Joram Restores The Shunammite’s Land

II Kings 8:1–15
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The Lord had revealed to Elisha that he would bring a seven-year famine on the land. This was a punishment for apostasy.  Elisha had warned the Shunammite woman and suggested that she move temporarily to the land of the Philistines which would not be affected by the famine. Returning to Israel the woman appeared before King Joram and begged for her former property which had been taken over by someone else in her absence. Her association with the prophet influenced the king to return her property.

Elisha visited Damascus where the king, Ben-Hadad, was ill.  He was well known to the king for the many miracles he had performed. The king instructed his official Hazael to greet Elisha by taking him a gift.  He also instructed him to find out if he would recover from his illness. Elisha replied that Ben-Hadad would recover but he would still die, and the prophet inferred that Hazael would cause his death. The servant returned to the bedside of his master to announce that the king would recover. Since Hazael was already informed that he was to become king, he decided to hasten the process by murdering his master. He suffocated his master in a manner that made it look as if Ben-Hadad had died of natural cause. As Elisha had predicted, Hazael was elevated to the throne (v. 13).

Application

When Elisha told Hazael that he would sin greatly, Hazael did not admit his personal potential for evil. It is easy for me to think that I’m above gross sin. I should be taking a more realistic look at my potential for sin. I need to be asking God daily for his strength to keep me from evil.