7 And Elisha cometh in to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram is sick, and it is declared to him, saying, `The man of God hath come hither.'
and gathereth unto himself men, and is head of a troop in David's slaying them, and they go to Damascus, and dwell in it, and reign in Damascus;
And it cometh to pass afterwards, that Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathereth all his camp, and goeth up, and layeth siege to Samaria,
And he divideth himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smiteth them, and pursueth them unto Hobah, which `is' at the left of Damascus;
And this `is' the blessing `with' which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death,
`it is told' to the Gazathites, saying, `Samson hath come in hither;' and they go round and lay wait for him all the night at the gate of the city, and keep themselves silent all the night, saying, `Till the light of the morning -- then we have slain him.'
And lo, a man of God hath come from Judah, by the word of Jehovah, unto Beth-El, and Jeroboam is standing by the altar -- to make perfume;
And Asa taketh all the silver and the gold that are left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the house of the king, and giveth them into the hand of his servants, and king Asa sendeth them unto Ben-Hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion king of Aram, who is dwelling in Damascus, saying,
And he saith unto him, `The cities that my father took from thy father, I give back, and streets thou dost make for thee in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria;' -- `and I, with a covenant, send thee away;' and he maketh with him a covenant, and sendeth him away.
And he sendeth unto him a head of fifty and his fifty, and he goeth up unto him (and lo, he is sitting on the top of the hill), and he speaketh unto him, `O man of God, the king hath spoken, Come down.' And Elijah answereth and speaketh unto the head of the fifty, `And if I `am' a man of God, fire doth come down from the heavens, and consume thee and thy fifty;' and fire cometh down from the heavens, and consumeth him and his fifty.
And they see him -- the sons of the prophets who `are' in Jericho -- over-against, and they say, `Rested hath the spirit of Elijah on Elisha;' and they come to meet him, and bow themselves to him to the earth,
For the head of Aram `is' Damascus, And the head of Damascus `is' Rezin, And within sixty and five years Is Ephraim broken from `being' a people.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Kings 8
Commentary on 2 Kings 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
The passages of story recorded in this chapter oblige us to look back.
2Ki 8:1-6
Here we have,
2Ki 8:7-15
Here,
2Ki 8:16-24
We have here a brief account of the life and reign of Jehoram (or Joram), one of the worst of the kings of Judah, but the son and successor of Jehoshaphat, one of the best. Note,
Concerning this Jehoram observe,
2Ki 8:25-29
As among common persons there are some that we call little men, who make no figure, are little regarded, as less valued, so among kings there are some whom, in comparison with others, we may call little kings. This Ahaziah was one of these; he looks mean in the history, and in God's account vile, because wicked. It is too plain an evidence of the affinity between Jehoshaphat and Ahab that they had the same names in their families at the same time, in which, we may suppose, they designed to compliment one another. Ahab had two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, who reigned successively; Jehoshaphat had a son and grandson names Jehoshaphat had a son and grandson names Jehoram and Ahaziah, who, in like manner, reigned successively. Names indeed do not make natures, but it was a bad omen to Jehoshaphat's family to borrow names from Ahab's; or, if he lent the names to that wretched family, he could not communicate with them the devotion of their significations, Ahaziah-Taking hold of the Lord, and Jehoram-The Lord exalted. Ahaziah king of Israel had reigned but two years, Ahaziah king of Judah reigned but one. We are here told that his relation to Ahab's family was the occasion,