2 Kings 8:1-15 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 2 Kings 8:1-15. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
2 Kings 8:1-6 (NIV)
1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.”
2 The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land.
4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.”
5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”
6 The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”
On verses 1-6: Elisha the prophet tells the woman whose son he had raised back to life to move away from Israel temporarily because a seven year famine was coming to Israel. After living away from Israel for 7 years, the woman returns to Israel, but by this time the government has taken over her land. So the woman goes to the king of Israel in hopes of getting her land back. That same day, Elisha’s servant Gehazi is telling the king about what Elisha had done for this woman. So when the king meets this woman, the king speaks a word to give back everything that belonged to the woman, including all the income that her land had generated during her seven year absence.
Why was this woman’s land restored to her? It’s because the king was focused on the great things that a godly man Elisha had done for this woman. So the king decides to show kindness to her as well.
Similarly, the Bible is the story of how we went away from God’s kingdom and lost our inheritance in the process. But God brought us back into His kingdom and restored to us all that we had lost, not because we deserved it but because God was focused on the great things a godly man – Jesus Christ – had done for us. Because Jesus decided to show us mercy, the Father decided to show us mercy as well. Praise God. Because the King has spoken, we are restored. Here’s believing that even now God sees you with eyes of mercy and is speaking His Word to restore you.
2 Kings 8:7-15 (NIV)
7 Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, “The man of God has come all the way up here,”
8 he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the LORD through him; ask him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?'”
9 Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?'”
10 Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover’; but the LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die.”
11 He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.
12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”
13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?” “The LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” answered Elisha.
14 Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, “What did Elisha say to you?” Hazael replied, “He told me that you would certainly recover.”
15 But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.
On verses 7-15: Was Elisha telling Hazael to lie to King Ben-Hadad of Aram about the prognosis of his sickness? Was Elisha instructing Hazael to tell King Ben-Hadad that he would recover when in fact he would not? No. Elisha was simply revealing what was already in Hazael’s heart: his plan to assassinate King Ben-Hadad and take over the nation of Aram.
What can we learn from this? We can’t hide our plans from God. God sees everything in us, including the most selfish or evil thoughts we entertain. But just as Elisha did not stop Hazael from going ahead with what was in his heart, God gives us freedom to make our own choices. God is not indifferent or neutral when it comes to our choices. But part of letting us be free and responsible agents is letting us have the freedom to make our own choices. Just as Elisha wept to think of all the harm Hazael would do to the people of Israel, God grieves over the harm that we do when we disobey His commands and do evil instead of good.
Father, thank You that because of what Jesus Christ has done for me on the cross, You look upon me and see me with eyes of mercy and grace, and You speak the word to restore me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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