2 Kings 1:1-8

B. THE ILLNESS OF AHAZIAH (2 Kings 1:1-8)

TRANSLATION

(1) Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. (2) And Ahaziah fell through a lattice in his upper chamber which was in Samaria, and he was sick. And he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover from this sickness. (3) But the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and speak unto them, Is it because there is no God at all in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? (4) Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not go down from the bed to which you have gone up because you shall surely die. And Elijah departed. (5) When the messengers returned unto him, he said unto them, Why have you returned? (6) And they said unto him, A man came up to meet us, and he said unto us, Go, return unto the king who sent you, and speak unto him, Thus says the LORD: Is it because there is no God at all in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not go down from the bed to which you have gone up because you shall surely die. (7) And he said unto them, What was the manner of the man who went up to meet you, and spoke unto you these words? (8) And they said unto him, He was a hairy man, and girt about with a leather girdle. And he said, He was Elijah the Tishbite.

COMMENTS

The division of the Book of Kings in the middle of the reign of Ahaziah is most unfortunate. The history of Ahaziah's reign began in 1 Kings 22:51 and is carried forward without any real break in the sense to 2 Kings 1:18. The division into two books at this point separates what the author obviously intended to be connected, viz., the crimes of this monarch and the consequent punishment which fell upon him. Because of his sins, calamity befell Ahaziah almost from the outset of his reign. A political calamitythe revolt of Moabis only briefly narrated, but the author has amplified the personal calamity which also befell this king.

After the death of Ahab the vassal state of Moab rebelled against Israel. The Moabites had been brought under subjection by the warlike Omri some forty years earlier. Under Ahab, they had been forced to pay to Israel exorbitant taxes. When Ahab was slain in the battle of Ramoth-gilead, Mesha king of Moab was encouraged to revolt. The clause then Moab revolted suggests that this rebellion came subsequent to and in consequence of the sinful disposition of Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:1).

A second calamity also befell the new king of Israel. Ahaziah accidentally fell through the lattice which enclosed his upper chamber. This shutter of interlaced woodwork would have been easily broken. As a result of this fall, the king was so injured that he lingered upon his bed hovering between life and death. In this desperate condition, the king sent messengers to Baalzebub, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron, to inquire as to whether or not he would recover. The king, of course, wanted more than just information; a favorable oracle from a deity would mean that the god would intervene on his behalf and raise him up. While it is no surprise to find the son of Jezebel preferring to consult Baal rather than Yahweh, it is somewhat surprising to find him sending to Ekron to consult this particular Baal god. Just why he chose Baal-zebub is unclear. Perhaps Baalzebub had a reputation for granting favorable oracular verdicts. On the other hand, perhaps Ekron was the nearest of the ancient Baal shrines. The name Baal-zebub means lord of flies. Apparently this particular Baal was thought to prevent plagues of flies, or else was thought to send such plagues against his enemies.[513]

[513] Gray (OTL, p. 463) feels that the proper name of the deity was Baal-zebulBaal the Princeand that the orthodox Jewish author deliberately changed the spelling to ridicule this deity.

For the second time (cf. 1 Kings 19:5; 1 Kings 19:7) an angel of God visited Elijah the prophet, instructing him to intercept the delegation which had been dispatched to Ekron. It is not clear where Elijah was at the time these instructions came to him, but from the fact he was told to go up, it has been inferred that he was probably down in the plain of Sharon, or perhaps the plateau between those plains and the mountains of Samaria. The actions of Ahaziah were a complete and absolute denial of the lordship of Yahweh. To consult a foreign oracle was tantamount to saying that the voice of God was wholly silent. By means of a penetrating rhetorical question, Elijah was to reflect the gravity of the royal apostasy to the messengers and ultimately to the king himself (2 Kings 1:3). The God of Israel did have a word for Ahaziah, albeit an unsolicited one. Because he had so grievously apostatized, God sentenced this king to die from the effects of his fall. Having received these divine instructions, Elijah departed to carry them out (2 Kings 1:4).

When the messengers returned so soon to the chamber of the sick king, Ahaziah knew that they had not completed their mission to Ekron. He therefore inquired of them as to the reason for their hasty return (2 Kings 1:5). Whether the messengers did not actually recognize Elijah or were merely withholding his name to be diplomatic cannot be ascertained. In either case the messengers reported to their master the message which the prophet had delivered to them (2 Kings 1:6). Ahaziah may have suspected already that this one who had been so bold as to announce the impending death of the king was that same man of God who had predicted the doom of his father (cf. 1 Kings 21:20-22). Fearing the worst, he inquired further concerning the man (2 Kings 1:7).

The messengers described the man of God as a hairy man (lit., a lord of hair). Some take this to mean that he was rough and unkempt with his hair and beard long. Others picture him as wearing a shaggy coat of untanned skin with the hair outward. The second unusual thing noted by the messengers was that this man of God wore a leather girdle as opposed to the more customary girdle of soft material. This brief description was enough for the king. The dreaded adversary of his father had suddenly reappeared (2 Kings 1:8).

Just why Elijah dressed the way he did has been the subject of no little discussion. Perhaps he was attempting to show contempt for earthly things. On the other hand, this garb may have been indicative of the sorrow of the prophet over the deplorable condition of his nation.