2 Kings 8 - NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
8:3 she . . . went to appeal to the king for her house and land. In the woman’s absence, her house and land had been taken by others—possibly by the king himself, displaying the same land-grabbing tendencies as his parents (cf. 1Ki 21). The king was now the recipient of her appeal, as the person with primary responsibility under God for the establishment and maintenance of order and justice throughout the kingdom.
8:6 Give back . . . all the income from her land. Normally, a person would not receive income from land reclaimed after a period of absence. The income would instead go to the caretakers and workers who had kept it up during that period.
8:7–15 Hazael’s seizure of the throne of Aram from Ben-Hadad II, known to the Assyrians as Adad-idri, is recorded not only in these verses but also in a fragmentary Assyrian text on a basalt statue of Shalmaneser III, which refers to Hazael as the “son of nobody,” perhaps reflecting his lowly, nonroyal origins. This dismissive notation is interestingly matched by Hazael’s own self-deprecating speech in v. 13, where he refers to himself as “a mere dog”—a conventional humility matched in one of the Lachish ostraca of the later seventh century BC, in which a subordinate addresses a superior thus: “I am nothing but a dog; why should you think of me?”
Hazael came to power at some point between Shalmaneser’s campaign in the west in his 14th year (845 BC), when we know that Adad-idri was still on the throne, and the campaign of Shalmaneser’s 18th year (841 BC), which records Hazael now as king. He reigned for around 40 years as one of Israel’s most bitter enemies.
8:8 Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Ben-Hadad II consulted Israel’s God about his future in much the same way that King Ahaziah of Israel earlier consulted Baal-Zebub of Ekron in ch. 1. It appears to have been customary when consulting prophets for this and other purposes to offer some payment—in this case an extravagant gift of 40 camel-loads of wares (v. 9). The gift is meant to buy the favor of the deity in exchange for a favorable oracle, which would in turn carry the deity’s power with it.
8:12 set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men . . . dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women. These tactics are all standard procedure for a conqueror hoping to prevent future rebellion. Destruction of the cities prevents their use as defensive or staging points, and the execution of men, women and unborn children decimates any current or future army. Tiglath-Pileser I is said to have ripped open pregnant women, and Assyrian conquest accounts mention the burning of young boys and girls.
8:16 Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat is the king of Judah credited in 1,2 Kings with making peace with the king of Israel in the aftermath of the struggles that arose out of the division of the kingdoms under Jeroboam and Rehoboam (1Ki 22:44), and from his reign forward the fortunes of the Omrides and Davidides were closely interconnected. The two royal houses fought together (vv. 28–29; ch. 3) and were linked by intermarriage, in that Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram married Ahab’s daughter Athaliah (vv. 18, 26). Over time they came to share a similar religious policy, such that both King Jehoram and his successor, Ahaziah, are portrayed in Kings as idolaters under the influence of the house of Ahab (vv. 18, 27).
8:22 Libnah. Likely a Judahite city to the southwest of Jerusalem (Jos 15:1, 42), near the Philistine border, although its identification is disputed. This verse makes clear that even Jehoram’s rule in Judah itself was not entirely secure. 2Ch 21:2–4 adds to our knowledge of Jehoram’s reign by telling us that he had previously executed all his brothers, as well as certain others who (we can assume) were perceived as offering some threat to his position, and 2Ch 21:16–17 informs us of attacks from the very Philistines and Arabs who had given tribute to Jehoram’s father. The picture is clearly that of a weak king.
8:26 Omri king of Israel. Omri was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel to successfully establish a dynasty following the period of relative instability that ensued after the division of Israel into two kingdoms (1Ki 12–16). Of Omri himself we know very little, whether from Biblical or other sources, apart from the manner of his accession to the throne, his purchase of the hill of Samaria, the building of the new northern capital there (1Ki 16:23–28) and his domination of Moab. Yet the northern kingdom became so identified with this Omride dynasty in the eyes of the outside world that even after the Omride period it was referred to in Assyrian records as “the land of Omri.” This suggests that Omri was perhaps a more substantial international figure than can be deduced simply from 1 Kings. See note on 1Ki 16:23; see also the article “Omri and Jehu in History.”
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