2 Kings 8:8

8 The king ordered Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go meet the Holy Man. Ask God through him, 'Am I going to recover from this sickness?'"

2 Kings 8:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 8:8

And the king said to Hazael
The captain general of his army:

take a present in thine hand, and go and meet the man of God,
who, perhaps, was not as yet come into the city, only into the region of Damascus: or rather "with thee"; so the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; and which Noldius ^F6 approves of, since a burden of forty camels, ( 2 Kings 8:9 ) could not be carried in the hand:

and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, shall I recover of this
disease?
he did not desire him to pray the Lord that he might recover, only was curious to know whether he should or not, see ( 2 Kings 1:2 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F6 Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 189. No. 362.

2 Kings 8:8 In-Context

6 The king wanted to know all about it, and so she told him the story. The king assigned an officer to take care of her, saying, "Make sure she gets everything back that's hers, plus all profits from the farm from the time she left until now."

7 Elisha traveled to Damascus. Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, was sick at the time. He was told, "The Holy Man is in town."

8 The king ordered Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go meet the Holy Man. Ask God through him, 'Am I going to recover from this sickness?'"

9 Hazael went and met with Elisha. He brought with him every choice thing he could think of from Damascus - forty camel-loads of items! When he arrived he stood before Elisha and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, sent me here to ask you, 'Am I going to recover from this sickness?'"

10 Elisha answered, "Go and tell him, 'Don't worry; you'll live.' The fact is, though - God showed me - that he's doomed to die."