Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 8
Hazael was a cruel and wicked man. So we may ask why God would choose such a man to be king of Aram. Aram was the principal enemy of northern and central Israel during this period of history.
The answer is that the kings of northern Israel were never loyal to God. They encouraged their people to follow false religions and to serve evil gods. God permitted many of the people there to become rich, but they were not grateful to God. Instead, in their comfortable state, they became even more proud and selfish. They used their power to deal cruelly with poor people. They refused to obey God’s law, although God sent many prophets (holy people) to warn them about their attitudes and behaviour.
For that reason, God allowed their enemies to become more powerful. As a powerful king, Hazael would act in a severe manner against northern and central Israel. In fierce wars, he would take away large parts of the land that had belonged to Israel (10:32-33).
So, the leaders and the important people would lose much of the wealth that they had used so wrongly. They would see that their false gods and wrong religions were completely unable to protect them from their enemies. They would see how foolish it was to trust in themselves and not in God. All of that would give them another opportunity to turn back to God. If they did not do that, even worse troubles would happen to them.
Next part: Hazael becomes king by lies and murder (2 Kings 8:14-15)
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