Lie with Dogs

II Kings 8-9

Though there are a lot of details, the summary of these two chapters are pretty straight forward. However, we do not want to move so quickly that we miss the number of changes of power that take place. We also do not want to miss the fulfillment of the word of God as judgment on sin. In this, we will see that God is not only in charge of who sits on the throne of Judah and Israel, but he is in charge of who sits on the throne of all governments; this includes national, state, and local.

Chapter 8 begins with Elisha going to the woman whose son he had brought back to life. He tells her that there is going to be a famine in the land and she should take her family and leave. They do and go to the land of the Philistines. The famine lasts for seven years and they remain gone for that time. At the end of seven years, the king of Israel calls Gehazi and asks him about the miracles of Elisha. Gehazi tells him about the things God has done through Elisha, including resurrecting the woman's son. The king is intrigued by the resurrection story and inquires more about it. At that very moment, the woman enters to ask the king to restore her family's land that had been abandoned for the seven years. He confirms the story with the woman and then restores her land.

Then we switch scenes to the king of Syria. Ben-hadad is sick and sends his servant Hazael to ask Elisha if he would recover from the sickness. Hazael goes and asks Elisha the question. Elisha says, tell him he will recover, but know that he will die. Then Elisha stares and Hazael and begins to cry. Hazael asks him why he is crying and Elisha says:

---

"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."

Verse 12

---

This takes Hazael by surprise. Elisha told him that he would be the next king when Ben-hadad dies and of the evil that he would do to the children of Israel. Hazael is not surprised that he will be king so much as that Elisha told of the evil that he would do. Hazael asks Elisha, "Am I a dog that I would do these things?" Remember, God told Samuel, "...for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7).

Hazael returns home and tells Ben-hadad that he will recover from his sickness. This relieves the king and he is able to rest. The next day, Hazael reveals the evil that is in his heart which Elisha spoke of. Hazael goes into his king, takes a thick cloth, wets it, and smothers the king. Then he takes the throne of Syria. God knew what was in the heart of Hazael before Hazael did.

The rest of the chapter helps us get a handle of the royal families of Judah and Israel. Joram, the son of Ahab, is king of Israel. At this time, Jehoram ascends to the throne of Judah. Jehoram marries Athaliah the daughter of Ahab. They have a son, and when Jehoram dies, Ahaziah ascends to the throne. Joram, Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah were all evil. There was no Godly leadership in Israel or Judah and God removed his blessings. Part of that resulted in Hazael fighting with Isreal and Joram was wounded. Because his friend (and cousin) was sick, Ahaziah went to check on him.

In chapter 9, we learn that Elisha sent a prophet to anoint another king of Israel. Jehu is a captain in the army of Israel. The prophet goes to him, anoints him king, and that he should destroy the house of Ahab. Then the prophet runs away.

Jehu is caught off guard by this and wanders out of the house with a noticeably disturbed look on his face. One of the men that had been talking to Jehu when the prophet arrived asked him, "Are you ok?" Jehu told him what the prophet had done and said. The group immediately get on board and begin calling him King Jehu. If he is to be king, there is nothing to do other than go and take the throne. That means, killing the royal family.

As the band rides hard toward Jezreel, where the king was recovering from his wound, the watchmen on the wall saw them coming. They sent out a rider to see if the unknown group was friend of foe. The rider asked what was their purpose and Jehu basically told him to join them or die. When the rider joined their group, a second rider was sent out. He joined Jehu's group after being told the same thing. They got close enough for someone to recognize that this was Jehu and both the king of Israel and the king of Judah went out to meet him. This was a mistake. Jehu killed both of them. Then the body of Jehoram was taken to the field of Naboth and was dumped.

Jehu enters Jezreel to deal with Jezebel, who is still alive. She "painted her face" and looked out a high window. Jehu looks up and asks who is on his side? Two or three eunuchs look out the window and Jehu tells them to throw her out the window. They do and she falls to her death. Jehu trampled her with his horse and chariot and then entered the house to eat a meal. He seems to have had a change of heart about his treatment of the body of Jezebel and sends men to go get her and bury her. However, when they go out, there is nothing left of her body but the hands, feet, and skull. Dogs had eaten her. Then Jehu remembered that Elijah had prophesied this.

When it comes to the Bible, we have to break away from our American way of thinking about dogs. These dogs are not man's best friend. They are vile disgraceful creatures. They were not spoken highly of. When someone asked "Am I a dog?", they were saying am I some sort of lowlife. To have answered yes would have been to truly insult the individual. So, when Hazael asked if he was a dog, he was truly insulted by what Elisha had said.

The saying "If you lie with dogs, you will get up with fleas." means, if you hang around a negative influence, you will begin to act like them. This was true of the monarchies at this time. Ahab married Jezebel and she made him worse. Because of their negative influence, their sons (Ahaziah and Joram) were evil. Jehoram married Ahab and Jezebel's daughter and she was a negative influence on him. Then their son, influenced by his mother, was evil. In the end, we see these people die, and dogs are used to symbolize the curse for their wickedness. This is not a metaphor. This is history.

Who and what do we allow to influence us? There are so many things that vie for our attention. I remember when people talked about the evil influence of television. Then, it moved to the internet and computers. Now, people talk about cell phones. While it is easy to focus on objects, what about the people we are around? How do they influence us to be better? How do we influence others to be better? This is why church is so important! We are to be around people that encourage us to be more like Christ.

In our current circumstances, I miss church. I also miss those who encourage me to be more like Jesus. Yes, phone calls are good, but being in the presence of people who love you and pray for you is much better. God intended for us to be together. I believe we are doing what we need to now, but I long for the day when we fellowship together again. That is what heaven is going to be. Friends, united in Christ, hanging out together, worshiping God. There will be no dogs to give us fleas. There will be no one or nothing to divert our attention away from what is truly important.