# 2 Kings 08 📖: The Shunammite's Land and Hazael [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-2 Kings Overview]] | [[2 Kings 07]] | [[2 Kings 09]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Elisha Again Helps the Shunammite Woman > [!illustration] **TIMING** > Scripture: 1 Kings 08.1-06 > Summary: Widow comes to the king with a need just as Elisha is telling her story. > Point: God's timing is perfect. He knows what He is doing. > Tags: #illustration/Timing #illustration/Providence > Used: no [[#Verse 01.]] 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.”  [[#Verse 02.]] So the woman did as the prophet said. She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. [[#Verse 03.]] 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.  [[#Verse 04.]] Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the prophet’s servant, and said, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.”  [[#Verse 05.]] 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!”  [[#Verse 06.]] 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 [[#Verse 07.]] Elisha traveled to Damascus while King Ben Hadad of Syria was sick. The king was told, “The prophet has come here.”  [[#Verse 08.]] 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?’”  [[#Verse 09.]] 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?’”  [[#Verse 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.”  [[#Verse 11.]] Elisha just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable. Then the prophet started crying.  [[#Verse 12.]] Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.” [[#Verse 13.]] Hazael said, “How could your servant, who is as insignificant as a dog, accomplish this great military victory?” Elisha answered, “The Lord has revealed to me that you will be the king of Syria.”  [[#Verse 14.]] He left Elisha and went to his master. Ben Hadad asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael replied, “He told me you would surely recover.”  [[#Verse 15.]] The next day Hazael took a piece of cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over Ben Hadad’s face until he died. Then Hazael replaced him as king. ### Jehoram’s Reign over Judah [[#Verse 16.]] In the fifth year of the reign of Israel’s King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram became king over Judah. [[#Verse 17.]] He was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem.  [[#Verse 18.]] He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.  [[#Verse 19.]] But the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah. He preserved Judah for the sake of his servant David to whom he had promised a perpetual dynasty. [[#Verse 20.]] During his reign Edom freed themselves from Judah’s control and set up their own king.  [[#Verse 21.]] Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. The Israelite army retreated to their homeland.  [[#Verse 22.]] So Edom has remained free from Judah’s control to this very day. At that same time Libnah also rebelled. [[#Verse 23.]] The rest of the events of Jehoram’s reign, including a record of his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.  [[#Verse 24.]] Jehoram passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Ahaziah replaced him as king. ### Ahaziah Takes the Throne of Judah [[#Verse 25.]] In the twelfth year of the reign of Israel’s King Joram, son of Ahab, Jehoram’s son Ahaziah became king over Judah.  [[#Verse 26.]] Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, the granddaughter of King Omri of Israel.  [[#Verse 27.]] He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he was related to Ahab’s family. [[#Verse 28.]] He joined Ahab’s son Joram in a battle against King Hazael of Syria at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram. [[#Verse 29.]] King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill. [[#Verse 29]] King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The famine lasted seven years (8:1), and the woman lived in the land of the Philistines during that time (8:2). 2. She returned to appeal for her house and field at the very moment Gehazi was telling the king about her son (8:5). 3. Hazael brought Elisha a gift of forty camel loads of the finest goods of Damascus (8:9). 4. God had earlier told Elijah to anoint Hazael as king over Aram (1 Kings 19:15). 5. An Assyrian inscription of Shalmaneser III calls Hazael "son of a nobody," meaning he was not from the royal family. This fits his seizure of the throne here (8:15). 6. Hazael killed Ben-Hadad by spreading a soaked blanket over his face (8:15). 7. Jehoram of Judah married Ahab's daughter (8:18), and she and Joram of Israel were siblings, so the two kings named Jehoram were brothers-in-law. 8. Ahaziah's mother Athaliah is called the daughter (descendant) of Omri (8:26), since Omri was her grandfather. 9. Edom's revolt (8:20-22) fulfilled Isaac's word that Esau would one day break free from his brother's yoke (Genesis 27:40). 10. The Lord promised to give David a "lamp" (8:19), a picture of a lasting dynasty. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the lamp God promised to keep burning for David. Even when Judah's king did evil, the Lord would not destroy Judah for David's sake (8:19), and Jesus is the Son of David whose kingdom will never end (Luke 1:32-33). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. The Shunammite woman arrived at the exact moment Gehazi was telling the king her story (8:5). Where have you seen God's timing at work in your life? 2. Elisha wept because he knew the evil Hazael would do (8:11-12). How should knowing the future of sin affect our hearts toward people? 3. Jehoram of Judah followed the ways of Ahab's family because of whom he married (8:18). How do our closest relationships shape our walk with God? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Elisha warns the Shunammite woman of a coming seven-year famine. - 📖 verses 5-6: The king restores her land after hearing her story at just the right moment. - 📖 verse 19: The Lord will not destroy Judah for the sake of His servant David. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Luke 01#Verse 32.|Luke 1:32-33]] - Jesus will reign on David's throne forever. - 🔗 [[2 Samuel 07#Verse 16.|2 Samuel 7:16]] - God promises David an everlasting kingdom. - 🔗 [[1 Kings 19#Verse 15.|1 Kings 19:15]] - God tells Elijah to anoint Hazael. - 🔗 [[Genesis 27#Verse 40.|Genesis 27:40]] - Esau will break his brother's yoke. - 🔗 [[Romans 08#Verse 28.|Romans 8:28]] - God works all things together for good. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[2 Kings 08 - SOAP|God Ordains the Right Place, Right Time]] ## 📂 Internal Notes