So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Ben-ha'dad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?
Forty camels' burden. The present, consisting of the rarest and and most valuable produce of the land, would be liberal and magnificent. But it must not be supposed it was actually so large as to require 40 camels to carry it. The Orientals are fond of display, and would ostentatiously lay upon 40 beasts what might very easily have been borne by four.
Thy son Ben-hadad. So called from the established usage of designating the prophet 'father.' This was the same Syrian monarch who had formerly persecuted him (see the notes at 2 Kings 6:13-14).