Grace and peace, saints.

The use of torture–especially against U.S. citizens–has been hotly debated in the media ever since the CIA’s use of waterboarding on detainees at Guantanamo Bay came to light a few years ago.  Waterboarding is an especially cruel form of torture.  Wikipedia defines it as:

“A form of torture in which water is poured over cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning.”

Waterboarding can cause pain, brain damage from oxygen deprivation, and even death. Wikipedia gives a history of the use of waterboarding going back as far as the fifteenth century, but did you know that the Bible also records an incident of waterboarding? Though used in this instance as a means of murder rather than torture, it is clear that the same technique is being used.

Briefly, the book of 2 Kings recounts how the ailing king of Syria, Benhadad, had sent his servant, Hazael, to the prophet Elisha to inquire if the king would recover from his illness.  Elisha tells the servant that the Lord hath shown him that Benhadad would not recover, but that Hazael would reign over Syria.  At this news, Hazael returns to Benhadad and tells him that he would recover.  But…

“[I]t came to pass on the morrow, that [Hazael] took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on [Benhadad’s] face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 8:15).

You see, everything is in the Bible, and there is nothing new under the sun.

Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man