Verse 15
15. He took Hazael, not, as some have thought, Ben-hadad, applied the cloth.
A thick cloth Probably a bed quilt, with which he suffocated the king; and this method of assassination would leave no marks of violence upon the dead. Thus Kitto: “The coverlets used in the East, where blankets are unknown, being thickly quilted with wool or cotton, become of great weight when soaked in water; and it thus became the fittest instrument for such a purpose that could be found about an Eastern bed; while the use of wet bedclothes in fever would prevent any suspicion arising from the coverlet being found saturated with moisture. It is an Eastern practice, in some kinds of fever, to wet the bedding, and it is in such cases often done with good effect; while in other kinds of fever such an application would be dangerous, if not fatal.”
Hazael reigned in his stead Ben-hadad perhaps died childless, and so Hazael’s accession to his throne may have been the more easily and quietly brought about.
Be the first to react on this!
