Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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," 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?' "
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?' "
Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, 'You will certainly recover'; but the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die." He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.
"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 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.
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."
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.
2 Kings 8:7-15
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
How does sin effect you?
Does it bring you to guilt?
Does it bring you to anger?
Does it bring you to sadness?
Or have you become to numb to sin with it all around you that it doesn’t effect you at all?
The matter of sin and its effect on a person is center stage in today’s scripture passage.
For as the passage opens, we find Elisha going to Damascus and the king of Aram ill. The king is told that Elisha was in his vicinity and, knowing of Elisha’s prophetic power and connection to God, he asks his second in command Hazael to “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?' "
And so Hazael did as the king requested. He “went to meet Elisha” and took “forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus” to present as a gift. As Hazael finds Elisha, he goes to him and says, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, 'Will I recover from this illness?' "
Note the words of Hazael. By Ben-Hadad saying through Hazael that he was Elisha’s son, he was acknowledging that the man of God was more powerful that he. Or in other words, the king of Aram was submissive to the King of Kings.
As Elisha received the question, we read his reply. For he tells Hazael, "Go and say to him, 'You will certainly recover'; but the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die." This on the surface doesn’t seem unusual. We have read where Elisha had made prophecies before. But something was different this time around.
For after Elisha tells Hazael what to tell the king of Aram, he stares “at him with a fixed gaze” and he did so “until Hazael felt ashamed”. Then something else even more bizarre happened.
Because Elisha…”the man of God”…began to weep.
Why was he weeping? This is what Hazael asked as well, although one has to think that he has had thoughts and motivation to do terrible things…thoughts and motivation that Elisha could now see as he peered into Hazael’s soul.
And so Elisha explains his sadness.
For as he looked inside Hazael, he saw that he would soon do “harm…to the Israelites, setting “fire to their fortified places”, killing “their young men with the sword”, dashing “their little children to the ground”, and ripping “open their pregnant women”." Indeed, terrible things were to come at the hand of Hazael…terrible things done out of his willingness to surrender to sin.
Hazael wonders how he could ever do the things that Elisha predicted, especially given his current position. But Elisha tells him that the Lord revealed he would become the king of Aram.
And so Hazael returns to Ben-Hadad and when asked, "What did Elisha say to you?" he replied, "He told me that you would certainly recover." Note that Hazael didn’t tell the king about the second part of Elisha’s prophecy…that he would in fact die. This is because Hazael knew inside that he had a plan to assume the throne. All he had to do was kill Ben-Hadad himself and it would appear that the king died from his illness.
So the next day, Hazael “took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king's face”, suffocating him. The king’s death opened the way for Hazael to assume the throne just as the lord had predicted.
Would the rest of Elisha’s prophecy come true? Soon we will see where it tragically does.
Elisha’s weeping would be validated as sin would soon consume Hazael and lead him to do even more horrific acts than killing Ben-Hadad.
Indeed, sin is saddening.
Saddening when we see others fall into it.
Saddening when we’re victims of it.
Saddening when we’re the perpetrators of it.
It’s a matter we need to be in constant prayer over. For the only way to avoid the sadness, is for each and every person to embrace God will, way and word…submitting to His righteousness and putting our sinful nature in remission.
Lord, please help us all, I pray.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
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