2 Kings 8:7-15 (ESV)
Hazael Murders Ben-hadad
Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, “The man of God has come here,” the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’” So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels' loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’” And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die.” And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.
Perhaps the most confusing thing is when the people of God seek counsel from the world, but the world seeks counsel from God. Such is the case in the above passage. We read that Ben-hadad, King of Syria, is ill and needs wisdom. So, the king sends one of his servants, Hazael, to consult with Elisha, the man of God. The fact that that world would seek out a Godly man to counsel him is not that strange. We can read about from Pharaoh of Egypt consulting with Joseph to Nebuchadnezzar to King of Babylon, consulting with Daniel to King Ahasuerus consulting with Mordecai.
What is strange, however, is what we read earlier in the stories of the kings, about, Ahaziah, the King of Israel. Note:
2 Kings 1:2 (ESV)
Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.”
So, Ahaziah, who knew God, falls sick and seeks medical advice from Baal-zebub, a fake god of Ekron. But, Ben-hadad, a non-believer, falls sick and reaches out to Elisha, who represents the God of the universe. That is a great picture of some of our leaders today. Those who know the risen Christ and believe in the authority of God’s Word, often look into the latest fade that the world is doing and attempt to copy their “best practice” mindset. Yet, the world, exhausted by its own futile ways, often looks over the fence into the arena of faith and wants answers to life’s larger questions. As believers we do such a poor service to act like King Ahaziah. We hold the treasure of the mystery of life in our belief in Christ and His Word. Yet, we often go slumming into the waste-land of the lost, looking for answers. When, in reality, we ought to be the shinning light on the hill for a lost world, we are often talking a dim-lit flashlight into the the darkness of the world, looking for answers from the lost. We need to be bold and aggressive in our witness that Christ through His Word has the answers for life. The principles taught in Scripture out to sustain us and should be the value others seek in life.
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