The Shunammite Woman, Hazael, and the Kings of Judah

The chapter opens with a woman who had already seen the dead restored to life. Elisha had warned her of a coming famine, and she had acted on the word of the man of God, leaving her house and land behind to sojourn in the land of the Philistines for seven years. When the seven years ended, she returned to Israel and went directly to the king to cry out for her house and her land. She did not come with a prepared petition or a retinue; she came as a woman who had lost everything but the promise that had sent her away.

The timing was precise. The king was speaking with Gehazi, the former servant of Elisha, and Gehazi was telling him all the great things Elisha had done. As Gehazi recounted the raising of the dead boy, the woman herself appeared, crying out to the king. Gehazi recognized her immediately and identified her to the king: this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. The king asked her to tell her story, and she did. Then the king appointed an officer and ordered that everything that was hers be restored, including all the fruits of the field from the day she left the land until that moment. The woman who had trusted the prophet's word received back more than she had left.

The scene shifts to Damascus. Elisha arrived there, and Benhadad king of Syria, who was sick, sent Hazael to meet him with a present of forty camels' burden of every good thing of Damascus. Hazael was to inquire of the Lord through Elisha whether the king would recover from his sickness. Hazael came before Elisha and delivered the king's question. Elisha answered that the king would surely recover, but the Lord had shown him that he would surely die.

Then Elisha fixed his gaze on Hazael until Hazael was ashamed, and the man of God wept. Hazael asked why he wept, and Elisha answered that he knew the evil Hazael would do to the children of Israel: he would set their strongholds on fire, slay their young men with the sword, dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their women with child. Hazael protested, asking what his servant was, who was but a dog, that he should do such a great thing. Elisha replied that the Lord had shown him that Hazael would be king over Syria.

Hazael returned to his master and reported that Elisha had said he would surely recover. The next day, Hazael took a coverlet, dipped it in water, and spread it on the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael reigned in his stead. The prophet's tears had not been for the king's death but for the violence that would follow under Hazael's hand.

The chapter then turns to the kings of Judah. In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began to reign in Judah. He was thirty-two years old and reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he had married the daughter of Ahab, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, as he had promised to give him a lamp for his children always.

In Jehoram's days, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves. Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots, rose up by night, and struck the Edomites who surrounded him and the captains of the chariots, but the people fled to their tents. Edom has been in revolt against Judah to this day, and Libnah revolted at the same time. The rest of the acts of Jehoram are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. He slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.

Ahaziah began to reign in the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel. He was twenty-two years old and reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel. He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. He went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds the Syrians had given him at Ramah, and Ahaziah went down to see him there because he was sick.

The chapter weaves together three threads: a woman whose faith in the prophet's word brought restoration of her property, a prophet who saw the coming violence and wept, and kings who walked in evil and saw their kingdoms shrink. None of these stories are told in isolation; they are placed together to show how the word of the Lord moves through famine, restoration, assassination, and political collapse. The woman received back what was hers, but the kings of Judah and Israel were losing ground, and a new king in Syria was rising with blood on his hands.