(13.) Hitherto we have met with the prophet only in his own countiy. We now find him at Damascus. (The traditional spot of his residence on this occasion is shown in the synagogue at Jobar [?Hobah], a vil- lage about two miles E. of Damascus. The same vil- lage, if not the same building, also contains the cave in which Elijah was fed bj' ravens and the tomb of Gehazi [Stanlej-, Palest, p. 412 ; Quaresmius, ii, 881 — '■'■vana et menducia Hebrcrorum"^.) He is there to carrj' out the command given to Elijah on Horeb to " anoint Hazael to be king over Syria." At the time of his arrival Benhadad was prostrate with his last ill- ness. This marks the time of the visit as after the siege of Samaria, which was conducted by Benhadad in person (comp. vi, 24). The memory of the cure of Naaman, and of the subsequent disinterestedness of the prophet, were no doubt still fresh in Damascus ; and no sooner does he enter the city than the intelli- gence is carried to the king — " The man of God is come hither." The king's first desire is naturally to ascer- tain his own fate ; and Hazael, who appears to have succeeded Naaman, is commissioned to be the bearer of a present to the prophet, and to ask the question on the part of his master, " Shall I recover of this dis- ease?" The present is one of rojal dimensions — a caravan (of 40 camels, according to Josephus, ^w^ ix, 4, 6) laden with the riches and luxuries which that wealthy cit}- alone could furnish. The terms of Ila- zael's address show the respect in which the prophet was held even in this foreign and hostile country. They are identical with those in which Naaman was addressed by his slaves, and in which the king of Is- rael in a moment of the deepest gratitude and rever- ence had addressed Elisha himself. " T/iy son Benha- dad hath sent me to tliec, saying, 'Shall I recover of this disease ?' " The reply, probably originally ambig- uous, is doubly uncertain in the present doubtful state of the Helirew text, but the general conclusion was un- mistakable: "Jehovah hath showed me that he shall surely, die." But this was not all that had been re- vealed to the prophet. If Benhadad died, who would 1)6 king in his stead but the man who now stood before him? The prospect was one which drew forth the tears of the man of God. This man was no rash and imprudent leader, who could be baffled and deceived as Benhadad had so often been. Behind that " stead- fast " impenetrable countenance was a steady courage and a persistent resolution, in which Elisha could not but foresee the greatest danger to his country. Here was a man who, give him but the power, would "op-
ELISHA
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press" and "cut Israel short," would "thresh Gilead with threshing instruments of iron," and '"miike them like the dust \<y threshing" as no former king of Syria had done, and that at a time when the prophet would he no longer alive to warn and to advise. At Hazael's request Elisha confesses the reason of his tears. But the prospect is one which has no sorrow for Hazael. How such a career presented itself to liim may be in- ferred from his answer. His only doubt is the possi- bility of such good fortune for one so mean. "But what is th}' slave, dog that he is (35211 ~'\I3?, fhif ser- vant, THE doff, i. e. insignificant oiiject), that he should do this great thing .'" To this Elisha replies, "Je- hovah hath showed me that thou wilt be king over Syria." Returning to the king, Hazael tells him only half the dark saying of the man of God — " He told me that tliou shouldest surely recover." But that was tha last day of Benhadad's life. What were the cir- cumstances attending his death, whether in the bath as has recently been suggested (Ewald, Isr. Gescli. iii, 523 note), is not clear, except that he seems to have been smothered. The general inference, in accord- ance with the account of Josephus, is that Hazael him- self was the murderer, but the statement in the text does not necessarily bear that interpretation (np'^l "i3Z'2ll, may well be rendered "one took the [not a] hair-cloth," i. e. perhaps divan-mattress) ; and, indeed, from the mention of Hazael's name at the end of the [ passage, the conclusion is rather the reverse (2 Kings viii, 7-15). See Hazael.
(14.) Two of the injunctions laid on Elijah had now been carried out, but tlie third still remained. Ha- zael had begun his attacks on Israel by an attempt to recov.^r the stronghold of Ramoth-Gilead (viii, 28), or Ramah, among the mountains on the east of Jordan. But the fortress was held by the kings of Israel and Judah in alliance, and, though the Syrians had wound- ed the king of Israel, tliey had not succeeded in cap- turing the place (viii, 28 ; ix, 15). One of tho cap- tains of the Israelitish army in the gaiTison was Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. At tin time his name was mentioned to Elijah on Horeb he must have been but a youth; now he is one of the boldest and best known of all the warriors of Israel. He had seen the great prophet once, when with his companion Bidkar he attended Ahab to take possession of the field of Naboth, and the scene of that day, and the words of the curse then pronounced, no subsequent adventure had been able to efface (ix, 25, 36). The time had now come for the fulfilment of that curse by his lii'ing anointed king over Israel. Elisha's person- al share in the transaction was confined to giving di- rections to one of the sons of the prophets, and the detailed narrative may be found in 2 Kings ix (see Maurice, Prophets and Kings, senn. ix). See Jehu.