Hazael

The Syrian general to whom Elijah was commanded to anoint (1 Ki 19:15) and who later became, between 842-800 BC, one of the most powerful kings Aram had known.

The biblical accounts do not report Elijah meeting Hazael afterwards. When Ben-Hadad was ill he sent Hazael to enquire of Elishah about the prospects of his recovery (2 Ki 8:8-13):

Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, "Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, 'You will certainly recover'; but Yahweh has revealed to me that he will in fact die." He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.

"Why is my lord weeping?" asked Hazael. "Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites," he 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."

Hazael said, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?"

"Yahweh has shown me that you will become king of Aram," answered Elisha.

Hazael left Elishah but on the next day he snuffed out his king with a wet towel, and took the throne for himself.

In the years to come Hazael would become a constant thorn in the side of Israel. His war with Joram, son of Ahab, caused the latter to be wounded, which provided the occasion for Jehu to kill the king and usurp the throne to himself (2 Ki 9:14-26). Jehu in turn suffered at the hand of Hazael with considerable loss of territory—especially in Transjordan—to the latter (2 Ki 10:32-33). Neither was Judah spared Hazael's aggression, and the young king Joash had to buy him off from attacking Jerusalem with the treasures from the temple (2 Ki 12:17-18).

Hazael is also known from extra-biblical sources. An ivory fragment, possibly of booty seized by some Assyrians, refers to him as "our lord, Hazael." The annals of Shalmaneser III call him the "son of a nobody," probably meaning he was a usurper.