Глава 8

1–6. The mercy of the king of Israel to the Shunammite woman for the sake of Elisha. 7–15. The prophet Elisha in Damascus predicts the reign of Hazael and the death of Ben-hadad. 16–24. 5th King of Judah Jehoram. 25–29. 6th King of Judah Ahaziah. 2 Kings 8:1. And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had raised up, and said, Arise and go, you and your house, and live where you can live, for the Lord has called a famine, and it will come upon this land for seven years. 2 Kings 8:2. And the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God; and she and her house went and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years. 2 Kings 8:3. After seven years, this woman returned from the land of the Philistines and came to ask the king for her house and for her field. 2 Kings 8:4. The king then spoke to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and said: Tell me all the wonderful things that Elisha did. 2 Kings 8:5. And while he was telling the king that he had resurrected the dead, the woman whose son he had resurrected asked the king about her house and about her field. And Gehazi said, My lord the king, this is the same woman and the same son whom Elisha raised up. 2 Kings 8:6. And the king asked the woman, and she told him. And the king gave her one of the courtiers, saying: return to her everything that belongs to her and all the income from the field, from the day she left the land until now. The seven-year famine predicted by the prophet Elisha was identical to that mentioned in (2 Kings 4:39). Soon, probably, after the prophet resurrected the Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kings 4:35–37), he predicted for her the onset of a 7-year famine, advising her to retire with her family to one of the neighboring countries (as Elimelech’s family once did (Ruth 1:1ff)). “This word will give reason to guess that the Israelis were punished with hunger. And if there had been a general famine on earth, he would not have sent to another place. From this it is clear that the Israelites were admonished by this punishment sent down from God, and after such care for them they lived wickedly” (Blessed Theodoret, question 22). The Shunammite woman chose the Philistine land adjacent to Israel, which was distinguished by its fertility, where she spent the time of famine with her family. Returning, she found her house and field in the wrong hands: either confiscated into royal estates (cf. 1 Kings 21:15) or taken away by a private individual, contrary to the spirit of the Law of Moses and ancient practice (Ruth.1:4,4:5). The Shunammite woman turns to the king, who at that time was talking with Gehazi about the miracles of the prophet Elisha, asking for the return of her property. (From the fact that in verse 4 Gehazi is called a servant of Elisha and, as a healthy man, talks with the king, while after the well-known crime of healing Naaman, he was stricken with leprosy (2 Kings 5:27) and, of course, due to the crime and illness could no longer remain a servant of the prophet, many interpreters attribute the conversation between the king and Gehazi described here to the time before the healing of Naaman; but for lepers it is not the possibility of talking with people was excluded (Matthew 8:2; Luke 17:12, etc.) Gehazi could have spoken to the king already as a leper; most importantly, the rearrangement of events suggested by this guess introduces even greater confusion into the story of the prophet Elisha, which already represents chronological uncertainty). Gehazi, among the miracles of Elisha, calls the king the most important resurrection of the son of the Shunammite woman, especially since she herself then came to the king, who granted her request - not without the influence of the charm of the prophet’s personality under the fresh impression of memories of his miracles. 2 Kings 8:7. And Elisha came to Damascus when Benhadad king of Syria was sick. And they told him, saying: A man of God has come here. 2 Kings 8:8. And the king said to Hazael: Take the gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and ask the Lord through him, saying: Will I recover from this illness? 2 Kings 8:9. And Hazael went to meet him, and took the gift in his hand and all the best things in Damascus, as much as forty camels could carry, and he came and stood before him, and said: Your son Benhadad, king of Syria, has sent me to you to ask: “Will I recover from this illness?” 2 Kings 8:10. And Elisha said to him: Go, tell him: “You will get well”; however, the Lord revealed to me that he would die. 2 Kings 8:11. And Elisha fixed his gaze on him, and remained so until he was embarrassed; and the man of God wept. 2 Kings 8:12. And Hazael said, Why is my lord weeping? And he said: Because I know what evil you will do to the children of Israel; You will set their fortresses on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and you will beat their infant children, and you will cut down their pregnant women. 2 Kings 8:13. And Hazael said, “What is your servant, the dog [dead], that he could do such a great thing? And Elisha said, The Lord has shown me in you the king of Syria. 2 Kings 8:14. And he left Elisha and came to his master. And the man said to him, “What did Elisha tell you?” And he said, He told me that you would get well. 2 Kings 8:15. And the next day he took a blanket, wet it with water, and laid it on his face, and he died. And Hazael reigned in his place. The prophet Elisha, in view, without a doubt, of the command of God's prophet Elijah, known to him at Horeb, to anoint a certain Hazael to the Syrian kingdom (1 Kings 19:15) - a command not fulfilled by the prophet Elijah himself and, probably, conveyed by him to Elisha, goes to Damascus at a time when Benhadad was sick (due to the unsuccessful outcome of the siege of Samaria, ( 2 Kings 7), as Josephus notes. Having learned about the arrival of the respected prophet, Benhadad sends a certain Azail (according to Josephus: o πιστόεατος τῶν οἰκετῶν) to meet him with a question about the outcome of the illness and, of course, with a request for prayer for its favorable outcome; according to Eastern custom, such an embassy inevitably had to carry gifts to the prophet (cf. 1 Kings 9:7; 1 Kings 14:3), according to Eastern pomp and vainly distributed among 40 camels. “The prophet predicted to the coming Hazael both his accession to the throne and the death of the one who sent him, but he ordered not to notify the death of Baradad (Benadad), so that he would not end his life in despondency” (Blessed Theodoret, question 23). Heb. the text of verse 10 in writing (“Ketib”) has a negation: lo, so the meaning is as follows: and say (Benhadad): you will not recover, but in reading (“Keri”) and in plural. in the codes, lo is considered the pronoun “him” (“tell him: he will get well”). The reason for the indirect answer of the prophet is satisfactorily indicated by the blessed one. Theodoret, and also, according to him, I. Flavius, the reign of Hazael was likely to bring in the future (cf. (2 Kings 10:32), etc.; (2 Kings 13:3-4,7-22)) great disasters to the kingdom of Israel, which were common in ancient times during devastating wars (v. 12, cf. Is. 13:15, etc.; Hos.10:14; Am.1:13; Nahum.3:10, etc.; Ps.136:9), and the prophet deeply grieves and cries for the disasters awaiting his fatherland at the hands of Hazael. As a messenger of the will of God, the prophet Elisha does not hide from Hazael this disastrous activity of Hazael in the future for Israel, just as he does not hide the imminent death of Benhadad and the subsequent accession of Hazael (v. 13), although he knew that Hazael would reach the throne through the corpse of his master (v. 15): the prophet (as before 2 Kings 3:19) only predicts future facts, in no way obliging Hazael to act criminally. Hazael's false humility (v. 13; cf. 1 Samuel 24:15; 2 Kings 16:9) did not prevent him from killing the sick Benhadad (v. 15, according to Josephus, he strangled him, which is not entirely consistent with the Biblical text), after which he became king of Damascus (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 24). 2 Kings 8:16. In the fifth year of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, reigned after Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. 2 Kings 8:17. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eight years. 2 Kings 8:18. and he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab did, because Ahab's daughter was his wife, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 Kings 8:19. However, the Lord did not want to destroy Judah for the sake of His servant David, since He promised to give him a lamp among his children for all time. 2 Kings 8:20. In his days Edom emerged from under the hand of Judah, and they set a king over them. 2 Kings 8:21. And Joram went to Zair, and all the chariots with him; and he arose by night and smote the Edomites who surrounded him and the captains of the chariots, but the people fled to their tents. 2 Kings 8:22. And Edom went out from under the hand of Judah to this day. At the same time, Livna also spoke. 2 Kings 8:23. The rest of Jehoram and all that he did was written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 2 Kings 8:24. And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. About the reign of Jehoram, the 5th king of Judah, the parallel narrative (2 Chronicles 21:1) contains, in addition to what is indicated in this section (2 Kings 8:16–24), 3 new details: a) an accusatory letter from the prophet Elijah to Jehoram (2 Kings 8:12–15); b) the invasion of Judah under Jehoram by the Philistines and Arabians, who captured Jehoram’s property and children (verses 16–17) and c) Jehoram’s serious illness for two years, and burial outside the royal tombs (vv. 18–21). About the year of Jehoram's reign (vv. 16–17) cf. commentary on (2 Kings 1:17). His wickedness (v. 18) was the work of the influence of the ruling house of Israel related to him: he was the son-in-law of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Chronicles 18:1), and was married to their daughter Athaliah. Only Jehovah’s faithfulness to his covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:12; cf. 1 Kings 11:36) preserved this unworthy scion of his family. From external affairs, it is reported here about the unsuccessful campaign of Joram to Idumea (vv. 20-22; 2 Chron. 21: 8-10), where a king appeared with him, apparently an amateur, and not the viceroy of the king of Judah, as was before (1 Kings 22:48; 2 Kings 3:9 et seq.); according to I. Flavius (Jude. Ancient. 9: 5, 1, “the Edomites killed the former king, who was a vassal of Joram’s father, and chose a king for themselves at their own discretion”; the attack undertaken by Joram on Tsair - probably on the Idumean city (in the LXX and Slav. Sior, cf. Onomast. 625, 626) and the defeat of the Edomites did not bring any benefit, along with the deposition of Edom (cf. Ps. 3:7), the city of Libn was also deposited - an ancient Canaanite city (Josh. 10:22, 12:15), which fell to the tribe of Judah (Josh. 15:42) after the present attack, once again returning to the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 19:8; Is. 37:8; cf. Onomast. 634). Blessed Edom from Judea Theodoret sees (question 25) the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy to Esau: the time will come when ... you will break the yoke from your neck (Gen. 27.40). 2 Kings 8:25. In the twelfth year of Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. 2 Kings 8:26. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri king of Israel. 2 Kings 8:27. And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab, because he was related to the house of Ahab. 2 Kings 8:28. And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. 2 Kings 8:29. And king Joram returned to be cured in Jezreel for the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him at Ramoth, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, came to visit Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick. The one-year reign of the 6th king of Judah, the son of Jehoram, Ahaziah (cf. 2 Chron. 22:1-9), was as wicked as the reign of his father, and under the same influence: Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, called here (v. 29) the daughter of Omri (and not Ahab): Omri was the founder of a dynasty that caused so much trouble not only to Israel, but also to Judas. Following the example of his grandfather Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:1), who participated in Ahab’s fatal campaign against Ramoth-gilead, captured by the Syrians, Ahaziah took part in a similar campaign by Joram of Israel against the same city. Ramoth was conquered by the Israelites (2 Kings 9:2), but Joram of Israel was wounded and was treated in Jezreel, where Ahaziah of Judah went to visit a relative (v. 29; 2 Kings 9:15), but there, together with Joram (2 Kings 9:24), he found death at the hand of Jehu (2 Kings 9:27). 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