And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.
Hazael said, But what! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? х Hakeleb (H3611), THE dog; the Septuagint has: ho kuoon ho tethneekoos, the dead dog. This is the full phrase used in the East (cf. 1 Samuel 24:14). The predicate is not hakeleb (H3611), which, as the article shows, belongs to the subject, `abdªkaa (H5650), being assumed by Hazael as denoting, according to Oriental usage, the abject nature of his condition; the predicate is maah (H4100), what is thy servant? what power has he, or what prospect of ever possessing power sufficient for doing this great thing?] 'It was the greatness, not the atrocity, that startled him; and it is of meanness, not of cruelty, that the dog is the Oriental symbol' (Black's 'Exegetical Study of the Oriental Scriptures,' p. 33).