2 Kings 8:12 - Exposition

And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? While inwardly contemplating an act of audacious wickedness in defiance of the prophet's implied rebuke, Hazael preserves towards him outwardly an attitude of extreme deference and respect. "My lord" was the phrase with which slaves addressed their masters, and subjects their monarchs (see 2 Kings 5:3 ; 2 Kings 6:12 , etc.). And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strongholds 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. The prophet does not intend to tax Hazael with any special cruelty, tie only means to say, "Thou wilt wage long and bloody wars with Israel, in which will occur all those customary horrors that make war so terrible—the burning of cities, the slaughter of the flower of the youth, the violent death of children, and even the massacre of women in a state of pregnancy. These horrors belonged, more or less, to all Oriental wars, and are touched on in Psalms 137:9 ; 2 Kings 15:16 ; Isaiah 13:16 , Isaiah 13:18 ; Hosea 10:14 ; Nahum 3:10 ; Amos 1:13 , etc. The wars of Hazael with the Israelites are mentioned in 2 Kings 10:32 , 2 Kings 10:33 ; 2 Kings 13:3-7 ; and Amos 1:3 , Amos 1:4 .