f with him, even of every good thing of Damaſcus, for- ty camels burden », and came and ſtood before him, and ſaid, thy ſon Ben-hadad o king of Syria hath ſent me to thee, ſaying, Shall I + recover of chis diſeaſe ?
» Hazael carried the more noble Preſent, hoping, as his Maſter did, to ger ſome Intereſt in the Prophet, and advantage to himſelt by it. Whether the Prophet received it or not, isnot here mentioned ; but it is moſt probable he did not, from his former praGtice, chap: 5. and becauſe the Reaſons which then ſwayed him. were {till of the ſame Force, o He who before perſecuted him as an Enemy, chap 6: 13, 14. now in hisExtremity honours him like a Father.
10 And Eliſbaſaid unto him, Go, ſay unto him, Thou mayeſt certainly recover : Howbeit, the LORD hath
ſhewed me, that he ſhall ſurely die p.
Here is no contradi&tion: for the firſt words contain an Anſwer to Benhadads Queſtion, wv. 8. Shall I recover this Diſeaſe > To which the Anſwer is, thou mayeſt or ſbalt recover, i. e. notwithſtanding thy Diſeaſe, which is not mortal, and ſhall not take away thy life. The latter Words contain the Prophets Explication of. or Addition ro thar Anſwer, which is, that he ſhould die, not by the power of his Diſeaſe, but by ſome other Cauſe. Bur it is obſervable rhart in the Hebrew Text it is, lo, the Adverb, which ſignifies nor ; which though moſt affirm to be pur for h,the Pronoun, ſignifying zo him ; yer others take it as it lies, and Tranſlate the Words thus, Say, hou ſhalt not recover : for the Lord hath ſhewed me, that he ſball ſurely die Or, accor- ding to the former reading, the firſt Words may be taken inter- rogatively, ſay unto him, ſbalt thou indeedrecover ? ( as thou doſt flatter thy ſelf - ) no : ( which Negation is implied in the very queſtion, and gathered from the following Words ) for the Lord hath ſhewed me, that he ſhall ſurely die:
11 And he ſetled his countenance ſtedfaſtly g, until he was aſhamedr : and the man of God wept.
9 The Prophet fixed his Eyes upon Hazae! » Either, ti!) the Pro. Phet was aſhamed ro look any longer upon him : or, till Hazael was aſhamed, as apprehending that the Prophet ſuſpe&ed or diſcerned ſomethingextraordinary, and of an evil and ſhameful Nature in him The Hebrew words are ambiguous, and may indifferently be referred ro either of them : but they ſeem more properly to belong to Hazael,
10. 32. & becauſe it follows by way of DiſtinCtion, The Man of God wopr.
12 And Hazael faid, Why weepeth my lord ? And he anſwered, Becauſe I know * the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Iſrael / : their ſtrong holds wilt thou ſet on fire, and their young men wilt thou ſlay with
"the ſword, and wilt * dajh their children, and rip up their women with child.
As. IC
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| Judah begin to reign,
ſin in Hazzel : and the evil of ſuffering upon 1/7201,
13 And Hazael ſaid, But what, that he ſhould do this great thing? And Eliſha anſwer- ed, The LORD hath ſhewed me that thou ſha beking over Syria #.
and 9:8, or ſo impudent, for which Dogs are noted : or, ſo fierce and barbarous, and inhumane. Compare Pſal: 22: 16, 20: and 59: 6. # And when thou ſhalt have Power in thy hand,thou wiltft diſcover that bloody Diſpoſition, and that Hatred againſt Gods people, which now lies hid from others, and poſſibly from thy ſelf . and therefore with the: Kingdom thou wiltſt inherit their cruel Diſpoſitions.
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 7hat thou ſhouldeft ſurely
TECOVECT x.
:« He repreſents the Prophers Anſwer by halves, that by his maſters Security he might have the fitter opportunity to execute his Treaſonable Deſigne
is Andit came topaſs on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipt is in water.and ſpread it on his face y,
ſo that hedied : and Hazael reigned in his ſtead s.
3 Pretending itmay be to cool his immcderate Hear with it, bur applying it fo cloſely, that he choaked him therewith : by which Aitifice his Death ſeemed to be Natural, there being no figns of a violent Death upon his Body. Andthis he the more boldly attempred, becauſe the Prophets Predi&ion made him confident of the Succels. z Having the favour of the People, and of the Men of War
I6 « And in the fifth year of Joram the ſon of Ahab
king of Iſrael, Jehoſhaphat being then king of Judah,
to reign As
was noted bef re : which Dominion ofhis ended at his fathers return. But now Jeh:ſhaphat, being not far from his Death, and having divers Sons, and fearing ſome Competition and Diſſention among them, makes Jehoram Ring the ſecond time, as David did Solomon upon the like occaſion, 1 Chron: 29+ 22; which 1s the thing here related. But of this ſee more in the Notes on 2 Kings i: 17: and 3: r.
I7 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years b in Jeruſalem,
6 Part with his Father, and part by himſelf alone.
18And he walked in the way of the kings of Iſrael c, as did the houſe of Ahab : for * the daughter of Ahab 4
was his wite ; and he did evil in che ſight of the LORD.
c After his Fathers Death. d Athaliah, v. 26. This unequal Marriage, though J-hoſbaphat poſſibly deſigned it as a mean of uniring the rwo Kingdoms under one Head, and in the True Religion, is here and elſewhere noted, as the Cauſe both of the great Wickedneſs of his Poſterity, and of thoſe ſore Calamities which befel them.
19 Yer the LORD would net deſtroy jJudah, for
aim alway e# a Þ light f, and to his children.
Covenant made with David. But when the Meſſiah was once come, chere was no more need of any Succeſſion, and the Scepter might and did withour any Inconvenience depart from Judah, and from all the iucceeding Branches of Davids Family, becauſe the Mefiah was to hold the Kingdom for ever in his own Perſon,th»ugh not in ſo groſs a way as the carna] Jews imagined, bur in a Spiritual manner. f i. e» A Son and Succellor. Of this Phraſe ſee on 1 Kings 11. 36.
20 4 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah g, and made a king over themſelves.
£ Under which they had been from Davids time, 2 Sam; 8, 14: Compare 1 Kings 22+ 47.
2: SoJoram went over to Zair, and all the chariots with him, and he roſe by night and ſmotethe Edomites which compaſſed him about ; and the captains of the chariors, and the people h fled into their tents.
h i. e. The common Soldiers of the Edomites, herein following the example of their Captains.