But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king. – 2 Kings 8:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 9, 2013): 2 Kings 8

I have always loved mysteries. Whether they come in the form of a book, T.V. show or a movie, I am quickly involved in the story line and, of course, the task of trying to figure out what is going on before the end of the story. But the stories I read or watch have an advantage over the real life variety. In my stories, all of the clues lead in a single direction, even if at first it does not appear that they do. By the time the story is finished, it is obvious “who done it.” Sometimes by the time the all of the clues have been assembled, the perpetrator in the story usually confesses their guilt and everything is neatly wrapped up.

In real life, that is usually not the case. Some of the most famous crimes in history remain unsolved. We still do not know the identity of Jack the Ripper in the late 19^th century. The Zodiac killer in Northern California remains unknown. In both of these cases there is an abundance of evidence and theories, but no solution. Even the murder of Andrew Jackson Borden and his wife Abby officially remains an unsolved murder. In spite of all of the evidence and rumors to the contrary, their daughter Lizzie was never convicted of the crime (and in spite of the song, they never really proved that the axe they found in the house was actually the murder weapon.)

So it probably should not be much of a surprise that the death of Ben-Hadad, the King of Aram, has also been the subject of controversy – in spite of the title printed in most English Bibles announcing the passage as being about the murder of Ben-Hadad (the English subtitles, like the chapter breaks and the verses, are not part of the original text.) The problem is that the description of what happened on the day that Ben-Hadad died is ambiguous at best. The text simply says that Hazael took a thick cloth and moistened it and placed it over his face of Ben-Hadad so that He died. And there might be the thought that in the mind of the writer of the text that this was murder, but it was definitely not a murder that could be proven. And the problem is two-fold. First, it would have been common, in that day, for a man to sleep with his face covered. It was necessary to cover the face to keep the mosquitoes and bug from feasting during the night. And when a fever took a man, again it was common practice for the care giver to take the bed clothes and moisten them and lay them over the body and face of the one afflicted. So, in this description of what happened we find what would have been common practice of a caregiver. If Ben-Hadad choked and died because of the action of Hazael, which is an uncertain proposition at best, it could have been that Hazael made a mistake and accidently placed two much water in the bed clothes in an attempt to bring the fever down. We just don’t know.

But it was to Hazael benefit that Ben-Hadad died, and therefore the rumor began to spread that Hazael was guilty of murder – not that it could ever be proved, but it was suspected. Biblical Scholars have long stood on both sides of the argument. We just do not know what Hazael’s intention really was. And the problem of not knowing the intention of an action is a very real problem in our world. We see the action, but very seldom do we see the intention. And when we judge according to the action believing that we know the intention, we are participating in a failure of justice. This is the reason why in some nations they have placed a high value on innocence, and anyone who is accused of a crime is said to be “considered innocent until proven guilty.” In a very real way that guilt, unlike what we read or watch, can never be proven. But we have to work hard at the case, considering all of the angles that the crime could be viewed from – so that we can come to a place where we are satisfied that we understand the intention behind the crime. And we will make mistakes – sometimes the guilty will go free, and sometimes the innocent will be proven guilty – but in our culture our hope is that we will set the guilty free more often than we pronounce guilt on the innocent.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 9