2 Kings 8

Answ. 1. He teaches us to see into our own hearts. Take the most Mercurial wits, the greatest politicians, that understand the mysteries of state, yet they know not the mysteries of their own hearts, they cannot believe there is that evil in them as is (2 Kings 8:13): Is your se…

4. Original sin, though it lies latent in the soul, and is as a spring which runs under ground, yet often it breaks forth unexpectedly. Christian, you cannot believe that evil which is in your heart, and which will break forth suddenly if God leaves you (2 Kings 8:13, 15). Is yo…

1. To know himself: Take the most mercurial wit, the subtle politician, who is able to dive into the arcana Imperii, the mysteries of state, yet he is acutely obtuse, ignorant of his own heart: There are those meanders and sophisms, those intrinsic pollutions, that he cannot fin…

No song so musical as that which is set to the highest strain of lamentation. I remember the Prophet Elisha's passion, when he foresaw evils that should be acted; he looked upon Hazael, says the text (2 Kings 8:11), and wept; and Hazael said, Why does my Lord weep? He replied, B…

This, as it is in itself a vile vice, so is it a cause of many other vices, as of presumption, rebellion, and even of adultery itself many times: and it is also a main hindrance of all duty. It commonly rises either from self-conceit (whereby wives overween their own gifts, thin…

As to actual sins, there is a difference; but as to original sin, it is the same in all. All the sins that ever have been, or shall be committed in the world, they are virtually in our natures, they are but original sin acted and drawn out this way, and that way, as all numbers…

In hiding the disease; the heart hides sin as Rachel hid her father's idols (Genesis 31:34). Hazael did not think he was as sick as he was; he could not imagine that so much wickedness lay lurking in him (2 Kings 8:13): is your servant a dog that he should do this great thing? A…

The better the heart is, the more suspicious; Satan has a party within us — the heart is not true to itself, therefore it needs excubation and caution. Little did Hazael think what was in his heart (2 Kings 8:13). Had one come to Noah and said: Noah, you will be drunk shortly, h…

Theodoret. God acts the noon-day sun meridionaliter in every heart: the man himself is without, and God within (Jeremiah 17:9). Man searches not his own heart and reins, for there are plottings and inclinations to evil in the heart, which the heart knows not (2 Kings 8:12-13). P…

(1 Kings 15:28): Baasha slew him and reigned, [in non-Latin alphabet]. (2 Kings 8:15): He slew him, and Hazael reigned, [in non-Latin alphabet]. (2 Kings 15:10): Shallum slew him, and reigned in his stead, [in non-Latin alphabet].

Objection: But this Covenant is made to, and with David, that Solomon, and one of David's line, shall sit upon David's Throne, until the Messiah, the true beloved shall be born (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Answer: It is true, and although these of David's line sinned, yet by virtue of th…

'For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he is offended' (Matthew 13:21). But should one have told them in the days of their first profession, that all their zeal and labor in religion would have ended in this, it is likely they would have rep…

We little think what a strange alteration an exalted estate will make upon our spirits. When the prophet would abate the vain confidence of Hazael who could not believe that ever he should be turned into such a savage beast as the prophet had foretold: he only tells him, 'The Lo…