2 Kings 8:1-29

8:1-6 | The Lord brought famine to punish Israel’s sin. But in His mercy, He spared the Shunammite woman who had been kind to Elisha (4:8-37). Based on the details give (making an appeal for her house and her land), she was probably now a widow. King Jehoram administered justice and kindness, unlike King Ahab in a similar situation (1 Kgs. 21:1-16).

8:7-15 | This illness would not kill Ben-Hadad, but he also would not escape death for long. That Elisha set his countenance in a stare suggests a rigid facial expression characteristic of a trance associated with giving a prophetic oracle. Elisha supernaturally discerned the murder plot that was Hazael’s heart.

8:16-18 | Now both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel were ruled by a king named Jehoram (“Yahweh is Exalted”). Joram (a shortened form of the name) ruled the norther kingdom, Israel, 852-841 BC. Jehoram ruled the southern kingdom, Judah, 848-841 BC.

8:18 | Jehoram no doubt hoped that marrying the daughter of a king of Israel would help ease tensions between Judah and Israel; instead, Athaliah led Jehoram to repeat the sins of her father, Ahab (2 Chron. 21:6). Politically expedient actions can be spiritually disastrous.

8:19 | God kept His covenant promises to maintain a remnant of Israel (2 Sam. 7:12-16; Ps. 89:30-37). This eternal promise would be ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, the descendant of David and the Light of the World (Matt. 1:1; John 1:1-13; 8:12).