Skip to content
mannafest.faith

2 Kings 8:7

in 2 Kings 8

Then Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God has come here.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither.

KJV

And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben–hadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither.

This verse in 2 Kings 8

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
The hour had come for carrying out the command given by God to Elijah (marginal reference “e”), and by him probably passed on to his successor. Elisha, careless of his own safety, quitted the land of Israel, and proceeded into the enemy’s country, thus putting into the power of the Syrian king that life which he had lately sought so eagerly 2Ki 6:13-19. The man of God - The Damascenes had perhaps known Elisha by this title from the time of his curing Naaman.

This site's exposition

the man of God is come hither

on 2 Kings 8:7-8

Elisha's ministry now reaches a foreign capital: Ben-hadad, king of Syria, lies sick at Damascus and sends to enquire of the Lord through the man of God rather than through his own gods. This is the same king who once sent an army to take Elisha at Dothan, now sending a servant to ask him a question instead, a man humbled by circumstance rather than by conviction. The present he sends is sized to a king's gratitude, not a subject's need.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 8:7 · Written before 373.

proposed

"Elisha went to Damascus while King Ben-hadad was ill." His illness had derived from his unhappiness. For he had been deeply afflicted by the fact that, in the war of Samaria, his armies had been defeated and that, at the same time, his people had …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This is the more observable, (1.) Because it was not long since a king of Israel had, in his sickness, sent to enquire of the god of Ekron ( ch. i. 2 ), as if there had been no God in Israel. Note, God sometimes fetches to himself that honour from strangers which is denied him and alienated from him by his own professing people.
And Elisha came to Damascus,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Elisha came to Damascus - That he might lead Gehazi to repentance; according to Jarchi and some others.

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּבֹ֤אand he went

    vaiyavo'H9352568 times

  • אֱלִישָׁע֙Elisha

    ʾelisha'H47758 times

  • דַּמֶּ֔שֶׂקDamascus

    damesekH183445 times

  • וּבֶן־and Ben

    uven-H113050 times

  • הֲדַ֥דHadad

    hadadH113050 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H44282525 times

  • אֲרָ֖םAram

    ʾaramH758143 times

  • חֹלֶ֑ה[was] sick

    cholehH247076 times

  • וַיֻּגַּד־and it was told

    vaiyugad-H5046370 times

  • ל֣וֹto him

    lo

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH5595305 times

  • בָּ֛אhe has come

    ba'H9352568 times

  • אִ֥ישׁ[the] man of

    ʾishH3761663 times

  • הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים<the> God

    haelohimH4302601 times

  • עַד־to

    ʾad-H57041261 times

  • הֵֽנָּה׃here

    henahH200849 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Kings 20:1

    Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 22:31

      Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Kings 15:18

      So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace. He entrusted it to his servants and sent them with this…

  • Through

    1 Kings 15:18

    So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace. He entrusted it to his servants and sent them with this…

    it leads to

    • Genesis 14:15

      During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Kings 12:18

      So King Joash of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries…

    • 1 Kings 14:26

      He seized the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made.

    • 1 Kings 15:15

      And he brought into the house of the LORD the silver and gold and other articles that he and his father had dedicated.

    • 1 Kings 11:23–24

      And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah,

  • Through

    2 Kings 6:24

    Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 20:1

      Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.

About 2 Kings

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 8:7; F. W. Farrar, The Second Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.