The Prophet ElishaNäide

Announcing God’s Judgment

“And Hazael said, ‘Why does my lord weep?’ He [=Elisha] answered, ‘Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. […] The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.’” (2 Kings 8:12-13)

Elisha’s task as a prophet was not an easy one. He had to confront people with their sins and to announce God’s judgments, taking the risk of being killed himself — as we saw in previous stories. Today’s passage talks about another difficult task.

Even before Elisha was a prophet, his mentor Elijah was commissioned to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Now Elisha was in Damascus to inform Hazael.

But it was hard for him to convey this message, since he was aware how much evil this man would do to the Israelites. Elisha was moved to tears when he told Hazael: “You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women” (2 Kings 8:12). This judgment caused Elisha great sorrow, but Israel deserved what was coming. Therefore, Elisha accepted God’s punishment and proclaimed it with tears in his eyes.

Some chapters later, we read how “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria” (2 Kings 13:3).

For Elisha, it was hard to proclaim this particular judgment. How do you feel about telling people about God’s coming judgment on human sin in general? Do you avoid such discussions?