Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Hazael omitted the clause by which Elisha had shown how those words were to be understood. He thus deceived his master, while he could flatter himself that he had not uttered a lie.

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

HAZAEL RETURNED TO THE KING; LIED TO HIM; AND ASSASSINATED HIM THE NEXT DAY

"Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said unto him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou wouldest surely recover. And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead."

"He took the coverlet ... and spread it on his face, so that he died" (2 Kings 8:15). "The noun translated `coverlet' is otherwise unknown";[20] and the opinions of scholars that it was "a mosquito net"[21] or maybe "a pillow"[22] are of no consequence. Whatever it was, it was an effective instrument by which Hazael suffocated Benhadad, the king of Syria.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master,.... Benhadad king of Syria:

who said to him, what said Elisha to thee? concerning his recovery, which was the thing uppermost in his mind, and he was eagerly desirous to know how it would be:

and he answered, he told me that thou shouldest surely recover; which was false; for he only said that he "might", and not that he should; and he concealed what he also declared, that though he might recover of his disease, yet that he should surely die in another way.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Kings 8:14 So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me [that] thou shouldest surely recover.

Ver. 14. He told me thou shouldst surely recover.] He relateth the prophet’s words with the same honesty, saith Junius, as he afterwards strangled his master, aud stopped his breath.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

He represents the prophet’s answer by halves, that by his master’s security he might have the fitter opportunity to execute his reasonable design.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

14.He told me’ thou shouldest surely recover — This, as we have seen above, is the exact opposite of what Elisha said, made so by the omission of the single word לא, not. Hazael thus deceived Ben-hadad, expecting, probably, to put him off his guard. He who had murder in his heart, and whom Elisha’s words had inspired to a boundless ambition, was none too good to lie.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

2 Kings 8:14. He told me that thou shouldest surely recover — This was abominably false. He told him he should die, 2 Kings 8:10; but Hazael unfairly and unfaithfully concealed that, either because he was loath to put the king out of humour with bad news, or because he thought he should thereby the more easily put in execution the design which he had already formed against his life, finding he was to be his successor, and which he was eager to see accomplished. Elisha’s prediction might give Satan an occasion of suggesting this villany to his mind; but, as Mr. Scott justly observes, “it was not the cause of his crime, and forms no excuse for it. Had he been of David’s disposition, he would have waited in the path of duty till the Lord had performed his word in that manner which pleased him.” Thus he soon began to manifest the rapaciousness and cruelty of the dog, of which he desired to be thought incapable.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

surely recover. See note on 2 Kings 8:10. A false report.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou shouldest surely recover.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) That thou shouldest surely recover.—Rather, Thou wilt certainly live, repeating Elisha’s actual words, but not the tone and gesture which accompanied them.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

He told me

10; 5:25; Matthew 26:16