Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Reflections on 2 Kings 1

    2 Kings 01 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. Soon after King Ahab of Israel died, the country of Moab rebelled against his son King Ahaziah. One day, Ahaziah fell through the wooden slats around the porch on the flat roof of his palace in Samaria, and he was badly injured. So he sent some messengers to the town of Ekron with orders to ask the god Baalzebub if he would get well.
  2. (SEE 1:1)
  3. About the same time, an angel from the LORD sent Elijah the prophet from Tishbe to say to the king's messengers, "Ahaziah has rejected Israel's own God by sending you to ask Baalzebub about his injury.
  4. Tell him that because he has done this, he's on his deathbed!" And Elijah did what he was told.
  5. When the messengers returned to Ahaziah, he asked, "Why are you back so soon?"
  6. "A man met us along the road with a message for you from the LORD," they answered. "The LORD wants to know why you sent us to ask Baalzebub about your injury and why you don't believe there's a God in Israel. The man also told us that the LORD says you're going to die."
  7. "What did the man look like?" Ahaziah asked.
  8. "He was hairy and had a leather belt around his waist," they answered. "It must be Elijah!" replied Ahaziah.
  9. So at once he sent an army officer and fifty soldiers to meet Elijah. Elijah was sitting on top of a hill at the time. The officer went up to him and said, "Man of God, the king orders you to come down and talk with him."
  10. "If I am a man of God," Elijah answered, "God will send down fire on you and your fifty soldiers." Fire immediately came down from heaven and burned up the officer and his men.
  11. Ahaziah sent another officer and fifty more soldiers to Elijah. The officer said, "Man of God, the king orders you to come see him right now."
  12. "If I am a man of God," Elijah answered, "fire will destroy you and your fifty soldiers." And God sent down fire from heaven on the officer and his men.
  13. Ahaziah sent a third army officer and fifty more soldiers. This officer went up to Elijah, then he got down on his knees and begged, "Man of God, please be kind to me and these fifty servants of yours. Let us live!
  14. Fire has already wiped out the other officers and their soldiers. Please don't let it happen to me."
  15. The angel from the LORD said to Elijah, "Go with him and don't be afraid." So Elijah got up and went with the officer.
  16. When Elijah arrived, he told Ahaziah, "The LORD wants to know why you sent messengers to Ekron to ask Baalzebub about your injury. Don't you believe there's a God in Israel? Ahaziah, because you did that, the LORD says you will die."
  17. Ahaziah died, just as the LORD had said. But since Ahaziah had no sons, Joram his brother then became king. This happened in the second year that Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat was king of Judah.
  18. Everything else Ahaziah did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.


The narrative continues uninterrupted in this first chapter of 2 Kings from the end of 1 Kings. Ahab's son, Ahaziah, who succeeded him as king witnessed a demonstration of God's power as did his father. Ahaziah fell through a latticed window of his upper room and evidently fell to the ground, injuring him seriously. His injuries were serious enough that he was concerned for his life and sent messengers to seek a prophecy concerning his survival. Unfortunately he sent them to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron rather than the God of Israel.

God sent the prophet Elijah to intercept the king's messengers with a message from the Lord: "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? . . . You will not get up from your sickbed--you will certainly die." (1:3-4) Verse 16 makes it clear that it is because Ahaziah sought to inquire of Baal rather than God that he received this death sentence.  The king's messengers left Elijah and returned to the king with his message from the Lord. Ahaziah asked them what this man looked like who gave them the message from the Lord. From their description he knew it to be Elijah.

Ahaziah sent a captain of 50 men along with his men to arrest Elijah and bring him to the king. In so doing he showed his lack of priority on truth. It is such an order of priorities that leads any to reject the Lord. It is not truth that leads them to other loyalties but rather a rejection of truth on behalf of some other priority. When the captain approached Elijah, he ordered him to come down from where he was. He evidently considered his king more powerful than Elijah's God. Elijah responded to him by saying, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men." (1:10) The captain and his men were immediately consumed with fire from heaven. Insisting on having control of the situation, Ahaziah sent another 50 men with their captain who made the same mistake as the first, in commanding Elijah to come down. Had he not heard what happened to the first captain? He met the same fate as the first captain.

Ahaziah's spiritual blindness was total. Rather than being swayed by these demonstrations of God's power over him and his god, Baal, he insisted on having command over Elijah and his God. But it was not to be. He sent a third battalion of 50 men and the captain of this group was wiser than the first two. He fell on his knees before Elish and begged him, "Man of God, please let my life and the lives of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight." (1:13) Then the Lord's angel told Elijah to go with him and not fear him. When Elijah stood before Ahaziah, he boldly told him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron--is it because there is no God in Israel for you to inquire of His will? You will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.'" (1:16)

The last word of these events was the announcement of Ahaziah's death and his successor as king to be his brother Joram since he had no son to succeed him. Though he was witness of the Lord's power in these events and undoubtedly knew of the Lord's defeat of the 400 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Joram proved to be as spiritually blind as his brother and father.

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