The Kenneled Dog

The Kenneled Dog

II Ki 8:13

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."

1. The Hidden Dog

A. Elisha’s Glory

a. Elisha here in our text is at the height of his glory

b. He was the most powerful man in the kingdom, and men in other kingdoms who sought evil to Israel feared him more than they did kings or generals

c. When the news came to the old king, Ben-hadad, in his palace, that Elisha had come to Damascus, it aroused this old king to action

d. The king was old and sick, and he desired to know whether this illness that he had was going to kill him or would he live

i. So he turned to his private secretary, Hazael, a young man who had served him faithfully for years

ii. And to whom he had entrusted great power, and said…

II Ki 8:8-9

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?’"

B. The Deep Stare

a. Elisha replied that he could tell his master that there was nothing in his disease that would necessarily kill him

b. But that the Lord had made known to him, the prophet, that the king would surely die

c. Then the set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; II Ki 8:11

d. He is staring deep into his eyes…and all of a sudden Elisha begins to weep

i. Hazael is astonished and asks Elisha, “Why is my lord weeping?”

ii. After Elisha composes himself – he tells him that he is weeping because he perceived the horrid cruelty and the abominable deeds which Hazael would do to the people of Israel

iii. And he begins to run down the list of vile and brutal things that he shall do to the nation

iv. And this is when Hazael drew back, I’m sure in horror and says, “But what is your servant-- a dog, that he should do this gross thing?”

C. The Prophesy and it’s Fulfillment

a. Elisha tells him in length that he would be king of the country…and after he comes into power he would become the monster, the Hitler, he had just pictured

b. Elisha’s prophesy came true…Hazael went home – his mind thinking, pondering…

c. All the ambitions, all the dreams-of-ambitions and lusts that had been lying dormant for years were now beginning to spring up

d. All night, I’m sure, he plotted and wondered how this might all come to pass

i. And all of a sudden, it comes to his mind…the king is sick and weak

ii. So he goes into the king’s chambers, send the servant away…took a towel and wet it…and all of a sudden begins to smother the king

iii. I’m sure the king begins to kick, raise his hands, but in his weak, sick and old condition, there is nothing he can do

iv. Hazael already had the army in his hand…and so the king is now dead à and we see the start of Hazael kingship…prophesy fulfilled

2. Who Let The Dogs Out

A. They Are Caged In Your Kennel

a. The lesson here this evening that I wish to emphasize is this: That , all unconsciously, the dogs of cruelty and lust and murder had been sleeping in Hazael for many years

b. He was honest, no doubt, when he drew back from Elisha and the picture he painted and cried, “Is they servant a dog?”

c. I’m sure if Elisha spoke to him he would have said, “Son, I see the dogs you do not perceive. I look down into your heart. I look down into the mirror of your soul, and I see that in the secret imagination and ambitions and desires of your heart it is a dog kennel.”

d. “The dogs lie sleeping, some of them, but the dogs are there. During all these years you have been cherishing evil thoughts and unholy ambitions the dogs have been growing for just such an hour as this….”

i. “And I see now that the time is at hand when circumstances are going to take a hand and arouse and cut the leash of the dogs in the filthy kennel of your wicked heart.”