CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO LESSONS

ELISHA SEES WHAT HE WOULD RATHER NOT SEE!

There is little doubt that Scripture commends knowledge. For example, we know that Solomon as David's successor to the throne, instead of asking for wealth or honor, asked for wisdom and knowledge to lead God's people. God was pleased with Solomon and replied with these words,
"Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have." (II Chronicles 1:11 - 12)
We also know that Solomon commended knowledge to others. For from beginning to end in the book of Proverbs, of whom Solomon was the primary contributor, knowledge is urged upon the reader.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:7)
Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing can compare with her. (Proverbs 8:10)
Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin. (Proverbs 10:14)
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.(Proverbs 15:14)
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. (Proverbs 23:12)
When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order. (Proverbs 28:2)
As someone involved in education, I understand the repeated admonition we see in Proverbs and elsewhere in Scripture to seek knowledge. The fact is that while some of us enjoy drinking from the fountain of knowledge, most of us simply prefer to gargle. Or as someone put it, "We live in a world where 5% of the people think, 10% think they think, and 85% would rather die than think!"
But knowledge has its down side. Like when archaeologist discovered the tomb of a 14th century B.C. king by the name of Tutankhamen, of course we know him as King Tut. Undoubtedly, it was an exciting discovery. That is, it was exciting until they started hearing stories about the curse of King Tut. With this new found knowledge they soon reached the conclusion that archaeology is the pits.
More seriously, as our knowledge and wisdom increase we discover that the issues become more complex. Everywhere we turn there seems to be no simple answers to any of the real problems in this world. Or, as someone has put it, "You think the big issues are tough to deal with, try dealing with the small ones."
For while those with knowledge may exalt themselves by putting their wisdom and knowledge on display in the workplace, attempting to solve the big issues, we discover that when they go home at night that they are as messed up as anyone else. They are as messed up as everyone else for they are unable to resolve the small issues in life. Solomon put it this way:
I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also to madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. (Ecclesiastes 1:16 - 18)
When we first met Elisha, he was an apprentice with Elijah. He was an undergraduate student assigned by God to be Elijah's successor. At the time, he had much to learn but he was fully committed to being Elijah's associate and undoubtedly learned much about God from him.
It is now quite a few years later and Elisha has grown in knowledge and wisdom. He has replaced Elijah as "the man of God" to whom everyone turns for help. We pick up his story in II Kings 8 where we read:
Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." 2 The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. 4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done." 5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life." 6 The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."
7 Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, "The man of God has come all the way up here," 8 he said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the LORD through him; ask him, `Will I recover from this illness?'" 9 Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, `Will I recover from this illness?'" 10 Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, `You will certainly recover'; but the LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die." 11 He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep. 12 "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." 13 Hazael said, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?" "The LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram," answered Elisha. 14 Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, "What did Elisha say to you?" Hazael replied, "He told me that you would certainly recover." 15 But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.
Knowledge! Elisha had it in spades and as we look at these two stories we see that it was both a source of blessing and of much grief. In the first story, Elisha knew that a famine had been decreed by God. He knew that God, in decreeing this famine, was judging the nation for its failure to acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the one true God. Once again, God was attempting to capture Israel's attention.
Elisha used this "inside information" to protect the Shunammite woman and her family from hardship. He advised her to go stay with relatives, to take an extended trip abroad, or to simply pack up and move with the intent of staying somewhere, anywhere, for at least seven years. There is no suggestion that she questioned or argued with his advice despite the possibility that to abandon her property meant losing it. She simply did as she was advised believing that everything would be okay.
Consequently, she packed up her belongings, moved, and stayed away for seven years. When she returned she discovered that squatters had claimed her property. Immediately, she took her case to the king in hopes that it would be returned to her.
She went prepared to plead for her land. She had spent days marshaling her arguments as to why the property should be returned to her. Finally, she mustered up the courage to ask the king. As it turned out, all she had to do was show up at the right time. Yes, she answered a few questions about herself, her son, and what Elisha and done for them. But, it was God in his knowledge, that got her to the palace at just the right time!
As chance would have it, at the time she rang the door bell, the king was talking to Gehazi, Elisha's former servant, about all the miracles performed by the prophet. In particular, so that no one would be foolish enough to ascribe these events to chance, he was sharing with the king how Elisha had restored the Shunammite's son to life when the woman was escorted into the presence of the king.
Immediately, upon hearing that this was the woman and that squatters were now on her land he assigned an official to the case. His job was to see that the squatters were evicted, that the property was immediately restored to the woman, and that all the income off the land that was lost during the past seven years was posted to her account at the local bank.
You can bet, that she walked out of the palace on cloud nine! She was simply hoping to have the property restored to her, nothing else. To her amazement, God had arranged everything so that when she presented herself the king was primed to honor her and even go beyond the desires of her heart by granting a bonus of lost income. You see, the knowledge of God, and the privilege you and I have of seeing some of his mighty deeds brought about because of His knowledge is a wonderful thing.
But our knowledge of what God is doing in this world can also trouble our hearts as can be seen in the second story. In this story, Elisha traveled to Damascus where he was sought out by Hazael, an attendant of the king. He is the man who had been anointed as the next king of Aram by Elijah. This probably happened ten to twelve years before this time. In fact, with the exception of Hazael, just about everyone had forgotten about it - especially Ben-Hadad II.
He, Hazael, had been sent by the king along with an abundance of gifts to inquire as to whether or not said king would recover from his present illness. Elisha saw that the king would indeed recover, but in fact would die from an early case of SARS! For in fact, he would have recovered from the initial illness had he not died from a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome brought on by a towel soaked in water and held over his mouth and nose by Hazael.
Evidently, Hazael was tired of waiting for his opportunity to be king. Consequently, he took matters into his own hands and killed his master. And though Elisha wasn't in the room at the time of the king's death, perhaps not even in the city, he had seen it all. He knew what Hazael planned to do when they met on the open road. He had looked Hazael in the eye and confronted him with his sin to the point that Hazael turned away in shame.
It was at that point that Elisha began to weep, not for the king whose death was days away, but for the judgment that was about to come upon Israel through this madman by the name of Hazael. For he was a man who showed no concern for what he was going to do to Israel, only for how he was going to do it. Elisha saw it all and all he could do, beyond the personal confrontation, was weep.
You know and I know that as we mature in Christ our joy increases, but so does our sorrow. Yes, we know God better and in that there is great joy. But we also know ourselves better, which is sobering in itself, and we know how cruel those who live apart from God can be toward others. In that, there is great grief.

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO LESSONS