Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in Samaria, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness.”
But Yahweh’s angel said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore Yahweh says, “You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.” ’ ” Then Elijah departed.
The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “Why is it that you have returned?”
They said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, “Yahweh says, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’ ” ’ ”
He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came up to meet you, and told you these words?”
They answered him, “He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It’s Elijah the Tishbite.”
Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. He went up to him; and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down!’ ”
Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!” Then fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.
Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He answered him, “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down quickly!’ ”
Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!” Then God’s fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.
Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him, “Man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty of your servants, be precious in your sight. Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight.”
Yahweh’s angel said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” Then he arose, and went down with him to the king.
He said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’ ”
So he died according to Yahweh’s word which Elijah had spoken. Jehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because he had no son. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17 So that he was punished for his idolatry after…
So that he was punished for his idolatry after two sorts: for the Moabites which were wont to pay him tribute, rebelled, and he fell down at a grate which was upon his house to give light beneath.
The Philistines which dwelt at Ekron, worshipped this idol, which figureth the god of flies, thinking that he could preserve them from the biting of flies: or else he was so called, because flies were engendered in great abundance of the blood of the sacrifices that were offered to that idol.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–17 2Ki 1:1 Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the…
2Ki 1:1 Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
Ver. 1. Then Moab.] Who, being subdued by David, had hitherto served Israel, and paid the yearly tribute of a hundred thousand rams, and a hundred thousand lambs, with their wool. {2Ki 3:4-5}
Read full note →
Rebelled against Israel.] Which was no small judgment upon wicked Ahaziah, whose reign was both short and troublous. So was our Queen Mary’s; - her conceptions failing, extreme dearths raging, harm done by thunder from heaven, and by fire in the royal navy, King Philip keeping from court, as not affecting her, the loss of Calais, as here of Moab, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17 Moab; which had been subdued by David, 2Sa 8:2,…
Moab; which had been subdued by David, 2Sa 8:2, as Edom was; and upon the division of this kingdom into two Moab was adjoined to that of Israel, and Edom to that of Judah, each to that kingdom upon which it bordered. And when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were weak and forsaken by God, they took that opportunity to revolt from them; Moab here, and Edom a little after it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 We have here Ahaziah, the wicked king of Israel,…
We have here Ahaziah, the wicked king of Israel, under God's rebukes both by his providence and by his prophet, by his rod and by his word.
I. He is crossed in his affairs. How can those expect to prosper that do evil in the sight of the Lord, and provoke him to anger? When he rebelled against God, and revolted from his allegiance to him, Moab rebelled against Israel, and revolted from the subjection that had long paid to the kings of Israel, Kg2 1:1. The Edomites that bordered on Judah, and were tributaries to the kings of Judah, still continued so, as we find in the chapter before (v. 47), till, in the wicked reign of Joram, they broke that yoke (Kg2 8:22) as the Moabites did now. If men break their covenants with us, and neglect their duty, we must reflect upon our breach of covenant with God, and the neglect of our duty to him. Sin weakens and impoverishes us. We shall hear of the Moabites, Kg2 3:5.
Read full note →
II. He is seized with sickness in body, not from any inward cause, but by a severe accident. He fell down through a lattice, and was much bruised with the fall; perhaps it threw him into a fever, Kg2 3:2. Whatever we go, there is but a step between us and death. A man's house is his castle, but not to secure him against the judgments of God. The cracked lattice is a fatal to the son, when God pleases to make it so, as the bow drawn at a venture was to the father. Ahaziah would not attempt to reduce the Moabites, lest he should perish in the field of battle: but he is not safe, though he tarry at home. Royal palaces do not always yield firm footing. The snare is laid for the sinner in the ground where he thinks least of it, Job 18:9, Job 18:10. The whole creation, which groans under the man's sin, will at length sink and break under the weight, like this lattice. He is never safe that has God for his enemy.
III. In his distress he sends messengers to enquire of the god Ekron whether he should recover or no, Kg2 1:2. And here, 1. His enquiry was very foolish: Shall I recover? Even nature itself would rather have asked, "What means may I use that I may recover?" But as one solicitous only to know his fortune, not to know his duty, his question is only this, Shall I recover? to which a little time would give an answer. We should be more thoughtful what will become of us after death than how, or when, or where, we shall die, and more desirous to be told how we may conduct ourselves well in our sickness, and get good to our souls by it, than whether we shall recover from it. 2. His sending to Baal-zebub was very wicked; to make a dead and dumb idol, perhaps newly erected (for idolaters were fond of new gods), his oracle, was not less a reproach to his reason than to his religion. Baal-zebub, which signifies the lord of a fly, was one of their Baals that perhaps gave his answers either by the power of the demons or the craft of the priests, with a humming noise, like that of a great fly, or that had (as they fancied) rid their country of the swarms of flies wherewith it was infested, or of some pestilential disease brought among them by flies. Perhaps this dunghill-deity was as famous then as the oracle of Delphos was, long afterwards, in Greece. In the New Testament the prince of the devils is called Beel-zebub (Mat 12:24), for the gods of the Gentiles were devils, and this perhaps grew to be one of the most famous.
IV. Elijah, by direction from God, meets the messengers, and turns them back with an answer that shall save them the labour of going to Ekron. Had Ahaziah sent for Elijah, humbled himself, and begged his prayers, he might have had an answer of peace; but if he send to the god of Ekron, instead of the God of Israel, this, like Saul's consulting the witch, shall fill the measure of his iniquity, and bring upon him a sentence of death. Those that will not enquire of the word of God for their comfort shall be made to hear it, whether they will or not, to their amazement.
1. He faithfully reproves his sin (Kg2 1:3): Is it not because there is not (that is, because you think there is not) a God in Israel (because there is no God, none in Israel, so it may be read), that you go to enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, a despicable town of the Philistines (Zac 9:7), long since vanquished by Israel? Here, (1.) The sin was bad enough, giving that honour to the devil which is due to God alone, which was done as much by their enquiries as by their sacrifices. Note, It is a very wicked thing, upon any occasion or pretence whatsoever, to consult with the devil. This wickedness reigned in the heathen world (Isa 47:12, Isa 47:13) and remains too much even in the Christian world, and the devil's kingdom is supported by it. (2.) The construction which Elijah, in God's name, puts upon it, makes it much worse: "It is because you think not only that the God of Israel is not able to tell you, but that there is no God at all in Israel, else you would not send so far for a divine answer." Note, A practical and constructive atheism is the cause and malignity of our departures from God. Surely we think there is no God in Israel when we live at large, make flesh our arm, and seek a portion in the things of this world.
2. He plainly reads his doom: Go, tell him he shall surely die, Kg2 1:4. "Since he is so anxious to know his fate, this is it; let him make the best of it." The certain fearful looking for of judgment and indignation which this message must needs cause cannot but cut him to the heart.
V. The message being delivered to him by his servants, he enquires of them by whom it was sent to him, and concludes, by their description of him, that it must be Elijah, Kg2 1:7, Kg2 1:8. For, 1. His dress was the same that he had seen him in, in his father's court. He was clad in a hairy garment, and had a leathern girdle about him, was plain and homely in his garb. John Baptist, the Elias of the New Testament, herein resembled him, for his clothes were made of hair cloth, and he was girt with a leathern girdle, Mat 3:4. He that was clothed with the Spirit despised all rich and gay clothing. 2. His message was such as he used to deliver to his father, to whom he never prophesied good, but evil. Elijah is one of those witnesses that still torment the inhabitants of the earth, Rev 11:10. He that was a thorn in Ahab's eyes will be so in the eyes of his son while he treads in the steps of his father's wickedness; and he is ready to cry out, as his father did, Hast thou found me, O my enemy? Let sinners consider that the word which took hold of their fathers is still as quick and powerful as ever. See Zac 1:6; Heb 4:12.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of…
Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. Which had been in subjection to them from the times of David, Sa2 8:2 refusing to pay a tribute as they had done; taking advantage of Ahab's ill success with the king of Syria, and of his death, and the condition and circumstances of his successor.
refusing to pay a tribute as they had done; taking advantage of Ahab's ill success with the king of Syria, and of his death, and the condition and circumstances of his successor.
Read full note →
2 Kings 1:2
kg2 1:2
kg2 1:2
kg2 1:2And Ahaziah fell down a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria,.... Which was either a window or lattice in the form of network, to let in light; or rather were the rails of a balcony or battlement on the roof of his palace, in this form, on which leaning, it broke down, and he fell into the garden or court yard; or walking on the roof of his house, and treading unawares on a sky light, which let in light into a room underneath, he fell through it into it:
and was sick; the fall perhaps threw him into a fever, and which seemed threatening, being violent:
and he sent messengers, and said unto them, go inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease; not to heal him of it, but to know the issue of it; a vain curiosity this! Ekron was one of the principalities of the Philistines, and this idol was the god they worshipped, which signifies a master fly: which some think was a large metallic fly; made under a planet that rules over flies; and the Heathens had deities they called Myiodes, Myagros, and which signifies a driver away of flies; as Jupiter and Hercules were called by the Eleans and Romans, and worshipped and sacrificed to by them on that account (a); and so the Cyreneans, a people of Lybia, worshipped the god Achor, which seems to be a corruption of the word Ekron, because he freed them from flies, after they had been infested with a pestilence through them (b); and Ekron being a place near the sea, and both hot and moist, might be much infested with those creatures. Within the haven of Ptolemais, or Acco, was formerly a temple of Baalzebub, called in later times "the tower of flies", and used as a Pharus (c).
(a) Pausan. Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 313. & Arcadica, sive, l. 8. p. 491. Clement. Alex. Admon. ad Gentes, p. 24. (b) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 27. Vid. Chartarii Imagines Deorum, p. 151. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 26. (c) Adrichom. Theatrum Ter. Sanct. fol. 6. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17 The rebellion of Moab, ver. 1. The message of…
The rebellion of Moab, ver. 1. The message of Ahaziah to Baal- zebub, ver.
2. God's message to him, ver. 3-8. The destruction of the men sent to seize Elijah, ver. 9-12. He spares the third messenger, and goes to the king, ver. 13-16. Ahaziah's death, ver. 17; 18.
Read full note →
Moab - This had been subdued by David, as Edom was; and upon the division of his kingdom, Moab was adjoined to that of Israel, and Edom to that of Judah, each to that kingdom upon which it bordered. But when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were weak and forsaken by God, they took that opportunity to revolt from them; Moab here, and Edom a little after.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 15, 17 -Year from the Creation, according to the English Bible,…
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS,
OTHERWISE CALLED THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS
Read full note →
-Year from the Creation, according to the English Bible, 3108.
-Year before the birth of Christ, 892.
-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity 896.
-Year since the Deluge, according to Archbishop Usher and the English Bible, 1452.
-Year of the Cali Yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 2206. Chronologers vary very considerably in their calculations of the time which elapsed between the flood and the birth of Abraham, the difference of the two extremes amounting to nine hundred years! Archbishop Usher's computation is from the common Hebrew text, with the single exception of fixing the birth of Abraham in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the life of his father, instead of the seventieth, in order to reconcile 2Kgs 11:26; 2Kgs 11:32, with Ac 7:4. But these passages are better reconciled, in the opinion of Dr. Kennicott, by stating (with the Samaritan Pentateuch) the whole life of Terah to have been one hundred and forty-five years, instead of two hundred and five, as in our common Bibles.
-Year from the destruction of Troy, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 289.
-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 115.
-Year since the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 79.
-Year before the era of Iphitus, who re-established the Olympic Games, three hundred and thirty-eight years after their institution by Hercules, or about eight hundred and eighty-four years before the commencement of the Christian era, 12.
-Year before the conquest of Coroebus at Elis, usually styled the first Olympiad, (being the 28th Olympiad after their re-establishment by Iphitus,) 120.
-Year before the Varronian or generally received era of the building of Rome, 143.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 144.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Polybius, the historian, 145.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, who lived about two hundred and twenty-five years before the Christian era, 149.
-Year before the commencement of the Nabonassarean era, 149. The years of this epoch contained uniformly 365 days, so that 1461 Nabonassarean were equal to 1460 Julian years. This era commenced on the fourth of the calends of March, (Feb. 26,) B.C. 747; which was the year in which Romulus laid the foundation of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor.
-Year of the Julian Period, 3818.
-Year of the Dionysian Period, 94.
-Cycle of the Sun, 10.
-Cycle of the Moon, 18.
-Year of Megacles, the sixth perpetual archon of the Athenians, 26.
-Ocrazeres, the immediate predecessor of Sardanapalus, was king over the Assyrians about this time, according to Strauchius: but when this king reigned is very uncertain, Scaliger fixing the fall of Sardanapalus, which ended the Assyrian empire, in the year of the Julian Period, 3841; Langius, in 3852 of the same epocha; and Eusebius, in the year before Christ, 820.
-Year of Agrippa Silvius, the eleventh king of the Latins, 20.
-Year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 18.
-Year of Ahaziah, king of Israel, 2.
-Last year of the Prophet Elijah.
-Tenth year of Elisha.
CHAPTER I
Ahaziah, being hurt by a fall, sends messengers to Baal-zebub
to inquire whether he shall recover, 1, 2.
They are met by Elijah, who sends them back with the
information that he shall surely die, 3-8.
The king sends a captain and fifty men, to bring Elijah to
Samaria, on which fire comes down from heaven, and destroys
both him and his men, 9, 10.
Another captain and fifty men are sent, who are likewise
destroyed, 11, 12.
A third is sent, who behaves himself humbly, and Elijah is
commanded to accompany him; he obeys, comes to the king,
reproves his idolatry, and announces his death, 13-16.
Ahaziah dies and Jehoram reigns in his stead, 17, 18.
NOTES ON CHAP. I
Verse 1. Moab rebelled] The Moabites had been subdued by David, and laid under tribute, 2Kg 3:4, and 2Sa 8:2. After the division of the two kingdoms, the Moabites fell partly under the dominion of Israel, and partly under that of Judah, until the death of Ahab, when they arose and shook off this yoke. Jehoram confederated with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, in order to reduce them. See this war, 2Kg 3:5.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17 2Ki 1:1. Then Moab rebelled against Israel — Paid…
2Ki 1:1. Then Moab rebelled against Israel — Paid them no more tribute, but utterly disclaimed their authority over them. Moab had been subdued by David, as Edom was; and, upon the division of his kingdom, the former was adjoined to that of Israel, and the latter to that of Judah, each to that kingdom upon which it bordered. But when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were weak, and forsaken by God, they took that opportunity to revolt from them: Moab here, and Edom a little after.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 17 The Moabites, who had once lorded over Israel Jdg…
The Moabites, who had once lorded over Israel Jdg 3:12-14, were reduced to subjection by David, and treated with extreme severity (marginal reference). In the time of Ahab they were dependent on the kingdom of Israel, to which it has been generally supposed that they fell at the separation of Israel from Judah. The Moabite monument (see 2Ki 3:4), discovered in 1869, has now given reason to believe that they then recovered their independence, but were again reduced by Omri, who, with his son Ahab, is said (in round numbers) to have “oppressed” them for “forty years.” Ahab’s death was seized upon as an occasion for revolt, and Moab (perhaps owing to Ahaziah’s sickness) easily regained her independence.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17 Rebelled: literally, "prevaricated." (Haydock) --- The kings of Israel…
Rebelled: literally, "prevaricated." (Haydock) --- The kings of Israel kept some of the nations, which David had conquered, in subjection, while the kings of Juda ruled over the others. In consequence of the late disaster, these people began to throw off the yoke. (Tirinus) --- Joram made war upon Moab, chap. iii. 5. God began to punish the house of Achab, by these means. (Calmet) --- The Moabites refused to pay tribute, (Menochius) as the Israelites would not acknowledge the divine authority. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Commonly Called
THE
SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS
Read full note →
Commonly Called
THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS
2Ki_1:1-18.
1Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah 2fell down through a [window-] lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. 3But the angel of the Lord1 said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not [omit not] because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? 4Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. 5And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back? 6And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it not [omit not] because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. 7And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? 8And they answered him, He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
9Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of a hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. 10And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a, man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 11Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered [lifted up his voice]2 and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. 12And Elijah answered and said unto them, [him],3 If [And if] I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 13And he sent again a [third]4 captain of the third [omit the third] fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. 14Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore [but]5 let my life now be precious in thy sight. 15And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. 16And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it not [omit not] because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. 17So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son. 18Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Ki_22:41. And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, &c. 2 Chronicles 17-21 gives a more detailed account of the reign of this king, which our author here treats with remarkable brevity. On 1Ki_22:43, cf. 2Ki_15:9 sq. The statement in the last part of 1Ki_22:43 is not contradictory to 2Ch_17:6, for the latter place refers to the idolatrous worship of Baal and Astarte, on the high places and in the groves, while here the author is speaking of the worship of Jehovah upon the high places, as in 2Ch_20:33. (Cf. notes on 2Ki_2:3). Jehoshaphat had peace (1Ki_22:44) as a result of his matrimonial alliance with Ahab (2Ch_18:1), not only with that king himself, but also with his successors, Ahaziah and Jehoram. On 1Ki_22:45, cf. 2Ki_15:23, and on 1Ki_22:46, cf. 2Ki_14:24, and 2Ki_15:12.
1Ki_22:47. There was then no king in Edom. This observation simply serves to introduce what the author desired to add, in 1Ki_22:48-49, as especially important, from the history of the reign of Jehoshaphat. As Edom at that time had no king of its own, but merely a governor, Jehoshaphat could build a merchant-fleet in the Edomitic port, Ezion-geber, as Solomon had done before (2Ki_9:26). The Edomites had been subjugated by David (2Sa_8:14), but attempted, in the latter part of the reign of Solomon, to regain their independence under the leadership of Hadad (chap 2Ki_11:14 sq.); we have no information whether at all, or to what extent, this attempt succeeded. Keil and Ewald are of the opinion that the Edomites joined themselves to the Ammonites and Moabites in their war with Jehoshaphat (2Ch_20:1 sq.), but were conquered by him, and then placed under a governor. There is not, however, the slightest mention of the Edomites in 2 Chronicles 20. There is just as little foundation for the supposition of Thenius, that Hadad’s family had died out before the time of Jehoshaphat, and that the’ latter profited cunningly by the quarrels which arose about the succession to re-establish the sovereignty of Judah over Edom. Only this much is certain, that circumstances had arisen in Edom under Jehoshaphat which brought about the appointment of a governor, and rendered possible the re-establishment of the trade with Ophir, which had existed in the most nourishing period of the kingdom.—On Ophir and the Ships of Tarshish, see notes on 2Ki_10:22. The latter wore wrecked, as it seems, before leaving the harbor of Ezion-geber, by a storm. According to 2Ch_20:35 sq., Jehoshaphat caused these ships to be built in company with Ahaziah, and the prophet Eliezer interpreted their destruction to him as a divine punishment for his connection with the apostate Ahaziah (1Ki_22:52) after he had received a warning on account of his alliance with Ahab (2Ch_19:2). Probably he hoped and believed that Ahaziah had better purposes than Ahab, and therefore he did not at first reject his propositions. When, however, Ahaziah made a second proposal to him (1Ki_22:49) he declined to enter into it. In this opinion Keil also now agrees, although he formerly assumed that the ships were twice destroyed—first, those which, according to the passage before us, were destined for the voyage to Ophir, and then those which, according to 2Ch_20:36, were intended for that to Tarshish (in Spain). The death of Jehoshaphat is somewhat anticipated in 1Ki_22:50, for 2Ch_3:7 sq. relates how he made an expedition against the Moabites with Jehoram, the successor of Ahaziah.
1Ki_22:51. Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, &c. For the chronological statement: “The seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat,” which does not coincide with the duration of Ahab’s reign (1Ki_16:29), and the commencement of Jehoshaphat’s reign (1Ki_22:41); see below, on 2Ki_8:16—On 1Ki_22:52, cf. 1Ki_16:29-33.—On the groundlessness of the division, which commences the “Second book of the Kings” after 1Ki_22:53, see § 1 of the Introduction. Particularly the first verse of the second book stands in close connection with the three last verses of the first book, as is evident from the words After the death of Ahab. The death of this king and the accession of Ahaziah were the immediate causes of the attempt of the Moabites, who had been tributary ever since the time of David (2Sa_8:2), to separate themselves from Israel. We must therefore put this attempt before the rest which is related in regard to Ahaziah, especially before the construction of the merchant-fleet, which he attempted in company with Jehoshaphat. War with the revolted Moabites did not break out under Ahaziah, who did not reign for even two full years, but immediately after the accession of his successor, Jehoram (chap. 3). Keil thinks it clear that the revolt of the Moabites followed upon their alliance with the Ammonites, which is narrated in 2 Chronicles 20. This alliance, however, was directed against Jehoshaphat and Judah, and in the entire account there is no trace whatever that Israel took part in the expedition of Jehoshaphat, whereas 2Ki_3:4 sq. treats of a war between Israel and the Moabites. Piscator correctly states the connection between 2Ki_1:1-2 thus: Ægrotavit, ac perinde nihil contra Moabitas tentare potuit.
2Ki_1:2. And Ahaziah fell down through a (window-) lattice, &c. According to Ewald, with whom Thenius agrees, the passage (2Ki_1:2-16) does not come from the same author as the other passages which treat of Elijah, viz., 1Ki_17:18-19, and 2Ki_2:1-18, but is of later origin than these, as “is clear from the difference of the language in regard to the descent of fire from heaven in 1Ki_18:38, and 2Ki_1:10-14, not to speak of the difference in the nature of the contents of the two passages.” When the narrative is correctly accepted, however, this latter difference disappears. Still less can we conclude, from the fact that נָפַל is used of the descent of fire in the first passage and יָרַד in the second, that they have different authors.—שְׂבָכָה is lattice-work, also snare (Job_18:8). It can hardly be that we have here to think of the balustrade of the flat roof, but rather of the window-opening, which was provided with a lattice. For this interpretation בְּעַד through is also an argument. We may suppose that he leaned too far out through the low window, although he does not seem to have fallen very far, as it did not cost him his life; possibly only on to one of the galleries of the palace. That this took place on the occasion of a drinking-bout (Krummacher) is a groundless supposition. The Sept. render Baal-zebub [mentioned only in this passage in the Old Testament] by βάαλ μυΐαν θεὸν ’Ακκαρών, and Pliny says (Hist. Nat. 10, 28): Cyrenaici Achorem Deum (invocant) muscarum multitudine pestilentiam afferente quœ protinus interecunt postquam litatum est illi Deo. He is therefore the Baal who protects against the flies, which cause sickness and other calamities; “Defender against vermin,” like the Ζεὺς ἀπόμυιος, μυίαγρος of the Eleans (Pausan. viii. 26, 4). Against this commonly received explanation (Gesenius, Movers, Ewald, Winer, Real-Wörterbuch, i. s. 120), J. G. Müller (Herzog, Encyc. i. s. 768), with whom Keil agrees, maintains that the “Fly-god” cannot have his name as enemy of flies, but that he was Μυῖα θεός, i.e., the fly as god, and therefore an idol in the form of a fly, “who must have stood in a similar relation to flies, being a sun-god and summer-god, as the oracle-god, Apollo, who sent and warded off sickness.” Stark (Gaza, s. 260) remarks further: “They (the flies) seem, in their appearance and disappearance, which depend entirely upon the weather, to be themselves endowed with some prophetic power.” This view, however, cannot be made to agree with the words of Pliny, and Ahaziah was certainly anxious not only for an oracle, but also at the same time and especially for recovery from his illness through the help of the Fly-god.—Ekron, probably the present Akir, was the northernmost of the five principal cities of the Philistines (Jos_13:3), and so lay nearest to the royal residence, Samaria. [Cf. Robinson’s Biblical Researches, iii. 22–25.] Following Ephrem, Vatablus remarks that Ahaziah sent to the Idol at Ekron by the advice of Jezebel.
2Ki_1:3. But the Angel of the Lord, &c. “Not an angel but the angel of the Lord who makes known all the revelations of the invisible God to the covenant people. Cf. Hengstenberg, Christologie, I. 1, s. 219–232.” (Keil.) We have not to think of any external appearances. [מַלְאַךְ יה is the varying form under which God reveals himself on the earth, on different occasions. Indeed, in the older books there is often an ambiguity as to which is meant, God himself or some apparition, or the representations vary indifferently. Cf. Gen_16:7; Gen_16:10-11 (yet 2Ki_1:14, “God of my sight,” i.e., “whom I have seen”); 2Ki_21:9 sq.; cf. Gen_17:15 sq., and Gen_18:9-16. In Genesis 22. notice Gen_1:12, at the end, “from me.” See also Gen_31:11 sq., and espec.Gen_1:13; also the story Gen_32:24-32, espec. Gen_32:30. Cf., further, Exo_3:2; Exo_3:16; Exo_3:18; Exo_4:6 sq.; Exo_13:21; Exo_14:19; Jos_6:2; Jdg_6:12 sq., espec. Jdg_1:14; Jdg_1:16; Jdg_1:23; Jdg_13:22-23. The latter passages seem to recognize the distinction more clearly. Jdg_13:16, the angel distinguishes between himself and God. It follows that “whenever God appears, he does so in an angel, and whenever an angel appears, it is God who appears in him; so that appearances of the angel and appearances of God are the same.” Afterwards this method of revelation gave way to that of the prophets, with their “Thus saith the Lord!” In the poetical books we find a personification of wisdom, out of, and alongside of God, (cf. Job 28.), and all culminates in the logos-doctrine of St. John.—W. G. S.]—Where Elijah was then living we do not know. Thenius thinks “assuredly upon Mount Carmel;” but that is contradicted by the words, “Go up to meet the messengers!” for Ekron lay to the south and Carmel to the north of Samaria, in entirely opposite directions. We should have to suppose then that Elijah started much sooner, and came to meet the messengers immediately upon their coming out of Samaria.—And Elijah departed (2Ki_1:4), i.e., he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded.
2Ki_1:5. And when the messengers turned back unto him, &c. They must have received a powerful impression from the personal presence of Elijah, whom they did not know, since they felt themselves compelled at once to turn back and bring information to their master. The latter asks them in astonishment: Why are ye now turned back? as it was impossible that they could have been in Ekron. On the words that ye go (2Ki_1:3), for which they say in 2Ki_1:6 that thou sendest, Menken remarks, “They lay the blame entirely upon the king. The prophet, however, had spoken in such a way that they might observe that they also had incurred guilt, and had made themselves accomplices in another’s crime.”—מִשְפַּט (2Ki_1:7) is not exactly figura et habitus (Vulgata), but the law or rule, as that which defines the entire personality, “the life-rule of the individual person” (Keil), his peculiarity, by virtue of which he is distinguished, and by which he may be recognized. That אִישׁ בַּעַל שֵׂעָר does not mean “long hair covered his head” (Ewald), is clear from the description of the later Elijah (Mat_3:4). The vir pilosus, hirsutus is the man who is clothed in a hairy (black) garment. Such was the peculiar dress of the prophets as preachers of repentance, and it was called (cf. Zec_13:4) אַדֶּרֶת שֵעָר. It appears that this costume commenced with Elijah, who was the type of all following teachers of repentance, and that he was distinguished among the prophets of his time by means of it. (The 400 prophets of Ahab, 1Ki_22:6, certainly did not wear this dress.) The girdle, generally the most expensive article of dress and the emblem of office, was made of leather only in the case of the poor and low (Winer, R. W. B. i. s. 448). In the case of the prophet the leather girdle signified self-denial and contempt for worldly ornament and grandeur, so that it corresponded perfectly to the coarse garment of hair (cf. the contrast, Mat_11:8), Heb_11:37.
2Ki_1:9. Then the king sent, &c. Elijah had immediately withdrawn again, whether unto Carmel remains uncertain; but certainly Ahaziah must have discovered his place of abode. The hostile intention of the king shows itself in the sending of soldiers; certainly some act of violence was proposed. Perhaps he feared lest the disciples of the prophets, or other adherents of Elijah, might offer resistance. Ewald thinks he was going “to have him brought down and then (as, of course, is clear) executed.” The army of Israel was divided up into bodies of 1,000, 100, and 50 (Num_31:14; Num_31:48; 1Sa_8:12), each of which had its own leader, שַר (Winer, i. s. 683). The address of the leader has a military sound: Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down! That the designation, “Man of God,” was, in his mouth, not conviction, but scorn, is shown by the haughty and dictatorial “Come down!” (רֵדָה). The “and” with which the answer of Elijah begins (2Ki_1:10) must not be omitted, as it is in the Vulg. and Luther, “since Elijah is thought of in this first answer (otherwise in 2Ki_1:12) as joining his speech immediately to that of the captain” (Thenius). The sense of the answer is: Thou callest me contemptuously and scoffingly “man of God;” but the Lord will show thee, that I am such—thou shalt experience it. [Patrick quotes a gloss of Abarbinel to this effect: “If I be a man of God, as thou gayest, but dost not think, then I am not bound to obey the king but God, nor am I subject to his power, but to God’s, who will make thee know that He judges in the earth.”]—[And there came down fire from heaven, &c. These words do not convey an intelligible description of any physical event of which we can conceive. If we try to realize the incident in imagination we find it impossible. It is not the ordinary difficulty which attaches to an ordinary miracle. There we cannot tell how a thing came to pass, though we can see what the record means to assert. We can imagine that a man who never had spoken should open his mouth and speak, though we cannot conceive how he could be enabled to do so. Here, however, the words do not describe any external phenomenon which is conceivable, not to say anything about the difficulty which attaches to every miracle of seeing how it was done. We cannot tell what the author means to assert to have come to pass, for the words by which he refers to it do not give us a sufficient description of it. It is evident, therefore, that they refer back vaguely to a terrible judgment, the accurate literal details of which were lost. It was only thus remembered as something strange, shocking, and supernatural. See Histor. § 5, where Bähr seems inclined to take the statement figuratively, as a designation of the vengeance of God.—W. G. S.] The second captain who was sent (2Ki_1:11) surpasses the first, instead of taking warning by his fate, in that he adds to the “Come down!” מְהֵרָה, “quickly,” thereby insinuating a threat. How the king received information of the destruction of his two expeditions we cannot determine, as no hint is given of it. The Berleburger Bibel says that the people of the neighborhood acquainted him with it.—שְׁלִשִׁים 2Ki_1:13 cannot mean “for the third time” (de Wette). If it cannot be referred to the fifty, as Keil explained it in his earlier edition, then we must read שְׁלִשׁי as Thenius does, i.e., “a third,” according to the story which immediately follows.—Afraid of him (2Ki_1:15), i.e., not, as Thenius would have it taken, “of the captain,” but “of the king” (Seb. Smith, Keil), for it is clear that מִפָּנָיו is opposed to אוֹתוֹ. He goes down with him to the king. One would be glad to learn something more about the meeting of Elijah and Ahaziah, but the account is here (2Ki_1:16-17), as in fact throughout, very brief and even disjointed. On that very account, however, it is the more pregnant, and bears the more distinctly the character of genuineness and originality. In later times events were not narrated in such compressed form. Here, just as in other cases, Elijah reappears suddenly, and disappears again, and no one knows whence he comes or whither he goes. The manner in which Krummacher delineates Elijah’s meeting with Ahaziah (Elias der Thisb., s. 347) is indeed captivating, but, nevertheless, entirely arbitrary.—In 2Ki_1:17, the Sept., the Syriac version, and the Vulgata and after “Jehoram,” “his brother.” (Cf. 2Ki_3:1, where he is called the son of Ahab.) On the date of his succession, In the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, which it is extremely difficult to fix, see notes on 2Ki_8:16.
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. The reign of Jehoshaphat was a very successful and prosperous one for Judah, both internally and externally, as is clear from the detailed account of the Chronicles. The author does not enter more particularly into the details of its history, evidently because from the time of the division of the kingdom on, his main object was rather to give a representation of the monarchy in Israel until its downfall. When, however, after a more general description of the reign of Jehoshaphat, he states that that king caused ships to be built which were intended to bring gold from Ophir (1Ki_22:48-50), that is not a disconnected statement which was inserted accidentally or arbitrarily, but it stands in immediate connection with the preceding general characterization, and supplements it in an essential point. One cannot fail to recognize that there is therein a reference back to the time of Solomon, who first established a regular commerce with Ophir, and by that, as a principal means, laid the foundation for the wealth and prosperity of his kingdom (2Ki_9:26-28; 2Ki_10:11; 2Ki_10:22 sq.; 2Ch_9:21 sq.). Jehoshaphat’s aim, after he had established legal order in his dominions as far as possible, reduced the neighboring peoples to subjection again, and concluded peace with the brother kingdom, was to restore those times of prosperity, and to bring his realm up to the height of that of Solomon once more. The glory of the kingdom, however, as it had existed under Solomon, was, according to the purpose of God, forever gone by (see 1 Kings 12; Histor. § 2). Its return was not a part of the divine plan of salvation, and every human attempt to restore it must necessarily fail. The fleet of Jehoshaphat went down in the harbor of Ezion-geber, even before it had sailed out, and that, too, not by human fault, but by a storm, that is to say, by a dispensation of God.
2. As regards his relation to Jehovah, which was the main point for every Israelitish king, Ahaziah was one of the very worst of them. This is marked, in the general description, by the fact that it is said of him, not only that “he did evil in the sight of the Lord,” and “walked in the ways of Jeroboam,” but that it is also added, “in the way of his father,” nay even also (which is observed of no other king), “in the way of his mother,” the fanatical, idolatrous, and bloodthirsty Jezebel, who was still living, and perhaps controlled him even more than she had controlled his father. All the acts of God during the reign of his father, of which he had been eye-witness and ear-witness, the proofs of God’s power, long-suffering, and justice, even the tragical end of Ahab, had made no impression upon him. All had passed by him, and left no effect behind. For this very reason, then, in the first place, he is worse than Ahab. That he surpassed him in his alienation from Jehovah became apparent at the approach of his early death. So far from being brought to his senses by the unfortunate accident which ultimately caused his death, and seeking refuge in the God of his fathers, he sent messengers to a foreign divinity to seek counsel and help from him. He thereby transgressed not only the general and chief commandment (Exo_20:3), but also the special commandment (Lev_19:31; Lev_20:6; Lev_20:27; Deu_18:10-11), which threatened with extermination those who questioned soothsayers and wizards. That was a public and practical declaration that he esteemed the Fly-god of the Philistines above the living God of Israel; and it was a formal degradation and contempt, even an insult, of the latter. Such a crime had not previously been committed by a king, and, if ever, then certainly now, the time was come for the zealous defender of the name of the God of Israel to “break forth like a fire” (Sir_48:1) from his concealment, and to announce to the bold scoffer the divine retribution. Even this terrible announcement, however, was not sufficient to humble the dying man or to bring him to repentance; it rather embittered him and filled him with anger, and even with plans of murder. He sends out a band of myrmidons, in order to get possession of the person of the prophet, and when these meet with a frightful fate, he does not even yet recognize in it the hand of the Almighty, but, with a display of impotent stubbornness, sends out a new hand of men. But neither does the destruction of this company also bend his hard and stubborn disposition; he sends out a third time a band of soldiers. All this he does while on his death-bed, face to face with death, so completely has all reverence for what is sacred abandoned him, and been supplanted by a stubbornness and wilfulness which extends even to madness. Ahab even had bowed himself and humbled himself (1Ki_21:27) when Elijah announced to him the judgment of God; Jeroboam even sent, when his son was sick, to the prophet Ahijah (1Ki_14:2); but Ahaziah perseveres in his senseless perversity, and so falls far below both of these. At last, however, he is obliged to hear his condemnation from the mouth of the prophet, when he is, as it were, bound hand and foot, and only death overcomes his stubborn heart.
3. The Prophet Elijah appears in general here, just as he always has up to this point, as the ἀνὴρ προφήτης δυνατὸς ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ ἐν λόγῳ (cf. Luk_24:19). He steps forth suddenly from obscurity, “as it were borne on by the storm, with his fiery strength and his fiery tongue” (Ewald). His weighty, irresistible personality, and his forcible, energetic speech, make such an impression on the messengers of the king, who do not know him (2Ki_1:8), that they do not dare to carry out the orders of their despotic master, but turn back without further action. As always, so also here, “when they sought to seize him and make him a prisoner, he was not to be reached;” the emissaries came to disgrace. Without fear, courageous and unterrified, he appears before the king himself, as he had once done before his father, and announces to the fixed and stubborn man his approaching death. Moreover, in this case, where he has to deal with apostasy in its extremest form, one side of his peculiar calling and position in the historical development of the plan of salvation comes into especial relief, namely, the function of avenging judge. As the second Moses, and second founder of the broken covenant, it was his task, before all else, to bear witness, both by word and deed, to the wrath and fiery jealousy of God against anything idolatrous (see above, the Historical notes on 1 Kings 17 § 1). He is the representative and instrument of the jealousy of the divine Judge, the herald of the divine retributive justice, and on that account the prototype of all the forerunners of the great and terrible day of judgment (Mal_4:5); so that Sirach (Sir_48:10), at the end of his eulogy of him, says: ὁ καταγραφεὶς ἐν ἐλεγμοῖς εἰς καιροὺς κοπάσαι ὀργὴν πρὸ θυμοῦ. It is characteristic that Elijah finishes his public activity, which had been directed against apostasy, by an act in the capacity of a judge, and thereby seals, as it were, the position which he occupies in the history of salvation.
4. The two leaders who perish, together with their soldiers, are not to be considered “simply as tools of a will which opposed itself to Jehovah;” so that “the question whether their fate was a just punishment or not is an idle one” (Thenius). On the contrary, they participated in the feelings of their master (συμβαίνοντες τῷ σκοπῷ τοῦ πεπομφότος, says Theodoret justly), as is seen from the fact that they, as faithful myrmidons of their abandoned master, scoff at the greatest of all prophets, whom they, too, know to be such. They despised in him the holy and almighty God of Israel, whose servant he was. The third captain was also a “tool” of the king; but he did not share in his feelings, and was spared just on that account. Whereas in his case the address, “Man of God,” was an expression of conviction and respect, it had been conscious, intentional, and insolent contempt in the mouth of both the others. They are representatives of the apparent power of the apostate, godless monarchy, which seeks to oppose the divine purpose by human power, and which, when it has already experienced the uselessness of opposition, nevertheless still perseveres in its criminal obstinacy, until it proves its own impotence, and then finally perishes. That was destined to hold good here, which Moses once said in a similar case: “And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown those that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble” (Exo_15:7); and also what Isaiah prophesied of the astrologers, &c., of Babylon: “Behold they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame.”
5. The conduct of Elijah towards the captains has given offence on the supposition of their innocence, and has been made a ground of blame against the prophet. Winer (R.-W.-B. i. s. 318) fails to find the “moral” of it, and Ewald (Geschichte Israels, iii. s. 546; 3d ed., s. 588) sees in this action a proof that this narrative springs from a much later time than the other ones about Elijah, i.e., from a time when the history of the prophet had been expanded beyond the limits which had been observed earlier, and had been moulded in more and more gigantic proportions, and in a much stiffer manner; so that “one might almost say that a Brahminic-Indian legend upon the acts of some Jogin had been produced from it.” Even in earlier times it seems to have been believed that Christ, at least indirectly, expressed disapproval of Elijah (Luk_9:55) when he rebuked (ἐπετίμησε) his disciples who wished to do ὡς καὶ ’Ηλίας ἐποίησε, so that these words are omitted in some otherwise important manuscripts, and in the Vulgata, in order not to endanger the reputation of the prophet. This view rests, however, upon an entire misconception of the narrative before us, and of the relation between the economy of the Old and the New Testaments. For we have here not the act of revenge of a prophet who was instigated by personal jealousy, but an act of divine judgment, and a revelation of God’s wrath against all godlessness and wickedness of men, who “hold the truth in unrighteousness” [restrain the truth in a spirit of unrighteousness]. (Rom_1:18; Rom_2:5). All judgments of God are represented in the Old Testament as a consuming fire (Num_11:1; Num_16:35; Deu_32:22; Psa_21:9 sq.; Isa_26:11; Eze_15:6-7; Job_20:26, &c). He himself even, in His retributive justice, is called a consuming fire (Deu_4:24; Deu_9:3; cf. Heb_12:29; Heb_10:27). It is, therefore, perfectly in accordance with the concrete and literal character which the Old Testament economy bears throughout, that this actual fire should be the form of revelation of the divine wrath, so that in many places we can hardly distinguish whether it is intended to be taken literally or figuratively. Just as once the rebellious host of Koran was consumed by fire, and so Moses’ authority, as the servant of God, was ratified (Num_16:35), so the scoffing band of the idolatrous Ahaziah perished, and thereby the second Moses was corroborated as the man of God. As an act of divine judgment this catastrophe lacks “moral” so little that it is rather a revelation of the highest moral intensity—a testimony to the unchangeable justice and holiness of God. Whoever finds it shocking must be still more shocked at the prophetic declaration—“God is jealous and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies. Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him” (Nah_1:2-6). Christ does not blame Elijah, but His disciples, because in their dissatisfaction, which was just enough in itself, they did not distinguish between the time of Elijah and the time which had begun with Him, the promised Son of Man and σωτήρ, and entirely mistook Him, that is to say, His calling and station in the plan of redemption, as contrasted with that of Elijah. Menken remarks on the passage before us: “Any one who is acquainted, even in a slight degree, with the theocratical constitution of Israel; any one who sees how necessary such acts of God and of His prophets were, for the confusion and overthrow of idol-worship, and for the foundation and conservation of the knowledge and adoration of the one sole living God; any one who has a genuine love to God, and a zeal that the name of God shall be kept holy upon earth: such an one will not be repelled by this action of God and His prophet. Many, however, with whom this is not the case, who, themselves indifferent towards God and His kingdom, would gladly have all dispositions of men towards God regarded as insignificant, have been repelled by it; they have imputed to the prophet therein a carnal and unholy violence, and an angry-spirited and revengeful jealousy, and have blamed him accordingly.…. Elijah might do much which was not becoming for Jesus the suffering Lamb of God.…. In his position and in his time he had to be rather terrible and grand than mild and lovely; he had to punish, condemn, and revenge, rather than to teach, forgive, and console.…. His calling was to be, not a fire to warm, but a consuming flame against unrighteousness and godlessness.”
6. To try to explain and do away with what is miraculous in this narrative is vain labor, as it is in other and similar cases. The naturalistic explanation, which points to lightning or the fiery wind-simoom, or to a forcible scattering of the troops by the numerous “sons [disciples] of the prophets” (Exeget. Handbuch on the passage), has indeed been abandoned; but, on the other hand, the entire story has been explained as mythical or legendary, and reference has been made to “parallel passages in the classics.” “When the Persians advance against the temple at Delphi, lightnings descend from heaven upon them (Herod. viii. 37); and when the Gauls under Brennus are going to storm Delphi, there occurs an earthquake with storm and hail, whereby great destruction is caused among them (Justin. xxiv. 8).” The legend “expresses only the general idea that the Divinity protects His favorites at all times, even by unusual means, and hears their prayers even when they ask for what is extraordinary” (Knobel, Prophet. der Hebräer, ii. s. 82; Rödiger, Hall. Encyc., i. 33, s. 322). This view fails utterly to perceive, in the first place, that the thing to be accomplished here is a judgment upon the apostate and stubborn king and his emissaries, and that the protection which is given to Elijah is only a subordinate matter. What necessity was there then for just such a judgment, if nothing more was to be expressed by it than this general idea, which might have been affirmed in a hundred other ways? What parallel there is, finally, between the Persians and Gauls who advanced against Delphi, and perished by lightning and earthquake, and the soldiers whom Ahaziah sent out against Elijah, it is difficult to see, for one might as well find parallels to this narrative in all the accidents wherein men have perished, while on the way hither and thither, by lightning or earthquake.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1Ki_22:41-50. Würtb. Summ.: All Christian rulers and governors ought to follow the example of the pious king Jehoshaphat—to do what is pleasing to God, to walk in His ways without departing from them, to maintain and extend pure religion, to remove and destroy what is evil, and especially not to permit whoredom, but with earnestness to do away with it and punish it, and to guard themselves from having too much intercourse with godless persons, or from entering into any covenant with them, because this leads to no good, as indeed Jehoshaphat got only danger and loss by it. Every one should profit by the life-experience of Jehoshaphat. All that he undertook according to God’s word and will went on fortunately and attained good success, and was attended with blessing; but all that he undertook in conjunction with Ahab and Ahaziah turned out unfortunately: there was no blessing upon that.
1Ki_22:44-47. See notes on 2Ki_15:12; 2Ki_15:14.
1Ki_22:49. The heart of man proposes its own way, but the Lord alone allows it to proceed therein. (Pro_16:9.) He often confounds our purposes and destroys our plans, which reach so far and so high, that we may not become puffed up, but learn to yield to His holy will and to say: “It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good” (1Sa_3:18).
1Ki_22:50. What God has clearly destroyed, as a punishment, that let us not build up again at the counsel or demand of any man; for, when He breaks in pieces, it cannot avail to build again (Job_12:14).—So Jehoshaphat would not build again. The offers of a man who had departed from God, even if he offer thee ever so much profit and pleasantness, do thou reject with determined will; for “what is a man profited,” &c. (Mat_16:26.)
1Ki_22:51-53. Starke: It is bad enough indeed when one or the other of one’s parents is godless, but how much more when neither fears God? How can we hope for the good nurture of children in that case? The power of example is not greater in any relation than in that of parents to children. The way in which the father or mother walks has more influence upon the children than all the doctrines and teachings which they give them.—Würtb. Summ.: It is not praiseworthy, nor a thing which one can satisfactorily answer for before God, if the parents and ancestors have been godless or the adherents of a false religion, that the children should do the same and follow in their footsteps;.… it will not suffice before God to say: “I believe what my parents and ancestors believed. They were of this religion, and I will not believe that they have been damned.”
2Ki_1:2-8. Wirth: King Ahaziah on his deathbed, (a) The sending to Ekron; (b) the message of the prophet.
2Ki_1:2-4. Krummacher: The journey to Ekron. (a) The seeking for refuge in Ekron; (b) the jealousy of God; (c) Jesus the only refuge (in Him rests our confidence and strength). 2Ki_1:2-17. In Ahaziah we see the folly of godlessness (Psa_14:1-2). (a) In the dark valley, in which he must journey, he seizes, not upon the staff and support which could comfort him (Psa_23:4), but upon a stalk of straw; he makes a work of man’s hands his consolation in life and in death; that is the height of folly. (b) He will hear nothing of death, and hates and persecutes him who reminds him of death; death comes, however; it is inevitable. To avoid every thought of death, and to escape from everything which may remind us of it, is the greatest folly, for we must all depart sometime (Psa_39:5), and appear before Him who will give to each according to his deeds (Rom_2:6). (c) He sends soldiers against the prophet who announces to him the judgment of God, and thinks that he can thereby set aside the judgment itself. But to attempt to do away with the truth of God, and to accomplish something perforce against the decision of God by means of human power and might, is the greatest folly.
2Ki_1:1-2. God does not leave himself without a witness even in the case of those who have long ago abandoned Him and turned their backs upon Him. He seeks with all labor and care to call them home. Well is it for them, then, if they understand the testimony, and do not, like Ahaziah, become still more stubborn.
2Ki_1:2. If a man has once torn himself away from the living God and His Word, he does not, as infidelity pretends, become wiser and more enlightened, but only too often he becomes the prey of the most insipid and foolish superstition. How many do not believe in an holy, omniscient, and just God, to whom they must give an account of all they do and leave undone, but on the contrary in ghosts, or in the word of a gypsy, and seize upon the most senseless means in need and sickness. It is possible to so lose God that one does not find Him even when face to face with death.—Krummacher: Instead of the oracle at Ekron we have to-day clairvoyants and mesmerists; and even if we do not have soothsayers and persons who foretell by cards (the number of whom, however, among the common people, is far greater than is commonly believed), still there are “signs” and dreams upon which people trust, and on which they rest the peace of their hearts, as if it were upon oracles from idols.… While people smile at the magicians of earlier times, and their arts, with a mien of superiority, they are not ashamed to take refuge in all sorts of amulets, or to expect help now from this and now from that sympathetic cure.…. Is that not “going to Ekron?” [Comprehensive Commentary: The inquiry of Ahaziah “was very foolish. We should be more thoughtful of our duty than our fortune, what will become of us after death, than how, or when, or where, we shall die; and more desirous to be told how to conduct ourselves well in sickness, and get good to our souls by it, than whether we shall recover.”]
2Ki_1:3. Würtb. Summ.: All those who make use of formulæ of blessing or other irregular means, in sickness, seek help from Baal-zebub. God has given an example in the case of Ahaziah, how angry He is at this, and how severely He means to punish such idolatry.—Is it then because, &c. Wirth: The men of our time run hither and thither in their dissatisfaction and need of help. Is there then no longer any God in our nineteenth century, that men do not take refuge in Him? Is there then no Gospel, which is the power of God, and a light upon our pathway? Is there then no longer a Saviour Jesus Christ, who calls: “behold, I make all things new?”—The Word of God is the sole, true, and correct oracle, which we are to question, and to take counsel of, in every circumstance of life, and in all darkness and doubt. This generation, however, seeks light, wisdom, and truth among the Philistines, the wise and prudent of this world, who give out that the Word of the Lord is an old and unreliable book which no longer satisfies the existing grade of cultivation. [“They that will not inquire of the Word of God for their comfort shall be made to hear it, whether they will or no, to their amazement.”]—That ye go, &c. Who-soever lends himself to be the messenger and servant of superstition, and of contempt for God, makes himself a participant in the guilt of them; we must obey God rather than man.
2Ki_1:4-8. If the messengers had brought to the king a declaration of the Fly-god, he would have accepted it with faith, but he rejected the word of the prophet because it did not conform to his wishes; nay, it even filled him with anger and plans of murder. Men value the falsehood which flatters their inclinations and wishes, higher than the truth which corrects them and demands sacrifices and penitence of them.
2Ki_1:7-8. He who preaches penitence, conversion, sacrifice, and self-denial, to others, but still shows by all his conduct and external behavior, that he himself loves the world, and what is in the world, and that he is not above the world, such an one belongs to the false prophets, with whom we must be upon our guard.
2Ki_1:9-17. Krummacher: The sermon in fire. (a) Ahaziah’s attack upon Elijah; (b) the prophet’s victory; (c) Ahaziah’s end.—Wirth: Elijah as messenger of the judgment of God. (a) The annihilation of the two fifties; (b) the sparing of the third fifty; (c) a visit to the sick-bed.—The judgment of God upon Ahaziah and his troops an image of the great and terrible day of the Lord (see the Historical section) for the warning of all scoffers and stubborn contemners of God.—Elijah in truth a Man of God. (a) How he sustains himself in that position in his relations to God (viz., by faithful obedience and faithful courage); (b) how God sustains him in it in relation to his enemies (viz., by powerful protection, and by the annihilation of his enemies, Psa_91:1 sq.),
2Ki_1:9. Every servant of the Lord who is really earnest in his office must make up his mind that rude, low, and godless men will scorn him and name him “Man of God” in mockery. Although no fire from heaven falls down to destroy them, yet the word of the Lord stands firm for all time: “He that despiseth you,” &c. (Luk_10:16), and the Lord will not leave those unpunished who despise Him in His servants, and exercise their wit upon the calling of reconciliation (Isa_41:10-11).—Great rulers always find people who will lend themselves as instruments of their perverted will, who execute, with exactness and without scruple, what “the king says,” but do not trouble themselves at all about what God says.
2Ki_1:11 sq. Hall: It is the sure sign of approaching ruin when men will not allow themselves to be warned. Those deserve only to be made examples of punishment who will not take warning from the example of others.
2Ki_1:13 sq. God does not let anything be forced from Him by pertinacity, but to the humble He grants grace. That which can never be gained by perseverance and resistance, is reached by earnest, humble, and sincere prayer.—Osiander: If we perform our duty, God has the hearts of men in His hand in such a way that He leads them whither He will. So it often happens that those who seek to kill us in our absence, in our presence dare not open their mouths (Joh_7:44-46).
2Ki_1:15-16. A minister of God must not fear to hold up their sins before sinners and scoffers upon the death-bed, and to draw their attention to the judgment of God, in order that, if possible, even in the last hour, they may come to a knowledge of that which belongs to their peace, for (Eze_33:8-9), to offer eternal blessedness to the rich and great, instead of calling them to repentance, is the worst transgression of a prophet.—To conceal the approach of his end from one who is sick unto death, and to hold all thoughts of it from him, or even to console him with false hopes of recovery, is no genuine love; for no man can be properly prepared for death who does not think of it often and much. He who in days of health has often, in the presence of God, thought upon death, does not shrink before the message: “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” (Isa_38:1.)
2Ki_1:9-16. Elijah and the Disciples of Jesus who wish to imitate Him (Luk_9:51-57). (a) The reason why He blames and rebukes them; (b) whereto He calls and encourages them (see Historical, § 5).
Footnotes:
[1][The correct translation of יהוה, rendered in our version by Lord, would be The Eternal. This may be regarded as a standing correction.]
[2]2Ki_1:11.—The Sept. [Cod. Alex.] have here καὶ ἀνέβη, καὶ ἐλάλησεν, so that they read וַיַּעַל for וַיַּעַן. Thenius and Keil adopt this reading, citing 2Ki_1:9; 2Ki_1:13.
[3]2Ki_1:12.—[Sept. for אֲלֵיהֶם, πρὸς αὐτόν, a necessary emendation.
[4]2Ki_1:13.—[שְׁלִשִׁי must be read for שְׁלִשִׁים with Thenius and Keil.
[5]2Ki_1:15.—[אוֹתוֹ has the form of the accusative sign with suffix, instead of אִתּוֹ the preposition. The distinction is not observed in the later language. Ewald, Lehrbuch d. hebr. Spr. § 264, b. and Ges. § 103, 1. R. 1.—The suffix in מִפָּנָיו refers to the king.—W. G. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 15, 17 AHAZIAH'S JUDGMENT BY ELIJAH. (Kg2 1:2-8)
AHAZIAH'S JUDGMENT BY ELIJAH. (Kg2 1:2-8)
Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber--This lattice was either a part of the wooden parapet, or fence, which surrounds the flat roofs of houses, and over which the king was carelessly leaning when it gave way; or it might be an opening like a skylight in the roof itself, done over with lattice-work, which, being slender or rotten, the king stepped on and slipped through. This latter supposition is most probably the true one, as Ahaziah did not fall either into the street or the court, but "in his upper chamber."
Read full note →
inquire of Baalzebub--Anxious to learn whether he should recover from the effects of this severe fall, he sent to consult Baalzebub, that is, the god of flies, who was considered the patron deity of medicine. A temple to that idol was erected at Ekron, which was resorted to far and wide, though it afterwards led to the destruction of the place (Zac 9:5; Amo 1:8; Zep 2:4). "After visiting Ekron, 'the god of flies' is a name that gives me no surprise. The flies there swarmed, in fact so innumerably, that I could hardly get any food without these troublesome insects getting into it" [VAN DE VELDE].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17 AHAZIAH’S SICKNESS AND REPROOF BY ELIJAH, 2Ki_1:1-8.
AHAZIAH’S SICKNESS AND REPROOF BY ELIJAH, 2Ki_1:1-8.
1. Moab rebelled — The Moabites had been subjected to Israel in the time of David, (2Sa_8:2,) and until the death of Ahab were a tributary nation. 2Ki_3:4. This notice of the rebellion seems to be introduced here with an implied reference to the sickness of Ahaziah, which is immediately mentioned, as if it were one reason why no effort was made during this monarch’s reign to subdue the rebellion. The history of this revolt of Moab is resumed again at 2Ki_3:4.
Read full note →
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
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17 commonly called,
THE
SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS,
Read full note →
commonly called,
THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS
Ch. 2Ki_1:1-18. Sickness of Ahaziah, King of Israel. His messengers sent to enquire of Baalzebub are destroyed by Elijah. Ahaziah dying is succeeded by his brother Jehoram (Not in Chronicles)
1. Then [R.V. And] Moab rebelled against Israel] The conjunction is the simple copulative. The less severance that is made between the portion of Ahaziah’s history in 1 Kings and that which is given in this chapter the better. The so-called two books of Kings are but one, and the division has been made quite arbitrarily and in the middle of a reign.
We have no record in Scripture how Moab came to be subject to Israel; but the inscription on the Moabite stone shews us that Israel and Moab were in conflict in the days of Omri, Ahab’s father. Of their previous subjugation by David we read 2Sa_8:2, after which we have no mention of them till this passage. It is by no means improbable that on the secession of the ten tribes, the Moabites became subjects of Israel, as the tribes on the east of Jordan all appertained to the northern kingdom. The death of Ahab, and the national prostration of the Israelites after their defeat at Ramoth Gilead would be counted a good opportunity for the Moabites to strike a blow for their freedom. The heavy burden laid upon them is seen from 2Ki_3:4 where their tribute is specified as ‘an hundred thousand lambs and an hundred thousand rams with their wool’. Cf. also Isa_16:1. We know from the history of the settlement of the Israelites (Num_32:1-4) how well suited for cattle rearing were some parts of the Transjordanic country. From the nature of the Moabite tribute it is very likely that their whole wealth was in their flocks and herds.
after the death of Ahab] Ahab’s death was quite unexpected, and perhaps no long time elapsed between that event and Ahaziah’s fall. Affairs were sure to be out of joint, and would invite subjects who felt their yoke heavy to try and cast it off.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–18 (1) Then.—And.
1. THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH CONTINUED.
EPISODE CONCERNING ELIJAH.
Read full note →
(1) Then.—And.
Moab rebelled against Israel.—David reduced Moab to vassalage (2Sa_8:2; comp. 2Ki_23:20). After that event, Scripture is silent as to the fortunes of Moab. It probably took occasion of the troubles which ensued upon the death of Solomon, to throw off the yoke of Israel. The famous Moabite stone suplements the sacred history by recording the war of liberation which Mesha, king of Moab, successfully waged against the successors of Ahab. The inscription opens thus: “I am Mesha, son of Chemosh-gad, king of Moab the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father. And I made this bamah (“high place,” “pillar”) for Chemosh in Korha, a bamah of salvation, for he saved me from all the assailants, and let me see my desire upon mine enemies . . . Omri, king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. And his son (i.e., Ahab) succeeded him, and he, toe, said, ‘I will oppress Moab.’ In mỵ days he said (it), but I saw my desire upon him and his house, and Israel perished utterly for ever. And Omri occupied the land of Medeba, and dwelt therein, and (they oppressed Moab he and) his son forty years. And Chemosh looked (?) on it (i.e., Moab) in my days.” From this unique and unhappily much injured record it appears that Omri had reduced Moab again to subjection, and that Ahab, who, like his father, was a strong sovereign, had maintained his hold upon the country. The death of Ahab and the sickness of Ahaziah would be Moab’s opportunity. The revolt of Moab is mentioned here parenthetically. The subject is continued in 2Ki_3:4-27. (See the Notes there.)
(2–16) A new and (according to Ewald and Thenius) later fragment of the history of Elijah.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 Vers. 1-18. THE REVOLT OF MOAB. THE ILLNESS, IMPIETY,…
Vers. 1-18. THE REVOLT OF MOAB. THE ILLNESS, IMPIETY, AND DEATH OF AHAZIAH The narrative of the Second Book of Kings follows on that of the First Book in the closest possible sequence. The history of Ahaziah"s reign begins in 1Ki_22:51, and is carried on, without any real break or pause in the sense, to 2Ki_1:18. How the two books came to be divided at this point is quite inexplicable. The division is most unhappy. Not only does it, without apparent reason, draw a strong line of demarcation in the middle of a reign; but it separates what it was evidently the intention of the writer most closely to connect viz. the sins of the monarch and their punishment. Ahaziah began his reign by openly showing himself a devotee of Baal by "walking in the way of his father and in the way of his mother," the wicked Jezebel: therefore calamity immediately smote him first Moab rebelled, threw off the Israelite yoke, and re-established its independence; and then, within a short space, Ahaziah himself met with an accident which produced a dangerous illness. The writer relates barely the former fact, but enlarges on the latter, which gave occasion for one of the most remarkable of the miracles of Elijah.
Then Moab rebelled; literally, and Moab rebelled, but with an idea, not merely of sequence, but of consequence. The "Moabite Stone," discovered in 1869, throws considerable light on the character and circumstances of this rebellion. Moab had, we know, been subjected by, (2Sa_8:2) and had been very severely treated. Either in the reign of Solomon, or more probably at his death, and the disruption of his kingdom, the Moabites had revolted, and resumed an independent position, which they had maintained until the reign of Omri. Omri, who was a warlike monarch, the greatest of the Israelite monarchs after Jeroboam, after settling himself firmly upon the throne of Israel, attacked the Moabite territory, and in a short time reduced it, making the native king, Chemoshgad, his tributary. At the death of Omri, Ahab succeeded to the suzerainty, and maintained it during his lifetime, exacting a tribute that was felt as a severe "oppression". (Moabite Stone, line 6; comp. 2Ki_3:4) The death of Ahab in battle and the defeat of his army encouraged Mesha, who had succeeded his father, Chemosh-gad, to raise the standard of revolt once more, and to emancipate his country after a period of subjection which he estimates roughly at "forty years." The "Stone" is chiefly occupied with an account of the steps by which he recovered his territory. After the death of Ahab. Probably, as soon as he heard of it. In Oriental empires the death of a brave and energetic monarch is constantly the signal for a general revolt of the subject peoples. They entertain a hope that his successor will not inherit his vigor and capacity.
Read full note →
Vers. 1-18. The short reign of Ahaziah: his sins, and their punishment.
For homiletic purposes we must attach to this chapter the last three verses of the First Book of the Kings. We find in that passage a short but very complete account of the general character of Ahaziah"s sins; we find in this chapter a tolerably full account of one great act of sin, and a clear declaration of the manner in which that act and his other sins were punished. It will be well to consider separately
(1) the sins;
(2) their aggravations; and
(3) their punishment.
I THE SINS. These were three in number:
(1) walking in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, (1Ki_22:52) or maintaining the calf-worship the hereditary will-worship of the northern kingdom, introduced by Jeroboam, the first non-Davidic king, and thenceforth continued uninterruptedly by each successive Israelite monarch;
(2) walking in the way of his father neglecting the worship of Jehovah, persecuting his prophets, practically proscribing the old religion, and probably ruling with harshness and cruelty; and
(3) walking in the way of his mother Baal and worshipping him, (1Ki_22:53) maintaining the Phoenician sensualistic cult, which Jezebel had introduced from Zidon, (1Ki_16:31) and which was of a most demoralizing and debasing character. It was, primarily, under this third head that the special act of sin fell which forms the main subject of 2Ki 1.
II THEIR AGGRAVATIONS. Ahaziah might have been expected to have learnt wisdom by experience, to have taken to heart the warning "furnished by his father"s life and death, and at least to have avoided the sins which had brought down upon the king and upon the kingdom so terrible a blow, so signal and severe a punishment. But, on the contrary, he went beyond his father in the great sin for which his lather was punished, viz. apostasy from Jehovah to Baal. Ahab had always been half-hearted in his irreligion he would, and he would not; he strove to combine an acknowledgment of Jehovah with a practical devotion to his rival; he gave both his sons names which placed them under the protection of Israel"s true God; he at one time "humbled himself before Jehovah" and "fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly"; (1Ki_21:27, 1Ki_21:29) he consented to inquire of a prophet of the Lord at the request of Jehoshaphat; (1Ki_22:9) he had no dealings, that we know of, with the foreign Baalistic temples or oracles which abounded in Phoenicia and Philistia, and thus did not, at any rate, parade his contempt of Jehovah in the eyes of the adjoining nations. Ahaziah acted differently. He was a consistent, thorough-faced, out-and-out idolater. Jehovah was nothing to him; Baal was everything. We ought, perhaps, to view it as some extenuation of his sin that he would naturally be influenced to some extent by his mother, whatever her character, and that the strong, firm, and fierce character of Jezebel would naturally influence him to a large extent. But men are not mere creatures of circumstances; they have the power to resist influences no less than to yield to them, and are bound to consider the nature of the influences surrounding them, and to resist such as they perceive to be bad. There is no evidence that Ahaziah offered any resistance at all to Jezebel"s influences. He was the weak son of a wicked mother, and simply "walked in her way," As Ewald says, he "exhibited a far more decided inclination than Ahab had done to all sorts of heathenish superstitions" ("History of Israel," vol. 4. p. 77, Eng. trans.). He made a parade of his Baalistic leanings. He was obdurate and persistent, and despised warning after warning. A cruel hardness of heart, quite equal to his mother"s, is shown in his exposing to probable death a second and a third body of fifty men, rather than submit to Elijah, and own himself in the wrong. Thus he would appear to have reached, in his comparatively short life, a deeper depth of moral evil than his father in his longer one.
III THEIR PUNISHMENT. The revolt of the subject kingdom of Moab was the first punishment which befell the apostate king. He had to determine, on ascending the throne, what line he would take in religious matters whether he would maintain or abolish the Baal-worship, whether he would maintain or abolish the worship of the calves, whether he would persecute or protect the adherents of the Jehovistic religion. He decided to "walk in the way of his father and of his mother," and at once the first blow fell Moab revolted, and was successful. The mere attempt at revolt might have happened in any case, for Mesha would naturally have seized such an opportunity as the death of Ahab under such circumstances offered. But the God of battles determines success or failure, and Mesha"s unbroken series of victories (Moabite Stone, lines 9-33) were the consequence of Ahaziah"s guilt. As usual, "for the king"s offence the people bled." Seven thousand Israelite warriors were destroyed in one siege; the women and children were taken prisoners, and "devoted to Ashtar-Chemosh." There was widespread and extreme suffering. This should not surprise us. There is a solidarity between a king and his people, which unites them almost indissolubly in their fortunes and in their sins. The people follow the king"s example, and, partaking in his guilt, naturally and justly partake in his punishment (see the homiletics on 1Ki 22., pp. 542, 543). The king"s second punishment was personal It was permitted that an accident should befall him. Sitting in an upper chamber, i.e. in one not upon the ground floor, which had a latticed window, opening out probably on a garden, he rashly leant against it, when the fastenings or the woodwork gave way, and he was precipitated to the ground. The hurt received was serious, and forced him to take to his bed, where he lay probably in much pain and discomfort. Here was an opportunity for considering his ways, for asking himself what was amiss in them, for mourning over the sins which he had committed, (1Ki_22:52, 1Ki_22:53) and renouncing them and turning away from them. God"s judgments are sent to lead men to repentance. Prolonged lying on a sick-bed is especially favorable to meditation, self-examination, self-condemnation, penitence. But Ahaziah was obdurate. He thought nothing of the goodness of God in sparing his life, for the fall might well have been instantaneously fatal; he thought nothing of God"s mercy in giving him a time for reflection and amendment. He was merely impatient of his affliction, and anxious to have done with it. And in his impatience and obduracy he added sin to sin. Ignoring Jehovah and his prophets, through whom it was always possible to "inquire of the Lord", (1Ki_22:5-28) he makes his appeal to Baal. It is an ostentatious appeal. He sends a public embassy to consult the Baal of a foreign town. Then his final punishment is decreed. Hitherto his life had hung in the balance his fate had been in the hands of him with whom are the issues of life and death, now his own act had shut the gate of mercy. The sentence went forth from the mouth of God"s prophet, "Thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." Cut off in his youth, childless (ver. 17), he pays the fitting penalty of obstinate persistence in sin, and, after weeks or months of suffering, "goes to his own place." He "whom Jehovah upholds" becomes "he whom Jehovah destroys destroys after a short reign of little more than a year a reign disgraceful to himself and disastrous to his country.
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN. Vers. 1-4.
Seeking after strange gods: its cause and consequence.
We are here introduced to a kingly home. All the pomp of royalty is there. But it is not a happy home. To beta with, there is sickness in that home. Royalty, or rank, or riches cannot keep sickness out. Ahaziah had been looking through the window of his chamber, or, as some think, leaning over the frail baluster of wicker-work which ran round the roof on the inner or courtyard side, when the lattice-work gave way, and he was precipitated into the court beneath and seriously injured. But there are homes of sickness that are nevertheless happy homes. The sufferer is happy; the other members of the family are happy. Why? Because they all know that Jesus is there. They hear his voice saying, "It is I: be not afraid." They took Christ into their house when all was going well with them, and they find that he does not leave them when sickness comes. But it was not so with Ahaziah. How a man will bear sickness depends a good deal on what his life and character have been when he was in health. This is true physically. It is true also in a moral and spiritual sense. The bad man is generally afraid of sickness. Yes; for he is afraid of death. What about Ahaziah"s previous history? We have it summed up in the closing verses of 1 Kings. "He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin: for he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done." Oh, the tremendous influence of a bad example. Ahaziah was in alarm about this illness. He wanted to know if he was to recover. He had forsaken God when in health; perhaps he does not think that God would hear him now. Or perhaps he has been so hardened in sin that he really believes his heathen god can help him. So he sends messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub at Ekron, whether he would recover of his disease.
I THE CAUSE OF SEEKING AFTER STRANGE GODS. What is the secret of that idolatry which in all ages has taken such a hold of the human heart? Why is it that such a people as the Hebrews, descended from one who lived so entirely under the power of the invisible God as Abraham did they who in their Passover had a constant reminder of God"s existenceand power, and in their ten commandments a constant reminder of his mind and will, why is it that they so far forgot God as to sink into the degrading worship of the heathen deities? Or, to bring it more home to ourselves and our own surroundings, why is it that men and women who know that Christ died for them, who therefore know the priceless worth of their immortal souls, who bear in the very name of Christian a constant reminder of the Son of God, and who have in the precepts of the gospel the highest code of morality ever taught to man, why, is it that they too forget God, reject his mercy, set at naught his counsels, and writ have none of his reproof? Why is it that in our Christian land so many are living in practical heathenism? Why are they so few who read the Bible, and, of those who do read it, so few who obey its teachings? Why so many thousands who never enter the house of God? Why is it that a really religious daily newspaper it is almost impossible to find, while nearly all our daily newspapers largely devote themselves to advance the interests of the theatre, the race-course, and the betting-ring? Truly it may be said that our nation has gone after strange gods. What is the secret of it all? Largely this, the love of what is seen, more than of what is unseen. This is at the root of all idolatry. It is this that makes men such an easy prey to sin. They are absorbed in the interests and pleasures of the body only. They forget the interests of the immortal soul. They live for the present, but neglect the future. They live for self, but neglect God. They lay up treasure on earth, but have no treasure in heaven. We see this love of what is seen this going after strange gods in much of the philosophy of the present day. Men deny God, the God of the Bible, the intelligent, wise, powerful, provident, holy, loving Creator of the universe. And what do they substitute for him? A mere negation. At best matter or force. Here plainly they are absorbed in what is seen. They make a god of matter. They forget that only mind could produce mind, only soul could produce soul, that only an intelligent Being could produce the order and control the workings of the universe. Strange gods, indeed gods of which they have no certainty they set up in place of the God of our Christian faith. We see this loveof what is seen operating also in the case of the money-lover. It is not wrong to acquire wealth, provided it is rightly won and rightly used. But there are many who make a god of money. It occupies all their thoughts while they are awake. When they are asleep, they dream of it. Even the sabbath, supposed to be devoted to the worship of God, is often devoted to meditations on money and how to get it. Yet even for the present life there are things more precious than money. Men who sacrifice everything for money soon find that they have lost things which money cannot buy.
The world with stones instead of bread My hungry soul has always fed: It promised health; in one short hour Perished the fair but fragile flower.
It promised riches; in a day They made them wings and flew away. It promised friends; all sought their owns And left my widowed heart alone.
And then what shall we say of the folly of those who, while making ample provision for this short life, have made none for the life that is to come? "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Let us beware of making a god of money. We see the same love of what is seen entering even into the Church of God. There is too much tendency, even in the Christian Church, to worship earthly rank, to attend to the rich and neglect the poor. How often have our Churches made a god of custom, of the traditions of men, of public opinion, of expediency and worldly policy I Images and pictures are set up to aid in the worship of him of whom it is said that "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
II THE CONSEQUENCE OF SEEKING AFTER STRANGE GODS. "But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the King of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." The strange deity that Ahaziah sought after had not served him much. Strange gods have never been much help to those who seek after them. They have not helped the heathen nations, but their degrading and demoralizing worship has always been a source of weakness and decay. It is the same with all the strange gods that men serve everywhere with all the passions and desires to gratify which they spend their energies and time. We read of King Ahaz that he turned away from the true God to serve the gods of Damascus, because Syria enjoyed prosperity. He said, "Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me? But, says the Bible narrative, they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel". (2Ch_28:23) How many a man has done like Ahaz turned his back upon God, and found that the strange gods whom he served proved to be his ruin! Many a man has lived without God when in health, who was very glad to seek him when sickness came and death was drawing nigh. It is told of a skeptic called Saunderson, who was a great admirer of Sir Isaac Newton"s talents, but who made light of his religion when in health, that when on his death-bed he was heard to say, in mournful entreaty, "God of Sir Isaac Newton, have mercy on me!" But, as many a one has found, it may be too late then to seek the Lord. Such are the consequences of seeking after strange gods. The same message which was sent to Ahaziah will one day be sent to us this part at least: "Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." The way to prepare for that message is to accept the messages of life. The way to prepare for sickness is so serve God while in health. C.H.I
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-8.
Worldly royalty and personal godliness.
Moab rebelled against Israel," etc. The two Books of Kings, which form but one in the most correct and ancient edition of the Hebrews, whilst they constitute a very strange and significant history, are fraught with much moral and practical suggestion. These verses bring under our notice two subjects of thought worldly royalty in a humiliating condition, and personal godliness truly majestic.
I WORLDLY ROYALTY IN A HUMILIATING CONDITION.
1. Here is a king in mortal suffering. "And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick." Nature has no more respect for kings than for beggars; her laws treat them as ordinary mortals.
2. Here is a king in mental distress. On his bed of suffering the king"s mind was most painfully exercised as to what would be the issue of his bodily suffering. He sends messengers to the idols in order to ask whether "I shall recover of this disease." No doubt the fear of death distressed him, as indeed it distresses most.
3. Here is a king in superstitious darkness. He had no knowledge of the true God, no enlightened religious feeling, and he sent his messengers to an idol the god of flies-to know whether he should recover or not. What a humiliating condition for royalty to be in! And yet it is a condition in which kings and princes are often found. The other subject of thought here is
II PERSONAL GODLINESS TRULY MAJESTIC. Elijah is an example of personal godliness, though, in a worldly sense, he was very poor, and his costume seemed to be almost the meanest of the mean. "He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins." But see the majesty of this man in two things.
1. In receiving communication from heaven. "But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite." A truly godly man is ever in correspondence with Heaven; his "conversation is in heaven.
2. In reproving the king. "Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?" The thing called religion in many countries is just strong enough to reprove the poor, but too weak to thunder reproof into the ear of the corrupt and pleasure-seeking monarchs. In his reproof he pronounces on him the Divine judgment, "Thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
CONCLUSION. Which is the better, do you think a throne or a godly character? Fools only prefer the former; the man of sense, thoughtfulness, and reflection would say the latter. D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Ver. 1.
The revolt of Moab.
(On this cf. 2Ki 3) Moab, one of the conquests of David, (2Sa_8:2) perhaps regained its independence after the death of Solomon, and, if the Moabite Stone can be trusted, was again subdued by Omri, Ahab"s father. Now, on the occasion of the death of Ahab, it renewed the attempt to throw off the Israelitish yoke.
1. The original conquest had been not unstained by cruelty. These things burn into the memory of peoples.
2. The rule of Omri and Ahab had been most oppressive. (2Ki_3:4) Nothing else could be expected from these godless monarchs. "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel". (Pro_12:10) Half the rebellions and revolutions in the world have their origin in oppression and misgovernment.
3. Ahab and Israel had just sustained a severe defeat, that viz. at the hands of the Syrians. (1Ki 22) This weakened the Israelitish power, and gave a favorable opportunity for revolt. Those whom we hold in subjection by force, not love, cannot be blamed if they take the earliest opportunity to get rid of our yoke.
4. Israel and Moab were divided by religion. This is the deepest ground of severance among peoples, Nationalities based on different religious faiths constantly tend to fall asunder. Any unity in which they are held can be only external. The federation of the race can only be accomplished on the basis of the worship of the One Jehovah, and the one Lord Jesus Christ.
5. God used these revolts as a means of chastisement (cf. 1Ki_11:23) Under David, the greatest theocratic ruler, the kingdom was built up, consolidated, extended. The revolt from God, both in Judah and Israel, was signalized by the revolt of dependencies. Will our own Britain hold its foremost position among the nations, or will its greatness too decay, and its power be shorn by successive breaking off of its colonies? The answer, we believe, will depend very much on its fidelity to God. J.O.
Vers. 1-8.
Ahaziah"s sickness.
Son of a doomed house, (1Ki_21:29) Ahab"s successor on the throne reigned for two inglorious years. His evil character is described in the words, "He walked m the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to. (1Ki_22:52) A weak ruler, he was probably the mere tool of his mother Jezebel, whose worst qualities he inherited. In determined idolatry, open defiance of Jehovah, and vindictive persecution of God"s servants, as shown by his attempt on the life of Elijah, he is the true child of the "cursed woman". (2Ki_9:34) Even on his death-bed he shows no such compunction as occasionally visited his father Ahab. (1Ki_21:27) Undeterred by examples and warnings, he "hardened his neck" in a way which led to his being "suddenly destroyed". (Pro_29:1)
I THE FATAL FALL. The faineant king came to his end in a manner:
1. Sufficiently simple. Idly lounging at the projecting lattice-window of his palace in Samaria perhaps leaning against it, and gazing from his elevated position on the fine prospect that spreads itself around his support suddenly gave way, and he was precipitated to the ground, or courtyard, below. He is picked up, stunned, but not dead, and carried to his couch. It is, in common speech, an accident some trivial neglect of a fastening but it terminated this royal career. On such slight contingencies does human life, the change of rulers, and often the course of events in history, depend. We cannot sufficiently ponder that our existence hangs by the finest thread, and that any trivial cause may at any moment cut it short. (Jam_4:14)
2. Yet providential. God"s providence is to be recognized in the time and manner of this king"s removal. He had "provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel", (1Ki_22:53) and God in this sudden way cut him off. This is the only rational view of the providence of God, since, as we have seen, it is from the most trivial events that the greatest results often spring. The whole can be controlled only by the power that concerns itself with the details. A remarkable illustration is afforded by the death of Ahaziah"s own father. Fearing Micaiah"s prophecy, Ahab had disguised himself on the field of battle, and was not known as the King of Israel. But he was not, therefore, to escape. A man in the opposing ranks "drew a bow at a venture," and the arrow, winged with a Divine mission, smote the king between the joints of his armor, and slew him. (1Ki_22:34) The same minute providence which guided that arrow now presided over the circumstances of Ahaziah"s fall. There is in this doctrine, which is also Christ"s, (Mat_10:29, Mat_10:30) comfort for the good, and warning for the wicked. The good man acknowledges, "My times are in thy hand", (Psa_31:15) and the wicked man should pause when he reflects that he cannot take his out of that hand.
3. Irremediable. From the bed to which he had been carried up, the king was never to rise. The injury he had received was fatal. Yet a little space was given him even him for repentance. His fall might have produced immediate death. These few remaining days, when the sands were running out, were, however, only to demonstrate further his incorrigibility of nature.
II THE MESSAGE TO EKRON. A sick-bed, with the possibility of the sickness proving fatal, tests most men. It tested Ahaziah. We note in his behavior the following instructive facts:
1. He was moved to apply to some god. Not, indeed, in hope of a cure, but only to obtain information as to the issue of his illness. He sent to consult an oracle, not to ask a blessing. But even in this there is seen the desire for supernatural help, for direct intercourse with the invisible, which men so often feel in their hour of trouble. It was a dark hour for Ahaziah. Life hung in the balance, and he shrank from death with a great dread. He could not wait for the verdict of events, but would fain wrest the secret from a heathen shrine. Piety can afford to leave the issue in God"s hands. Impiety dare not do this, and can find no comfort save in the assurance of recovery.
2. He did not apply to Jehovah. Was there not a God in Israel to inquire of? Ahaziah knew very well that there was, and that there were prophets, like Micaiah and Elijah, who would tell him the truth. It need not be questioned that it was an evil conscience, and that only, which kept him from applying to Jehovah. He knew how impiously he had behaved towards Jehovah. He perfectly well understood what kind of reception he would receive from the prophets, and in what language they would address him. He anticipated the nature of the sentence they would pronounce. He dared not, therefore, inquire of the Lord. So when men, in their distress, feel impelled to go to God, they are often held back by the remembrance of past wickedness. They know, if they come, it must be with changed hearts and the renouncing of evil deeds, and for this they are not prepared.
3. He applied to the god of Ekron. Baal-zebub of flies," as the word means. The oracle of this god had probably some local repute, which led him to select it. Here comes in the element of superstition. The craving after the supernatural in human nature is not to be stilled, and, if it cannot be gratified in a lawful, it will seek gratification in some unlawful way. Saul, forsaken of God, turned to the witch of Endor. (1Sa_28:6, 1Sa_28:7) "A notorious infidel like Philippe Egalite, though in other respects a man of ability, could yet try to presage his fate by the sort of cup-augury involved in examining the grounds of coffee" The Roman world, in the time of the apostles, was not more characterized by its educated skepticism than by the influx into it of every kind of superstition. (cf. Farrar"s "St. Paul," 2Ki 19.; Conybeare and Howson, 2Ki 5) In our own day, multitudes professing disbelief in God"s revelation turn with eager credulity to the delusions of spiritualism. It was to supersede unlawful modes of consulting the invisible world that God gave "the sure word of prophecy". (Deu_18:9-22)
III THE UNEXPECTED MEETING. The messengers speed on their way to the shrine of Baal-zebub at Ekron, but their steps are soon to be arrested. Here we notice:
1. A new task for Elijah. "The angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the King of Samaria." The medium of communication is, perhaps, the historical angel of the covenant he of whom God had said, "Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my Name is in him". (Exo_23:21) The Divine side of the calamity which had befallen Ahaziah comes to light in this message by the prophet. Ahaziah had forgotten God, but God had not forgotten him. He is the "jealous God", (Exo_20:5) who takes the Vindication of his honor into his own bands.
2. A surprise for the messengers. Elijah"s appearances partake everywhere of the nature of a dramatic surprise. He comes no one knows whence; he departs no one knows whither. His personality was impressive hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins" (ver. 8). Suddenly he confronts the messengers, and puts to them the ironic question, "Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?" It is rare that, in fleeing from the path of duty, we do not meet God in the way in some form. Balaam on his journey to the King of Moab; Jonah fleeing from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish; Elijah himself when he fled to Horeb, hearing the voice of the Lord, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" (Num_22:22 Jon 1 1Ki_19:9)
3. Evil tidings for Ahaziah. The messengers need go no further. The information they sought at Ekron was given them, unasked, from a surer source. An oracle had spoken, but not the one to which they were sent. Ekron"s reply was anticipated by Jehovah"s: "Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." Unhappy monarch I God hath spoken, and no other can reverse it. (Num_23:20)
IV THE RETURN TO THE KING. There was that in the appearance, manner, and language of this man who had crossed their path like an apparition which convinced the messengers that God had spoken through him. They accordingly returned at once to the sick king. A few words of explanation sufficed to put him in possession of the circumstances. A guilty conscience is swift to comprehend in such matters. With unerring precision the king"s thoughts interpreted the riddle of the mysterious prophet. "What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?" "It is Elijah the Tishbite." Ahaziah knew what that meant. His feelings would be those of his father Ahab when he exclaimed, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?". (1Ki_21:20) The appearance of Banquo"s ghost at the banquet was not more terrible to Macbeth than this crossing of his path by Elijah was to Ahaziah at that moment. HIS sins had found him out. However long the lane of wickedness may be, we may be sure the Avenger stands at the end of it. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 9, 13, 15 And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice.
2Ki_1:1-6
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice.
Read full note →
Worldly royalty and personal godliness
I. Worldly royalty in a humiliating condition.
1. A king in mortal suffering.
2. A king in mental distress.
3. A king in superstitious darkness.
II. Personal godliness divinely majestic. Elijah is an example of personal godliness, though, in a worldly sense, he was very poor, and his costume seemed to be almost the meanest of the mean. But see the majesty of this man in two things.
1. In receiving communications from heaven. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite.
2. In reproving the king. Which is the better--a throne or a godly character? Fools only prefer the former. (Homilist.)
Ahaziah
I. That men in calamity naturally seek a refuge. Whatever was the character of the accident which befell Ahaziah, it awakened in his mind the greatest concern, so that he was apprehensive of his life, and he wanted to know the issue of his affliction. And, so like Ahaziah, all men seek shelter when the storm gathers around them, that they may be shielded from its violence.
II. That the refuges of the wicked are often vain. Ahaziah sent his messengers to Baal-zebub, as his only hope in distress, but they were not permitted even to reach the shrine of that deity. So that the god of Ekron was of no help to the King of Israel.
III. That calamity or affliction alone is not sufficient to lead men to repentance. Sometimes it is thought that by means of adverse circumstances men can be brought to God; but it was not so in the ease of Ahaziah.
IV. That God will vindicate His own honour against the rebellion of the wicked. Ahaziah, by seeking to consult Baal-zebub, ignored Jehovah, and thus dishonoured Him in the eyes of the people. In whatever way men may refuse to acknowledge God, and rebel against Him, He, in His own time, will bring them to nought, and vindicate His character as a God of honour, majesty, mercy, and love. (T. Cain.)
False religious appeals
Ahaziah, the man of whom this chapter speaks, was the son of Ahab and of Jezebel. He was badly born. Some allowance must be made for this fact in estimating his character. Ahaziah fell through the lattice, and in his helplessness he became religious. Man must have some God. Even atheism is a kind of religion. When a man recoils openly from what may be termed the public faith of his country, he seeks to apologise for his recoil, and to make up for his church absence by creating high obligations of another class: he plays the patriot; he plays the disciplinarian--in some way he will try to make up for, or defend, the recoil of his soul from the old altar of his country. It is in their helplessness that we really know what men are. The cry for friendship is but a subdued cry for God. Sometimes men will invent gods of their own. It is said of Shakespeare that he first exhausted worlds, and then invented new. That was right. It was but of the liberty of a poet so to do. But it is no part of the liberty of the soul. Necessity forbids it, because the true God cannot be exhausted. Who can exhaust nature? Who can exhaust natures God? Still, the imagination of man is evil continually. He will invent new ways of enjoying himself. He will degrade religion into a mere form of interrogation. This is what Ahaziah did in this instance: Go, inquire of Baal-zebub (2Ki_1:2). All that we sometimes want of God is that He should be the great fortune-teller. If He will tell us how this transaction will turn out, how this speculation will fructify, how this illness will terminate, how this revolution will eventuate--that is all we want with Him; a question-answering God; a God that will specially take care of us and nurse us into strength, that we may spend that strength in reviling against His throne. How true it is that Ahaziah represents us all in making his religion into a mere form of question-asking; in other words, into a form of selfishness! Nothing can be so selfish as religion. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Elijah and the god of Ekron
The 5th of February 1685 witnessed a sad scene in the palace of Whitehall. The second Charles lay in the last agony, while, amid the courtly circle around his bed, stood Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ken, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The king is really and truly a Catholic, whispers the Duchess of Portsmouth to the French ambassador; and yet his bed-chamber is full of Protestant clergymen. The fact had been long suspected, and gave additional earnestness to the holy men who desired to prepare the dying monarch for his inevitable and solemn change. It is time to speak out, sir, exclaims Sancroft; for you are about to appear before a Judge who is no respecter of persons. Will you not die in the communion of the Church of England? anxiously asks Ken; the king gives no response. Will you receive the sacrament? continues the bishop.; the king replies, There is no hurry, and I am too weak. Do you wish pardon of sin? rejoins the favourite prelate, whose hymns are still sung in our Christian churches; the dying man carelessly adds, It can do me no hurt--on which, says Macaulay, the bishop put forth all his eloquence, till his pathetic exhortation awed and melted the bystanders to such a degree, that some among them believed him to be filled with the same spirit which in the old time, had, by the mouths of Nathan and Elias, called sinful princes to repentance. To complete the parallel we propose, we must notice another incident in this dying scene. If it costs me my life, exclaims the Duke of York, afterwards James II., I will fetch a priest. With some difficulty he is found, He is smuggled into the royal presence, and the chamber of death. He is welcome, says Charles. The monarch who refused to listen to Sancroft and Ken, had an open ear for Father Huddleston. The monarch who was unwilling to die in the Church of England, is perfectly willing to die in the Church of Rome, For three-quarters of an hour he confesses, adores the crucifix, receives the mysterious virtues of extreme unction, and at length, with an apology to his attendants that he has been a most unconscionable time dying, he breathes his last, an apostate from the faith inseparable from Englands throne, and for his abandonment of which his own successor died an exile on the charity of a foreign land. Let Ahaziah take the place of Charles II.; let his idolatry be represented in the Popery of the British monarch; let the application to the god of Ekron be symbolised in the welcome given to the Romish monk; and, last of all, let Elijah by the bedside of the King of Israel, dealing faithfully with the soul departing there, be the type of good Sancroft and Ken by that other couch, using all their entreaties to make the sufferer think of his approaching end--and the parallel is well-nigh complete. The mention of Ekron and Baal-zebub introduces the subject of the heathen oracles, which played such an important part in all the nations of antiquity. Even among the Jews, it is believed by many, a true oracle existed--namely, the Urim and Thummim (lights and perfections, as the words denote), on the high priests breastplate; and that, when the Divine response was to be given, it was manifested either in an audible voice from the twelve precious stones, or in their appearance changing in keeping with the answer--brighter for an affirmative, and duller for a negative reply. What are usually known, however, as the heathen oracula were very different. They were also very numerous: the small province of Boeotia, in Greece, having twenty-five, and the Peloponnesus as many; but the most celebrated were Delphi, Dodona, and Jupiter Ammon in the deserts of Lybia. We get a glimpse of one of the oracular priestesses in the life of Paul, where the reference, we think, abundantly proves that the heathen oracles were under Satanic control. Such being admitted, we need not add they were only a system of imposture and falsehood, a lying in wait to deceive, cunningly devised fables, as Peter expresses it, where the allusion is unmistakable. There was more than mere fury about the Pythia; and it may be that the commonplace expression about there being method in madness has been literally borrowed from her. Never did ambiguity find itself of such use as on the consecrated tripod, or beneath the decayed oak-tree. Croesus., King of Lydia, asks what will be the issue of a war with Persia, and he receives as reply, If you war with them, you will destroy a great kingdom. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, desires to know what will be the result, if he assists the Tarentines against the Romans, and the response may either mean that he is to conquer the Romans, or that the Romans are to conquer him. In both instances, Croesus and Pyrrhus were defeated and ruined, but of course the oracle was right, and its credit maintained. Many lessons might be drawn from that darkened chamber, where lies the son of Ahab, arrayed in the last robe he will ever need. We mention only one--the folly of men when they forsake the ways of God to pay homage to idols of any kind, or in hopeless attempt to unveil the future. As to the former all the Ekrons of earth--whether pride of reason, or personal merit, or the general mercy of God--are only vanity and a snare; there is but one Rock of hope, security, and strength, and that Rock is Christ. As to the latter--the attempt to unveil the future, we know what Saul made of it in his visit to Endor, and we have seen what Ahaziah made of it in his proposed message to Ekron. Just men made perfect have other occupation than to be the tools of the clairvoyant; and lost spirits, we may be sure, are in no mood for such work. Away with your mediums, their bandaged eyes and pencilled messages, hands waving in the air, and all the dark arts of this latest charlatanry, the most wretched and profane of all modem shams. God is His own interpreter; and neither to shrines at Ekron nor Boston, neither to Baal-zebub nor Daniel Home, will He give the power of unlocking the destinies of men. (H. T. Howat.)
Religion only needed in trouble
It is the habit of some people only to seek spiritual support in times of trouble and difficulty. When the clouds have passed they think no more of the truths that comforted them in sorrow. Dr. Moule, the Bishop of Durham, in his recently published book, From Sunday to Sunday, relates the following incident: A friend told me the tale a few years ago as we paced together the deck of a steamship on the Mediterranean, and talked of the things unseen. The chaplain of a prison, intimate with the narrator, had to deal with a man condemned to death. He found the man anxious, as well he might be; nay, he seemed more than anxious--convicted, spiritually alarmed. The chaplains instructions all bore upon the power of the Redeemer to save to the uttermost; and it seemed as if the message were received and the man were a believer. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the chaplain had come to think that there was ground for appeal from the death-sentence. He placed the matter before the proper authorities, and with success. On his next visit, very cautiously and by way of mere suggestions and surmises, he led the apparently resigned criminal towards the possibility of a commutation. What would he say, how would his repentance stand, if his life were granted him? The answer soon came. Instantly the prisoner divined the position; asked a few decisive questions, then threw his Bible across the cell, and, civilly thanking the chaplain for his attentions, told him that he had no further need of him nor of his book. The Bible, like prayer, was never meant exclusively for the hours of darkness. It has a message for every time and every occasion of life.
Prayer through fear
When I was at school in France, an English boy who was sleeping in the next bed to mine in a large dormitory said, There will be thunder and lightning to-night! When I asked, How do you know? he replied, Because So-and-so, referring to a French boy who seldom prayed, is saying his prayers. He meant that this boy only said his prayers when he was frightened, or by fits and starts. Ah! that is what we are all liable to do, and that is the very danger I want to guard you against. Beware that you do not pray by fits and starts. (Quiver.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
AHAZIAH BEN-AHAB OF ISRAEL
2Ki_1:1-18
Read full note →
B.C. 855-854
"Ye know not of what spirit are ye."
- Luk_9:55
"He is the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises."
- Heb_8:6
AHAZIAH, the eldest son and successor of Ahab, has been called "the most shadowy of the Israelitish kings." He seems to have been in all respects one of the most weak, faithless, and deplorably miserable. He did but reign two years-perhaps in reality little more than one; but this brief space was crowded with intolerable disasters. Everything that he touched seemed to be marked out for ruin or failure, and in character he showed himself a true son of Jezebel and Ahab.
What results followed the defeat of Ahab and Jehoshaphat at Ramoth-Gilead we are not told. The war must have ended in terms of peace of some kind-perhaps in the cession of Ramoth-Gilead; for Ahaziah does not seem to have been disturbed during this brief reign by any Syrian invasion. Nor were there any troubles on the side of Judah. Ahaziahs sister was the wife of Jehoshaphats heir, and the good understanding between the two kingdoms was so closely cemented, that in both royal houses there was an identity of names-two Ahaziahs and two Jehorams.
But even the Judaean alliance was marked with misfortune. Jehoshaphats prosperity and ambition, together with his firm dominance over Edom-in which country he had appointed a vassal, who was sometimes allowed the courtesy title of king (1Ki_22:47 2Ki_3:9 comp. 2Ki_8:20)-led him to emulate Solomon by an attempt to revive the old maritime enterprise which had astonished Jerusalem with ivory, and apes, and peacocks imported from India. He therefore built "ships of Tarshish" at Ezion-Geber to sail to Ophir. They were called "Tarshish-ships," because they were of the same build as those which sailed to Tartessus, in Spain, from Joppa. Ahaziah was to some extent associated with him in the enterprise. But it turned out even more disastrously than it had done in former times. So unskilled was the seamanship of those days among all nations except the Phoenicians, that the whole fleet was wrecked and shattered to pieces in the very harbor of Ezion-Geber before it had set sail.
Ahaziah, whose affinity with the King of Tyre and possession of some of the western ports had given his subjects more knowledge of ships and voyages, then proposed to Jehoshaphat that the vessels should be manned with sailors from Israel as well as Judah. But Jehoshaphat was tired of a futile and expensive effort. He refused a partnership which might easily lead to complications, and on which the prophets of Jehovah frowned. It was the last attempt made by the Israelites to become merchants by sea as well as by land.
Ahaziahs brief reign was marked by one immense humiliation. David, who extended the dominion of the Hebrews in all directions, had smitten the Moabites, and inflicted on them one of the horrible atrocities against which the ill-instructed conscience of men in those days of ignorance did not revolt. He had made the male warriors lie on the ground, and then, measuring them by lines, he put every two lines to death and kept one alive. After this the Moabites had continued to be tributaries. They had fallen to the share of the Northern Kingdom, and yearly acknowledged the suzerainty of Israel by paying a heavy tribute of the fleeces of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams. But now that the warrior Ahab was dead, and Israel had been crushed by the catastrophe at Ramoth-Gilead, Mesha, the energetic viceroy of Moab, seized his opportunity to revolt and to break from the neck of his people the odious yoke. The revolt was entirely successful. The sacred historian gives us no details, but one of the most priceless of modern archaeological discoveries has confirmed the Scriptural reference by securing and translating a fragment of Meshas own account of the annals of his reign. We have, in what is called "The Moabite Stone," the memorial written in glorification of himself and of his god Chemosh, "the abomination of the children of Ammon," by a contemporary of Ahab and Jehoshaphat. It is the oldest specimen which we possess of Hebrew writing; perhaps the only specimen, except the Siloam inscription, which has come down to us from before the date of the Exile. It was discovered in 1878 by the German missionary Klein, amid the ruins of the royal city of Daibon, {Dibon, Num_21:30} and was purchased for the Berlin Museum in 1879. Owing to all kinds of errors and intrigues, it did not remain in the hands of its purchaser, but was broken into fragments by the nomad tribe of Beni Hamide, from whom it was in some way obtained by M. Clermont-Ganneau. There is no ground for questioning its perfect genuineness, though the discovery of its value led to the forgery of a number of spurious and often indecent inscriptions. There can be no reasonable doubt that when we look at it we see before us the identical memorial of triumph which the Moabite emir erected in the days of Ahaziah on the bamah of Chemosh at Dibon, one of his chief towns.
This document is supremely interesting, not only for its historical allusions, but also as an illustration of customs and modes of thought which have left their traces in the records of the people of Jehovah, as well as in those of the people of Chemosh. Mesha tells us that his father reigned in Dibon for thirty years, and that he succeeded. He reared this stone to Chemosh in the town of Karcha, as a memorial of gratitude for the assistance which had resulted in the overthrow of all his enemies. Omri, King of Israel, had oppressed Moab many days, because Chemosh was wroth with his people. Ahaziah wished to oppress Moab as his father had done. But Chemosh enabled Mesha to recover Medeba, and afterwards Baal-Meon, Kirjatan, Ataroth, Nebo, and Jahaz, which he reoccupied and rebuilt. Perhaps they had been practically abandoned by all effective Israelite garrisons. In some of these towns he put the inhabitants under a ban, and sacrificed them to Moloch in a great slaughter. In Nebo alone he slew seven thousand men. Having turned many towns into fortresses, he was enabled to defy Israel altogether, to refuse the old burdensome tribute, and to reestablish a strong Moabite kingdom east of the Dead Sea; for Israel was wholly unable to meet his forces in the open field. Month after month of the reign of the miserable son of Ahab must have been marked by tidings of shame, defeat, and massacre.
Added to these public calamities, there came to Ahaziah a terrible personal misfortune. As he was coming down from the roof of his palace, he seems to have stopped to lean against the lattice of some window or balcony in his upper chamber in Samaria. It gave way under his weight, and he was hurled down into the courtyard or street below. He was so seriously hurt that he spent the rest of his reign on a sick-bed in pain and weakness, and ultimately died of the injuries he had received.
A succession of woes so grievous might well have awakened the wretched king to serious thought. But he had been trained under the idolatrous influences of his mother. As though it were not enough for him to walk in the steps of Ahab, of Jezebel, and of Jeroboam, he had the fatuity to go out of his way to patronize another and yet more odious superstition. Ekron was the nearest town to him of the Philistine Pentapolis, and at Ekron was established the local cult of a particular Baal known as Baal-Zebub ("the lord of flies"). Flies, which in temperate countries are sometimes an intense annoyance, become in tropical climates an intolerable plague. Even the Greeks had their Zeus Apomuios ("Zeus the averter of flies"), and some Greek tribes worshipped Zeus Ipuk-tonos ("Zeus the slayer of vermin"), and Zeus Muiagros and Apomuios, and Apollo Smintheus ("the destroyer of mice"). The Romans, too, among the numberless quaint heroes of their Pantheon, had a certain Myiagrus and Myiodes, whose function it was to keep flies at a distance.
This fly-god, Baal-Zebub of Ekron, had an oracle, to whose lying responses the young and superstitious prince attached implicit credence. That a king of Israel professing any sort of allegiance to Jehovah, and having hundreds of prophets in his own kingdom, should send an embassy to the shrine of an abominable local divinity in a town of the Philistines-whose chief object of worship was
"That twice-battered god of Palestine,
Who mourned in earnest when the captive ark
Maimed his brute image on the grunsel edge
Where he fell fiat, and shamed his worshippers"-
was, it must be admitted, an act of apostasy more outrageously insulting than had ever yet been perpetrated by any Hebrew king. Nothing can more clearly illustrate the callous indifference shown by the race of Jezebel to the lessons which God had so decisively taught them by Elijah and by Micaiah.
But
"Quem vult Deus perdere, dementat Aerius,"
and in this "dementation preceding doom" Ahaziah sent to ask the fly-gods oracle whether he should recover of his injury. His infatuated perversity became known to Elijah, who was bidden by "the angel," or messenger, "of the Lord"-which may only be the recognized phrase in the prophetic schools, putting in a concrete and vivid form the voice of inward inspiration-to go up apparently on the road towards Samaria, and meet the messengers of Ahaziah on their way to Ekron. Where Elijah was at the time we do not know. Ten years had elapsed since the calling of Elisha, and four since Elijah had confronted Ahab at the door of Naboths vineyard. In the interval he has not once been mentioned, nor can we conjecture with the least certainty whether he had been living in congenial solitude or had been helping to train the Sons of the Prophets in the high duties of their calling. Why he had not appeared to support Micaiah we cannot tell. Now, at any rate, the son of Ahab was drawing upon himself an ancient curse by going a-whoring after wizards and familiar spirits, and it was high time for Elijah to interfere. {Lev_20:6}
The messengers had not proceeded far on their way when the prophet met them, and sternly bade them go back to their king, with the denunciation, "Is it because there is no God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Now, therefore, thus saith Jehovah, Thou shalt not descend from that bed on which thou art gone up, but dying thou shalt die."
He spoke, and after his manner vanished with no less suddenness.
The messengers, overawed by that startling apparition, did not dream of daring to disobey. They at once went back to the king, who, astonished at their reappearance before they could possibly have reached the oracle, asked them why they had returned.
They told him of the apparition by which they had been confronted. That it was a prophet who had spoken to them they knew; but the appearances of Elijah bad been so few, and at such long intervals, that they knew not who he was.
"What sort of man was he that spoke to you?" asked the king.
"He was," they answered, "a lord of hair, and girded about his loins with a girdle of skin."
Too well did Ahaziah recognize from this description the enemy of his guilty race! If he had not been present on Carmel, or at Jezreel, on the occasions when that swart and shaggy figure of the awful wanderer had confronted his father, he must have often heard descriptions of this strange Bedawy ascetic who "feared man so little because he feared God so much."
"It is Elijah the Tishbite!" he exclaimed, with a bitterness which was succeeded by fierce wrath; and with something of his mothers indomitable rage he sent a captain with fifty soldiers to arrest him.
The captain found Elijah sitting at the top of "the hill," perhaps of Carmel; and what followed is thus described:-
"Thou man of God," he cried, "the king hath said, Come down."
There was something strangely incongruous in this rude address. The title "man of God" seems first to have been currently given to Elijah, and it recognizes his inspired mission as well as the supernatural power which he was believed to wield. How preposterous, then, was it to bid a man of God to obey a kings order and to give himself up to imprisonment or death!
"If I be a man of God," said Elijah, "then let fire come down from heaven, to consume thee and thy fifty."
The fire fell and reduced them all to ashes. Undeterred by so tremendous a consummation, the king sent another captain with his fifty, who repeated the order in terms yet more imperative.
Again Elijah called down the fire from heaven, and the second captain with his fifty soldiers was reduced to ashes.
For the third time the obstinate king, whose infatuation must indeed have been transcendent, dispatched a captain with his fifty. But he, warned by the fate of his predecessors, went up to Elijah and fell on his knees, and implored him to spare the life of himself and his fifty innocent soldiers.
Then "the angel of the Lord" bade Elijah go down to the king with him and not be afraid. What are we to think of this narrative?
Of course, if we are to judge it on such moral grounds as we learn from the spirit of the gospel, Christ Himself has taught us to condemn it. There have been men who so hideously misunderstood the true lessons of revelation as to applaud such deeds, and hold them up for modern imitation. The dark persecutors of the Spanish Inquisition, nay, even men like Calvin and Beza, argued from this scene that "fire is the proper instrument for the punishment of heretics." To all who have been thus misled by a false and superstitious theory of inspiration, Christ Himself says, with unmistakable plainness, as He said to the Sons of Thunder at Engannim, "Ye know not what spirit ye are of? I am not come to destroy mens lives, but to save." In the abstract, and judged by Christian standards, the calling down of lightning to consume more than a hundred soldiers, who were but obeying the orders of a king-the protection of personal safety by the miraculous destruction of a kings messengers-could only be regarded as a deed of horror. "There are few tracks of Elijah that are ordinary and fit for common feet," says Bishop Hall; and he adds, "Not in his own defense would the prophet have been the death of so many, if God had not, by a peculiar instinct, made him an instrument of His just vengeance."
For myself, I more than doubt whether we have any right to appeal to those "peculiar instincts" and unrecorded inspirations; and it is so important that we should not form utterly false views of what Scripture does and does not teach, that we must once more deal with this narrative quite plainly, and not beat about the bush with the untenable devices and effeminate euphemisms of commentators, who give us the "to-and-fro-conflicting" apologies of a priori theory instead of the clear judgments of inflexible morality.
"It is impossible not to feel," says Professor Milligan, "that the events thus presented to us are of a very startling kind, and that it is not easy to reconcile them either with the conception that we form of an honored servant of God, or with our ideas of eternal justice. Elijah rather appears to us at first sight as a proud, arrogant, and merciless wielder of the power committed to him: we wonder that an answer should have been given to his prayer; we are shocked at the destruction of so many men, who listened only to the command of their captain and their king; and we cannot help contrasting Elijahs conduct, as a whole, with the beneficent and loving tenderness of the New Testament dispensation."
Professor Milligan proceeds rightly to set aside the attempts which have been made to represent the first two captains and their fifties as especially guilty-which is a most flimsy hypothesis, and would not in any case touch the heart of the matter. He says that the event stands on exactly the same footing as the slaughter of the 450 prophets of Baal at Kishon, and of the 3000 idolaters by order of Moses at Sinai: the swallowing up of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; the ban of total extirpation on Jericho and on Canaan: the sweeping massacre of the Amalekites by Saul: and many similar instances of recorded savagery. But the reference to analogous acts furnishes no justification for those acts.
What, then, is their justification, if any can be found? Some would defend them on the grounds that the potter may do what he likes with the clay. That analogy, though perfectly admissible when used for the purpose to which it is applied by St. Paul, is grossly inapplicable to such cases as this. St. Paul uses it simply to prove that we cannot judge or understand the purposes of God, in which, as he shows, mercy often lies behind apparent severity. But, when urged to maintain the rectitude of sweeping judgments in which a man arms his own feebleness with the omnipotence of Heaven, they amount to no more than the tyrants plea that "might makes right." "Man is a reed," said Pascal, "but he is a thinking reed." He may not therefore be indiscriminately crushed. He was made by God in His image, after His likeness, and therefore his rights have a Divine and indefeasible sanction.
All that can be said is that these deeds of wholesale severity were not in disaccord with the conscience even of many of the best Old Testament saints. They did not feel the least compunction in inflicting judgments on whole populations in a way which would argue in us an infamous callousness. Nay, their consciences approved of those deeds; they were but acting up to the standard of their times, and they regarded themselves as righteous instruments of divinely directed vengeance. Take, for instance, the frightful Eastern law which among the Jews no less than among Babylonians and Persians thought nothing of overwhelming the innocent with the guilty in the same catastrophe; which required the stoning, not only of Achan, but of all Achans innocent family, as an expiation for his theft; and the stoning, not only of Naboth, but also of Naboths sons, in requital for his asserted blasphemy. Two reasons may be assigned for the chasm between their moral sense and ours on such subjects-one was their amazing indifference to the sacredness of human life, and the other their invariable habit of regarding men in their corporate relations rather than in their individual capacity. Our conscience teaches us that to slay the innocent with the guilty is an action of monstrous injustice; {Comp. Eze_18:2-30} but they, regarding each person as indissolubly mixed up with all his family and tribe, magnified the conception of corporate responsibility, and merged the individual in the mass.
It is clear that, if we take the narrative literally, Elijah would not have felt the least remorse in calling fire from heaven to consume these scores of soldiers, because the prophetic narrator who recorded the story, perhaps two centuries later, must have understood the spirit of those days, and certainly felt no shame for the prophets act of vengeance. On the contrary, he relates it with entire approval for the glorification of his hero. We cannot blame him for not rising above the moral standard of his age. He held that the natural manifestation of an angry Jehovah was, literally or metaphorically, in consuming fire. Considering the slow education of mankind in the most elementary principles of mercy and righteousness, we must not judge the views of prophets who lived so many ages before Christ by those of religious teachers who enjoy the inherited experience of two millenniums of Christianity. Thus much is plainly taught us by Christ Himself, and there perhaps we might be content to leave the question. But we are compelled to ask, Do we not too much form all our judgments of the Scripture narratives on a priori traditions and unreasoned prejudices?
Can we with adequate knowledge and honest conviction declare our certainty that this scene of destruction ever occurred as a literal fact? If we turn to any of the great students and critics of Germany, to whom we are indebted for the floods of light which their researches have thrown on the sacred page, they with almost consentient voice regard these details of this story as legendary. There is indeed every reason to believe the account of Ahaziahs accident, of his sending to consult the oracle of Baal-Zebub, of the turning back of his messengers by Elijah, and of the menace which he heard from the prophets lips. But the calling down of lightning to consume his captains and soldiers to ashes belongs to the cycle of Elijah-traditions preserved in the schools of the prophets; and in the case of miracles so startling and to our moral sense so repellent-miracles which assume the most insensate folly on the part of the king, and the most callous ruthlessness on the part of the prophet-the question may be fairly asked, Is there any proof, is there anything beyond dogmatic assertion, to convince us that we were intended to accept them au pied de la lettre? May they not be the formal vehicle chosen for the illustration of the undoubted powers and righteous mission of Elijah as the upholder of the worship of Jehovah? In a literature which abounds, as all Eastern literature abounds, in vivid and concrete methods of indicating abstract truths, have we any cogent proof that the supernatural details, of which some may have been introduced into these narratives by the scribes in the schools of the prophets were not, in some instances, meant to be regarded as imaginative apologues? The most orthodox divines, both Jewish and Christian, have not hesitated to treat the Book of Jonah as an instance of the use of fiction for purposes of moral and spiritual edification. Were any critic to maintain that the story of the destruction of Ahaziahs emissaries belongs to the same class of narratives, I do not know how he could be refuted, however much he might be denounced by stereotyped prejudice and ignorance. I do not, however, myself regard the story as a mere parable composed to show how awful was the power of the prophets, and how fearfully it might be exercised. I look upon it rather as possibly the narrative of some event which has been imaginatively embellished, and intermingled with details which we call supernatural. Circumstances which we consider natural would be regarded as directly miraculous by an Eastern enthusiast, who saw in every event the immediate act of Jehovah to the exclusion of all secondary causes, and who attributed every occurrence of life to the intervention of those "millions of spiritual creatures," who "walk the earth unseen both when we wake and when we sleep."
If such a supposition be correct and admissible and assuredly it is based on all that we increasingly learn of the methods of Eastern literature, and of the forms in which religious ideas were inculcated in early ages-then all difficulties fire removed. We are not dealing with the mercilessness of a prophet, or the wielding of Divine powers in a manner which higher revelation condemns, but only with the well-known fact that the Elijah-spirit was not the Christ-spirit, and that the scribes of Ramah or Gilgal, and "the men of the tradition" and the "men of letters," who lived at Jabez, when they used the methods of Targum and Haggadah in handing down the stories of the prophets, had not received that full measure of enlightenment which came only when the Light of the World had shone.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 2Ki_1:1. Then Moab rebelled—Since the time of David the…
THE SICKNESS AND DEATH OF AHAZIAH
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
Read full note →
2Ki_1:1. Then Moab rebelled—Since the time of David the Moabites had been tributary to Israel (2Sa_8:2; 2Sa_23:20) On the death of Ahab and accession of Ahaziah (1Ki_22:51) they revolted and cast off the yoke.
2Ki_1:2. And Ahaziah fell down, &c.—This accident prevented his attempting to suppress the revolt. Through the lattice—הַשְּׂבָכָה—Either the wooden parapet (or fence) running round the flat roof, and which probably gave way as Ahaziah leaned over it; or a latticed skylight in the roof itself, and which broke under him when he heedlessly stepped upon it. The latter is most probable (and the Rabbins so regard it), for he fell into “his upper chamber.” The “lattice” may have been the roof window of this chamber. Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—בַּעַל זְביב—No other mention in the Old Testament of Baal-zebub. The name means the fly-Baal. Sept. βααλ μυΐαν. The fly-god, regarded by expositors either as the “defender against flies,” and also the “fly-god,” an idol in the form of a fly. Ekron—probably the present Akir, nearest Samaria, of the five northern Philistian cities (Jos_13:3).
2Ki_1:3. But the angel of the Lord said—Such consultation of “a god” violated a fundamental law of the theocracy (Exo_20:3; Deu_5:7), and deliberately repudiated Jehovah.
2Ki_1:6. There came a man up to meet us—The messengers did not recognize Elijah’ yet they were so impressed by his words—“his authoritative tone, commanding attitude, and affecting message” (Jameison)—as to return instantly to the king.
2Ki_1:8. He was a hairy man—Not meaning that he wore long locks and a flowing beard; nor that his whole person was, as Esau’s, hairy; but that he was robed in a coarse hair garment (of sheep or goat skin, or of camel’s hair). Elijah originated this distinctive attire, which became henceforth the mark of the prophets as preachers of repentance. This stern, rough garb was worn not as an act of mere asceticism, but as a symbol of sorrow over the people’s iniquities and the impending judgments of God. A girdle of leather—This אֵזוֹר עוֹר was the ζώνη δερματίνη (Mat_3:4) of John the Baptist. The leather girdle was symbolic of self-denial and contempt for indugencies; the ordinary girdle of Hebrews being fine linen or more costly materials elegantly embroidered.
2Ki_1:9. Captain of fifty with his fifty—The army was divided into sections of 1,000, 100, and 50, and each had its own leader (Num_31:14; Num_31:48; 1Sa_8:12). He sat on the top of an hill—probably on Carmel (see 2Ki_2:25; 1Ki_18:42). Thou man of God!—This name was used in contemptuous irony, and thus the captains abetted the insolence of the king towards Jehovah, whose prophet Elijah was.
2Ki_1:10. If I be a man of God, then let fire, &c—Elijah invoked proof of his having Divine authority for his message in the form of a judgment upon them from the God they dared to insult. The destructive fire was both proof and punishment in one.
2Ki_1:11. Come down quickly—Greater audacity still in this demand—רֵדָה מְהֵרָה as if he were fortified with irresistible authority.
2Ki_1:13. A captain of the third fifty—The second captain learned no awe from the fate of his predecessor, but showed more obstinacy and daring; but the third, though commissioned by the still wilful and wicked king, came with a changed attitude and tone.
2Ki_1:15. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king—He knew how Ahaziah would greet him with malice, and that his appearance before the king exposed him to perils, yet he fearlessly obeyed God’s command.
2Ki_1:17. And Jehoram reigned—This Israel-Jehoram is here said to have commenced his reign in the second year of the Judah-Jehoram; but in chap. 2Ki_3:1 he is said to have come to the throne in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat. It would therefore appear that Ahaziah reigned as regent during the seventeenth and the larger portion of the eighteenth years of Jehoshaphat, and that Jehoram (or Joram), Ahaziah’s brother, succeeded to the throne in the end of Jehoshaphat’s eighteenth year.—W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_1:1-18
THE EXPOSURE AND PUNISHMENT OF IDOLATRY
WE have seen that Ahaziah imbibed and adopted the idolatrous principles of his father; and we are now to learn that he also possessed the ferocious and God-defying spirit of his mother. A whole chapter is here devoted to the reign of Ahaziah; not because of its importance, for it was both brief and disastrous, but to expose the utter imbecility of the idolatry in which he trusted, and to show by what terrible judgment the honour of the insulted and forgotten God of Israel would be vindicated. The incidents of this chapter are also full of interest, as they are connected with the last public exercises of Elijah’s prophetic office. The stern, fearless prophet is to the last what he has been from the beginning of his career—the messenger of wrath, the rebuker of iniquity, the prophet of fire. Observe—
I. That idolatry is a pitiable infatuation and a great crime.
1. It is an atrocious insult to the one only true God. By Ahaziah sending to a foreign divinity to seek help and counsel, he transgressed not only the general and chief commandment (Exo_20:3), but also the special commandment (Lev_14:31; Lev_20:6; Lev_20:27; Deu_18:10-11), which threatened with extermination those who questioned soothsayers and wizards. It was a public and practical declaration that he esteemed the fly-god of the Philistines above the living God of Israel, and it was a formal degradation and contempt of, and an insult to, Jehovah. Such a crime had not previously been committed by a king, and, if ever, then certainly now, the time was come for the zealous defender of the name of the God of Israel to emerge from his concealment and announce to the bold scoffer the Divine retribution. All idolatry is an insult to the majesty of heaven, and will not be allowed to pass unchallenged or unpunished.
2. It is powerless to help in extremity. Idolatry is purely a human creation, and is, therefore, imperfect and limited. While all goes well, the infatuated worshipper may be amused and satisfied with the delusion; but when trouble comes, then does he discover the vanity and helplessness of the imagination in which he had misplaced his confidence. The man who has forsaken God is without refuge in his distress.
3. It is persisted in, notwithstanding affliction and threatened death. Even the terrible announcement of Divine vengeance was not sufficient to humble the dying man, or to bring him to repentance; it rather embittered and filled him with anger, and even with plans of murder. All this he does while on his death bed, face to face with death, so completely has all reverence for what is sacred abandoned him, and been supplanted by a stubbornness and wilfulness which extend even to madness. Ahab humbled himself when Elijah announced to him the judgment of God (1Ki_21:27). Even Jeroboam sent, when his son was sick, to the prophet Ahijah (1Ki_14:2); but Ahaziah perseveres in his senseless perversity, and so falls far below both of these. There is no infatuation so hopeless and insensate as the infatuation of idolatry.
II. That the vanity of idolatry is repeatedly exposed.
1. By its own failures. The scene on Mount Carmel, and the public failure there, could not be forgotten. In all ages and under all circumstances idolatry has been a gigantic failure, notwithstanding its bombastic pretensions and colossal and imposing proportions. It fails to meet the deepest needs of man, and retards the development and progress of the race.
2. It is exposed by Divinely commissioned messengers. Its enormities have been confronted and denounced by an Elijah. Such work needed a man divinely endowed with fiery strength and with a fiery tongue. His weighty irresistible personality, and his forcible, energetic speech, made such an impression on the messengers of the king that they did not dare to carry out the orders of their despotic master, but turned back without further action. As always, so here also, when they sought to seize him and make him a prisoner, he was not to be reached: the emissaries came to disgrace. Without fear, courageous and unterrified, he appears before the king himself, as he had done before his father, and announces to the proud and stubborn man his approaching death. Elijah is the representative and instrument of the jealousy of the Divine Judge, the herald of the Divine retributive justice, and on that account the prototype of all the forerunners of the great and terrible day of judgment (vide Lange).
III. That idolatry is punished with terrible vengeance.
1. By personal affliction (2Ki_1:2). The same hand that guided Ahab’s shaft cracks Ahaziah’s lattice. How infinite variety of plagues hath the just God for obstinate sinners! Whether in the field or in the chamber, He knows to find them out. How fearlessly did Ahaziah walk on his wonted pavement! The Lord hath laid a trap for him whereinto, while he thinks least, he falls irrecoverably. No place is safe for the man that is at variance with God. Affliction has brought many to reflection and prayer who might have gone down to the grave impenitent and unforgiven. Suffering that does not soften, hardens the heart the more.
2. By fearful and signal destruction (2Ki_1:9-12). Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the insolent and idolatrous soldiers. What madness is it for him whose breath is in his nostrils to contend with the Almighty! The conduct of Elijah has been frequently censured. It is forgotten, however, that such censure is, in reality, directed, not against the inferior agent, but against God Himself. The facts were these, and it is important to ponder them well: As Israel’s king, Ahaziah was bound by Israel’s laws; in religion especially, the God of Abraham was the only divinity he should ever have known; to send to Baal-zebub was to this jealous God a great affront; to apprehend His prophet was open rebellion; nay, utter excision was stated, in the plainest language, to be the fate of all idol servers (Deu_6:14-15). In harmony with this, therefore, our wonder should be, not that so many of the idolaters were slain, but that any one in the guilty land was ever suffered to go free. It was the last warning Elijah was permitted to give to the house of Ahab; and in every way it was rendered memorable. Even then it was not too late for Ahaziah to return; there was mercy wrapped in the dark sentence of doom. It was unheeded; and, stubbornly, fiercely clinging to his wretched idolatry, Ahaziah died! Some live long that they may aggravate their judgment; others die soon, that they may hasten it.
LESSONS:—
1. It is the crime of idolatry that it ignores God.
2. Idolaters are sufficiently warned, and are therefore without excuse.
3. The wrath of God is directed, not against the idols, but against the idolaters.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_1:1-4. The judgment of idolatry.
1. Revolt (2Ki_1:1).
2. Affliction (2Ki_1:2).
3. Warning (2Ki_1:3).
4. Death (2Ki_1:4).
2Ki_1:2-17. The folly of godlessness.
1. In the dark valley in which he must journey, he seizes, not upon the staff and support which could comfort him, but upon a stalk of straw; he makes a work of man’s hands his consolation in life and in death: that is the height of folly.
2. He will hear nothing of death, and hates and persecutes him who reminds him of death: death comes, however; it is inevitable. To avoid every thought of death, and to escape from everything which may remind us of it, is the greatest folly, for we must all depart sometime (Psa_39:5), and appear before Him who will give to each according to his deeds (Rom_2:6).
3. He sends soldiers against the prophet who announces to him the judgment of God, and thinks that he can thereby set aside the judgment itself. But to attempt to do away with the truth of God, and to accomplish something perforce against the decision of God by means of human power and might, is the greatest folly.—Krummacher.
2Ki_1:2. By such mischance, besides diseases, men may be taken as a bird with a bolt, while he gazeth at the bow; which made Augustine say that he would not, for the gain of a million worlds, be an Atheist for one half hour, lest, in that time, death should seize him.
—Let us pause for a moment, and read, from the case of Ahaziah, the impressive lesson that all our care, forethought, and caution cannot ward off accident, calamity, and inexorable death. He who escaped the Syrian’s venturous aim was laid low by an accidental fall from the platform of his palace in Samaria. He had probably been leaning against the screen or balustrade common on the tops of Eastern dwellings, when, overbalancing himself, the slender rail or latticework had given way. He fell on the tesselated pavement below, stunned and mangled, and he was carried to a couch from which he was never to rise. Age, character, rank, position, station can afford no exemption from such casualties, and from the last terminating event of all, the universal doom of dust. These royal robes encircled a body perishable as that of the meanest subject of his realm. The hand grasping that ivory sceptre, as well as the brawny arm of the strongest menial in his palace, must moulder to decay. “Trust not in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth. He returneth to his earth. In that very day his thoughts perish.” Poor and rich, the beggar and the prince, the slave and his master, Dives with his purple and gold, and Lazarus with his crumbs and rags, are on a level here. The path of glory and royalty, of greatness and power, leads but to the grave. The lattice on which the strong man leans—the iron balustrade of full health and unbroken energy—may in a moment give way. Sudden accident or fever may, in a few hours, write Ichabod on a giant’s strength. The touch of the old slave in the conqueror’s triumphant car is never more needful than when we are moving through life, charioted in comforts, wreathed with garlands, regaled with music: “Remember thou art mortal.” And when accident or evil does overtake, it is our comfort to know that it is by God’s permission. It is He who puts the arrow on the bowman’s string. It is He who loosens the balustrade in its sockets. It is He who makes the lightning leap from the clouds on its mortal errand. It is He who commissions the coral builders to rear the fatal reef. It is He who guides the roll of that destroying billow that has swept a loved one from the deck into a watery grave. Saddest of all is it when accident or sudden death overtake, without due preparation for the great change. How much nobler, wiser, happier, to anticipate the necessities of that inevitable hour, that whether our summons shall come by the fall from the lattice, or the gradual sinking and wasting of strength, we may be ready, in calm composure, to breathe the saying of the dying patriarch: “I have waited for thy salvation, O God!”—Macduff.
—“Enquire of the God of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.” Augury of the future.
1. Possible only to God.
2. Leads men to presumption and extravagance.
3. Highly offensive to God.
—Many lessons might be drawn from that darkened chamber where lies the son of Ahab, arrayed in the last robe he will ever need. We mention only one—the folly of men when they forsake the ways of God, to pay homage to idols of any kind, or in hopeless attempt to unveil the future. As to the former, all the Ekrons of earth—whether pride of reason, or personal merit, or the general mercy of God—are only vanity and a snare; there is but one rock of hope, security, and strength, and that rock is Christ. As to the latter—the attempt to unveil the future—we know what Saul made of it in his visit to Endor, and we have seen what Ahaziah made of it in his proposed message to Ekron. The present is ours, the future is God’s; let us be thankful and content. No doubt, at times, in anxious suspense, we should like a glimpse of the issue of certain affairs; but enough for our guidance, sufficient horoscope for all, that the great Bible principle is broadly set down: “He that soweth to the flesh,” &c. There is only one God who can answer the question, whether put by Ahaziah or any one else, “Shall I recover of this disease?” And yet we live still in an age of divination. It were useless, it were false to deny it. Happily, not so much in this country, but in France to some, and in America to a fearful extent, we are told of all manner of ways whereby to communicate with the other world, and, from the revelations received, to regulate in this our conduct, present and future. Spiritualism is pursued as a science, believed as a creed. It has its learned societies, its weekly journals, its priestesses and priests, its thousands of educated and rapt devotees. “I would as soon think of doubting my own existence as call in question the facts of spiritualism,” said a Unitarian minister from America. “Why, through means of it we have brought hundreds of infidels to believe in another world.” We shall not go into the subject at length, but must be permitted to say, that we can never understand why spiritual revelations are made only in the dark, and why the presence of a determined sceptic is always unfavourable to the manifestations. We feel constrained to add, that while we believe, from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, that departed spirits do not forget their earthly history, that very parable assures us there is no possible mode for spirits, either good or bad, to communicate with the world they have left. Dives found it impossible, and hence desired Lazarus to send to his father’s house; Abraham spoke of it as both unprecedented and impossible: “Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” Just men made perfect have other occupation than to be the tools of the clairvoyant; and lost spirits we may be sure are in no mood for such work. This revival of Pagan superstition would neither deserve mention nor serious refutation, were it not for the hold it is taking of the popular mind, especially in the United States, where we are amazed that a nation, so acute and quick-sighted in most other matters, should be juggled out of the truth of their English Bibles by raps upon tables, or the ridculous presagings of idle girls. Away with your mediums, their bandaged eyes and pencilled messages, hands waving in the air, and all the dark arts of this latest charlatanry, the most wretched and profane of all modern shams. God is His own interpreter; and neither to shrines at Ekron nor Boston, neither to Baal-zebub nor Daniel Home, will He give the power of unlocking the destinies of men.—Howat.
—If a man has once torn himself away from the living God and His word, he does not, as infidelity pretends, become wiser and more enlightened, but only too often he becomes the prey of the most insipid and foolish superstition. How many do not believe in a holy, omniscient, and just God, to whom they must give an account of all they do and leave undone, but, on the contrary, in ghosts, or in the word of a gypsy, and seize upon the most senseless means in need and sickness. It is possible to so lose God that one does not find Him even when face to face with death.—Krummacher.
—In a literal sense, the parallel to Ahaziah’s folly can in vain be sought now in the changed aspects of the church and the world. The heathen oracles are dumb. The prince of darkness, who seems in former ages to have wielded, by means of these incantations, a mysterious power, has now changed his ground. But yet how many in another form have their Ekrons still? There is the Ekron of self-righteousness—the pride of what they themselves have done, grounding their peace and confidences, alike for a living and dying hour, on some miserable fragmentary virtue of their own; their charities and alms-deeds and morallives—the beggar proud of wearing some tinsel on his rags, the bankrupt proud of paying by farthings a debt which is accumulating by pounds and talents. There is the Ekron of proud reason. Men will not trust the simple word of the living God. The Bible doctrines, or, it may be, subordinate facts, do not square with their predilections and prepossessions, their preconceived notions and prejudices, and they send their imperious intellectual messengers to this haughty oracle. Happy are they who, spiritually enlightened, are not curious to know the process of cautery or cure, but who, gazing on the glorious uncurtained beauties of the moral world, before hidden from their view, can tell in the utterance of a simple faith: “This one thing I know, that whereas once I was blind, now I see.”—Macduff.
2Ki_1:3. The word of God is the sole, true, and correct oracle which we are to question and to take counsel of in every circumstance of life, and in all darkness and doubt. This generation, however, seeks light, wisdom, and truth amongst the Philistines, the wise and prudent of this world, who give out that the Word of the Lord is an old and unreliable book which no longer satisfies the existing grade of cultivation. They that will not enquire of the Word of God for their comfort shall be made to hear it, whether they will or no, to their amazement.—Comprehensive Comm.
2Ki_1:4-8. If the messenger had brought to the king a declaration of the fly-god, he would have accepted it with faith; but he rejected the word of the prophet because it did not conform to his wishes; nay, it even filled him with anger and plans of murder. Men value the falsehood which flatters their inclinations and wishes, higher than the truth which corrects them and demands sacrifices and penitence of them.—Lange.
2Ki_1:7-12.—With the fall of Ahab a series of new characters appears on the eventful scene. Elijah still remained for a time, but only to make way for successors. In the meeting of the four hundred prophets at Samaria he was not present. In the reign of Ahaziah and of Jehoram he appears but for a moment. There was a letter, the only written prophecy ascribed to him, and the only link which connected him with the history of Judah, addressed to the young prince who reigned with his father Jehoshaphat at Jerusalem. There was a sudden apparition of a strange being, on the heights of Carmel, to the messengers whom Ahaziah had sent to consult an oracle in Philistia. They were passing, probably, along the haunted strand, between the sea and the mountain; they heard the warning voice; they returned to their master. Their description could apply only to one man; it must be the wild prophet of the desert whom he had heard described by his father and grandfather. Troop after troop is sent to arrest the enemy of the royal house, to seize the lion in his den. On the top of Carmel they saw the solitary form. But he was not to be taken by human force; stroke after stroke of celestial fire was to destroy the armed bands. They retired, and he disappeared. It was to this act, some centuries afterwards, not far from the same spot, that the two ardent youths appealed and provoked that Divine rebuke which places the whole career of Elijah in its fitting place, as something in its own nature transitory, precursive, preparatory.—Stanley.
2Ki_1:8. The faithful prophet. I. Has an unmistakable reputation. II. Is easily identified. III. Has great influence over the minds of others. IV. Is a guarantee of truthfulness in either threatening or promise.
2Ki_1:9-14. The judgment by fire. I. A token of the indignation of heaven against idolatry. II. An answer to the stubborn daring of a godless king, and the insolence of his troopers. III. May be avoided by prayer and submission.
—We have here not the act of revenge of a prophet who was instigated by personal jealousy, but an act of divine judgment, and a revelation of God’s wrath against all godlessness and wickedness of men “who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” All judgments of God are represented in the Old Testament as a consuming fire (Num_11:1; Num_16:35; Deu_32:22; Psa_21:9; Isa_26:11; Eze_15:6-7; Job_20:26). He Himself, even in His retributive justice, is called a consuming fire (Deu_4:24; Deu_9:3; Heb_12:29; Heb_10:27). It is therefore perfectly in accordance with the concrete and literal character which the Old Testament economy bears throughout, that this actual fire should be the form of revelation of the divine wrath, so that in many places we can hardly distinguish whether it is intended to be taken literally or figuratively. Just as once the rebellious host of Korah was consumed by fire, and so Moses’ authority as the servant of God was ratified (Num_16:35); so the scoffing band of the idolatrous Ahaziah perished, and thereby the second Moses was corroborated as the man of God. As an act of divine judgment this catastrophe is rather a revelation of the highest moral intensity—a testimony to the unchangeable justice and holiness of God. Whoever finds it shocking, must be still more shocked at the prophetic declaration, “God is jealous, and the Lord avengeth; the Lord revengeth and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him” (Nah_1:2-6).—Lange.
2Ki_1:9-12. Wherein consisted the grievous crime of these captains and their men, who merely executed the command of their master? According to the simple words of the text in the address, man of God. Most interpreters say, the captains had used this designation in a contemptuous or ironical sense. But this is not satisfactory. Two cases are conceivable: either the captains held Elijah to be no true prophet, and then their address, as an insult to the prophetic office in the person of a man whom God had acknowledged by so many miracles as His servant, was a direct insult to the Lord; or they held Elijah to be a true prophet, and then the summons to surrender himself, in order to be led bound to the king, was a direct and still more daring contempt of the prophet as well as of the Lord his God. In either case, therefore, the punishment was just. The captains did not merely what they as servants of the king were bound to do, but shared in the ungodly disposition of their sovereign, and with reckless audacity insulted the Almighty God in the person of the prophet. This wicked opposition to God the Lord is punished, and certainly not by the prophet, but by the Lord Himself, who realizes the word of his servant. Whoever, therefore, on account of this act charges the prophet with cruelty, does not reflect that this charge falls not on the prophets, but much rather on God the Lord.—Kiel.
—The time was when two zealous disciples would fain have imitated this fiery revenge of Elijah, and were repelled with a check; the very place puts them in mind of the judgment; not far from Samaria was this done by Elijah, and wished to be done by the disciples. So churlish a rejection of a Saviour seemed no less heinous than the endeavour of apprehending a prophet. “Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, as Elias did?” The world yielded but one Elias; that which was zeal in him might be fury in another: the least variation of circumstance may make an example dangerous; presently, therefore, do they hear, “Ye know not of what spirit ye are.” It is the calling that varies the spirit: Elijah was God’s minister for the execution of so severe a judgment; they were but the servants of their own impotent anger; there was fire in their breasts which God never kindled. Far was it from the Saviour of men to second their earthly fire with this heavenly. He came, indeed, to send fire upon earth, but to warm, not to burn; and if to burn, not to persons of men, but their corruptions. How much more safe is it for us to follow the meek prophet of the New Testament, than that fervent prophet of the Old! Let the matter of our prayers be the sweet dews of mercy, not the fires of vengeance.—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_1:9. Every servant of the Lord who is really earnest in his office must make up his mind that rude, low, and godless men will scorn him and name him “Man of God” in mockery. Although no fire from heaven falls down to destroy them, yet the Word of the Lord stands firm for all time: “He that despiseth you,” &c. (Luk_10:16); and the Lord will not leave those unpunished who despise Him in His servants, and exercise their art upon the calling of reconciliation (Isa_11:10-11).
—Great rulers always find people who will lend themselves as instruments of their perverted will, who execute with exactness and without scruple what “the king says”; but do not trouble themselves at all about what God says.—Lange.
—Behold the true son of Jezebel! The anguish of his disease, the expectation of death, cannot take off his persecution of Elijah; it is against his will that his deathbed is not bloody. Had Ahaziah meant any other than a cruel violence to Elijah, he had sent a peaceable messenger to call him to the court. He had not sent a captain, with a band of soldiers, to fetch him; the instruments which he useth carry revenge in their face. If he had not thought Elijah more than a man, what needed a band of fifty men to apprehend one? and if he did think him such, why would he send to apprehend him by fifty? Surely Ahaziah knew of old how miraculous a prophet was; what power that man had over all their base deities; what commands of the elements, of the heavens! And yet he sends to attack him. It is a strange thing to see how wilfully godless men strive against the stream of their own hearts, hating that which they know good, fighting against that which they know divine. What a gross disagreement is in the message of this Israelitish captain! “Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.” If he were a man of God, how hath he offended? And if he hath justly offended the anointed of God, how is he a man of God? And if he be a man of God, and have not offended, why should he come down to punishment? Here is a kind confession, with a false heart, with bloody hands. The world is full of these windy courtesies, real cruelties. Deadly malice lurks under fair compliments, and, while it flatters, killeth.—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_1:10. This was a miracle of Divine judgment, and in perfect keeping with the spirit of the old dispensation. In this respect the new dispensation widely differs from the old (Luk_9:51-56). But it must not be understood that when our Lord rebuked the two disciples, and showed them the difference between the Law and the Gospel as to the spirit of each, He thereby blamed this act of Elijah’s. He blamed the two disciples who dishonoured Elijah by endeavouring to pervert his act into a precedent for a proposal which was altogether dissimilar to that act of Elijah in all the circumstances of the case. Elijah was God’s minister for executing His Divine judgment. The two disciples were but the servants of their own anger.—Wordsworth.
2Ki_1:12. Ahaziah could not fail by this time to be fully cognisant of these appalling judgments. He might possibly have ventured to put an Atheist construction on the death of the first fifty; that they had been victims of unhappy and untoward accident; that the lightnings, the capricious shafts from the quiver of nature, had by sad mishap fallen on the slopes of Carmel, where his soldiers were. But now that the very same catastrophe had overtaken the second relay, there could surely be little debate that a Higher Hand had put the bow on the string, and made ready the arrows. Blinded indeed must that dying monarch be, if he still refuse to desist from his mad, impotent rage. Alas! how much it takes to humble the proud heart! It is the saddest picture of moral apostasy—the saddest exponent of the enmity of the unregenerate heart—when even the king of terrors brings no terror to the seared conscience and indurated soul; the banner of proud defiance against God and His Christ waved, even when the awful gloom of mortal darkness is closing in all around!—Macduff.
2Ki_1:13-14. What marble or flint is harder than a wicked heart? As if Ahaziah would despitefully spit in the face of heaven, and wrestle a fall with the Almighty, he will needs yet again set a third captain upon so desperate an employment. How hot a service must this commander needs think himself put upon? Who can but pity his straits! There is death before him, death behind him. If he go not, the king’s wrath is the messenger of death: if he go, the prophet’s tongue is the executioner of death. Many a hard task will follow the service of a prince wedded to his passion, divorced from God. Unwillingly, doubtless, and fearfully, doth this captain climb up the hill to scale that impregnable fort; but now, when he comes near to the assault, the battery that he lays to it is his prayers; his surest fight is upon his knees. This was the way to offer violence to the prophet of God, to the God of that prophet, even humble supplications. We must deprecate that evil which we would avoid; if we would force blessings, we must entreat them. There is nothing to be gotten from God by strong hand; anything by suit.—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_1:15-17. A memorable deathbed scene. I. A dying monarch faithfully warned. II. The fearless prophet alone in the midst of dangerous enemies—sees no peril in duty. III. A baffled and disappointed king, unsubdued by suffering, dying in silence, in impenitence, in darkness.
—The fifth of February, sixteen hundred and eighty-five, witnessed a sad scene in the palace of Whitehall. The second Charles lay in the last agony, while, amid the courtly circle around his bed, stood sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, and Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells. “The king is really and truly a Catholic,” whispered the Duchess of Portsmouth to the French Ambassador, “and yet his bed-chamber is full of Protestant clergymen.” The fact had been long suspected, and gave additional earnestness to the holy men who desired to prepare the dying monarch for his inevitable and solemn change. “It is time to speak out, sir,” exclaims Sancroft, “for you are about to appear before a Judge who is no respecter of persons.” “Will you not die in the communion of the Church of England?” anxiously asks Ken. The king gave no response. On which the Bishop put forth all his eloquence, till his pathetic exhortation awed and melted the bystanders to such a degree, that some among them believed him to be filled with the same Spirit which in the old time had, by the mouths of Nathan and Elias, called sinful princes to repentance. To complete the parallel, we must notice another incident in the dying scene. “If it costs me my life,” exclaims the Duke of York, afterwards James II., “I will fetch a priest.” With some difficulty he is found. He is smuggled into the royal presence and the chamber of death. “He is welcome,” says Charles. The monarch who refused to listen to Sancroft. and Ken, has an open ear for Father Huddleston. The monarch who was unwilling to die in the Church of England, is perfectly willing to die in the Church of Rome. Apologising to his attendants that he has been “an unconscionable time dying,” he breathes his last, an apostate from the faith inseparable from England’s throne, and for his abandonment of which his own successor died an exile on the charity of a foreign land. Let Ahaziah take the place of Charles II.; let his idolatry be represented in the popery of the British monarch; let the application to the god of Ekron be symbolized in the welcome given the Romish monk; and, last of all, let Elijah by the bedside of the king of Israel, dealing faithfully with the soul departing there, be the type of good Sancroft and Ken by that other couch, using all their entreaties to make the sufferer think of his approaching end—and the parallel is well-nigh complete.—Howat.
2Ki_1:15-16. A minister of God must not fear to hold up their sins before sinners and scoffers upon their death bed, and to draw their attention to the judgment of God, in order that, if possible, even in the last hour they may come to a knowledge of that which belongs to their peace, for to offer eternal blessedness to the rich and great, instead of calling them to repentance, is the worst trangression of a prophet; to conceal the approach of his end from one who is sick unto death, and to hold all thoughts of it from him, or even to console him with false hopes of recovery, is no genuine love; for no man can be properly prepared for death who does not think of it often and much.—Lange.
2Ki_1:17. His death, like that of the two companies of fifties, was a judgment from heaven. It would not do to punish these messengers of the king for insolence towards Jehovah and his prophet, and let the king himself go clear. So this impious monarch is made to drag out his last days under a consciousness of being an object of Jehovah’s wrath.—Whedon.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 2Ki 1:3
2Ki 1:3
I. The step from the ultra-local worship set up by Jeroboam to a foreign Phoenician worship seems a very long one. Yet it was natural and easy. The conscience of the idolater becomes at once stupefied and sensitive, more and more incapable of appreciating moral distinctions, more and more alive to terrors. The thought of a righteous Being is appalling; from an object of trust He passes into an object of horror. Other nations which seem happier and more prosperous have other gods and sacrifices. It might be well to try them. The most powerful neighbour must be most worthy of imitation.
Read full note →
II. A king like Ahab meets the demand of a people in this state. The Scripture leaves the impression upon our minds that he was intellectually superior to his predecessors, of a higher ambition, less narrow in his notions. He had not the dread which Jeroboam felt of intercourse with Jerusalem; he cultivated the friendship of Jehoshaphat. At the same time, he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. With her he naturalized the worship of Baalim.
III. The Baal worship was essentially the worship of mere power as distinguished from righteousness. The most serious services, the sacrifices and libations of blood, must be presented to some malevolent nature which would destroy unless it were soothed. Thus the worship of power becomes literally the worship of evil. By a regular and awful process Baal, or Baalzebub, became in the minds of his devout servants what his name imported to Jews of later time—the prince of the devils.
IV. There are those who think that Elijah exceeded his commission when he destroyed the priests of Baal. I have not seen any occasion to depart from the ordinary view of the subject. But though I do not read in Elijah’s deep despondency the condemnation of his last act, I do see in it the natural effects of any great exercise of destructive power—perhaps of power at all—upon the mind of him to whom it has been entrusted. The sense of exhaustion, the cry, "I am not better than my fathers, though I have done such wonders," the hopelessness of the future becoming all the more deep from the apparently useless triumph that had been won already—surely every prophet must have these bitter experiences if he is not to sink into a Baal-worshipper and after all to regard the God of truth and righteousness merely as a God of might.
F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 125.
References: 2Ki 1:1-16.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 354. 2Ki 1:2-8.—J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire, p. 253. 2Ki 1:9.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 16. 2Ki 1:9-18.—J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire, p. 267. 2Ki 1:10-12.—J. Hammond, Expositor, 1st series, vol. iii., p. 454. 2Ki 1—W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet, p. 185; Parker, vol. viii., p. 68.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Elijah calls down Fire from Heaven
Elijah calls down Fire from Heaven
1. Moab.. Ahab] Moab had been conquered by David (2Sa_8:2), and at the revolt of the Ten Tribes had. passed under the authority of the northern kingdom. The revolt here alluded to took place, according to the inscription of Mesha, before the death of Ahab, whereas the present passage implies that it happened later, in the reign of Ahaziah or Joram: cp. 2Ki_3:6.
Read full note →
2. A lattice] lit. 'a network,'—perhaps a balustrade. Baal-zebub] supposed to mean 'lord of flies,' in the sense of being their controller and averter, since flies are one of the greatest plagues of Eastern countries: cp. the Gk. Zeus Apomuios. But in kindred names like Baal-Peor, Baal-Hermon, etc., the second element is the name of a place, which suggests that -zebub is likewise a local name. Ekron] One of the five confederate Philistine cities, lying nearest to the frontiers of Israel.
3. Is it not because, etc.] RV 'Is it because there is no God in Israel?' and so in 2Ki_1:6, 2Ki_1:16.
8. An hairy man] better, as in RM, 'a man with a garment of hair,' a characteristic dress of the prophets: cp. Zec_13:4; Mar_1:6.
9. A captain of fifty] a recognised division of the Israelite army: cp. 1Sa_8:12.
10. Let fire come down] The king in despatching soldiers to arrest the prophet dishonoured the Lord, whose servant Elijah was; and the unity that subsisted between a king and his subjects (as between a father and his children) was so strongly felt in ancient times that there was little sense of the injustice involved in the death of so many innocent persons for the sin of another: see on 2Ki_9:26. A consciousness of individual rights only asserted itself gradually in Israel (see Jer_31:29-30; Eze_18:2-4); and a spirit akin to that of Elijah was manifested even by the Apostles, but met with rebuke from then-Lord (Luk_9:55).
17. In the second year of Jehoram] The calculation here arrived at seems to follow upon what is stated in 1Ki_16:23, where Omri begins to reign in Asa's thirty-first year (Omri's 12 + Ahab's 22 + Ahaziah's 2 + Jehoram's 1 = Asa's last 10 + Jehoshaphat's 25 + Jehoram's 2). A different reckoning is adopted in 1Ki_3:1.
Had no son] Jehoram, who succeeded Ahaziah, was his brother.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv3, 15 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Analysis and Annotations
Analysis and Annotations
I. ELIJAH’s FINAL MINISTRY AND TRANSLATION
Read full note →
1. Elijah and Ahaziah
CHAPTER 1
1. Moab’s rebellion (2Ki 1:1)
2. The illness of Ahaziah (2Ki 1:2)
3. Elijah’s message (2Ki 1:3-8)
4. Ahaziah’s messengers and their fate (2Ki 1:9-15)
5. Elijah before the king and Ahaziah’s Death (2Ki 1:16-17)
6. Jehoram becomes king (2Ki 1:18)
The rebellion of Moab is here briefly mentioned. Both Omri and Ahab had oppressed Moab, and after Ahab’s death this rebellion took place. The complete report is found in the third chapter. That ancient monument known by the name of the Moabite stone contains a most interesting record of this revolt and the oppression by Omri and his son Ahab. This record is as follows: “Omri (was) King of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh (Moab’s idol-god) was angry with his land. His son (Ahab) followed him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab.” (See Appendix for a complete translation of the record on this monument.) However, if it were not for the Bible no one would know that the inscription on the Moabite stone is truthful. The Bible proves the record genuine, and not the record the genuineness of the Biblical account. The Bible does not need such confirmation.
Ahaziah, the wicked son of a wicked father, had an accident and sent his messenger to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron. Baal-zebub means “lord of flies.” According to rabbinical tradition, he was worshipped in the form of a fly; and so addicted were the Jews to this cult that they carried a small image in their pockets, kissing it from time to time. Vile practices were also connected with its worship. What awful blasphemy the Pharisees uttered when they accused our Lord of using Beelzebub, the prince of demons! (Mat 12:24. _Beelzebub is given in the Greek as _Beelzebul, which means “lord of idolatrous sacrificing.”)
The messengers of Ahaziah never reached Ekron. The Lord had heard the charge to the king’s messengers and He sent a messenger (angel means in Hebrew “a messenger”) to Elijah the Tishbite. The angel of the LORD commanded the prophet to meet the men the king had sent forth to inquire of Baal-zebub and to announce the coming death of Ahaziah. The message is faithfully delivered; the messengers return to Ahaziah and he heard the words of Elijah from their lips. He knew at once who the mysterious person was who had turned back his messengers. The king sent therefore a captain with his fifty men to arrest the prophet. The captain addressed Elijah as a “Man of God” and commanded him in the name of the king to come down from the hill. But Elijah, fearless as he was, took up the word of the captain and appealed to his God to let fire come down from heaven. It was at once carried out and the captain with his fifty men were consumed by fire. The same fate overtook the second expedition, whose captain urged the prophet’s obedience more than the first, for he said, “Come down quickly.” The judicial character of Elijah’s ministry is here once more in evidence. Critics have more than once condemned his action and called him “arrogant and merciless,” while others deny the historicity of the event altogether. “Terrible as this answer was, we can perceive its suitableness, nay, its necessity, since it was to decide, and that publicly and by the way of judgment (and no other decision would have been suitable in a contest between man and God), whose was the power and the kingdom--and this at the great critical epoch of Israel’s history” (History of Israel). Compare this fire judgment with Luk 9:54-56. When this present dispensation of grace is ended, judgment by fire will be meted out to the enemies of God (Rev 11:5). During the great tribulation (Mat 24:22) the fiery judgments will be on the earth (Rev 8:5), preceding the visible manifestation of the Lord, who shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2Th 1:7-8).
Elijah could consistently command fire to come down from heaven and consume those who dishonored and despised in him the prophet and servant of God. But when the disciples of Jesus, in a similar case (Luk 9:54-56) desired to imitate that example, the Lord restrained them, and said: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” Elijah here acted as the representative of the law, which showed no indulgence, but the disciples of Christ were the representatives of the gospel which proclaims the remission of sins. The old covenant necessarily alarmed and subdued the enemies of the kingdom of God by minatory language and punitive measures, while the new covenant designed to disarm and, if possible, to win them by forgiving love (J.H. Kurts).
A third company was sent out by Ahaziah. Mercy was shown to this captain and his fifty men, for the captain feared God and honored Elijah as His representative. His words breathe humility and his prayer showed that he owned the power of God. Such mercy is also in store for those who humble themselves when the coming judgments are in the earth. Then Elijah appeared before Ahaziah in person and delivered the God-given message and the wicked King died according to the Word of the LORD.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 Elijah Prophesies Ahaziah’s Death
Elijah Prophesies Ahaziah’s Death
v. 1. Then Moab rebelled against Israel, after having been tributary since the time of David, 2Sa 8:2, after the death of Ahab. The success of the Syrians, not only in regaining their independence, but in administering a severe defeat to the forces of Israel, had probably encouraged the Moabites to take this step.
Read full note →
v. 2. And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, through a latticed window-opening such as were common in the Orient, and was sick, being severely injured by his fall. And he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub (Fly-god), the god of Ekron, the northernmost of the five Philistine city-states, whether I shall recover of this disease. So Ahaziah, probably at the advice of his wicked mother Jezebel, turned to the heathen idol for information and help, just as people in our days reject the truth of Scripture, but eagerly believe every form of superstition.
v. 3. But the Angel of the Lord, the son of God as He revealed himself in the Old Testament, said to Elijah the Tishbite, who was still active in his prophetic office, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? It was a sharp question of earnest reproof for this new evidence of wickedness in the king.
v. 4. Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, as a punishment upon the king for this new exhibition of idolatry, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed, namely, to carry out the command of the Lord.
v. 5. And when the messengers turned back unto him, the king of Israel, he, knowing that they could not have made the trip to Ekron in this short time, said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?
v. 6. And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, a man unknown to the messengers,and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou sendest to enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? The blame which was placed upon them all by the prophet they now lay upon the king alone. Therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
v. 7. And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, literally, "What was the manner," the peculiarity, "of the man," what special mark of distinction did you note in his dress or bearing, and told you these words?
v. 8. And they answered him, He was an hairy man, wearing a rough garment of camel’s hair, and girt with a girdle of leather, instead of the customary one of linen or cotton, about his loins. His entire dress and appearance thus proclaimed the preacher of repentance, reproving the luxury of the people of his days. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite, he recognized him at once from the description given. The position of preachers of repentance is not a pleasant occupation, but they are needed in every age of the world’s existence, especially also in these last days of sore distress.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 Moab rebelled
Moab rebelled
"The people who lived in Moab rebelled"
Read full note →
the lattice in his upper chamber
The upper room was built on the roof of the palace. The lattice was made of thin boards decoratively crossed over one another to form a balcony or window covering. AT: "the wooden boards around the flat roof of his palace" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Baal-Zebub
(See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Moab
rebel
kingdom of Israel
die
Ahab
Ahaziah
Samaria
send
messenger
Baal
false god
Ekron
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17 1:1 After Ahab’s death, the Moabites felt secure enough…
1:1 After Ahab’s death, the Moabites felt secure enough to declare themselves free of their Israelite overlords (see 3:4-5). The historical notice anticipates the troubles that Israel would experience after the short-lived reign of Ahaziah (see 1 Kgs 22:51).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.