David Capes
Is it sort of like a Saul and David situation? Because in that situation there’s already a king. But David’s anointed to be king.
Lawson Younger
Yes, but the difference is, David did not lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed. Because our friend Hazael will murder Ben-Hadad in order to become king. And this is recorded in 2 Kings 8, and that passage is one of the passages that we’ll talk about Saturday evening at the lecture.
David Capes
There’s a lot of shaping that goes on between these countries, it seems to me, at that particular time. The northern kingdom as we often refer to it, seems to be larger. It seems to have more people there. It seems to have more resources, generally speaking. The Southern Kingdom, not so much. And Aram itself is up north of there. So he’s coming down, and he’s going to encounter, first of all, the Hebrew people, the Israelites. He’s going to be coming in contact with that northern kingdom.
Lawson Younger
That’s right. One of the things that we’ll show a slide of and talk a little bit about is the Tel Dan inscription, which is an inscription of Hazael that he erected at Tel Dan. Tel Dan is the location of biblical Dan, the city of Dan, furthest north of the Israelite cities. He will conquer it and set up a victory stele and make some claims there. He will impact Israel in very significant ways, the northern kingdom. He will conquer all of the Trans-Jordan, so Reuben Gate, Half Tribe, Manasseh, all that area will become territory that Aram controls directly. There will then be a slicing off of other sections of the country, in the north, in some of the Jezreel plain and the coastal region. In other words, he’s going to make life miserable for the northern kingdom over a period of time. This will not all happen in one day. And we’ll show a map and describe how this is happening, both from text and from archeology, which is very, very interesting the way these coincide together.
David Capes
For your lecture here, we’re going to have the big screen up so you’ll be able to show all of these wonderful images. Now, after he murdered the previous king, he’s king for a long time.
Lawson Younger
Yes, he’s king for over 40 years, and he has a son who comes on the throne after him. But as much as Hazael is an action hero, his son is a bumbler and loses most of the territory that he had conquered.
David Capes
How long did that take?
Lawson Younger
Oh, about maybe a decade. Maybe a little less.
David Capes
Good thing his dad is not around to be disappointed in him.
Lawson Younger
Yes. One of the things that is intriguing, and I’ll bring out in the lecture, is that Hazael is so important to the Arameans of Damascus that they deify him. Then later in history, a person that you would know quite well, Mr. Josephus records this deification of Hazael and a ceremony that is daily done in Damascus. And this would be contemporaneous with the time of Christ, and continues on up until much of the New Testament is completed.
David Capes
Well, what do you make of the fact that that the Lord instructs his prophet [Elijah] to go anoint this fellow who’s going to be such trouble.
Lawson Younger
One of the things that we are taught throughout Scripture is that God sometimes raises up adversaries to his people when they are unfaithful to him. This is something that he not only promised in the law that he would do in the blessings and cursings, but he also made it very clear throughout the book of Judges and other places. He shows them again and again, that their unfaithfulness brings problems as they have actual adversaries raised up by God. And so, it is the case that Hazael is just another example of that very same kind of phenomenon.
David Capes
So, like Cyrus, well not Cyrus, but like Nebuchadnezzar, let’s say.
Lawson Younger
You mentioned Cyrus. I’ll go with that for a second. Cyrus actually delivers. And Nebuchadnezzar starts as somewhat of a torturer. And then turns around in the book of Daniel and has a very different opinion about the Lord. If we go through Scripture, we can see this. I’ll just go back to the book of Judges for a second. Each time the Israelites are unfaithful and start worshiping other gods, God raises up an adversary. Not all of the adversaries are documented in The Book of Judges with a story of a judge delivering. We have some judges who don’t have a record of them delivering. So I don’t want to go too
far afield, but the point is that this is a pattern that God has done. In the New Testament, He says He will judge the household of the church first. I’m paraphrasing Peter’s words, but that’s the upshot of it. Judgement will start with the household of God first.
David Capes
When Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount, he talks about in a sense the doctrine of the two ways. The way of obedience to God and to Christ’s teaching leads to blessing, and the way of disobedience leads to disaster. I’m wondering what Elijah knew, or what he thought he was doing that day. Is he anointing one who will be a hero? Is he anointing one who would be…?
Lawson Younger
He knows exactly, because he says twice “the Lord has shown him”, which is very intriguing wording, because this is a prophecy. This is a vision that God has given to him, that Hazael is going to do what he’s going to do. And he details it, that he is going to destroy the Israelite fortresses. He is going to kill their choice young men. He is going to murder the pregnant women. He’s going to rip open the pregnant women and expose the babies. He’s going to be a bad, bad man. And Elisha weeps over this.
David Capes
That’s Elisha, right?
Lawson Younger
That’s Elisha. Elijah is given the commission, but actually never does it.
David Capes
Wow. Interesting story, tough story, tough story. Som Hazael the action figure.
Lawson Younger
Tough story. And what I’m doing here in the lecture is I’m bringing together all the biblical material. Well, most of it. I can’t cover every single [lecture], but I’m bringing together the biblical material, and I am integrating it with all of the ancient, Eastern, historical and archeological material to give us both sides of the story, so to speak. So that we can see that for the Arameans, this man is their action hero, but obviously, for Israel, he is a scourge.
David Capes
Yes, of both those kingdoms. Well, it’s going to be a great lecture. We’re looking forward to you delivering that lecture here shortly. And for people who aren’t able to be here, we will record it. It’s going to be available on our YouTube channel so you can both see and hear and learn about the archeology, the historical evidence and the biblical text themselves. Dr Lawson Younger, thanks for being with us today on “The Stone Chapel Podcast.”
Lawson Younger
Thank you very much.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
