PERSON · KING
Hazael
Cruel
2 Kings 8:7–15
- Role
- King of Aram
- Capital
- Damascus
The Story
There are figures in the biblical story who arrive not as heroes but as hammers — instruments God raises up not for Israel's blessing but for Israel's correction. Hazael of Aram is one of the most chilling of these. He did not stumble into history. He was called into it.
The commission begins long before Hazael himself appears on the page. At the still, small moment on Horeb, when Elijah was exhausted and the kingdom of Israel had reached a spiritual nadir under Ahab, God gave the prophet a set of instructions that must have surprised him. He was told to anoint three men: Hazael as king over Aram, Jehu as king over Israel, and Elisha as prophet in his own place.
15And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel–meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
1 Kings 19:15–16·KJV
These were not appointments of blessing. They were appointments of judgment. Hazael, a Syrian, was chosen by heaven itself to be the edge of a sword laid against a wayward people. That is the frame through which everything that follows must be read.
When Hazael first appears in his own right, he comes as a servant on an errand. Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, is sick, and he sends Hazael to the prophet Elisha with a loaded question and a loaded caravan — forty camels' worth of the good things of Damascus — to ask whether he will recover from his illness. Elisha's answer is layered and strange: the king may recover from this sickness, and yet he will surely die. The prophet sees something else. He fixes his gaze on Hazael and weeps.
11And he settled his countenance stedfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept. 12And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child.
2 Kings 8:11–12·KJV
And when Hazael asks why, Elisha answers plainly: because he knows the evil that Hazael will do to Israel — the fortresses burned, the young men killed with the sword, the children dashed to pieces, the pregnant women ripped open.
Life & Legacy
Death
ScriptureScripture records that Hazael died and was succeeded by his son Ben-Hadad (2 Kings 13:24), but the specific circumstances of his death are not described.
2 Kings 13:24
Legacy
ScriptureHazael oppressed Israel throughout the reigns of Jehu and Jehoahaz, reducing Israel's military forces to fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers (2 Kings 13:7). He also captured the Philistine city of Gath and threatened Jerusalem before being bought off by Joash of Judah with temple and palace treasures (2 Kings 12:17–18). After his death, his son Ben-Hadad was defeated three times by Joash of Israel, who recovered the cities Hazael had taken (2 Kings 13:25).
2 Kings 13:3–7, 22–25
Character
ScriptureWhen Elisha wept and prophesied the harm Hazael would do to Israel—burning fortresses, killing young men with the sword, dashing infants to pieces, and ripping open pregnant women—Hazael responded by asking whether he was a dog that he should do such great things (2 Kings 8:12–13). He then smothered Ben-Hadad with a wet cloth to assume the throne, an act Scripture records without further characterisation beyond the prophet's foreknowledge of his cruelty (2 Kings 8:15).
2 Kings 8:12–15
Significance
ScriptureHazael was anointed king over Aram by divine commission communicated through Elijah and carried out through Elisha, designated as an instrument of judgment against Israel (1 Kings 19:15–17). He became a major military adversary who severely diminished Israelite territory east of the Jordan and dominated much of the southern Levant during the late ninth and early eighth centuries (2 Kings 10:32–33; 13:3–7).
1 Kings 19:15–17; 2 Kings 10:32–33
DeathScripture
Scripture records that Hazael died and was succeeded by his son Ben-Hadad (2 Kings 13:24), but the specific circumstances of his death are not described.
2 Kings 13:24
LegacyScripture
Hazael oppressed Israel throughout the reigns of Jehu and Jehoahaz, reducing Israel's military forces to fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers (2 Kings 13:7). He also captured the Philistine city of Gath and threatened Jerusalem before being bought off by Joash of Judah with temple and palace treasures (2 Kings 12:17–18). After his death, his son Ben-Hadad was defeated three times by Joash of Israel, who recovered the cities Hazael had taken (2 Kings 13:25).
2 Kings 13:3–7, 22–25
CharacterScripture
When Elisha wept and prophesied the harm Hazael would do to Israel—burning fortresses, killing young men with the sword, dashing infants to pieces, and ripping open pregnant women—Hazael responded by asking whether he was a dog that he should do such great things (2 Kings 8:12–13). He then smothered Ben-Hadad with a wet cloth to assume the throne, an act Scripture records without further characterisation beyond the prophet's foreknowledge of his cruelty (2 Kings 8:15).
2 Kings 8:12–15
SignificanceScripture
Hazael was anointed king over Aram by divine commission communicated through Elijah and carried out through Elisha, designated as an instrument of judgment against Israel (1 Kings 19:15–17). He became a major military adversary who severely diminished Israelite territory east of the Jordan and dominated much of the southern Levant during the late ninth and early eighth centuries (2 Kings 10:32–33; 13:3–7).
1 Kings 19:15–17; 2 Kings 10:32–33
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