God is Not Shocked by Man's Evil

The narrative grows stranger as 2 Kings rolls on. The king of Syria is sick and he sends his commander to Elisha to ask if he will recover. The exchange between Elisha and Hazael is unique.

2 Kings 8:9–11 (ESV) So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels’ loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this sickness?’ ” 10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover,’ but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die.” 11 And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept.

Why the doublespeak here from Elisha? Go tell the king he will recover but the Lord has shown me he will die? Strange. Why would the prophet feel it right to mislead someone? The truth is he is not misleading at all. The prophet Elisha knows what is in Hazael's thoughts. He knows this commander cannot be trusted and although the king would have recovered, Hazael will murder the king as exactly happens in the following verses.

2 Kings 8:14–15 (ESV) Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” 15 But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Now Hazael will become the new bitter enemy of Israel and do evil throughout his reign. Earlier Elisha enumerated the works of Hazael's reign through tears:

2 Kings 8:11–12 (ESV) And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.”

The interesting moment of this interaction comes when we see Hazael's reaction to Elisha's prophecy over his life. What Elisha sees as evil Hazael considers a 'great feat'. 

2 Kings 8:13 (ESV) And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.”

What does a Christian do with a strange passage like this? It is evident the text is teaching us that God rules not only over His people but all nations. Syria is under His sovereignty. Secondly, it shows that God is not shocked by the evil of man. In fact, He sees it coming. 

The question for us then tends to be: Why doesn't God stop human evil? But the question itself poses a bigger problem. How much evil should God be responsible for stopping in a world that runs from Him? What should be the threshold? The evil that touches good people? But who defines what is good and how do you know for sure that person is good and not just going through the "good" motions to benefit themselves?  

Where is the line of human evil God should not let us cross? Perhaps God allows evil to be seen for what it is so we can clearly see the wrong trajectory of human intuition. Perhaps we should instead ask this question: Why is God good to humans who trend toward so much evil? 

And an even bigger question has to be asked: Why would God the Son bear so much evil from those who hated Him? He not only bore it, He offered forgiveness for it as He bore it. 

Luke 23:34 (ESV) And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

You see the Cross annihilates the paltry problem we think we have with evil. For the evil is in us and God took our evil to bring us His ultimate good - Salvation.