Your Reputation – 2 Kings 8:1-15

A friend of mine wanted me to meet with a friend of his to discuss some issues I really did not want to talk about. But my friend said he had worked with this man and found him to be the most loving pastor and friend he had ever known. How could I not talk with this man?

Elisha had a reputation also and it came from his deep relationship with Yahweh.

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the LORD has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.” So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land. Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”

Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, “The man of God has come here,” the king said to Hazael, “Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’” So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels’ loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’” And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die.” And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” 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 that you would certainly recover.” But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place. (2 Kings 8:1-15, ESV)

These two episodes show us the influence Elisha had with the most powerful men of his time. His influence did not come from wealth, political ability, manipulation or currying of favor. His influence came from speaking the word of Yahweh boldly and performing the miracles Yahweh gave him to perform. He obeyed God. Elijah, Elisha’s master before he went to be with Yahweh, had lapsed in his obedience at one point, failing to anoint Jehu in place of Jehoram and Hazael in place of Ben-hadad, so now Yahweh brings things to the place He wants them to be and Elisha plays a role in that.

But first we see how God protects the Shunammite woman. Israel was experiencing famine in line with Yahweh’s promise that idolatry would result in discipline from Him (Leviticus 26). While she was gone someone took her land, though God had given it to each family in perpetuity. Jehoram just happens to be discussing the miracles of Elisha with Gehazi when the woman comes seeking the restoration of her land after seven years. Elisha thus indirectly becomes her rescuer again because the king grants her her land and all the income it made while she was gone out of regard for Elisha.

Then, when Elisha is consulted by Ben-hadad through his messenger Hazael, Elisha sees the future of Israel under Yahweh’s discipline and the horrible role Hazael will play in the deaths of many Israelites. He sees that Ben-hadad would have survived his illness except for Hazael’s move to gain power by murdering Ben-hadad. He sees how Hazael will use his power to afflict Israel. Israel has brought this on herself but that does not stop Elisha from weeping over it and grieving.

What does your influence in the lives of others come from? Do people respond to you because of fear, because you intimidate them, because you always try to please them, because you make them laugh, or because you love them and walk in integrity before God? All but the latter are indeed our attempts to manipulate others and protect ourselves. God wants us to have confidence in Him and His protection so that we are free to vulnerably love others and obey the voice of God.