to the king by Gehazi as the very woman of whom he was speaking, which caused the king to be so interested in her favour, that after hearing her complaint he sent a chamberlain with her (saris as in 1Ki 22:9), with instructions to procure for her not only the whole of her property, but the produce of the land during her absence. - For עזבה without mappiq, see Ewald, §247, d.
Verses 7-9
Elisha Predicts to Hazael at Damascus the Possession of the Throne. - 2Ki 8:7. Elisha then came to Damascus at the instigation of the Spirit of God, to carry out the commission which Elijah had received at Horeb with regard to Hazael (1Ki 19:15). Benhadad king of Syria was sick at that time, and when Elisha’s arrival was announced to him, sent Hazael with a considerable present to the man of God, to inquire of Jehovah through him concerning his illness. The form of the name חזהאל (here and 2Ki 8:15) is etymologically correct; but afterwards it is always written without .ה דם וכל־טוּב (“and that all kinds of good of Damascus”) follows with a more precise description of the minchah - “a burden of forty camels.” The present consisted of produce or wares of the rich commercial city of Damascus, and was no doubt very considerable; at the same time, it was not so large that forty camels were required to carry it. The affair must be judged according to the Oriental custom, of making a grand display with the sending of presents, and employing as many men or beasts of burden as possible to carry them, every one carrying only a single article (cf. Harmar, Beobb. ii. p. 29, iii. p. 43, and Rosenmüller, A. u. N. Morgenl. iii. p. 17).
Verse 10
According to the Chethîb חיה לא, Elisha’s answer was, “Thou wilt not live, and (for) Jehovah has shown me that he will die;” according to the Keri חיה לו, “tell him: Thou wilt live, but Jehovah,” etc. Most of the commentators follow the ancient versions, and the Masoretes, who reckon our לא among the fifteen passages of the O.T. in which it stands for the pronoun לו (vid., Hilleri Arcan. Keri, p. 62f.), and some of the codices, and decide in favour of the Keri. (1) because the conjecture that לו was altered into לא in order that Elisha might not be made to utter an untruth, is a very natural one; and (2) on account of the extreme rarity with which a negative stands before the inf. abs. with the finite verb following. But there is not much force in either argument.
