31 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 8 This chapter gives an account of some advice Elisha had formerly given to the Shunammite woman, and of the success of it, 2 Kings 8:1 and of the sickness of the king of Syria, who sent to Elisha, then being at Damascus, by Hazael, to know whether he should recover; by whom a message was returned, and Hazael was told by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then spoke Elisha unto the woman (whose son he had restored to life),.... His hostess at Shunem, 2 Kings 4:8 the following he said to her, not after the famine in Samaria, but before it, as some circumstances show: saying, arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn; with the greatest safety to her person and...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The passages of story recorded in this chapter oblige us to look back. I. We read before of a Shunammite woman that was a kind benefactor to Elisha; now here we are told how she fared the better for it, afterwards, in the advice Elisha gave her, and the favour the king showed her for his sake, ver. 1-6. II. We read before of the designation of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God,.... Whose words she had reason to believe; she having a son given to her according to his word, and this restored to life, when dead, through his intercession: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines; which was not far from her native place, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, at the seven years end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines,.... Either hearing that the famine was over, or believing that it was, the time being expired the prophet fixed for it: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house, and for her land; which her nearest relations in her absence had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God,.... Elisha's servant, just at the same time the woman made her application to him; so that this was before he was dismissed from the service of the prophet, and consequently before the affair of Naaman's cure, and so before the siege of Samaria: saying, tell me, I pray thee, all the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life,.... Which was the Shunammite's son: that, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house, and for her land; came and presented her petition to the king at that very instant: and Gehazi said, my lord, O king, this is the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the king asked the woman, she told him,.... The whole affair; how that she had a son according to the word of Elisha, when she had been barren, and her husband old; that this child was struck with sickness, and died; and that the prophet, through his prayers, restored it to life: so the king appointed unto her a certain officer; the word...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elisha came to Damascus,.... On what account, and when, is not certain, whether to convert Gehazi, as say the Jews (d); or to confirm Naaman in the true religion he professed, for which he might be dismissed from his office, since another man was made general of the Syrian army; or on account of the famine; or rather it may be to anoint, or,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king said to Hazael,.... The captain general of his army: take a present in thine hand, and go and meet the man of God, who, perhaps, was not as yet come into the city, only into the region of Damascus: or rather "with thee"; so the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; and which Noldius (f) approves of, since a burden of forty camels, 2...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him,.... As was usual when a prophet or seer was consulted, see 1 Samuel 9:7 even of every good thing of Damascus; which was a very fruitful place, and had abundance of gardens and orchards in it, which yielded excellent fruit, and of such it is probable the present consisted, and which was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elisha said unto him, go, say unto him, thou mayest certainly recover,.... That is, of the disease; and there was not only a probability that he might recover of it, it not being a mortal one, but a certainty that he should not die of it, as he did not, but die a violent death, which the prophet predicts in the next clause; though some take...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he settled his countenance steadfastly,.... Refrained himself as much as possible, that he might not weep, as some Jewish writers interpret it; or, as others, he turned his face on one side, and covered it with his hands, that Hazael might not see him weep; or rather he set his face on Hazael, and looked at him so wistly: until he was ashamed;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord?.... Imagining it was for the death of Benhadad he had predicted, for which he could see no reason; of the title, "my lord", see 1 Kings 18:7 and he answered, because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel; which he foresaw by a spirit of prophecy; and Israel being his own people, he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Hazael said, but what, [is] thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?.... What dost thou take me to be, a vile, impudent, fierce, and cruel creature, as a dog, to be guilty of so great inhumanity and barbarity as this? or what is thy servant? a dog, a mean abject creature, of no power and authority, incapable of doing such great...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master,.... Benhadad king of Syria: who said to him, what said Elisha to thee? concerning his recovery, which was the thing uppermost in his mind, and he was eagerly desirous to know how it would be: and he answered, he told me that thou shouldest surely recover; which was false; for he only said that he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass on the morrow,.... In such haste was Hazael to be king, as the prophet said he would be: that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died; not that Benhadad took or ordered such a cloth to be dipped and laid on his own face, to allay the violent heat in him; but Hazael did this, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel,.... Who began his reign in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings 3:1. Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah; as he continued to be two years more; for this must be in the twenty third year of his reign, and he reigned twenty five years, 1 Kings 22:42. Jehoram the son of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign,.... The second time, in the lifetime of his father: and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem; which ended in the twelfth year of Joram king of Israel, 2 Kings 8:25.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he walked in the way of the king's of Israel, as did the house of Ahab,.... Imitated them in idolatry: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; whose name was Athaliah, 2 Kings 8:26, and by her he was drawn into idolatrous practices; of such bad consequence are marriages with idolaters; it is very much that so good a king as Jehoshaphat his...