2 Kings 8: The Goodness and Severity of God

Introduction

"See then the goodness and severity of God" (Romans 11:22). Phil Copeland, who is leading The Tron Church in Glasgow through a series of studies in the books of Kings, takes this word from Paul as the title of his message on 2 Kings 8:1-15. This, he says, is what the author of Kings wants us to notice in these verses.

The passage unfolds in two scenes. First, a woman of Shunem who is faithful to the Lord gets her house and her field back after seven years in exile. Then, in Damascus, the prophet Elisha stares at a servant of the king of Syria, and bursts into tears. One Hebrew word links the two accounts: "restore to life," "recover," "revive."

In the first scene, you see the goodness of God: he is the sovereign God who gives life. In the second, you see his severity: he is also the sovereign God who brings death. And between the two, one question concerns you directly: what have you done with God's goodness toward you?

Outline of the Message

1. One Word Linking Two Accounts, a Kingdom That Has Exhausted God's Patience

• Verses 1 to 6 and 7 to 15 are linked by a single Hebrew word, translated sometimes as "restore to life," sometimes as "recover." It appears in verse 1 and three times in verse 5 for the child brought back to life, then in verses 8, 9, 10 and 14 for the healing of the king of Syria.
• But the second scene is not really about healing: it is about the ruin and death that will come at the hand of a successor whom the Lord himself is about to raise up.
• The preacher recalls the context: the kingdom is divided. In the south, two tribes form Judah. In the north, ten tribes form Israel, which has never stopped rejecting the Lord, despising his grace and worshiping idols.
• Despite this persistent unfaithfulness, the Lord has been patient and kind, even toward the king on the throne. "But, my friends, time is running out."

2. The Lord's Kindness to a Faithful Woman (Verses 1 to 3)

• This woman is the one from 2 Kings 4: a wealthy woman of Shunem, a member of the faithful remnant, who walked by faith and refused to conform to unbelieving Israel. She put everything she had at the Lord's service, welcomed Elisha, and had even persuaded her husband to build a room for him.
• The Lord had given her a son, to her and her elderly husband. One morning the boy complained of a terrible headache, and a few hours later he died in his mother's arms. She turned to the Lord and his word, to Elisha, and the boy was restored to life.
• In chapter 8, the Lord keeps protecting her. He warns Elisha of a seven-year famine, probably a covenant curse sent against Israel's unfaithfulness to call her to repentance. The woman leaves with her household for the land of the Philistines.
• "The Lord often uses the most surprising means to shelter his people." Among a former enemy, she finds what she needs to live for seven years.
• When she returns, there is a new problem: her house and her field have been seized, most likely by the king. Yet the land, the inheritance in the promised land, represented each person's share in the promises of the covenant. Her only recourse is to appeal to the king, and in the Israel of that time, nothing is guaranteed.

3. A Coincidence That Is Not One (Verses 4 to 6)

• At the very moment she arrives, the king is talking with Gehazi, Elisha's former servant: "Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done."
• Phil Copeland steps into Gehazi's shoes, with a Glasgow accent. He tells of the stew into which a "numpty" (an idiot, in Glasgow slang) had unknowingly thrown poisonous vegetables, and the handful of flour that made it safe (2 Kings 4:38-41). Then the dead child, the staff laid on his body to no effect, Elisha's prayer behind the closed door, the silence, and finally the sneeze: the child was alive (2 Kings 4:29-37).
• That is when the woman walks in, with her once-dead son. "Behold, my lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life." The king, moved, has everything that belonged to her returned, along with all the income from her field since she left.
• "Was it simply an incredible coincidence, a product of chance? Of course not." The Lord works in mysterious ways. Even when you cannot see him, he is at work, causing all things to work together for good for those who love him (Romans 8:28).
• This unspectacular passage should fill your heart with joy: the Lord is good to his faithful servants. "Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6). "We are not that Shunammite, but we have the God of that Shunammite."
• The preacher also speaks to students arriving in the city and starting a new chapter with a little anxiety. Jesus will say: do not worry, your heavenly Father knows what you need, seek first the kingdom (Matthew 6:31-33). Live like this woman: obey the Lord's word, build your life on his promises, and do it within a church family.

4. Fascinated, but Not Converted

• Phil Copeland thinks this account is out of chronological order. Gehazi, struck with leprosy for despising God's grace (2 Kings 5:27), could never have stood before the king. So the author inserted a flashback here.
• Why? To make us think about verse 4. The Lord was not only good to the woman. He was also good to an unfaithful enemy, this wicked and willfully blind king, who had many opportunities to hear about the word in action, and to see it at work (chapters 5 to 7).
• The king is impressed, enough to do justice to the Shunammite, and probably a little entertained. But his heart stays unchanged. "He is curious about the Lord, but not committed. He is drawn to the works of Elisha, but not submitted to Elisha's Lord. He is fascinated, but he does not have faith."
• He resembles Herod who, centuries later, liked to listen to John the Baptist in his prison without ever repenting (Mark 6:20). "There is a huge gulf between being charmed by the truth and being converted to the truth."
• The preacher sadly recalls a man he knew in England: charming, faithful to the service, sitting on the edge of his seat with his Bible open, who often said after the service that he had never heard anything like it. As far as he knows, he is still far from the Lord Jesus. He loves well-crafted sermons, but he has never surrendered.
• "If the word fascinates you, good. But, my friend, do not stop there." Let the Lord's kindness lead you to repentance today, without waiting, because a moment will come when that kindness comes to an end.

5. The Lord's Severity: Hazael Raised Up for Judgment (Verses 7 to 15)

• Elisha goes to Damascus, to the heart of the Syria that has done so much harm to Israel, most likely sent by the Lord. Ben Hadad, the mighty king who had nearly destroyed Samaria in chapter 7, lies on a sickbed that could become his deathbed.
• He sends his servant Hazael with an enormous gift, forty camel loads (I don't know whether it's forty camels or forty loads, but that's a lot of camels), to ask: "Shall I recover from this sickness?"
• Elisha's answer is cryptic: "Go, tell him, 'You will surely recover;' however Yahweh has shown me that he will surely die." Then he stares at Hazael until it becomes uncomfortable, and he weeps.
• "Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel": fortified cities set on fire, young men killed with the sword, little children dashed to pieces, pregnant women ripped open. That is what conquering armies did in those days.
• Hazael protests: "But what is your servant, who is but a dog?" Elisha answers: "Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria." Here is the explanation: left to himself, Ben Hadad would recover, but he will die at the hand of Hazael, whom the Lord raises up as a new instrument of judgment on his rebellious people.
• The next day, Hazael takes a blanket, soaks it in water, spreads it over Ben Hadad's face until he dies, and reigns in his place.
• It is a turning point in Elisha's ministry. In 1 Kings 19:15-18, the Lord had ordered Elijah to anoint Hazael king of Syria, Jehu king of Israel and Elisha as prophet in his place, announcing that whoever escaped Hazael's sword would be put to death by Jehu. Elijah anointed only Elisha. Since the beginning of 2 Kings, we have seen only "grace, grace, grace, patience, patience, patience." Now Israel has squandered her day of grace: Hazael is in place, Jehu will come in chapter 9, judgment has arrived.

6. The Prophet's Tears, the Heart of God

• Elisha knows that judgment is necessary and deserved, and yet he is broken. In this weeping prophet, you see the heart of the Lord.
• The Lord is just: he must judge an apostate people and cannot let idolatry pass. But he is slow to anger and rich in mercy, and there is a divine sorrow in judgment.
• "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33:11). And Jesus, looking at Jerusalem doomed to judgment, wept over it (Luke 19:41). "The Lord's severity toward sinners is always soaked in tears."
• Phil Copeland quotes Andrew Bonar, a nineteenth-century Scottish pastor: "I think that on the last day, the Lord Jesus will weep over the lost as he wept over Jerusalem." The saints will say: "Did you see how Jesus wept as he said: Depart from me, you cursed?" (Matthew 25:41). And about Sodom and Gomorrah: the rain of fire and sulfur "was also wet with the tears of God."
• God's judgment is both necessary and sorrowful. There is no unhealthy pleasure in God in judging, but judgment must fall, because sin is serious.

7. Choose Life

• 2 Kings 8 tells you: consider the goodness and severity of God. He gives life, and he also brings death.
• Do not follow the path of the king of Israel. Live like this woman: walk humbly before the Lord in the obedience of faith, take his word seriously, and look to him alone as the giver of life.
• If you know him, take heart: he is wonderfully kind to people who do not deserve it. Goodness and loving kindness will follow you even in the hardest circumstances.
• In Jesus, nothing will take from you the eternal inheritance God has given you by grace. And in Christ, you will never face the judgment you deserve, because it was poured out entirely on him. "So, hold on to him."

Key Takeaways

• The Lord is the sovereign God who gives life: he does not forget his faithful servants and provides for their needs, even by surprising means.
• What looks like a coincidence is the work of God, who causes all things to work together for good for those who love him.
• You can be fascinated by the word without being converted. God's kindness must lead to repentance, today.
• God's patience has an end: Israel squandered her day of grace, and judgment came through Hazael.
• God's judgment is necessary, but he takes no pleasure in it: the tears of Elisha, like those of Jesus over Jerusalem, show his heart.

Personal Application

1. Where have you recently seen the Lord's hand in what looked like mere chance?
2. Are you "charmed by the truth" or "converted to the truth"? What is holding you back from surrendering to the Lord Jesus?
3. What specific worry can you hand over today to your heavenly Father, who knows what you need?
4. Like the Shunammite, how can you build your life on God's promises within a church family?
5. When you think about God's judgment, is your heart like Elisha's, weeping over those who are lost?

Verses Cited

• 2 Kings 8:1-15
• Romans 11:22
• 2 Kings 4:8-41
• 2 Kings 5:27
• Romans 8:28
• Psalm 23:6
• Matthew 6:31-33
• Mark 6:20
• 1 Kings 19:15-18
• Ezekiel 33:11
• Luke 19:41
• Matthew 25:41

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "the goodness and severity of God" mean in 2 Kings 8?

Phil Copeland takes up Paul's word in Romans 11:22: "See then the goodness and severity of God." In 2 Kings 8, verses 1 to 6 show his goodness: he is the sovereign God who gives life and who provides for the Shunammite. Verses 7 to 15 show his severity: he is also the sovereign God who brings death and who raises up Hazael as an instrument of judgment against Israel.

Why does Elisha weep in front of Hazael?

Elisha knows the evil Hazael will do to the children of Israel. The judgment is necessary and deserved, but the prophet is broken by it. For Phil Copeland, these tears show the heart of God: he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), and Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). The Lord's severity is always soaked in tears.

Is the meeting between the Shunammite and the king a coincidence?

No. At the very moment Gehazi tells the king about the child's resurrection, the woman walks in to claim her house and her field. Phil Copeland sees in this the work of the Lord, who arranged everything to touch the king's heart. The king gives her back everything that belonged to her, with all the income from her field since she left.