God Judges Ahaziah
February 28, 2019
Commentary
After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. The writer in this chapter tells about Moab’s independence from Israel and the results of idolatrous practices by Ahab’s successor, Ahaziah (v. 1). He also describes how the last recorded prophetic act of Elijah is performed. The reign of Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, only lasted two years. The king had suffered an injury from falling through the lattice covering a window to his upper room and probably fell to the ground below (v.2). He immediately dispatched his servants to the Philistine city, Ekron, to consult with the priests of Beelzebub who he believed to be a god of healing powers.
An angel of the Lord told Elijah to intercept this group and tell them that the king would soon die, and they returned to the king to give him the message (vv. 3-6). Feeling insulted by Elijah who had challenged his royal command, Ahaziah ordered a band of soldiers to arrest the prophet and drag him before the throne (vv. 7-9). Two groups of 50 each were consumed by a judgment of fire and a third group begged for mercy and were spared (vv. 10-14).
Elijah decided to accompany this group back to the king’s bedside where he repeated the message that the king would die (vv. 15-16). Very soon Ahaziah died “according to the word of the Lord” (vv. 17-18). Ahaziah was evidently quite young and was not succeeded by a son. Instead his younger brother, Jehoram, succeeded him to the throne. The kings of Israel and Judah at that time had the same name.
Application
Elijah was committed to do and say what God wanted him to say and not to what the king wanted to hear. He spoke with honesty from his heart. Before religious words come out of my month I need to make sure they are coming from my heart.
2 Kings 1:1– 18 (NET)
1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel. 2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, “Go, ask Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”
3 But the angel of the Lord told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up; go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron. 4 Therefore this is what the Lord has said, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!”’” So Elijah went on his way.
5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?” 6 They replied, “A man came up to meet us. He told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’”’” 7 The king asked them, “Describe the appearance of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.” 8 They replied, “He was a hairy man and had a leather belt tied around his waist.” The king said, “He is Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 The king sent a captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. The captain went up to him while he was sitting on the top of a hill. He told him, “Prophet, the king says, ‘Come down!’” 10 Elijah replied to the captain, “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.
11 The king sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” 12 Elijah replied to them, “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire from God came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.
13 The king sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours. 14 Indeed, fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. So now, please have respect for my life.” 15 The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down with him to the king.
16 Elijah said to the king, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. Is it because there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek a message? Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’”
17 And he did die in keeping with the Lord’s message that he had spoken through Elijah. In the second year of the reign of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram replaced him as king of Israel, because he had no son. 18 The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.
Illustration: Porter on a Train Fails to Wakeup a Businessman
An important business executive boarded the New-Orleans-to-Washington train. He was a heavy sleeper, and he needed to be awakened in order to get off the train in Atlanta about 5 o’clock in the morning. He found a porter and told him, “I want you to awaken me in order that I might get off the train at five o’clock in the morning. Now I’m a heavy sleeper,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much I fret and fuss and fume or what I do to you — I have to get off the train in Atlanta. If you have to remove me bodily,” he said, “you get me off that train in Atlanta."Well, the next morning he awakened about 9 o’clock, having slept all night and having missed Atlanta, speeding toward Washington. He located the porter and really poured it on with all sorts of abusive language, almost attacking the poor guy bodily. After he left, someone said to the porter, “Wow! That is the maddest man I ever saw!” The porter said, “That ain’t nothin’! You think he was angry-you should’ve heard that guy I put off in Atlanta this morning!” Ben Franklin once said, “Anger is never without a reason, but seldom a good one.” (Jimmy Chapman – Sermon Central)