2 Kings 8:12, 13
“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.
“Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!”
And Hazael said, “Is your servant a dog, that he should do this monstrous thing?”
There was in the heart of Hazael a root of evil which would induce him to destroy the king, in order to gain possession of his throne; and that root springing up, would bring forth such terrible fruits, as could not be contemplated without the most pungent sorrow. This the prophet Elisha saw, and deeply lamented; insomuch, that Hazael, astonished at the tears which Elisha shed, asked him with great emotion, “Why is my lord weeping?” The prophet told Hazael that he wept at the prospect of the horrible cruelties which, however incapable of committing them Hazael might now think of himself—he would certainly before long commit.
This is the point to which we would now call your attention; and it is well calculated to show us:
I. How unconscious we are of our own depravity.
Hazael could not conceive it possible that the prophet Elisha’s predictions respecting him should ever be fulfilled. Doubtless the predicted evils were very terrible, “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!” Nor do we wonder that Hazael should ask so pointedly, “Is your servant a dog, that he should do this monstrous thing?”
But Hazael was a stranger to his own heart.
Just so, we are ignorant of the evils which lurk in our own heart: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked! Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9.”
2 Kings 8:14-15, “Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, “What did Elisha say to you?” Hazael replied, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.”
The outcome soon verified all that the prophet had spoken concerning him; for immediately on his return to his master, he gave a false report of the prophet’s answer, and (probably under a pretense of using the best means for his recovery) adopted a measure, which he had reason to expect would speedily put an end to the king’s existence.
Having by these means succeeded to the throne, Hazael soon waged war with Israel, and committed all those shocking cruelties, at the very mention of which he had once shrunk back with horror! Verse 15 and 2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 13:7.
Thus also do we question the representations which God gives respecting us in His Word.
These representations are surely very humiliating, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, Ecclesiastes 9:3; Genesis 6:5; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 8:7. We are ready to account them as libels upon human nature. If we have been moral and sober hitherto, we have no conception that we could ever be induced to “run into the same flood of debauchery” as the most wicked have done.
But may we not all find in ourselves the seeds of those iniquities, which in others have obtained their full growth? Have we not seen too, in many instances, that people who once thought themselves as superior to temptation as we now do, have sunk into the grossest habits of vice, and astonished the world with their iniquities! We can know but little of ourselves, if we have not learned to ascribe to God alone, whatever difference there may be found between us and others! “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7.” “By the grace of God I am what I am! 1 Corinthians 15:10”
Let us learn then from the prophet,
II. What ought to be the frame of our minds in relation to our own depravity.
If we have not been left by God to perpetrate the more heinous crimes to which we have been tempted, still it will be proper for us to consider what our frame should be:
1. In reference to our depravity, so far as we have discovered it.
Elisha wept at the contemplation of the future crimes of Hazael; and should not we weep at the evils of our own hearts—yes at the evils which we have actually committed? Truly, the best of us have done enough to humble us in the dust, and to make us weep with the deepest self-abasement. Let us look back and think of our past conduct:
towards God as our Sovereign,
towards Jesus as our Redeemer,
and towards the Holy Spirit who has been so patient with us all our days.
Is here no cause for tears? If Prophets and Apostles wept so bitterly for others who kept not God’s law, should not we weep for ourselves, Psalm 119:136; Jeremiah 13:17; Romans 9:1-3; Philippians 3:18. Yes, the best of us, as well as the worst, needs to “go on his way weeping,” and can only hope to “reap in joy,” when he shall have humbly “sown in tears.”
2. In reference to that depravity which is yet hidden from our eyes.
Much, very much evil, there is in us, which we have never yet seen! Either we have never been brought into situations to call it forth, or God has mercifully withheld us from perpetrating all that was in our hearts. But our hearts are altogether corrupt; and therefore we should tremble; yes and “work out our salvation with fear and trembling!” Even to our last hour, “we should not be high-minded, but fear;” “watching continually and praying, that we may not enter into temptation.” The confidence of Peter, as well as that of Hazael, may be a warning lesson to us. To God then must we look to “keep us by his power,” even to Him who alone “can keep us from falling, and present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy!”
That we may yet further improve this subject, let us learn:
1. To be thankful for God’s grace.
What is the reason that we have not been as vile as the most abandoned of mankind? Are we made of any better materials than they? No! We owe it entirely to the distinguishing grace of God! It is He who has “hedged up our way” in numerous instances, that we might not fall into those temptations which would have utterly overwhelmed us. “He kept us,” and “by his grace alone we are what we are.” O let us adore and magnify him for all his goodness towards us! When we see others wallowing in iniquity, remember that it is God alone who has made us to differ from them!
2. To be submissive to God’s providence.
It may be that God has been pleased to disappoint us in some things which we have set our heart upon, and we have been grieved and vexed at the painful dispensation. But how little do we know what would have been the effect of success! Perhaps the attainment of our wishes would have operated as Hazael’s advancement did on him, and we would have long before this time have been monsters in iniquity! At all events we have reason to believe that what we have lost was only like thick clay which would have impeded us greatly in our Christian course.
Perhaps God has seen fit to lay upon us some heavy affliction. Are we sure it was not necessary to lead us to deeper views of our own corruption, and to a more entire dependence on the Lord Jesus? We may be sure at least that our afflictions have been sent as a pruning-knife, to lop off our excess branches, and to make us more fruitful in the fruits of righteousness to God’s praise and glory!
3. To pant after God’s glory.
It is in Heaven alone that we shall be free from sin. While we are in the body, we are exposed to the assaults of that roaring lion that seeks to devour us. It is true that we have God’s promises to trust unto; but it is also true that we have wicked and deceitful hearts; and if we had attained as much as ever the Apostle Paul did, we must still, like him, “keep our body under control, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, after having preached to others, we should be cast away ourselves.” Let us then “look for, and hasten unto, the coming of the day of Christ,” even that blessed day, when all sin shall be purged from our hearts, and “all tears be wiped from our eyes!”
“Hold me up, and I shall be safe! Psalm 119:117.”
Charles Simeon