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2 Kings 8 · a question people ask

Did Elisha anoint Hazael, as the LORD told Elijah to?

In the text

At Horeb (1 Kings 19:8-9) the LORD told Elijah, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria" (1 Kings 19:15). 2 Kings 8 tells of no anointing. Elisha comes to Damascus (8:7) and tells Hazael, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Syria" (8:13). The chapter doesn't say whether this is the word of 1 Kings 19:15 kept, or how the two fit together, and these notes don't say. In the next chapter Elisha sends "one of the sons of the prophets" to Ramoth Gilead (9:1), and Jehu is anointed (9:6), as the LORD had also told Elijah (1 Kings 19:16).

The verses

“He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain. He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, the LORD’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
1 Kings 19:8-9 · World English Bible
“The LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.”
1 Kings 19:15-16 · World English Bible
“Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick. He was told, “The man of God has come here.””
2 Kings 8:7 · World English Bible
“Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he could do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Syria.””
2 Kings 8:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Kings 8

2 Kings 8: A lamp for his children

Elisha "restored to life" the Shunammite's son (8:1), and Benhadad asks, "Will I recover from this sickness?" (8:8): in Hebrew both are one verb, used ten times in the chapter's first fourteen verses. And the "lamp" the LORD promised for David's children (8:19) is a word the Hebrew Bible uses only four times, each time of a lamp for David.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions