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Texts -- 2 Kings 8:1-11 (NET)

Context
Elisha Again Helps the Shunammite Woman
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 .” 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 . 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 . 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 .” 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 !” 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 .”
Elisha Meets with Hazael
8:7 Elisha traveled to Damascus while King Ben Hadad of Syria was sick . The king was told , “The prophet has come here .” 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 ?’” 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 ?’” 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 .” 8:11 Elisha just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable . Then the prophet started crying .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Saul's concern for his father's peace of mind was commendable. It shows a sensitivity that would have been an asset in a king (v. 5). Likewise his desire to give Samuel a present for his help was praiseworthy (v. 7; cf. 1 Kin...
  • Hadad hated Solomon because of Joab's severe treatment of the Edomites. He may have been a relation of Solomon's by marriage. Pharaoh Siamun apparently gave his daughter to Solomon in marriage and his sister-in-law to Hadad (...
  • Elijah's zeal for God's covenant, altars, and prophets was admirable, but he became too discouraged because he underestimated the extent of commitment to Yahweh that existed in Israel.208He was not alone in his stand for Yahw...
  • (Continued from notes on 1 Kings)3. Ahaziah's evil reign in Israel -1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:184. Jehoram's evil reign in Israel 2:1-8:155. Jehoram's evil reign in Judah 8:16-246. Ahaziah's evil reign in Judah 8:25-9:29C. The ...
  • Several details in this incident hinge on timing that God supernaturally controlled to bring blessing on the woman as God had promised. God directed her away from the famine before it came on Israel for the nation's apostasy ...
  • Hazael was the governor of Damascus.50The Gentile King of Aram had more interest in inquiring of Yahweh than Jehoram's predecessor did (v. 8; cf. 1:2). It was customary in the Near East to make a great show of giving gifts. I...
  • Jehoash (Joash) had respect and affection for Elisha. He anticipated the loss that the death of God's spiritual warrior would be to Israel (v. 14). He recognized that Israel's real defense lay in Yahweh's angelic army and in ...
  • Jeremiah's symbolic act of wearing a yoke led to another symbolic act, the breaking of that yoke. Jeremiah's act brought a false prophet into direct confrontation with the true prophet.28:1 The following event took place in t...
  • 20:1 Certain elders of the Jewish exiles came to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord (cf. 14:1-11). Inquiring of the Lord meant securing a divine revelation concerning a particular event (cf. 1 Kings 14:5-18; 22:7-28; 2 Kings 8:8-...
  • 1:3 The expression "for three transgressions [Heb. pesha'im, rebellions, i.e., against the universal Sovereign; cf. Gen. 9:5-17] and for four"is one of Amos' trademarks (cf. vv. 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). It means for numerous...
  • 7:10 Amaziah, who was one of the apostate priests who served at the Bethel sanctuary (cf. 1 Kings 12:26-33), felt that Amos was being unpatriotic in what he was prophesying. So Amaziah sent a message to King Jeroboam II charg...
  • This material occurs in no other Gospel. The destruction of Jerusalem that Jesus predicted here was an important event for Luke. It showed God's judgment on Israel for rejecting His Son and provided evidence that God had turn...
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