Ben-Hadad

jay_emm

Gamiliel mentions Hazaels anointing (1 kings 19) as a reading, and in looking up Solomon I was reminded of the circumstances of Hadad (he escapes a genocide in Moab, then goes back after David's death, while someone else becomes king of Damascas, and a few kings later we have a Ben-Hadad king of Damascus, whose father is named as someone else so not sure of the connection)

Ben-Hadad then causes trouble in pretty much every chapter from 1 King's 15 (where he works with Judah against Israel)

In 2 kings 8 (the link does want to paste), we have a MacBeth style situation where Elisha sort of facilitates* Hazaels assassination of Ben-Hadad. But is also upset at the future consequences of doing so in advance (including taking all the Temples gold).
Which seems a bit odd combination. If it's a bad thing enough to cry at, why make it happen, especially when it's not your country.


* At least I assume so in the context of the anointing. Could you read it as Elisha trying to change his mind?

Lamb Chopped

I think you could, definitely.

This is what I see. Elisha makes a trip to Damascus for no other reason, apparently, than to have this conversation with Ben-Hadad. I mean, it doesn't sound to me like he'd been invited or summoned. It sounds like he went to the city and then waited, knowing that chance/God/simple curiosity would bring the man he was waiting for to the house Elisha was staying in.

And it did. The king himself sends Hazael along (and why, exactly? what was the relationship between them, anybody know?).

And then they have their bizarre conversation. Here's the text, by the way.

7 Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, “The man of God has come here,” 8 the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’”

9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels' loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’”

10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but[a] the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die.” 11 And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept.

12 And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?”

He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”

13 And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?”

Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.”

14 Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?”

And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” 15 But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Lamb Chopped

Okay, continuing here to avoid the wall-of-text thingy.

I don't think Elisha is helping Hazael. I don't think he wants to be there at all. But Elijah was told by God to "anoint Hazael king over Syria," as part of his "to do" list when he met him at Mt. Sinai/ and as far as I know, that particular task went unfulfilled till now. While no oil seems to have come out, you could certainly argue that this conversation in itself is sufficient to constitute Hazael's anointing or crowning as the next king.

Note that Elisha does not TELL him to murder his master. He predicts it, but doesn't order it--why should he? He would avoid it if he could--he knows precisely what this jackass will do in the future. But he can't.

Someone is going to say to me, "The exact words are “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die.” And why doesn't that constitute an order?

I think it's in the same class as Jesus' words to Judas, "What you do, do quickly." Both men know that the other persons are about to do something awful, and they can't (in Jesus' case, won't) prevent it. In Elisha's case, he starts crying--which makes it really, really unlikely that he WANTS Hazael to take the first step down the road to these horrors.

Then, too, I seriously doubt that this was the first time murder had crossed Hazael's mind, and that he was as innocent as an unborn babe until Elisha put the idea in his head! No, he's a very high official in an ancient court, and this is how they operated. Notice, for instance, that he refers to the horrors Elisha predicts--killing babies and pregnant women in horrible ways--as "this great thing." To Elisha's face, even!

So we're left with the question of why Elisha bothered to come at all. The first reason, I think, is to fulfill the last of Elijah's orders, which together led to regime change not only in Syria but also in Israel itself, AND to Elijah's own replacement with Elisha. The political stage is getting a brand-new cast, and Hazael is the last of the three newcomers to enter.

The second reason I think had to do with the faint possibility that Hazael might change his mind. I'm sure Elisha hoped for it, though it was extremely unlikely. But imagine what it would be like, to be a high officer, contemplating murdering one's royal master, when suddenly this uncanny prophet from a faraway country shows up, tells you exactly what you're already planning to do, and then starts crying (and creeping you out). And predicts a few more horrors against his own people and leaves, after referencing the Lord who predicted it all.

Wouldn't it make you lie awake, at least some nights, wondering about this "Lord," and what ELSE he might have in mind for you in the future? And whether it was a good idea to cross him by committing atrocities against his people?

jay_emm

Hazel is succeeded by his son Ben Hadad, which seems a bit of a choice (and shows the name isn't literal, and that we can't assume all the mentions if the King of Aram between being told the king is Ben Hadad are the same).

But the king of Aram is the primary foreign party during Elijah and Elisha's time. In which case:
Ben hadad had sent Naaman.
And seen his army ultimately fail in various ways due to the prophets (some more nice than others).