The first part of this chapter tells of the Shunammite woman, seen earlier in chapter 4, whose son had been resurrected by Elisha. At the time Elisha advised her that she should move away so as to avoid an impending famine that would last 7 years. The woman thus went away to the land of the Philistines, but when she returned her house and land had been taken so she went to the king seeking help. Just at that time the king was talking to Elisha's servant and he was relating how Elisha had raised the boy from the dead. Lo and behold the Shunammite woman appeared just as her story was being told and clearly the king was moved decreeing that everything be restored to her.
Then Elisha went to Damascus where King Hadad of Aram was ill. Hadad sent Hazael to consult the prophet regarding his prognosis. Elisha said that Hadad would recover from his illness, but that however he would die from another cause and Hazael would become king of Aram. Then Hazael went and assassinated Hadad and replaced him as king.
The chapter then moves to Judah when Jehoram began his reign as king at the age of 32 and reigned for 8 years. He was a wicked king but God did not destroy Judah because of his covenant with David. During his reign Edom and Libnah conducted revolts.
Following Jehoram's death Ahaziah began to reign in Judah at the age of 22 and he reigned for 1 year. Ahaziah too was evil in the sight of the Lord. He joined King Joram of Israel in a failed war against Syria during which Joram was wounded.
No comments:
Post a Comment