“IS THY SERVANT A DOG?”

The Authorised Version does not give the real sense of this passage. As it stands it rather suggests that Hazael was shocked at the barbarities of which it was prophesied he should be guilty; and the words “this great thing” are contradictory. We would rather expect it to read “Is thy servant a dog that he should do these cruel things?” The truth is that Hazael was attracted by the picture, but felt that his inferior rank stood in the way of its accomplishment. The R.V. and also the Hebrew Bible edited by Dr. Hertz, the Chief Rabbi, give the passage its true import thus: “But what is thy servant who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?”—C.A.L.
1938 Christadelphian p 560