Lies Told By Men of God #9

When Hazael is sent to Elisha to inquire, in the name of Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, whether the king will recover from his illness, Elisha tells him to mislead his master, telling him, “You will recover.” However, he reveals the whole truth to Hazael himself.  He says: “However, the Lord has revealed to me that he will die” (2 Kgs. 8:10).   Once again, it appears that Elisha is not telling an outright lie but only a half-truth, which is equivalent to a lie. The king had asked, “Will I recover from this illness?” (v. 8)  Elisha was aware that the king’s illness was not incurable.  So, he answered this specific question: “You will recover.” However, he reveals to Hazael that, even though the king’s illness is not so severe, he will die from another cause.   By urging Hazael to mislead his king, Elisha probably intended to reassure Ben-Hadad, so that he would not be on guard against Hazael when he came to kill him.   It appears to me that Elisha wants to inspire Hazael to murder his king, Ben-Hadad, as part of the divine plan to appoint Hazael as one of the three avengers (one of them being Elisha himself) to strike Israel, as God commanded Elijah at Mount Horeb (1 Kgs. 19:15–18).  Elisha indeed succeeds in motivating Hazael to slay his master, both because he predicts that Hazael will succeed Ben-Hadad, and because he informs him that Ben-Hadad will not vacate his throne by dying from his sickness.