Hazael, King of Syria: The Dog Who Became a Sword

Who Hazael Was

Hazael is a Syrian king, and he belongs to the era of the divided kingdom, an era placed at around 975 BC to 586 BC on Ussher's chronology (1650). His name in Hebrew is חֲזָהאֵל, and it stands twenty-one times across four books: sixteen mentions in 2 Kings, two in 1 Kings, two in 2 Chronicles, and one in Amos. He is a foreign ruler whose reign presses hard against both Israel and Judah, and Scripture keeps returning to him because of what he did to the covenant people. His name first appears at 1 Kings 19:15, and again two verses later at 1 Kings 19:17. Scripture names a son of his, Ben-hadad (2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 13:24-25).

The Errand to the Man of God

The fullest thing we are given about Hazael happens before he is king, when he is still a servant carrying his master's question. "The king said to Hazael, 'Take a present in your hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, "Will I recover from this sickness?"' So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, 'Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, "Will I recover from this sickness?"'" (2 Kings 8:8-9). Forty camels' loads of the good things of Damascus, and a question about one man's health.

The answer he receives is not about Benhadad's body at all. "Hazael said, 'Why do you weep, my lord?' He answered, 'Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and will dash their little ones in pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.' Hazael said, 'But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he could do this great thing?' Elisha answered, 'Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Syria'" (2 Kings 8:12-13). Notice what Hazael protests. He does not say the crimes are unthinkable. He says he is too small a man to reach them. The prophet weeps; the servant calculates. Then 2 Kings 8:15 follows, and after it Hazael is king of Syria.

The King at Ramoth Gilead

From there the record is war. "He went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel from the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick" (2 Kings 8:28-29). The Chronicler tells the same campaign with the same outcome, and adds where the counsel came from: "He also followed their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram" (2 Chronicles 22:5-6).

That wound becomes the hinge of a conspiracy. "So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; but king Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.)" (2 Kings 9:14-15). Hazael himself does nothing in that scene, yet his pressure on Ramoth Gilead is the reason the army is where it is.

Buying Him Off with the Gold of Yahweh's House

Judah's turn comes next. "Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of Yahweh's house, and of the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem" (2 Kings 12:17-18). The dedicated things of three generations, and the treasures of Yahweh's house, went out to buy a retreat. Further mentions of Hazael follow at 2 Kings 10:32, 2 Kings 13:3, 2 Kings 13:22, and 2 Kings 13:24-25, and his name reaches even into the prophets at Amos 1:4.

The Failure Named Plainly

Scripture does not hide what Hazael was. Elisha's words, quoted above, are an indictment written in advance: burned strongholds, young men killed with the sword, little ones dashed in pieces, pregnant women ripped up (2 Kings 8:12). That is the man, and the text says so without softening. The verse between the prophecy and his reign is 2 Kings 8:15, and it is worth reading for yourself rather than being summarized here. What we can say is that the one who called himself a dog, too small for such a thing, became exactly what the prophet foresaw, and Israel and Judah both bled for it.

What We Are Not Told

Scripture does not name his parents. We are given no birth, no upbringing, no account of his death. And apart from the exchange with Elisha and the war reports, the remaining mentions of Hazael are passing notes rather than developed scenes, his name appearing as the threat behind someone else's decision. This dossier lists no New Testament references for Hazael, and so no line is drawn from him into the New Testament here. He stands in the record as what the prophet saw and wept over.