Class: Israel Continues Its Downward Slide, 2 Kings 8

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Israel Continues Its Downward Slide 

Second Kings 8

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • January 29, In the year of our Lord, 2017

1. Second Kings 8.1–3 | Elisha Helps the Shunammite Woman Again
   
   1 Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3 It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land.
   
   1. Elisha helps this woman again.
   2. What land did she choose to dwell in?
      1. Where was Philistia in comparison to the Land of Israel?
      2. How long did she live there?
   3. She fully expected to return to her house and property.
2. Second Kings 8.4–6 | Not a Mere Coincidence
   
   4 Then the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done.” 5 Now it happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, that there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.”
   
   1. Who would not want to hear from a witness to actual miracles?
   2. As Gehazi reported on the raising of the boy, suddenly the boy and his mother appear.
      1. Does it seem to you that the Lord must have had a hand in this?
      2. The Lord looked out for this woman and her family through Elisha.
         1. Therefore, it seems plausible that God worked in this situation, somehow causing the woman to walk in just as Gehazi spoke of her.
         2. Unsurprisingly, the king orders her property restored to her.
3. Second Kings 8.7–13 | Syria Will Hurt Israel
   
   7 Then Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” 8 And the king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’” 9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads; and he came and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’” 10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However the LORD has shown me that he will really die.” 11 Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you will dash their children, and rip open their women with child.” 13 So Hazael said, “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?” And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will become king over Syria.”
   
   1. It seems odd that Elisha went to Syria, Israel’s chief enemy at the time.
   2. However, the Lord had something for Elisha to do.
      1. What was it?
      2. He would tell the king that he would recover from his illness.
         1. However, he would also die.
         2. True, we all die, but he would die right away.
   3. How much of a gift did the Syrian king try to give to Elisha?
      1. Forty camel-loads.
   4. Why did Elisha just stare?
      1. What made him weep?
      2. He told Hazael that he would kill Israelites.
   5. Hazael could not imagine that he would do this.
      1. What reason did he give Elisha?
      2. How would Hazael be able to accomplish destruction in Israel?
4. Second Kings 8.14–15 | The Servant Kills the Syrian King
   
   14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me you would surely recover.” 15 But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place.
   
   1. Hazael reported what Elisha said about the king.
   2. What prompted Hazael to kill the king?
5. Second Kings 8.16–24a | Jehoram Brings Judah Down
   
   16 Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat having been king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign as king of Judah. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 19 Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of His servant David, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever. 20 In his days Edom revolted against Judah’s authority, and made a king over themselves. 21 So Joram went to Zair, and all his chariots with him. Then he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; and the troops fled to their tents. 22 Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. And Libnah revolted at that time. 23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 24 So Joram rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David.
   
   1. What two kings does this part of the narrative discuss?
      1. Joram in Israel
      2. Jehoram in Judah
   2. How old was Jehoram when he became king?
      1. How long did he reign?
      2. He reigned only 8 years, so that he died when he was 40.
   3. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.
      1. What influenced him to do evil?
      2. He married the daughter of Ahab.
         1. What does that tell you?
         2. Whose son was Jehoram?
            1. He was Jehoshaphat’s son.
            2. Twice Jehoshaphat tried unity with Israel and either Ahab or his son.
               1. Yet, Jehoshaphat did not do evil in the sight of the Lord.
               2. Why did Ahab’s family influence Jehoram more than Jehoshaphat’s?
   4. What kept the Lord from destroying Judah at this time?
      1. The Lord’s promise to David.
      2. What does that tell you about David?
   5. Because of Jehoram Judah lost Edom.
6. Second Kings 8.24b–29 | The Short Reign of Ahaziah
   
   Then Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. 25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel. 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, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. 28 Now he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29 Then King Joram went back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
   
   1. What was the age of Ahaziah when he became king and how long did he reign?
      1. He was 22 and he reigned only 1 year.
   2. Whose family did he imitate?
      1. What was his connection to that family?
   3. Judah’s alliances with Israel did not help, but hurt.