2 Kings 8:12

2Ki 8:12 And 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.

Ver. 12. Because I know the evil, &c.] This pained the prophet at the very heart, and drew tears from him. "Weep with those that weep," saith the apostle. Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, saith Cyprian, moerores et funeris pondera luctuosa participo, &c. Ambrose wished to God that all the Church’s adversaries would turn upon himself, and satisfy their thirst with his blood.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 8:12. I know the evil thou wilt do unto the children of Israel — It was not in Hazael’s countenance that Elisha read what he would do; but God did at this time reveal it to him, and gave him such a clear and full view of it, that it greatly affected him. The sins of Israel provoked God to give them up into the hands of their cruel enemies: yet Elisha wept to think that ever Israelites should be so abused as he foresaw they would be by Hazael. For though he foretold, he did not desire, the woful day. Their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, &c. — See what havoc and destruction war makes! what destruction sin makes! and how the nature of man is changed by the fall, and stripped even of humanity itself! Wilt dash their children — That dashing young children against the stones was one piece of barbarous cruelty which the people of the East were apt to run into, in the prosecution of their wars, is plainly intimated Psa 137:8-9. Nor was this inhuman practice out of use among nations pretending to more politeness; for, according to the remains of ancient fame, the Grecians, when they became masters of Troy, were so cruel as to throw Astyanax, Hector’s son, a child in his mother’s arms, headlong from one of the towers of the city. The ripping up of women with child is the highest degree of brutal cruelty; but there is reason to believe that Hazael, in his war with the Gileadites, (2Ki 10:32-33,) verified this part of the prophet’s prediction concerning him; for, what Amos, complaining of his cruelty to this people, calls thrashing Gilead with thrashing instruments of iron, both the Seventy and Arabic versions read, He sawed the pregnant women with iron saws. — Le Clerc and Calmet.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 12. I know the evil that thou wilt do] We may see something of the accomplishment of this prediction, 2Kg 10:32-33; 2Kg 13:3; 2Kg 13:7.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(12) The evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel.—Fulfilled in 2Ki_10:32-33; 2Ki_13:3-4. The cruelties enumerated here were the ordinary concomitants of warfare in that age. (Comp. Amo_1:3-4; Amo_1:13; Hos_10:14; Hos_13:16; 2Ki_15:16.)

Set on fire.—Literally, send into the fire (Jdg_1:8).

Young men.—Chosen warriors.

Dash.—Dash in pieces.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. and wilt dash their children] R.V. and wilt dash in pieces their little ones. We have no details of Hazael’s cruelty in the future, but hints of it are found. In 2Ki_10:32 it is said ‘Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel’, and in 2Ki_13:3 we read ‘the Lord delivered Israel into the hand of Hazael’, and in verse 22 of that chapter ‘Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz’. The special instances of cruelty mentioned in this verse were those perpetrated among all the Eastern nations of Hazael’s time, and examples are to be found in several places in Scripture. Cf. Isa_13:15-16; Hos_10:14; Hos_13:16; Nah_3:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord?.... Imagining it was for the death of Benhadad he had predicted, for which he could see no reason; of the title, "my lord", see Kg1 18:7.

and he answered, because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel; which he foresaw by a spirit of prophecy; and Israel being his own people, he sympathized in their calamities before they came:

their strong holds wilt thou set on fire; which should be taken by him, see Kg2 10:32

and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword; in battle:

and wilt dash their children; against rocks and stones, or stone walls, or upon the ground, floor, or pavement, as was usual in war (g), see Psa 137:9,

and rip up their women with child: which was the height of barbarity and cruelty. Ben Gersom and Ben Melech interpret this of breaking down the walls of fortified cities, built strong, like hills and mountains; but this is supposed in the first clause.

(g) Vid. Homer. Iliad. 22. ver. 63, 64.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The evil that thou wilt do - The intention is not to tax Hazael with special cruelty, but only to enumerate the ordinary horrors of war, as it was conducted among the Oriental nations of the time. Compare the marginal references.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

So here was a double cause of his grief and tears, the evil of sin in Hazael, and the evil of suffering upon Israel.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. I know the evil that thou wilt do — All that long and steadfast gaze had been a fathoming of Hazael’s heart, and a kenning of his future life and destiny. It had already been foretold in the word of the Lord to Elijah, 1Ki_19:17. The burning of Israelitish fortresses, and the other cruelties here named, which Hazael would perpetrate, all doubtless came to pass in the wars which this usurper carried on with Israel. See 2Ki_8:28-29; 2Ki_10:32-33; 2Ki_12:17-18; 2Ki_13:3-7; 2Ki_13:22; and 2Ch_24:23-24. Hazael reigned more than forty years, and seems generally to have had the advantage over the Israelites, and greatly oppressed them.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 2Ki_5:3 2Ki_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 Psa_137:9; 2Ki_15:16; Isa_13:16, Isa_13:18; Hos_10:14; Nah_3:10; Amo_1:13, etc. The wars of Hazael with the Israelites are mentioned in 2Ki_10:32, 33 13:3-7; and Amo_1:3, Amo_1:4.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When Hazael asked him the cause of his weeping, Elisha replied: "I know the evil which thou wilt do to the sons of Israel: their fortresses wilt thou set on fire (בּאשׁ שׁלּח, see at Jdg 1:8), their youths wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children to pieces, and cut asunder their women with child" (בּקּע, split, cut open the womb). This cruel conduct towards Israel which is here predicted of Hazael, was only a special elaboration of the brief statement made by the Lord to Elijah concerning Hazael (Kg1 19:17). The fulfilment of this prediction is indicated generally in Kg2 10:32-33, and Kg2 13:3.; and we may infer with certainty from Hos 10:14 and Hos 14:1, that Hazael really practised the cruelties mentioned.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

You will dash. An expression of splitting the intestines. The original source [for the meaning of תרטש is], “and bows will split [תְּרַטַּשְׁנָה] young men.”

And their pregnant women. Their pregnant women.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.