Chapter 8 of Melachim B opens by completing what was told in the previous chapters: the prophet returns to the days of the famine and tells how Elisha cared for the Shunamite woman, and how from this unfolded a precise miracle upon her return to the land. From there the chapter moves to Damascus, to the sickbed of Ben Hadad and the rise of Chazael to kingship, and finally to the kings of Yehuda: Yehoram son of Yehoshafat and his son Achazyahu, the rebellion of Edom and the opening of the war at Ramot Gilad. Many foundations of Hashem's governance are revealed here: the merit of the fathers, the measuring out of suffering, and also the question of what wonders are worth to a person who does not want to change.
וֶאֱלִישָׁע דִּבֶּר אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר־הֶחֱיָה אֶת־בְּנָהּ לֵאמֹר קוּמִי וּלְכִי אַתְּ וּבֵיתֵךְ וְגוּרִי בַּאֲשֶׁר תָּגוּרִי כִּי־קָרָא יְהֹוָה לָרָעָב וְגַם־בָּא אֶל־הָאָרֶץ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים׃ - And Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had revived, saying: Arise and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn, for Hashem has called for a famine, and it will even come upon the land for seven years.
This refers to that same woman who hosted Elisha, to whom he had promised a son, and whose son died and Elisha revived him. Elisha cares for her, and therefore tells her: Arise and go, you and your household, meaning you, your husband and your children, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn - go and live in any place, so long as it is not here, for Hashem has called for a famine of seven years.
The Malbim derives a precise point from the wording: it should have said "and Elisha spoke to the woman," and since it is written "and Elisha had spoken," this is a sign that the verse is going back in time. The entire previous chapter dealt with a famine that was already in effect, to the point that a woman came to the king and claimed that she had eaten the flesh of her son and that her neighbor refused to give up her own. Here the verse returns and tells what happened even before the famine began, at the time of the announcement of its coming.
And why does the prophet need to tell us this at all? The Malbim asks: it is not the way of Scripture to relate private matters. Everything told here consists of general matters or the miracles of Elisha, who received a double portion of Eliyahu's spirit and performed twice as many miracles as he did. But all of this comes as an introduction to what will immediately be told: what happened when the woman returned from that land to which she had gone.
The Malbim adds further, by way of derash: in truth it was within Elisha's power to nullify the famine, but since he revived the Shunamite's son, he took from Hashem the key of the revival of the dead, and consequently the key of the rains remained with the Creator of the world. Therefore there was a famine in the land. Had he not revived her son, the key of the rains would have been in his hand and he could have nullified the famine. And here "Hashem has called for a famine" - the decree had already gone forth, a famine of seven years.
Chazal ask: what did they eat during those seven years? In the first year they ate what was in the houses, in the second what was in the fields, in the third the flesh of pure animals, in the fourth the flesh of impure animals, in the fifth the flesh of creeping and crawling things, in the sixth the flesh of their sons and daughters, and in the seventh the flesh of their own arms, to fulfill what is said "each shall eat the flesh of his own arm." It can be explained as an exaggeration, that they began to eat themselves, and it can also be explained according to its plain meaning: when a person has nothing to eat, his body shrinks, because the body eats itself. The fats that he has are the reserves, and they turn into energy and sustain the body, until the stores are used up and the person dies. "They ate the flesh of their arms" - the flesh of their arms shriveled, which had been the life of the body, until they died of the famine. This famine was the famine in the days of Yoel son of Petuel, about which it is written that it was a terrible famine.
וַתָּקָם הָאִשָּׁה וַתַּעַשׂ כִּדְבַר אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים וַתֵּלֶךְ הִיא וּבֵיתָהּ וַתָּגָר בְּאֶרֶץ־פְּלִשְׁתִּים שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים׃ - And the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went, she and her household, and sojourned in the land of the Pelishtim seven years.
Why does the verse emphasize "and she did according to the word of the man of God"? Because we remember who left the land at a time of famine: Elimelech, and a very harsh accounting came upon him - his two sons died and his wife was left empty, terrible and dreadful. This woman feared this, and would not have left the Land of Israel for outside the land even though it was possible. So why did she leave nonetheless? Only because there was here the directive of a prophet, "according to the word of the man of God." Without this she would not have left, and especially since she was an important woman, called "a great woman," and how could she do such a thing and weaken the hands of the people. Only according to the word of the man of God does she act, and she fulfills the prophecy.
וַיְהִי מִקְצֵה שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים וַתָּשָׁב הָאִשָּׁה מֵאֶרֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּים וַתֵּצֵא לִצְעֹק אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־בֵּיתָהּ וְאֶל־שָׂדָהּ׃ - And it came to pass at the end of seven years that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went out to cry to the king for her house and for her field.
This is the point the verse was leading up to: when the seven years passed and the famine ended, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and discovered that someone had settled on her field. So she cries out to the king: my lord the king, someone has taken my house, someone has taken my field. I was gone for seven years, and robbers took hold of it.
The Radak brings that some of our Sages wanted to learn from here that a person who flees can establish a chazakah (a presumption of ownership). That is: a person who has occupied a piece of land for three years has a chazakah. If the owner of the land comes and says "the land is mine," he can respond: I have a chazakah. But a chazakah without a claim is worth nothing. What is a claim? If one says to him "you have sat here twenty years, what connection do you have to the field?" and he answers "I have no connection" - they tell him to leave. But if he says "I bought it, you sold it to me," or any other argument, and he has a chazakah, he is believed. And if you say to him: you claim you bought it, bring the deed? He answers: up to three years I am obligated to keep documents, but beyond three years I am not obligated to keep my documents.
From here they learned: with this woman, someone took hold of the field, and had she had the power to remove him she would have removed him herself. And where does she go? To the king. From here we see that even if a person fled, and someone else afterward sat on the field and claimed he bought it from him, he is believed. For if you say he is not believed, go to the court and take it away from him. And why does she need to cry out to the king? Because this is not a standard situation: I cannot take it away in the ordinary manner, but only by way of an appeal that bypasses the courts, an appeal to the king himself.
וְהַמֶּלֶךְ מְדַבֵּר אֶל־גֵּחֲזִי נַעַר אִישׁ־הָאֱלֹהִים לֵאמֹר סַפְּרָה־נָּא לִי אֵת כָּל־הַגְּדֹלוֹת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה אֱלִישָׁע׃ - And the king was speaking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying: Tell me, please, all the great things that Elisha has done.
See what precise timing there was in the woman's arrival: at exactly that moment Gehazi, Elisha's servant, was with the king, with no connection whatsoever. And the king asks him to recount all the great things, the wonders and miracles that Elisha performed. "All" - because some I already know, and I want to hear it all, from you who were with him.
From here we see a great thing: wonders do not make a person righteous. This king was a wicked king, an idol worshipper, and what does he ask? Tell me wonders. And what became of him? He remained that same wicked man.
Once some Hasidim came to the son of the Chofetz Chaim and asked: tell us wonders about your father. The Chofetz Chaim was indeed a man of tremendous wonders, but no fuss was ever made of it: everything was done simply and quietly, he would say simple things to people, and suddenly they would see how everything he said came to pass. His son said to them: look, my father, more than he was impressed by "a righteous man decrees and the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills," was impressed by "the Holy One, blessed be He, decrees and the righteous man fulfills." That is what one should be impressed by. What is the great feat that you subdued the Holy One, blessed be He, that you spoke and Hashem did? The Holy One, blessed be He, is called "a lowly King," who hears His insult and stays silent. That is no feat. Let us see you do this: the Holy One, blessed be He, says something and you carry it out - that is the feat, to nullify your will to the will of Hashem.
And so too Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin: he had students who used to go to a certain Rebbe, because they said of him that he was a man of wonders. They went in secret, and did not want the Rav to know, so when they heard the Rav was traveling to the city they went there. When he returned, he met them on the way as if catching them red-handed. He said to them: what did you find there, why do you go? They said to him: the Rebbe knows hidden things. He said to them: what is the great feat in knowing hidden things? Whoever has Torah knows everything. And this is what impresses you? Then he said to them: what time is it now? Eleven o'clock. Right now my child is at home crying, and my wife is scolding him, and two minutes before this he spilled the milk. He gave them a full description of what was happening in his home. They arrived home, asked his wife, and she told them that the two-year-old child had spilled the milk and cried - exactly as the Rav had described. Whoever has the power of Torah sees from one end of the world to the other.
And in truth, what is there to be impressed by in wonders? A maidservant saw at the sea what Ezekiel son of Buzi did not see, and what happened? She remained a maidservant. Why? Because she did nothing to change, she made no effort and did not strive. And so too here: the king enjoyed hearing tales of wonders, a wicked king, an idol worshipper, and what came of it? Nothing, he remained the same.
וַיְהִי הוּא מְסַפֵּר לַמֶּלֶךְ אֵת אֲשֶׁר־הֶחֱיָה אֶת־הַמֵּת וְהִנֵּה הָאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר־הֶחֱיָה אֶת־בְּנָהּ צֹעֶקֶת אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ עַל־בֵּיתָהּ וְעַל־שָׂדָהּ וַיֹּאמֶר גֵּחֲזִי אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ זֹאת הָאִשָּׁה וְזֶה־בְּנָהּ אֲשֶׁר־הֶחֱיָה אֱלִישָׁע׃ - And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life was crying out to the king for her house and for her field. And Geichazi said, My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.
Precisely at the moment when Geichazi is recounting the story of the resurrection of the dead, the revived boy and his mother arrive, and she comes to cry out about her field. Geichazi says to the king: Behold, this is exactly what I told you. There can be no greater confirmation than this. Otherwise the king might have said: They told me a story, who knows what really happened, maybe yes and maybe no. Here he hears it from a firsthand source.
וַיִּשְׁאַל הַמֶּלֶךְ לָאִשָּׁה וַתְּסַפֶּר־לוֹ וַיִּתֶּן־לָהּ הַמֶּלֶךְ סָרִיס אֶחָד לֵאמֹר הָשֵׁיב אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־לָהּ וְאֵת כָּל־תְּבוּאֹת הַשָּׂדֶה מִיּוֹם עָזְבָהּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וְעַד־עָתָּה׃ - And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land until now.
The king was moved by her uprightness and her righteousness, and he understood that if Elisha had made his lodging with her, she must surely be a woman of very high stature, and she surely would not lie. Therefore he immediately assigned a man to her and commanded him to see that she received her field back, for her words were words of truth and he believed her.
The Ralbag notes precisely: he said to restore the field and all the produce of the field, but he did not say to restore the rental value of the house. Why? Because one who dwells in his fellow's courtyard without his knowledge is not obligated to pay him rent, since this one benefits and that one loses nothing, provided the courtyard is not designated for rental, that is, not set aside to be rented out.
The Malbim adds a fundamental principle: that time was an emergency period, and the Gemara says that during an emergency period there is no chazakah (presumptive title) at all. What is an emergency period? When people are fleeing and escaping, or when two regions have no connection between them, when there are troops and an army that does not allow passage from place to place. In such a case the woman can claim: I wanted to come and protest but I could not, it was a time of war, the borders were closed. And here it was an emergency period, for this occurred at the end of the seven years of famine, and in the twelfth year of Yehoram the Philistines broke into Yehudah, as brought in Divrei HaYamim, and presumably the war began even earlier, for it is written that they killed the entire royal house, and four years earlier there had been war. During an emergency period there is no chazakah, and therefore justice is with the woman even though she brought no documents: even if they held presumptive possession of the land, chazakah does not help in such a situation.
וַיָּבֹא אֱלִישָׁע דַּמֶּשֶׂק וּבֶן־הֲדַד מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם חֹלֶה וַיֻּגַּד־לוֹ לֵאמֹר בָּא אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים עַד־הֵנָּה׃ - And Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad the king of Aram was sick. And it was told him, saying, The man of God has come here.
Here we move to a new matter. Elisha comes to Damascus, and the verse does not say why. Chazal explain several reasons. Rashi says that he went to bring Geichazi back in repentance. Geichazi, after Elisha decreed upon him that the tzaraas of Naaman would cling to him for having taken the gifts, went to Damascus. And why did he go to Damascus? Some say that he went to Naaman to ask for payment: after all, I took your tzaraas, give me something, I deserve it. From here we see what we discussed earlier regarding Geichazi's nature and traits, that his lust for money did not change in him at all. So we saw when they found the camp of Aram abandoned, and each one cared only about how to fill his pockets and how to hide the loot. And even though in the end they went to tell the king, that was only out of fear that their heads would remain on their shoulders and for no other reason: as far as they were concerned, let everyone die of famine, so long as I saved my own life. And so it is here as well.
And further: Elisha goes to bring him back in repentance, because following the curse that Elisha placed upon him, Geichazi denied Hashem and descended in his level. And what did he actually do? There are two opinions in Chazal. Some say that he hung a lodestone over the sin of Yeravam, namely the calves that Yeravam made: in their day not everyone was familiar with the science of the magnet, and he hung a powerful magnet above the calves in a high place, and the magnet caused the calf to be drawn up and to stand in the air. Anyone who came and looked would see a calf standing in the air and not moving. Or he tied it with cords at its feet, so that it was drawn up to a certain height and the cords only held it back from flying upward, and one would see that it was being drawn upward, making it appear as though it were a spiritual calf. And Chazal further say that he engraved the Name upon the calf's mouth, and the calf would say Anochi and Lo yihyeh lecha, and anyone who came and heard the calf speaking Anochi Hashem Elokecha would be certain that the Creator of the world had clothed Himself in a physical body, within the calf, and through this they believed in idolatry.
And when Elisha came to him to bring him back in repentance, Geichazi said to him: I have a tradition from you that one who sinned and caused the multitude to sin is not granted the opportunity to repent. And therefore he did not want to return. But this was an error on his part: indeed he is not granted the opportunity, but if he exerts himself and overcomes, he can repent even in such a case. The meaning is that he lacks siyata diShmaya (Heavenly assistance), they will not help him. For it is written that a person's evil inclination overpowers him every day, and were it not that the Holy One, blessed be He, helps him, he could not withstand it, and here he was told that Heavenly assistance will not be with you. But to say that Hashem prevented you from repenting? He did not prevent even Nevuchadnetzar, and He did not prevent even Menasheh, who filled Jerusalem with blood from end to end, so how would He prevent you? Rather, very often a person who does not want to repent finds all sorts of arguments to say that Hashem no longer wants him.
And in those generations there were many ignorant people, and because of their ignorance it was possible to deceive them. When Columbus discovered America he was certain he had reached India, and therefore he called its inhabitants Indians, and they captured him. He was a great astronomer, and there was another astronomer assistant with him, and they knew exactly when a solar eclipse and when a lunar eclipse would occur. He said to them: Know that if you do not release me today, I will take the moon away from you. That very night there was a lunar eclipse, just as he knew from the calendar. They looked and suddenly saw that the moon had vanished. The next day they released him and gave him gifts, asking only: Give us back the moon. He said to them: Fine, without a vow, tomorrow I will give you back the moon. So too with idolatry: they employed all kinds of techniques and tricks, and people were certain there was real substance to the idolatry, when in truth it was all techniques. And beyond that there were also actions performed through forces of impurity, but it was not always through forces of impurity.
The Malbim notes the precision in "and Elisha came to Damascus": he did not actually enter the city itself, but came to the outskirts of the city, that is, the area from which the boundary of the city is measured, seventy amos and a fraction, the place adjacent to the city. And how is this precision derived? From the phrase "the man of God has come as far as here" (ad heneh) - as far as, but not including. So too we see that the king sends someone to greet him, which implies that he had not yet entered the city. And from here, says the Malbim, Chazal learned that he came to bring back Gechazi: for Gechazi was a metzora, and metzoraim sit outside the city, and therefore he came only up to there and did not enter the city, because he came to speak to the heart of Gechazi.
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־חֲזָהאֵל קַח בְּיָדְךָ מִנְחָה וְלֵךְ לִקְרַאת אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים וְדָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת־יְהֹוָה מֵאוֹתוֹ לֵאמֹר הַאֶחְיֶה מֵחֳלִי זֶה׃ - And the king said to Chazael: Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of Hashem through him, saying: Will I recover from this illness?
Ben Hadad, king of Aram, is ill, and therefore he sends Chazael: take a gift, go to the man of God, and ask him whether I will rise and recover from this illness.
וַיֵּלֶךְ חֲזָאֵל לִקְרָאתוֹ וַיִּקַּח מִנְחָה בְיָדוֹ וְכָל־טוּב דַּמֶּשֶׂק מַשָּׂא אַרְבָּעִים גָּמָל וַיָּבֹא וַיַּעֲמֹד לְפָנָיו וַיֹּאמֶר בִּנְךָ בֶן־הֲדַד מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם שְׁלָחַנִי אֵלֶיךָ לֵאמֹר הַאֶחְיֶה מֵחֳלִי זֶה׃ - And Chazael went to meet him, and took a gift in his hand, and all the best of Damascus, a load of forty camels, and he came and stood before him and said: Your son Ben Hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying: Will I recover from this illness?
Chazael, who was a man of Ben Hadad, an officer or attendant of his, goes to meet him and brings a gift and all the best of Damascus. Now, is a load of forty camels really all the best of Damascus? Chazal say: this teaches you that he had in his hand a precious stone worthy of holding within it all the best of Damascus. That is, forty camels and in addition a precious stone whose value was all the best of Damascus. And the Metzudas David explains according to the plain meaning: all kinds of fine food found in Damascus, a load of forty camels. And he stands before him and says "your son Ben Hadad" - in a manner of modesty and humility, for since he comes to the prophet to request a favor, he lowers himself before him.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֱלִישָׁע לֵךְ אֱמָר־לוֹ חָיֹה תִחְיֶה וְהִרְאַנִי יְהֹוָה כִּי־מוֹת יָמוּת׃ - And Elisha said to him: Go, say to him: You shall surely live, and Hashem has shown me that he shall surely die.
Note: the kri is "lo" with a vav, and the ksiv is "lo" with an aleph. Thus one could read "go, say: he shall not surely live," and one could read "go, say to him: you shall surely live." And in either case the difficulty remains: what is meant by "that he shall surely die"?
Rashi explains that Elisha is speaking with Chazael himself: "go, say to him: you shall surely live" - who will live? You, Chazael. "And Hashem has shown me that he shall surely die" - he, Ben Hadad the king, will die. There is here a statement to two people: you will live and he will die.
The Radak, and the Malbim also takes this approach, explains differently: what did Ben Hadad ask about? About the illness. Therefore Elisha tells him: from the illness you will recover. But what will happen in the end? They will kill you. There are here two answers: if you ask about the illness, you shall surely live, but Hashem has shown me that in the end he shall surely die, for they will kill him. And this is exactly what we see later on. And the fact that this was said to Chazael contains a hint to Chazael himself: you will be the executioner, you will carry this out. For if not, why was I told that he will recover from the illness but that someone will kill him?
And the Ralbag explains: Elisha said to him, go tell him: you shall surely live, but to you I make known that he shall surely die. And why all this maneuvering? For a simple reason: if he had gone and told the king "you will die," people would say - what wisdom is there in that, out of fear he died, he lost his will to live and his confidence in his life and therefore died, and you have not proven that you know anything. Therefore he said: go tell him that he will live, so that they will not say that he died from fear, but to you I make known in advance that he will die, for Hashem has shown me so, and it is therefore certain that he will die, only do not tell him this, so that afterward they will not say that he died because of the advance notice.
וַיַּעֲמֵד אֶת־פָּנָיו וַיָּשֶׂם עַד־בֹּשׁ וַיֵּבְךְּ אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים׃ - He set his face and fixed it until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept.
As they were speaking, Chazael noticed that Elisha was restraining himself. "Ad bosh" is from the root meaning delay, until he could hold back no longer and broke into tears.
וַיֹּאמֶר חֲזָאֵל מַדּוּעַ אֲדֹנִי בֹכֶה וַיֹּאמֶר כִּי־יָדַעְתִּי אֵת אֲשֶׁר־תַּעֲשֶׂה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל רָעָה מִבְצְרֵיהֶם תְּשַׁלַּח בָּאֵשׁ וּבַחֻרֵיהֶם בַּחֶרֶב תַּהֲרֹג וְעֹלְלֵיהֶם תְּרַטֵּשׁ וְהָרֹתֵיהֶם תְּבַקֵּעַ׃ - And Chazael said: Why is my lord weeping? And he said: Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. You will send their fortresses up in fire, and their young men you will slay by the sword, and their infants you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open.
Notice that Elisha does not say to him "when you become king," but only: I see how many troubles you are destined to bring upon Israel. Their fortresses you will set aflame, their young men you will kill by the sword, their infants you will dash to pieces. Rashi explains that he would split open their bellies, or strike them forcefully against a wall or the ground, and this is called "letatesh." "Veharoteihem tevakea" has two interpretations: the pregnant women, that you will have no mercy on them and will rip open their wombs; and another interpretation, the strong, fortified towers built in the mountains, their fortresses built in the mountains, these you will breach.
וַיֹּאמֶר חֲזָהאֵל כִּי מָה עַבְדְּךָ הַכֶּלֶב כִּי יַעֲשֶׂה הַדָּבָר הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּה וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלִישָׁע הִרְאַנִי יְהֹוָה אֹתְךָ מֶלֶךְ עַל־אֲרָם׃ - And Chazael said: But what is your servant, the dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha said: The Lord has shown me you as king over Aram.
Chazael cannot grasp it: Who am I? Merely Ben Hadad's servant. I have no army, no power, nothing, so how could I be capable of doing such things? "That he should do this great thing" - a private individual cannot do so great a thing. Elisha answers him: The Lord has shown me you as king over Aram, meaning God has shown me that you are destined to be king, and when you are king you will truly have the power for this.
וַיֵּלֶךְ מֵאֵת אֱלִישָׁע וַיָּבֹא אֶל־אֲדֹנָיו וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ מָה־אָמַר לְךָ אֱלִישָׁע וַיֹּאמֶר אָמַר לִי חָיֹה תִחְיֶה׃ - He left Elisha and came to his master, who said to him: What did Elisha say to you? And he said: He told me that you will surely recover.
How wondrous this is according to Rashi's explanation: Elisha said "you will surely live" about Chazael himself, and he answers the king "he told me you will surely live" - he told me that I will surely live. Only that the king understood the words to have been said about himself.
וַיְהִי מִמָּחֳרָת וַיִּקַּח הַמַּכְבֵּר וַיִּטְבֹּל בַּמַּיִם וַיִּפְרֹשׂ עַל־פָּנָיו וַיָּמֹת וַיִּמְלֹךְ חֲזָהאֵל תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And it came to pass on the morrow that he took the coverlet, dipped it in water, and spread it over his face, and he died, and Chazael reigned in his place.
The next day he took the "machber," which is a blanket or a cushion, dipped it in water and spread it over his face. And why over his face? As if the king had a fever, and he told him: I am doing this for you so that the fever will go down. But in truth this was an act to chill him and put him to death, and so it was: the cold entered him and Ben Hadad died, and Chazael reigned in his place. From here we see that, in accordance with the prophet's words, were it not for this act of Chazael who killed Ben Hadad, Ben Hadad would still have been alive. This is precise, as we said: from the illness he would recover, but the Lord showed me that he would surely die, that someone would act to bring about his death, and that is Chazael. Especially since Chazael received reinforcement for the deed when Elisha told him that God had shown him he would be king, for how would he become king? He would inherit Ben Hadad, and therefore he killed Ben Hadad and inherited his throne.
וּבִשְׁנַת חָמֵשׁ לְיוֹרָם בֶּן־אַחְאָב מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל וִיהוֹשָׁפָט מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה מָלַךְ יְהוֹרָם בֶּן־יְהוֹשָׁפָט מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה׃ - In the fifth year of Yoram son of Achav, king of Yisrael, Yehoshafat being king of Yehudah, Yehoram son of Yehoshafat, king of Yehudah, began to reign.
Yoram son of Achav was king over Yisrael, and Yehoshafat was king over Yehudah, and we have already seen that there were ties between the son of Achav and Yehoshafat. Achav's son was called Yoram, and the son of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah was called Yehoram.
וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ מַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ בֵּית אַחְאָב כִּי בַת־אַחְאָב הָיְתָה לּוֹ לְאִשָּׁה וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה׃ - And he walked in the way of the kings of Yisrael, as the house of Achav had done, for the daughter of Achav was his wife, and he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem.
He was thirty two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Yerushalayim. Yehoram son of Yehoshafat walked in the way of the kings of Yisrael, who were wicked, and the verse tells you: do not be surprised. Look what a match he made, the daughter of Achav was his wife. The Ralbag notes that later on she is called "daughter of Omri," and Omri was Achav's father, so apparently the verse sometimes traces her to her father and sometimes to her father's father, as we see with the daughters of Yitro. Both of them were wicked, Achav and Omri, and so too Yoram his son, and as a rule the kings of Yisrael were wicked.
וְלֹא־אָבָה יְהֹוָה לְהַשְׁחִית אֶת־יְהוּדָה לְמַעַן דָּוִד עַבְדּוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר אָמַר־לוֹ לָתֵת לוֹ נִיר לְבָנָיו כָּל־הַיָּמִים׃ - Yet Hashem would not destroy Yehudah for the sake of David His servant, as He had promised him to give him a lamp for his sons always.
Here we have a wicked king, Yehoram, the son of Yehoshafat who was righteous, and even so Hashem did not want to destroy Yehudah, because of the merit of the forefathers: for the sake of David His servant, who has a promise "to give him a lamp for his sons always." And what is a "nir"? Rashi explains: dominion. The Radak explains "nir" as "ner," a lamp, from the expression "I have set a lamp for My anointed," and the meaning is kingship, as Onkelos translated "ve'niram" as "and kingship." The Holy One, blessed be He, promised him kingship for all time, and therefore He did not want to destroy them.
The Malbim explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, made a covenant with David, and in this covenant He set out before him the order of governance that would be with him and with his sons and his sons' sons after him until the end of the period of the monarchy. He told him that if his sons would abandon Hashem's Torah He would punish them - "whom, when he goes astray, I will chastise with the rod of men and with the afflictions of the children of men" - "but My kindness I will not remove from him," and likewise in Tehillim: "If his sons forsake My Torah... then I will visit their transgression with the rod, but My kindness I will not annul." That is, Hashem promises David: your son has the merit of the forefathers, and whatever evil he does will not suffice to take the kingship away from him. What will happen? He will receive blows, but the kingship I will not remove from him. But regarding the sons' sons there is no such promise, and from them the kingship will indeed be removed.
And here is a great insight of the Malbim: He noticed that among the wicked kings, when the sons held fast to the deeds of their fathers, they had no continuity and they died young. The wicked king himself merited length of days, but the son of the wicked king - Hashem did not wait for him and took him immediately. So it was with Aviyam son of Rechavam, and with Yehoachaz son of Yehoram. Yehoram himself was wicked, and his father Yehoshafat was righteous, so he is the first son who is wicked, and about him it is said: him I will not remove, at most blows. But their sons' sons, who are already a second generation of wickedness, if they walk in the way of wickedness Hashem takes them at once. So here, Yehoshafat is righteous, and the first wicked king from whom we begin counting is Yehoram, and with him you see length in his reign. This is "Yet Hashem would not destroy Yehudah for the sake of David": I promised David that his sons would merit to sit upon the throne of the monarchy, and from the wicked king himself I will not exact payment at first, but the sons' sons the Holy One, blessed be He, will remove from the monarchy.
בְּיָמָיו פָּשַׁע אֱדוֹם מִתַּחַת יַד־יְהוּדָה וַיַּמְלִכוּ עֲלֵיהֶם מֶלֶךְ׃ - In his days Edom rebelled from under the hand of Yehudah, and they set a king over themselves.
In the days of Yehoram, the Holy One, blessed be He, began to chastise him, something that had not happened with his father Yehoshafat. He would not remove the kingdom, but He would chastise. King David had stationed governors in Edom, appointed men acting on his behalf who ruled there, and now they said: the governors do not suit us, we want our own freedom and kingdom. From the days of David they had no king, and only now, since Yehoram rebelled against Hashem, did they crown a king over themselves.
Rashi brings in the name of Chazal that there were eight kings who reigned in Edom before a king reigned in Israel: Bela ben Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhavah, Shaul from Rechovot HaNahar, and so on, eight kings. And one who knows: we have already spoken about how the Arizal enfolded within these verses the entire teaching of the secret, the secret of the shattering that took place in the world of Atzilut. In any case, the plain meaning of the verses is that there were eight kings, and Chazal say that corresponding to them eight kings reigned in Israel: Ish Boshet, David, Shlomo, Rechavam, Aviyam, Asa, Yehoshafat and Yehoram. Corresponding to these eight kings who reigned in Israel there was no king in Edom, and after eight kings had passed there was indeed a king in Edom, and they crowned a king over themselves and rose up and rebelled against the kingdom of Israel.
וַיַּעֲבֹר יוֹרָם צָעִירָה וְכָל־הָרֶכֶב עִמּוֹ וַיְהִי־הוּא קָם לַיְלָה וַיַּכֶּה אֶת־אֱדוֹם הַסֹּבֵיב אֵלָיו וְאֵת שָׂרֵי הָרֶכֶב וַיָּנָס הָעָם לְאֹהָלָיו׃ - And Yoram crossed over to Tzair, and all the chariots with him, and he arose by night and struck Edom who surrounded him and the officers of the chariots, and the people fled to their tents.
Yoram, who is Yehoram son of Yehoshafat, could not accept such a thing, and decided to go out and bring back to him the rebels, and if necessary by force, then by force. From here onward there is a discussion among the commentators as to whom the rest of the verse refers.
The Radak explains: while Yoram was in Tzair, they were already standing face to face against the army of Edom, and the next day the battle was to take place, but Yehoram did not wait. He arose at night with his camp, "and he arose by night" refers to Yoram, and struck Edom who surrounded him and the officers of the chariots. And when the camp of Edom saw such a surprise that they had not anticipated, and suddenly Yoram and all his army fell upon them, "and the people fled to their tents" refers to the remaining Edomite people.
The Malbim explains as he does, except that "and the people fled" in his view refers to the people of Israel. For the fact that Yoram had to rise at night and not wait for the next day shows his weakness: in a conventional battle he would not have succeeded in capturing the king of Edom, and therefore he needed the element of surprise. And he saw that this was not a complete war, for he did not vanquish them: "and he struck Edom who surrounded him and the officers of the chariots," and more than this he did not succeed, for he did not have the strength to strike further. He did not finish the war, only the officers of the chariots, and then the people who were with him, from whom he expected to continue the war, fled to their tents.
On the other hand, the Radak brings an additional explanation in the name of his father, and the Ralbag explains likewise: "and he arose by night" refers to the king of Edom. And you might ask, would the king of Edom strike Edom? Rather, there were some of Edom who did not rebel against the king of Israel and remained with him, and now that Edom came to rebel against the king of Israel, the king of Edom arose and struck those Edomites who had not rebelled and remained surrounding Yehoram, who in his eyes were like a fifth column, like rebels against him. And he also struck the officers of Yehoram's chariots, and through this the people of Israel fled to their tents.
וַיִּפְשַׁע אֱדוֹם מִתַּחַת יַד־יְהוּדָה עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אָז תִּפְשַׁע לִבְנָה בָּעֵת הַהִיא׃ - And Edom rebelled from under the hand of Yehudah until this day; then Livnah rebelled at that time.
From that time on Edom was not subordinate to the kingdom of Yehudah. And what is "then Livnah rebelled"? Rashi says: the inhabitants of Livnah rebelled against the king, and I do not know from which nation they were, for Livnah is from the Land of Israel, and I say that they were from the tribe of Yehudah and rebelled against the king. According to Rashi, part of the tribe of Yehudah rebels here against the king, and likewise the Malbim says that Livnah was part of the kingdom of Yehudah and rebelled against it. In contrast, the Radak explains that Livnah was closer to the Land of Israel than the rest of the land of Edom, and when Edom rebelled Livnah had not yet rebelled, and only after this war did it too rebel. It emerges according to the Radak that Livnah was part of Edom and did not belong to us, and not like the explanation of Rashi that it belonged to Yehudah and rebelled against its king.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב יוֹרָם עִם־אֲבֹתָיו וַיִּקָּבֵר עִם־אֲבֹתָיו בְּעִיר דָּוִד וַיִּמְלֹךְ אֲחַזְיָהוּ בְנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And Yoram slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David, and Achazyahu his son reigned in his place.
And the rest of the acts of Yoram and all that he did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah. And the verse is precise in saying "in the City of David" and not in the tombs of the kings: since he was wicked, they buried him in the City of David but not in the tombs of the kings.
בֶּן־עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁתַּיִם שָׁנָה אֲחַזְיָהוּ בְמָלְכוֹ וְשָׁנָה אַחַת מָלַךְ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ עֲתַלְיָהוּ בַּת־עָמְרִי מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - Achazyahu was twenty two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Atalyahu the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
Achazyahu son of Yehoram became king in the twelfth year of Yoram son of Achav king of Israel. And why did he reign for such a short time, only a single year? Because he was a wicked man, the son of a wicked man, and we have already said that the reign of a wicked man who is the son of a wicked man is short. And his mother's name, look what a righteous woman she was, was Atalyahu, the daughter of Achav and granddaughter of Omri.
וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ בֵּית אַחְאָב וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה כְּבֵית אַחְאָב כִּי חֲתַן בֵּית־אַחְאָב הוּא׃ - And he walked in the way of the house of Achav, and did evil in the eyes of Hashem, like the house of Achav, for he was a son in law of the house of Achav.
And what can you expect from a son with a mother like this? The verse tells you: do not be surprised, he was a son in law of the house of Achav, a relation by marriage to Achav.
וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶת־יוֹרָם בֶּן־אַחְאָב לַמִּלְחָמָה עִם־חֲזָאֵל מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם בְּרָמֹת גִּלְעָד וַיַּכּוּ אֲרַמִּים אֶת־יוֹרָם׃ - And he went with Yoram son of Achav to the war against Chazael king of Aram at Ramot Gilad, and the Arameans wounded Yoram.
Here we have Yoram son of Yehoshafat joining together with Yoram son of Achav: Yoram found Yoram. And the war takes place in the very same location where Achav fell, at Ramot Gilad, and in that same place Yoram his son fell as well. And why? Because he continued in the way of his father, and he too did not return the vineyard of Navot. The same place, a place prone to calamity: Ramot Gilad, and the same cause that brought about the death of Achav, the vineyard of Navot the Yizreelite, apparently that same "merit" (in quotation marks) was aroused in the son as well, and he too died in that very place.
וַיָּשָׁב יוֹרָם הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהִתְרַפֵּא בְיִזְרְעֶאל מִן־הַמַּכִּים אֲשֶׁר יַכֻּהוּ אֲרַמִּים בָּרָמָה בְּהִלָּחֲמוֹ אֶת־חֲזָהאֵל מֶלֶךְ אֲרָם וַאֲחַזְיָהוּ בֶן־יְהוֹרָם מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה יָרַד לִרְאוֹת אֶת־יוֹרָם בֶּן־אַחְאָב בְּיִזְרְעֶאל כִּי־חֹלֶה הוּא׃ - And Yoram the king returned to be healed in Yizreel from the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Chazael king of Aram, and Achazyahu son of Yehoram king of Judah went down to see Yoram son of Achav in Yizreel, for he was sick.
Yoram the king, after the Arameans had wounded him, was sick, and Achazyahu son of Yehoram king of Judah went to see Yoram son of Achav, that is, to visit him and fulfill the mitzvah of visiting the sick.
The chapter opens with Elisha's kindness to the Shunamite woman, and teaches us a lesson in Divine providence: a warning that had been given seven years earlier unfolded with precise timing, in which at the very moment that Geichazi is recounting the revival of the dead, the revived one and his mother arrive, and the king restores to her the field and its produce. Along the way we learned the laws of chazakah and the halachah that in a time of emergency there are no chazakot, and the great principle that miracles do not turn people into righteous ones: neither the wicked king nor the maidservant at the sea changed, for the wisdom is not that a righteous person decrees and Hashem fulfills, but that Hashem decrees and the righteous person fulfills. Later we saw Elisha's prophecy in Damascus, his weeping over the future that would come upon Israel at the hand of Chazael, and the fulfillment of his word in the death of Ben Hadad and the rise of Chazael to kingship. And finally the kingdom of Judah: Yehoram son of Yehoshafat, the wicked one, who was saved by virtue of Hashem's covenant with David, "to give him a lamp for his sons," for the wicked king himself is not uprooted but only afflicted, and it is his descendants who pay the price with shortened days. And so Achazyahu, a wicked son of a wicked one, reigned for only a single year, and Ramot Gilad, a place prone to calamity, opens the calamity that would come upon the house of Achav.