2 Kings 8

This chapter brings the Elisha narratives in the first half of 2 Kings toward their close. After the famine in Samaria ends in 2 Kings 7, the narrative shifts from Elisha's ministry to the records of the kings of Judah.

Outline

• Verses 1–6 Elisha tells the woman whose son he had restored to life to leave and escape a seven-year famine. She sojourns in the land of the Philistines, then returns and appeals to the king. At that very moment Gehazi is telling the king how Elisha restored the child to life, so the king orders that her house, her field, and all its produce be restored to her.
• Verses 7–15 In Damascus, the ailing Aramean king Ben-hadad sends Hazael with gifts loaded on forty camels to inquire of Elisha. Elisha weeps as he foresees the evil Hazael will do to Israel and tells him that he will become king. The next day Hazael kills the king with a wet cloth and becomes king in his place.
• Verses 16–24 Jehoram king of Judah begins to reign at thirty-two and reigns eight years. He marries a daughter of Ahab and does evil, yet the LORD does not destroy Judah, for David's sake. Edom and Libnah revolt.
• Verses 25–29 Ahaziah begins to reign at twenty-two and reigns one year. He joins Joram king of Israel in fighting Hazael at Ramoth-gilead, and he visits Joram, who is recovering from his wounds in Jezreel.

Key Verses

• 2 Kings 8:13 "The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria." This scene fulfills the command Elijah received in 1 Kings 19.
• 2 Kings 8:19 "As he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children." This verse reflects the perspective of Kings that the Davidic covenant sustains Judah even when its kings do evil.

People and Places

• Elisha, Gehazi, the Shunammite woman (the same woman as in 2 Kings 4)
• Ben-hadad: king of Aram. Hazael: an official of Ben-hadad who later becomes king of Aram.
• Jehoram: son of Jehoshaphat and king of Judah. Ahaziah: son of Jehoram. Athaliah: mother of Ahaziah and a member of the house of Omri.
• Joram: son of Ahab and king of Israel.
• Philistia, Damascus, Edom, Zair, Libnah, Ramoth-gilead, Jezreel

Points for Reflection

• Because of a textual variant in the Hebrew, some translations render verse 10 as "Thou shalt not recover." Interpreters differ over whether Elisha was instructing Hazael to lie.
• The text does not identify the king in verses 1–6. Because Gehazi, who contracted leprosy in chapter 5, is conversing with the king, some hold that the events are not arranged in chronological order.
• The "twelfth year" of verse 25 and the "eleventh year" of 2 Kings 9:29 are explained by differences in methods of reckoning regnal years. The account of Jehoram can be read alongside 2 Chronicles 21.
• In the New Testament, Joram (Jehoram) appears in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.