2 Kings 13:24

So Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Ben-hadad—III., not mentioned in the As Syrian inscriptions. His reign synchronises with that of Samas-Rimmon in Assyria, who made no expeditions to the West (B.C. 825-812). The name Ben-hadad does not, of course, signify any connection with the dynasty overthrown by Hazael. It was a Divine title (Comp. Note on 2Kings 6:24.)

Benhadad was probably a feebler sovereign than Hazael. The rule, “Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis,” is perhaps as often contradicted as corroborated by actual experience.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:20-25 God has many ways to chastise a provoking people. Trouble comes sometimes from that point whence we least feared it. The mention of this invasion on the death of Elisha, shows that the removal of God's faithful prophets is a presage of coming judgments. His dead body was a means of giving life to another dead body. This miracle was a confirmation of his prophecies. And it may have reference to Christ, by whose death and burial, the grave is made a safe and happy passage to life to all believers. Jehoash was successful against the Syrians, just as often as he had struck the ground with the arrows, then a stop was put to his victories. Many have repented, when too late, of distrusts and the straitness of their desires.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So Hazael ... died - literally, "And Hazael died," a fact not mentioned before.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20, 21. Elisha died—He had enjoyed a happier life than Elijah, as he possessed a milder character, and bore a less hard commission. His rough garment was honored even at the court.

coming in of the year—that is, the spring, the usual season of beginning campaigns in ancient times. Predatory bands from Moab generally made incursions at that time on the lands of Israel. The bearers of a corpse, alarmed by the appearance of one of these bands, hastily deposited, as they passed that way, their load in Elisha's sepulchre, which might be easily done by removing the stone at the mouth of the cave. According to the Jewish and Eastern custom, his body, as well as that of the man who was miraculously restored, was not laid in a coffin, but only swathed; so that the bodies could be brought into contact, and the object of the miracle was to stimulate the king's and people of Israel's faith in the still unaccomplished predictions of Elisha respecting the war with the Syrians. Accordingly the historian forthwith records the historical fulfilment of the prediction (2Ki 13:22-25), in the defeat of the enemy, in the recovery of the cities that had been taken, and their restoration to the kingdom of Israel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So Hazael the king of Syria died, and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. This was Benhadad the third; the first of this name was of the Damascene kings; but though the kingdom was now in another family, yet this name, being respectable with the Syrians, was retained in it.

Geneva Study Bible

So Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. Ben-hadad his son] Hazael has given to his son the name which had previously been common in the Syrian royal family. This is the third Ben-hadad on the throne of Damascus. (Cf. Schrader, p. 109.) Nothing is known of him from the inscriptions.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - So Hazael King of Syria died; rather, and Hazael... died. His death is a new fact, not involved in anything that has been previously stated. It appears by ver. 22 that he outlived Jehoahaz. And Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. Hazael, the usurper, gave his eldest son the name of the monarch whom he had murdered. It was an old royal name in Syria (1 Kings 15:18), having been borne by at least two of Hazael's predecessors. The meaning which has been assigned to it ("Son of the sun") is doubtful. 2 Kings 13:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The prophecy which Elisha uttered before his death is here followed immediately by the account of its fulfilment, and to this end the oppression of the Israelites by Hazael is mentioned once more, together with that turn of affairs which took place through the compassion of God after the death of Hazael and in the reign of his son Benhadad. לחץ is a pluperfect: "Hazael had oppressed" (for the fact itself compare 2 Kings 13:4 and 2 Kings 13:7). For the sake of the covenant made with the patriarchs the Lord turned again to the Israelites, and would not destroy them, and did not cast them away from His face עתּה עד ("till now"), as was the case afterwards, but delivered them from the threatening destruction through the death of Hazael. For in the reign of his son and successor Benhadad, Joash the son of Jehoahaz took from him again (ויּשׁב is to be connected with ויּקּה) the cities which he (Hazael) had taken from Jehoahaz in the war. These cities which Hazael had wrested from Jehoahaz were on this side of the Jordan, for Hazael had conquered all Gilead in the time of Jehu (2 Kings 10:32-33). Joash recovered the former from Benhadad, whilst his son Jeroboam reconquered Gilead also (see at 2 Kings 14:25).