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Bible Study on the Prophet Elisha
2 Kings 8:7-14: When
God Weeps
By I Gordon
Introduction
Well, we’ve come to the end of the studies in
the Elisha series and I think it would be nice to go out with a nice joyful
topic don’t you? Well, either that or maybe we should just go for a tear
jerker? Ok, fair enough, the tear jerker it is.
The last passage we are going to look at is in 2
Kings 8:7-14 and it’s probably not one that is about to break into the top-10
‘happy’ texts of the Bible. But it is an interesting passage none the less. You
see, up until now we have seen Elisha in all sorts of challenging circumstances
and he has always, because of his trust in God, been confident, controlled, and
somewhat unemotional. But not here... Not this time. In the passage before us
Elisha will break down and weep. So let’s have a look at the circumstances that
can make a prophet weep and also ask the question does God weep?
A visit to the enemy…
2 Kings 7:7-8 Elisha went to
Now, the first thing that stands out is
that Elisha is going to
The second point that comes out of this
passage is that deep down everyone is afraid of death. It doesn’t matter
whether you are a price or a pauper, everyone is reduced to the same level at
the end of their life.[2] So here
we have the king of
“Show
me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days;
let
me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the
span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.
Selah
Man
is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He
bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get
it. “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.” (Psalm 39:4-7)
A
steely stare…
2 King 8:8-11 Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him
as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of
Now, here’s a strange little thing. Elisha says to Hazael to tell the king that he will recover even though the Lord has revealed that the king will die. Is Elisha encouraging a big old fat lie? Is he telling a porky? Elisha, you are a man of God… what are you doing? No, I don’t think Elisha was encouraging a lie. Elisha told Hazael to answer the king’s question truthfully for the king’s illness would not lead to his death. From that illness he would have recovered. The Lord had showed Elisha something else however. Something dark. Elisha had been given a glimpse of the heart of Hazael.
For that reason Elisha stared at Hazael with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Ouch. You can only imagine how long and steely that stare was. Sinners squirm in the presence of holiness and Hazael knows that Elisha can see right through him. We would rather keep our secret sins just that… secret. We certainly don’t like the thought that someone else could know what’s going on in our thoughts and heart. But God knows and those he reveals it to know[3]. And Elisha knows exactly what kind of man Hazael is. So much so that he begins to weep.
How
to make a prophet weep
2 Kings 8:12-15 “Why
is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the harm you will do to the
Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill
their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and
rip open their pregnant women.” Hazael said, “How could your servant, a
mere dog, accomplish such a feat?” “The LORD has shown me that you will become
king of
When Elisha reveals the evil intent in Hazael’s heart he at first pretends, with a false humility, that he couldn’t be capable of such things. And then just as quickly he scuttles off and suffocates the king to gain the throne! Lovely man.
But all that aside, the main point that I
wanted to explore in this study is this thought:
What makes a prophet weep? And connected to that are quite a few other
questions – Does God weep? Does God have emotion so that he can grieve? You see
we tend to talk a lot more about the character of God like His faithfulness, His
justice, His holiness etc. But what about His emotions? Does He feel like we
do? Yes… so many questions and so little time!
Let’s start at the top. What makes a
prophet weep? Or to make it easier, what made Elisha weep? Elisha obviously wept
because he could see the destruction and death that was coming to his people
But what about God? Does He weep? Or maybe we should make the question easier for God was made flesh and dwelt among us... What made Jesus weep? Can you think of any incidents when the Lord wept? Ok, I can’t wait… The Bible records two such incidents. Here are the scriptures:
Jesus wept at
Lazarus’ Tomb
John 11:32-36 ‘When Mary reached the place where Jesus was
and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my
brother would not have died.” When Jesus
saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was
deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus
wept. Then the Jews said, “See how
he loved him!”
So what was it that made Jesus weep here then? I guess the easy answer is that He was moved by the grief of Mary and the other Jews at the death of Lazarus. I’m sure that was part of it, but it is not the full story as you can see from the footnote[4]. It seems that it wasn’t just this death that Jesus wept over. Jesus wept, and felt anger, over the suffering, death, and effects of sin that had come upon His creation.
Luke 19:41 “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
The second time scripture records Jesus
weeping is actually on a day of celebration. It was Palm Sunday… the day that
Jesus presented Himself as their Messiah, riding upon a donkey in fulfilment of
Zech 9:9. Yet amidst all the joyful praise, Jesus still knew what would happen
later that week and wept over
its people. He longed to be their protector yet they had rejected Him. At this same time, Mathew records Jesus saying:
Mathew
23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those
sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house
is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”
Conclusion
What made Elisha weep? It was the same as that which Jesus wept over… the heart of the people being far from God. We shouldn’t assume God to be unemotional or immune from grief. The scripture tells us in both the Old and the New Testament that the Holy Spirit is grieved and ‘envies intensely’ when God’s people turn from Him (Isa 63:10, James 4:4-6). So I guess the question is: If Elisha, Jesus and God care so much about the state of people’s hearts, do you? And would the Holy Spirit be jealous for your attention or would your life bring pleasure to God? I’m not trying to point the finger… only you and God know the answer to such questions. But may you, and I, be people that seek to please God and not those that bring Him grief.