John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 9. So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him , etc.] As was usual when a prophet or seer was consulted, (see 1 Samuel 9:7) even of every good thing of Damascus ; which was a very fruitful place, and had abundance of gardens and orchards in it, which yielded excellent fruit, and of such it is probable the present consisted, and which was large: even forty camels’ burden : which, as they are strong creatures, will bear a great deal. Abarbinel thinks, bread, flesh, and wine, and fowls, were in the present, but not gold, silver, and raiment, which the prophet had refused to take of Naaman; the Jews have a fable, that there was a precious stone in it, worth all the good things of Damascus: and came and stood before him, and said, thy son Benhadad, king of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying, shall I recover of this disease ? he calls him his son, in veneration of the prophet as a father, as such men were called.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-15 - Among other changes of men's minds by affliction, it often gives othe thoughts of God's ministers, and teaches to value the counsels an prayers of those whom they have hated and despised. It was not in Hazael's countenance that Elisha read what he would do, but God revealed it to him, and it fetched tears from his eyes: the mor foresight men have, the more grief they are liable to. It is possibl for a man, under the convictions and restraints of natural conscience to express great abhorrence of a sin, yet afterwards to be reconcile to it. Those that are little and low in the world, cannot imagine ho strong the temptations of power and prosperity are, which, if ever the arrive at, they will find how deceitful their hearts are, how muc worse than they suspected. The devil ruins men, by saying they shal certainly recover and do well, so rocking them asleep in security Hazael's false account was an injury to the king, who lost the benefi of the prophet's warning to prepare for death, and an injury to Elisha who would be counted a false prophet. It is not certain that Hazae murdered his master, or if he caused his death it may have been withou any design. But he was a dissembler, and afterwards proved a persecuto to Israel.
Original Hebrew וילך1980 חזאל2371 לקראתו7125 ויקח3947 מנחה4503 בידו3027 וכל3605 טוב2898 דמשׂק1834 משׂא4853 ארבעים705 גמל1581 ויבא935 ויעמד5975 לפניו6440 ויאמר559 בנך1121 בן הדד1130 מלך4428 ארם758 שׁלחני7971 אליך413 לאמר559 האחיה2421 מחלי2483 זה׃2088
