April 7, 2020: Day 66 – II Kings 8

We find ourselves with a lot of transition in the house of Judah, read Jerusalem, and in the house of Israel, read Samaria.  We do see that the king who made it out of the famine was not only very curious about Elisha, but he also does a very good deed on behalf of Elisha.  What you see in vs.1-6 is a type of repayment to Elisha for all that he had done for the nation of Israel.  And I said we would never hear how the king felt about what Elisha did.  I was wrong.  The king begins by wanting to know everything there was to know about Elisha and all the good that Elisha did.  He is talking with Elisha’s old right hand person, the one who went back to the king for a kickback, and the topic of the woman with the son who died and then was raised from the dead comes up.

She was told by Elisha to flee to Philistia during the famine, and then return once it is over.  She does that and on her return the king grants not only her land back but all of the profits that she would have made had she been on the land when she was gone.  She was treated right and it is primarily because of her relationship to Elisha.

We see Elisha has a hand in the transition of power in Aram as the king is ill and the one waiting on him kills him and takes over the country.  We see that Jehoram ruled in Judah.  For 8 years he lived the type of life that Ahab had lived, which was walking away from the Lord.  We see a theme coming up that whenever a king was unfaithful he is described as walking in the way of Ahab.  That is not a good moniker and that describes a person who is walking away from God toward their own desires, while drawing the people away from God.  One never wants to be described as someone who walked in the way of Ahab.