit and encourage Naaman his convert. If Hazael is now the right-hand man of Ben-Hadad king of Aram, it may be important to strengthen Naaman’s faith. Had Naaman been dismissed? Had he retired? Had he been rejected because he no longer bowed heartily at the house of Rimmon?

Or was it rather to complete something for Elijah? So he went there in obedience to the orders God gave Elijah. In 1 Kings 19:15 God told Elijah, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.” If Elijah had not completed that assignment, then his successor, Elisha could and should. So Elisha was there to anoint Hazel. This is very interesting. God is involved in national, international and geopolitical developments then and still today.

Ben-hadad, a great king, rich and mighty, lay sick. No honor, wealth, or power, will secure men from the common diseases and disasters of human life; palaces and thrones lie as open to the distress of sickness and death as the most simple cottage. Word was brought to him that the man of God—for by that title he was well known since God through him had cured Naaman—had come to Damascus. “Never in better time,” says Ben-hadad. “Go, and inquire of the Lord by him.” In his health he bowed in the house of Rimmon, but now that he is sick he cannot trust in  his idol, he sends to enquire of the God of Israel.

Affliction brings those to God who in their prosperity give Him no regard. Sometimes sickness opens men’s eyes and corrects their mistakes. This is the more clear because it was not long since a king of Israel had, in his sickness, sent to inquire of the god of Ekron as if there had been no God in Israel. God sometimes brings to Himself that honor from strangers which is not given to Him by his own professing people. It was not long since this Ben-hadad had sent a great force to capture Elisha at Dothan as an enemy and also laid Samaria to siege, yet now he courts him as a prophet. Among other changes in men by sickness and affliction, this is one. It often gives them better thoughts of God’s ministers, and teaches them to value the counsels and prayers of those whom they had hated and despised.

Ben-hadad honors the prophet by sending to him, not for him. Ben-hadad was asking for help, not demanding Elisha to come to himself. The centurion in Jesus’ day did not feel he was worthy that the man of God would come under his roof. The king sends Hazael, his prime-minister of state; not a common messenger. It is an honor to visit a prophet of the Lord. Hazael must go and meet him.

Ben-hadad sends him a noble present, as much as forty camels could carry. Does this indicate provision for the prophet? Perhaps. At any rate it would supply for the prophet while he is in Damascus. Probably Elisha accepted it even though he had earlier refused Naaman’s. Ben-hadad tells Hazael to call him his son Ben-hadad which would imply that Ben-hadad was calling Elisha “father.” Ben-hadad  honors Elisha as one acquainted with the secrets of heaven, when he asks of him, Shall I recover? It is natural to us, but nevertheless a mistake, to desire to know things to come in earthly time, while having no concern for what will come in eternity.

The way Elisha answered Hazael’s question concerning the king’s health is especially remarkable. He will learn the disease would not kill him, but that he should die another way; not a natural; but a violent death. There are many ways out of the world. While men may try to avoid one, yet they fall by another. Elisha looked Hazael in the face with an unusual concern, until he made Hazael blush and himself weep. The man of God could outstare the man of war. It was not in Hazael’s countenance that Elisha read what he would do, but God did, at this time, reveal it to Elisha, and it brought tears to his eyes. The more foresight we have, the more grief we may feel.

When Hazael asked him why he wept, Elisha told him what a great deal of trouble he foresaw Hazael would do to the Israel of God, what desolations he would make of their strong-holds, and barbarous destruction of their men, women, and children. The sins of Israel provoked God to give them up into the hands of their cruel enemies, yet Elisha wept to think that Israelites ever would be abused like this. Though he foretold it, he did not desire the woeful day. See what problems war makes, what problems sin makes, how the nature of man is changed and depraved by the fall and stripped of humanity. I would believe in the total depravity of men except that I see there is enough good remaining in man that we can recognize how very depraved we are.

Verses 10-12 say, “10 Elisha answered, ‘Go and say to him, “You will certainly recover.” Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.’ 11 He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep. 12 ‘Why is my lord weeping?’ asked Hazael. ‘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 was greatly surprised at this prediction: What, says he, Is your servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? This great thing he looks on to be, (1.) An act of great power, not to be done but by a crowned head. “It must be some mighty potentate that can think to prevail this way against Israel, and therefore not I.” Many are raised to a position of power which they never thought of and it often proves to their own hurt. It would be an act of great barbarity, which could not be done but by one lost to all honor and virtue: “Therefore,” says he, “it is what I will never find in my heart to do. Is your servant a dog, to rend, and tear, and devour? Unless I were a dog, I could not do it.” See what a bad opinion Hazael had of the sin. He looked on it to be great wickedness, fitter for a brute, for a beast of prey to do, than a man.

It is possible for a wicked man, under the convictions and restraints of natural conscience, to express great abhorrence of a sin, and yet afterwards to actually do that very thing himself. What a good opinion Hazael has of himself! How much better than he deserved! He thought it impossible he should do such barbarous things as the prophet foresaw. We are apt to think ourselves sufficiently resistant to those very sins by which we are afterwards overcome, as Peter was, as recorded in Matthew 26:35, “But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’ And all the other disciples said the same.” So Hazael deceives the king, kills him himself and eventually fulfills the prophesy of  Elisha.

How can leaders today benefit from reading this story? When Hazael has power, he is changed; then he would find in his heart to do it. Honors change men’s tempers and manners, and seldom for the better. Those who 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. And what of Ben-hadad? He was deceived to believe he would recover. This was an injury to the king, who lost the benefit of this warning to prepare for death. The devil ruins men by telling them they will certainly recover and do well, so rocking them asleep in a false security, than which nothing is more fatal. Hazael, who was Ben-hadad’s confidant, was his murderer and possibly was not suspected, nor did the truth ever come out but by the pen of this inspired historian. So, we see that Elisha completed the second thing Elijah had been instructed to do, but had to yet completed.

What God told Elijah on Horeb was still being fulfilled.