2 Kings 8: 1 – 29
Premonition, precognition, and prophecy
8 Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3 It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land. 4 Then the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done.” 5 Now it happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, that there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing 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.” 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.” 7 Then Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” 8 And the king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’ ” 9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads; and he came and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’ ” 10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However the LORD has shown me that he will really die.” 11 Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you will dash their children, and rip open their women with child.” 13 So Hazael said, “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?” And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will become king over Syria.” 14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me you would surely recover.” 15 But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place. 16 Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat having been king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign as king of Judah. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 19 Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of His servant David, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever. 20 In his days Edom revolted against Judah’s authority, and made a king over themselves. 21 So Joram went to Zair, and all his chariots with him. Then he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; and the troops fled to their tents. 22 Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. And Libnah revolted at that time. 23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 24 So Joram rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Ahaziahhis son reigned in his place. 25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel. 27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. 28 Now he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. 29 Then King Joram went back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on 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.
Precognition is a form of extrasensory perception in which the target is some future event that cannot be deduced from normally known data in the present. It is the ability to see the future. Some people also use it interchangeably with the word premonition. The difference is that the word can refer to both the ability and the vision of the future.
Premonition is a feeling or impression that something is about to happen, especially something ominous or dire, yet about which no normal information is available. It is a vision or knowledge of the future. I had a premonition of what is going to happen.
A premonition can be a warning of events that are to come without having any solid proof to support the feelings or the visions. They can be dreams or they can be a feeling that something is amiss somewhere. The Bible revealed that followers of God were given visions and dreams and the same is true for today's Christians. We are given warnings about possible problems or challenges that could be on the way.
Mary was given a sign by an angel that she was going to have a child as a virgin. Like Mary experienced, premonitions can happen in visions and in visitations. They also can occur commonly during dreams, but also during a full waking awareness. Premonitions can happen on the road when you are driving. Or when you feel that you need to intercede on the behalf of someone. Sometimes a person will have a feeling that something is going to happen to them. Abraham Lincoln was believed to experience premonitions. Before his assassination, he had a dream of his own death. A week later he was murdered. As believers, we need to pray when we have a dream, a hunch or when we feel uneasy regarding a premonition. The reason for this is because we can't see everything in the spiritual world and this gives us and others a covering.
Prophecy can be thought of as the same as the other two, but the source of the information is attributed to God. It is being given knowledge of the future from our Creator God.
Not every dream or visitation is from God. It might have been from a late peperoni pizza or from stress at work.
The first thing we want to do when we have a premonition is to forget or brush it off as nothing. It’s important to constantly seek God and to cast your care about the premonition or what you are dealing with. This will not only help you remain confident but also help you grow in your relationship with Him. Take many small prayers breaks to refocus on where God is guiding you. It will take dedication on your part, but it is worth it to find where and how God is directing you. With all the things that we feed our spirit with, it is important to get God's take on what is truly going on.
It is hard when you have a gut feeling that something is wrong as it sends us into a panic. God gives us this gift to protect us from danger. However, allowing it to dominate your life will stress you out. Start praying and start to give God authority over your emotions. Pray against anything that is negative or ungodly. Sometimes experiencing a premonition can scare you. But lean into the God presence to combat the feeling of the anxiety that you feel.
Sometimes God will send a person to confirm what is going on. They might give you a prophetic word as well. Basically, it's what God is willing to reveal to us and sometimes we don't know the tool He is going to use. Some people may receive premonitions from dreams, a feeling, angels or from visions, others never receive one.
As Christians, we don't know everything when it comes to the supernatural. But we also need to be on guard against deception by being discerning when it comes to premonitions. We can't predict the future, but God knows our path. Lean on Him when you have a premonition or anything you believe is a sign from Him.
Today we are going to see all three of this type of unique future declarations and how the people responded to the warnings. Check yourself to see if you would respond the same way.
Today’s scripture begins with the Shunamite woman mentioned in in chapter 6.8-37. We are probably to see that her husband has since died, for he is not mentioned in the narrative. Thus, the inheritance now belonged to the son. But Elisha foresaw a lengthy (‘seven year’) famine which was coming and advised her to take her household and seek refuge outside the land. Obediently she sought refuge in Philistia and waited for the famine to be over. We have no information on what if any procedures would be followed in a case like this. It is possible that the house and land came under the protection of the crown. But no doubt those who took possession of it would not be desirous of returning it.
So on her return at the end of the period she presumably discovered that her son’s inheritance had been taken over by someone, who had also presumably occupied the house, and her intention was therefore to appeal to the king for her son’s rights to be restored. The author probably intends us to see that it was in the will of YHWH that this happened precisely at that time that the king was asking Gehazi, Elisha’s former servant, to recount to him some of Elisha’s miracles, and Gehazi was telling him about the raising from the dead of the Shunamite’s son. And when Gehazi saw the woman coming for an audience with the king he pointed her out as the Shunamite whose son Elisha had healed. The king accordingly spoke with the woman and arranged for her house and lands to be restored to her, along with the produce of the land during the famine.
8 Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years.”
The reason why the Shunamite woman had left her house and land was because Elisha had advised her to do so in view of a ‘seven year famine’ which ‘YHWH was calling for’ on the land.
2 So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years.
In accordance with Elisha’s instructions as ‘a man of God’ she took her household and stayed in the land of the Philistines for the seven-year period. The non-mention of her husband may suggest that he was dead.
3 It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land.
At the end of the lengthy period, no doubt having learned that the famine was over, the woman returned from Philistia, and went to put in her official request for her home and land to be restored to her. Land and property in the countryside belonged to its original Israelite owners in perpetuity. ‘To cry out --’ was probably a legal expression for putting forward an official claim.
4 Then the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done.”
Meanwhile, not knowing about this the king had summoned Gehazi to receive an eyewitness account of what miracles Elisha had performed.
The fact that Gehazi was allowed in the king’s presence indicates that the skin disease from which he suffered was not leprosy and was healed.
5 Now it happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, that there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing 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.”
While Gehazi was in the middle of recounting details of how Elisha had raised the son of a Shunamite from the dead the woman herself approached the king for an audience, ito put forward her official appeal. It was one of those God-ordained coincidences. And Gehazi pointed out the woman was the one he was speaking about.
6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So, the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.”
The king asked the woman about the matter, and then he called on a ‘high official’ to ensure the restoring to the woman of her house and lands, together with all the produce grown over the seven years.
7 Then Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.”
When Elisha paid a visit to Damascus, presumably during a period of peace, ‘Ben-hadad the king of Aram was ill’.
We do not know why Elisha came to Damascus. He may well have had a divine premonition.
8 And the king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’
The king accordingly sent his courtier Hazael to Elisha with a rich present, to enquire of YHWH whether he would recover from his illness. He had good cause to know that Elisha was very much a recipient of the truth from YHWH. Perhaps his own prophets had failed to come up with an answer.
9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads; and he came and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’
So Hazael went to meet Elisha taking a magnificent present from the king. We can compare the size of the present which had been intended for Elisha when he was asked to heal Naaman (5.5). There is no good reason for suggesting that it is exaggerated. It was recognized that outstanding ‘prophets’ did not come cheap and required large payments for their services, especially when such important information was required, and the enquirer was a powerful king.
Please notice the words ‘He stood before him’ as one in the presence of a superior. Great deference was due to such an acknowledged prophet of widespread fame. Note how even the king is described as ‘his son’, seeing the prophet as a father figure.
10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However, the LORD has shown me that he will really die.”
Elisha’s reply was twofold. First it indicated that the illness was not life threatening, but secondly it indicated that nevertheless he would die in some other way, something which will shortly be explained. Elisha was replying to the king’s question as to whether his illness was a mortal illness, and his official reply was therefore ‘no’. Elisha purposely left it with Hazael to decide whether to tell the king that nevertheless he would die in another way.
11 Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept.
As the conversation was proceeding Elisha was receiving fresh information from YHWH and he consequently began to stare at Hazael severely to such an extent that Hazael was ashamed. This would tie in with the idea that Hazael already had his assassination plans in mind and was feeling guilty. Then Elisha burst into weeping.
12 And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you will dash their children and rip open their women with child.”
Hazael was not sure what to make of all this and asked Elisha why he was weeping. Take note of the courteous response - ‘my lord’. Prophets had to be treated rightly. Elisha’s reply was to explain to Hazael what he had seen in his own heart. He had received knowledge from YHWH that in the future Hazael would become an enemy of Israel and would invade and oppress Israel in the cruelest ways possible. The descriptions do not, however, make Hazael out to be particularly cruel. What is described were the normal methods of warfare committed by his soldiers.
13 So Hazael said, “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?” And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will become king over Syria.”
Hazael sought to convince Elisha that he had no such ideas in mind. He pointed out that he was only a humble servant (‘a dog’), not one who could do great exploits. He may already have had such ideas in his heart. Elisha, however, bluntly declared to him that YHWH had shown him that he would become king of Aram.
14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me you would surely recover.”
On arriving back at court the king asked Hazael what Elijah had said, and keeping his own counsel Hazael merely informed him that Elisha had said that his illness would not prove fatal, and that he would live and not die of his illness.
15 But it happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his place.
On the next day he carried into action the plans that he had in mind. Possibly he was moved to act so quickly because he was afraid that Elisha might reveal his plans to the king. So, on the next day, while the king was sleeping, he dipped a blanket made of twisted cloth in water and then held it over the king’s face until he died of suffocation. The fact that he then became king instead of the dead king demonstrates that he had previously laid his plans carefully and had ensured that he would have general support. It was not a spur of the moment decision.
During the time that Jehoram of Judah was on the throne of Judah, Jehoram of Israel was on the throne of Israel, which can tend to result in confusion.
Jehoram of Judah married Athaliah, one of Ahab’s daughters, probably as a seal on the alliance between the two countries. But this would turn out to be a mistake, for Athaliah would lead him astray by introducing him to the worship of Baal, and the result was that, unlike his father Jehoshaphat, he was remembered for having ‘done evil in the sight of YHWH’. As so often, an unwise marriage had devastating consequences. For this reason, his reign is therefore dealt with briefly and is revealed as having had unfortunate consequences for Judah. During it they lost their sovereignty over the land of Edom. It was a reign of evil living and failure accompanied by judgment from God, and loss for Judah. But due to the mercy of God all was not lost, for the prophetic author assures us that YHWH did not forget His promise to David, and did therefore preserve the realm from final judgment, ensuring the survival of one of his sons, Jehoahaz.
16 Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat having been king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign as king of Judah.
It is made clear here that Jehoram of Judah ‘became king’ while his father Jehoshaphat was still alive. He was thus for a period co-regent with his father. He commenced his sole reign in the fifth year of Joram (Jehoram) of Israel.
17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
His sole reign began when he was thirty-two years of age, and he reigned in Jerusalem (‘the city which YHWH (for David’s sake) chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there’ (1 Kings 14.21)). He was, in other words, heir to the promises to David.
18 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.
His fall from walking with the God of Israel significantly was caused by the marriage to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab. It resulted in his ‘walking in the ways of the kings of Israel’ by being coerced into the worship of Baal with the consequence that, like Solomon before him (1 Kings 11.6), he ‘did evil in the sight of YHWH’. His heart was consequently not right towards YHWH and he led many of the people of Judah astray (2 Chronicles 21.13).
A truth we can learn from this action is to understand how important it is for us to marry the right person, one who will encourage us in the true worship of God. This is especially true that we make sure our life’s partner is also a believer as the book of 2 Corinthians 6 we read this, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”
19 Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of His servant David, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.
But YHWH in His goodness and faithfulness never forgot His promises to David, and thus despite Jehoram’s behavior He did not destroy Judah, even though He did chasten it. He preserved it ‘for David His servant’s sake’. And this was because He had promised David ‘a lamp’ in Jerusalem for the sake of His children. In accordance with previous mentions of ‘the lamp’ this refers to the heir of David the one who should have brought light to Judah through the covenant. God’s purposes will thus be brought about by His sovereign will.
20 In his days Edom revolted against Judah’s authority, and made a king over themselves.
Nevertheless, YHWH did chasten him for it was in Jehoram’s day that the Edomites finally broke loose from Judah on a permanent basis, establishing their own sole king (previously their king had been a deputy appointed by Judah as we learn from the book of 1 Kings 22.47).
21 So Joram went to Zair, and all his chariots with him. Then he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; and the troops fled to their tents.
Jehoram (now Joram, a shortened form of the same name) went south to quell the rebellion, but seemingly with insufficient forces, with the result that he was outmaneuvered and surrounded by what was probably a much larger force of Edomites. In a heroic way, in a surprise night attack, by means of his chariot force he broke through the ranks of the enemy who considerably outnumbered him, thus allowing many of his people to escape with him. But the truth comes out in that these then ‘fled to their tents (homes)’, always a sign of defeat. In other words, his defeated army dispersed.
22 Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. And Libnah revolted at that time.
Because of this defeat Edom had gained its independence. The city of Libnah revolted at the same time. Libnah was on the Philistine border (2 Chronicles 21.16).
23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 24 So Joram rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Ahaziahhis son reigned in his place.
Jehoram died peacefully and was buried ‘with his fathers in the city of David’, a testimony to his part in the continuing line. We learn, however, from the book of Chroniclers that he was not buried in the sepulchers of the kings, possibly because he had been a worshipper of Baal.
The main lesson that comes out of this passage is similar to that which comes out with regard to the majority of the kings, and that is that if we walk faithfully with God and are obedient to His will and covenant, we can be sure that He will bless us in our lives in the long term, but that if we turn from Him and disobey His laws and covenant He will finally bring chastisement and judgment on us.
I want to highlight to you something that is vitally important. We are born in sin. We live our lives and have to deal with our sinful flesh, the world system, and the devil. Our Great and Merciful God Is Good and he wants us to be able to live successful live. To know how to do this, He has given us His Word. If we obey Him as He has given us guidance in His Word, we then have a pretty good chance of living a good life without all the added insanity. Try this advice and you will see what I am saying is true.
Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram of Judah, would only reign for a few months before he was killed by Jehu during the latter’s rebellion against Jehoram of Israel. Nevertheless during that short reign, he continued in his father’s sins and in the sins of the house of Ahab, and failed to make any attempt to bolster up the true worship of YHWH. Thus, he also was listed as ‘doing what was evil in the sight of YHWH’. And this owed much to the fact that his father had married Ahab’s daughter who had brought her zeal for Baal with her. Just as Solomon’s foreign wives had led him astray, the Israelite royal family were now leading the kings of Judah astray.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.
Ahaziah came to the throne at the age of twenty-two, but his reign only lasted for a few months.
As is usual for a king of Judah the queen mother’s name is given, but in this case it had added significance because she was of the house of Omri and Ahab, the Baalite kings of Israel. ‘Daughter of’ need only mean ‘descended from’, for she was in fact Ahab’s daughter (8.18). It may be that Omri is mentioned here because of his recognized status as founder of the dynasty. Even Assyria thought of Israel as ‘bit-Omri’, the house of Omri for centuries to come. Athaliah would shortly become even more notorious when she seized the throne on the death of her son and tried to destroy all Azariah’s heirs (11.1). She will do this because of her zeal for Baal, and her desire to make Judah a country which worshipped Baal. By being ‘unequally yoked with unbelievers’ the kings of Judah brought on Judah unimaginable consequences.
27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.
Because of the influence of his mother Ahaziah was also a worshipper of Baal, walking in the ways of the house of Ahab, and thus the verdict on his reign was that, like his father, he did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH, with his influence certainly affecting the court, and permeating through to those over whom he ruled. When the king was slack about God’s covenant, it filtered through to the people. It was not a situation which YHWH would allow to continue.
28 Now he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.
Once he had come to the throne Ahaziah and Judah joined in an alliance with Jehoram and Israel against Aram, and it was during one of the battles that ensued that Jehoram of Israel was wounded and returned to Jezreel, where he hoped to recuperate.
29 Then King Joram went back to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on 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.
As a result, Ahaziah then went down to pay him a visit, because of the illness which resulted from his injuries. His visit would, however, prove to be ill-timed for meanwhile YHWH had arranged for Elisha to have Jehu, a prominent Israelite commander, anointed as king of Israel to remove Jehoram from the throne.
Stay tuned to your bibles as we will see in our next study some more exciting adventures in the lives of the two kings of the Promised Land.
