Elisha also remembered those who he considered his friends. Do you remember the Shunamite woman? Elisha raised her son from the dead. Well, Elisha didn't want her to go through an awful famine!
II Kings 8:1-2- Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
Elisha knew that a famine was coming to the land of Samaria. This famine would be bad! So, he told the Shunamite woman to take her family out of the land of Israel for seven years until the famine was over.
II Kings 8:3- And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.
It was a custom back then that when you went away for a long time, that you could go beg the king for you house and lands back. If the king was feeling generous, he would give you back your possession.
Elisha had warned the Shunamite, and so she left her house and lands for seven years. Someone else would have come along and tried to claim them.
Not only, was Elisha looking out for the Shunamite woman, but so was God. Remember, He called her a Great Woman.
II Kings 8:4-5- And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.
The king was having a conversation with Elisha's leprous servant about all the miracles that the servant had witnessed. As he was telling the king about the Shunamite woman, she walked into his throne room!
II Kings 8:6- And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.
Not only did the king restore everything that was her, but he also gave her any of the crops that her land brought forth during that time.
She could have told Elisha that she didn't want to leave because she would lose her house and her lands. But, she obeyed instead. And because she obeyed, God made sure that she got back everything she lost as well as what she might have gained by staying.
The king of Israel wasn't the only ruler who listened to Elisha. Remember, the Syrians had become their friends when Elisha blinded them and brought them to Samaria? Well, the Syrian king had learned that Elisha could give answers from God.
II Kings 8:7-10- And Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither. And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and enquire of the LORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, 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? And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the LORD hath shewed me that he shall surely die.
The king of Syria sent one of his trusted men to Elisha to ask if he would get better from a sickness. Elisha told the man that the king would die.
II Kings 8:11-13- And he settled his countenance stedfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept. And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.
Elisha began to cry in front of this man. The man wondered why Elisha would start crying, but Elisha told him it was because he would become the next king of Syria. Elisha knew that war would start again under this man's rule.
II Kings 8:14-15- 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. And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.
You may have wondered why Elisha said to tell the king of Syria that he would recover from his sickness, but then tell the man that came to him that the king would die. It was because Elisha knew that the man was going to murder his king.
The man got back and told his king that he would recover. But, the man suffocated the king so that he could rule in his place.
II Kings 8:16, 28-29- And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
Elisha had made friends with Syria. That's why Hazael had been so confused when Elisha told him that as king he would be at war with Israel. It's because Ahab's son, Joram started a war with Syria, and he dragged the king of Judah into this war.
God was tired of the sins of Ahab's household, and he was going to punish them.
