By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS: This study explores the biblical instances where Elisha and Paul “stared intently” at individuals, examining whether these fixed gazes reflected divine revelation, spiritual discernment, or prophetic authority, and concludes by considering the believer’s ultimate focus: fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ.
I’ve always been intrigued by these little scenes in the Bible. The ones where the person ‘stares intently’. Here is an example from 2 Kings 8:11-
“And he stared steadily at him until Hazael was embarrassed, and then the man of God wept.” (2 Kings 8:11).
The context is that king Ben-Hadad of Aram sent Hazael to Elisha to inquire if the king was going to recover from his illness. Hazael in fact was plotting to assassinate the king. When Hazael approached Elisha and asked the question, Elisha gave the answer and stared intently at the killer.
Matthew Henry said: He looked Hazael in the face with an unusual concern, till he made Hazael blush and himself weep, v. 11. The man of God could outface the man of war. It was not in Hazael’s countenance that Elisha read what he would do, but God did, at this time, reveal it to him, and it fetched tears from his eyes. The more foresight men have the more grief they are liable to.
Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 534). Hendrickson.
The answer was yes, the king would recover, but the king would die. Hazael in fact did end up killing the king and usurped the throne.
What did Elisha ‘see’ when he stared intently? Was he waiting for a word from the LORD? Was Elisha using an intent stare to make Hazael feel abashed and humbled?
The other times I noticed the ‘intent stare’ was with Paul in the New Testament-
But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stared at him, Acts 13:9.
The context here is that Paul is in Paphos. He’s confronting Elymas, also known as Bar-Jesus. He was a magician and a false prophet who was trying to turn the Roman inquiring and interested proconsul away from the Christian faith.
Paul went on in verse 10-11:
and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary says of Acts 13:9,
“He set his eyes upon him, to face him down, and to show a holy boldness, in opposition to his wicked impudence. He set his eyes upon him, as an indication that the eye of the heart-searching God was upon him, and saw through and through him; nay, that the face of the Lord was against him, Ps. 34:16. He fixed his eyes upon him, to see if he could discern in his countenance any marks of remorse for what he had done; for, if he could have discerned the least sign of this, it would have prevented the ensuing doom.”
Helps Word Studies says “stared is to stare at because fully occupied with; to observe with great interest and a fastened/fixed gaze;”
Vincent’s Word studies says it denotes continuous, steadfast attention
This man was listening to Paul as he spoke. Paul looked at him intently and saw that he had faith to be made well, (Acts 14:9)
‘looked intently’ same word as stared. What did Paul see that convinced him the man had ‘faith to be made well’?
Just an interesting side note. Nowadays the time of the Apostles and Prophets is over and it would be untoward for any person to claim to ‘see’ anything other than the exterior of a person even if we are ‘staring intently’ at them! Even if we are ‘fixing our gaze’ on them!
The object of our gaze should always be Jesus, fixed on His word and on His attributes.
“And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them, and they said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)
the-end-time.org 