Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 8:14
So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me [that] thou shouldest surely recover.
14. So [R.V. Then ] he departed from Elisha ] The last words of the prophet had shewn him that his whole aim was clear in Elisha’s sight, and his character thoroughly read. He had been treated as a man who would give a soft answer whatever the real message might be, and now he is sent away with the knowledge that the Lord sees all his policy. But he was a determined spirit, and the words of the prophet did not act as a check, but set him on a bolder course of villainy. He first acts the part that had been imputed to him, and with a lying tongue says ‘He told me thou shouldest surely recover’. After that he cannot wait for time to bring about what God had said would be, but by a short road comes to the throne after smothering his master.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hazael omitted the clause by which Elisha had shown how those words were to be understood. He thus deceived his master, while he could flatter himself that he had not uttered a lie.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
He represents the prophets answer by halves, that by his masters security he might have the fitter opportunity to execute his reasonable design.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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 “might”, and not that he should; and he concealed what he also declared, that though he might recover of his disease, yet that he should surely die in another way.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) That thou shouldest surely recover.Rather, Thou wilt certainly live, repeating Elishas actual words, but not the tone and gesture which accompanied them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. He told me thou shouldest surely recover This, as we have seen above, is the exact opposite of what Elisha said, made so by the omission of the single word , not. Hazael thus deceived Ben-hadad, expecting, probably, to put him off his guard. He who had murder in his heart, and whom Elisha’s words had inspired to a boundless ambition, was none too good to lie.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 8:14 So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me [that] thou shouldest surely recover.
Ver. 14. He told me thou shouldst surely recover. ] He relateth the prophet’s words with the same honesty, saith Junius, as he afterwards strangled his master, aud stopped his breath.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
surely recover. See note on 2Ki 8:10. A false report.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ki 8:14-15
2Ki 8:14-15
HAZAEL RETURNED TO THE KING; LIED TO HIM; AND ASSASSINATED HIM THE NEXT DAY
“Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said unto him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou wouldest surely recover. And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.”
“He took the coverlet … and spread it on his face, so that he died” (2Ki 8:15). “The noun translated `coverlet’ is otherwise unknown”; and the opinions of scholars that it was “a mosquito net” or maybe “a pillow” are of no consequence. Whatever it was, it was an effective instrument by which Hazael suffocated Benhadad, the king of Syria.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ki 8:14. The report that Hazael gave his master was a faithful one. He was not instructed. to say anything on the subject of his death; that prediction was made to Hazael only. The words shouldest surely are not in the Hebrew text. The word recover is from a word that has been translated “live” 148 times. The answer, therefore, that Elisha sent back to Benhadad was that he would live, but nothing was said as to how long. The Lord had his own reason for withholding part of the truth from him.
2Ki 8:15. We do not know how far Elisha’s predictions influenced Hazael in his actions. In 1Ki 11:27 we are told that Jeroboam’s rebellion was caused by the prediction recorded in V. 31 of that chapter. Elisha told Hazael that his king would die, and that he would reign in his stead. If the Lord predicts some evil act of mankind, that prediction will be fulfilled. But that fact will not justify the evil motive of the one doing the evil. See Luk 17:1; 1Co 11:19. Hazael committed the brutal murder of his helpless master by suffocating him with a damp cloth. By that act he brought about the fulfillment of a prediction, but we have no intimation that God was pleased with it. His motive for the deed was a selfish one.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
He told me: 2Ki 8:10, 2Ki 5:25, Mat 26:16
Reciprocal: Dan 11:26 – that feed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 8:14. He told me that thou shouldest surely recover This was abominably false. He told him he should die, 2Ki 8:10; but Hazael unfairly and unfaithfully concealed that, either because he was loath to put the king out of humour with bad news, or because he thought he should thereby the more easily put in execution the design which he had already formed against his life, finding he was to be his successor, and which he was eager to see accomplished. Elishas prediction might give Satan an occasion of suggesting this villany to his mind; but, as Mr. Scott justly observes, it was not the cause of his crime, and forms no excuse for it. Had he been of Davids disposition, he would have waited in the path of duty till the Lord had performed his word in that manner which pleased him. Thus he soon began to manifest the rapaciousness and cruelty of the dog, of which he desired to be thought incapable.