1 Moab Rebels Against Israel
1 Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. Moab was under tribute to Israel, but used the change of rule to withdraw from the power of Ahab’s successor. As a result, a large part of the income of the king of Israel was lost (2Kgs 3:4). The purpose of mentioning this fact is probably to indicate that God’s discipline is also felt politically and economically. If a king of God’s people turns away from God, it is also at the expense of his power over the enemies of God’s people.
2 Ahaziah Wants to Consult an Idol
2 And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber which [was] in Samaria, and became ill. So he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness.”
Ahaziah’s behavior (1Kgs 22:52-53) brought God’s discipline upon him. He fell out of the window and had to keep to his bed. The fact that Ahaziah fell down from his upper chamber, is in contrast to the direction of Elijah’s pathway, which was going higher and higher. In this chapter Elijah sat on a mountain and in the next chapter he was taken up into heaven.
Often a sickbed is the place where a person is given the opportunity to reflect on his life; an opportunity which God likes to use to point people to Himself. With Ahaziah things were different; while on his sickbed, he made it clear on whom he placed his hope. He turned to “the god of Ekron”. Ekron was a city of the Philistines.
Ahaziah sent messengers abroad to the Philistines, to consult one of their gods, Baal-zebub, which means ‘lord of the flies’. He resorted to demons to ask them how his illness would go. Ahaziah did not even ask whether the idol wanted to heal him. He only wanted to know how he was going to end up. He asked for a prediction of the future. This is in direct contradiction of what God has said in His Word; this behavior was an abomination to Him (Deu 18:10-12).
A lot of people today are following in Ahaziah’s footsteps, to satisfy their curiosity about the future. They do not resort to God’s Word, but seek salvation for example with soothsayers, horoscopes and other occult means. All these occult occupations are extremely dangerous. People who do this surrender to devilish powers.
Ahaziah’s action was an enormous insult to the LORD. Ahaziah completely ignored God. One of the worst things a person can do to another is to ignore him completely. This insult was suffered by God from the leader of His people.
3 - 4 The Word of the LORD for Ahaziah
3 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 to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ 4 Now therefore thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” Then Elijah departed.
In both His indignation and His faithfulness, the Lord sent Elijah to the messengers, with a word for Ahaziah. This way Ahaziah received an answer sooner than he expected. Elijah had to tell Ahaziah how the LORD saw his future. Messengers must always convey the message. God’s message was the penetrating question: “Is it because there is no God in Israel …?” That was the question that should have brought Ahaziah to repentance.
The Lord always wants to point out to us that He is there, through all kinds of events that happen to us. He wants us to know that we can go to Him with everything. This also means that we should not set our expectations on people or gods to know how things will go.
Isaiah also once spoke to the people in a way similar to what we read here of Elijah (Isa 8:19-22). In the days of Isaiah, the people resorted to spirit mediums, instead of accepting the signs and messages that God gives. Whoever does not believe in the Word of God, seeks advice and help from other sources.
The LORD reproached the people for this by asking two rhetorical questions: “Should not a people consult their God? [Should they consult] the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isa 8:19). These were questions that corresponded to what Ahaziah was asked. Instead of consulting the living God, dead idols were consulted, but behind those dead idols were evil spirits (1Cor 10:19-20).
5 - 8 Ahaziah Recognizes Elijah
5 When the messengers returned to him he said to them, “Why have you returned?” 6 They said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you and say to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.’”‘“ 7 He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?” 8 They answered him, “[He was] a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
The messengers reported on what Elijah had told them. It seems that they were not even aware that they had met Elijah. They talked about “a man”. Ahaziah then asked what he looked like. They were able to describe that man. From the description, Ahaziah drew the correct conclusion that it was Elijah. He did not forget Elijah.
Elijah’s clothing gave him a unique appearance, and his clothes characterized him. He had a service of simplicity and therefore of strength. The clothes he wore carried that message, as it were. He did not walk in soft clothes, like distinguished people (Mt 11:8). John the baptist was also characterized by the simplicity of his clothing and also by the simplicity of his food (Mt 3:4).
Can people also see from our attitude and behavior, that we are not part of a world lying “in [the power of] the evil one” (1Jn 5:19)? Where everything is determined by man’s thinking, can they see by our Christian behavior, that we do not allow ourselves to be carried away to fit in the world’s mold? Can God use us to give a clear testimony of Him, that He is there?
9 - 16 Ahaziah Wants to Capture Elijah
9 Then [the king] sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” 10 Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. 11 So he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, “O man of God, thus says the king, ‘Come down quickly.’” 12 Elijah replied to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. 13 So he again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him and said to him, “O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. 14 Behold fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.” 15 The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king. 16 Then he said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘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 shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.’”
Ahaziah no longer had to go to the god of Ekron. He now knew where he stood regarding his illness. His sickbed was to be his deathbed. Instead of accepting this and bowing before God, Ahaziah wanted to kill Elijah. He believed in idolatrous superstition that he could break the curse – for that is how he saw Elijah’s announcement – if he eliminated Elijah. He only looked at the instrument and not at God. He sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to bring Elijah to him.
The captain found Elijah, sitting alone on top of the hill. Elijah was there in peace and quiet. He was on a hilltop, the right place for a man of God. It speaks symbolically of his separation from a godless environment and of being close to God. The captain spoke to him as “man of God”. He acknowledged who Elijah was by doing so. However, he did not bow down to him, but ordered him to go with him by command of the king.
Like the third captain did, he could have bowed down and approached Elijah with respect, as was Elijah’s due as a man of God. However, this was not the case with him. The captain was a guilty man and so were his men. They could all have listened to the message of the man of God and resisted Ahaziah in his wicked mission.
Elijah’s response to the command of the captain was that he called fire to come down from heaven. The two times that Elijah commanded fire come down from heaven were the last acts of his service among the people. It was characteristic of his entire service, which was a service of judgment. In a way, his service on Mt Carmel did not bring the desired result, because the national revival that seemed to come on Mt Carmel did not lead to renewed faith in God. There was also fire from heaven at that time. But that fire came down on an innocent sacrifice. Now fire came on the people of God, but a people, who in their leader, had completely surrendered themselves to Baal.
Two of the disciples of the Lord Jesus also once wanted fire to come down from heaven. They asked the Lord for permission to do so (Lk 9:54). However, it was not the right thing to ask. The Lord Jesus forbade them, for His service was not a service of judgment, but of grace (Lk 9:55-56a). During His life on earth, it was not yet the day of revenge, it was not yet the time for the exercise of judgment. That time will come. In the future, men will appear who make fire come out of their mouths to consume their enemies (Rev 11:5).
Apparently, Ahaziah didn’t mind that fifty-one people of his army had been killed by God’s fire. He remained unrepentant. Once again he sent a captain with his fifty. This man acted in the spirit of his predecessor and his king. He also called Elijah “man of God”, but he also lacked the corresponding reverence due to the man of God. He ordered Elijah to come with him even more strongly than his predecessor. In the words “come down quickly”, it is said that he saw Elijah as a troublesome, opposing child. That ‘child’ had already said ‘no’ once, but he shouldn’t have dared to do it again with him.
The man had not considered the warning of the judgment of his predecessor. The same judgment struck him. As the captain had ordered more strongly, the description of the judgment was also stronger. Now there was not only talk of “fire came down from heaven” (verse 10), but of “the fire of God came down from heaven” (verse 12).
Ahaziah remained unrepentant even after the death of the second captain with his fifty. He sent a third captain with his fifty. This man showed a different mind. We see him bowing down before Elijah on his knees, out of due respect for the man of God. He acknowledged the justice of judgment over his two predecessors. He realized that only grace could save him and his fifties and appealed to that. Elijah then received a word from the LORD to go with this captain and not order fire to come down on him and his fifty.
When Elijah came to Ahaziah, he had nothing else to say to him on behalf of the LORD, but what Ahaziah already knew from what Elijah had said to the messengers. God does not change His thoughts about a man, if that man does not change his thoughts about Him.
17 - 18 Death of Ahaziah
17 So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. 18 Now 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?
There was no sign of repentance from Ahaziah after all that had happened. He died in his sins. Ahaziah died “according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken”. It testified to the truth that God does not change His word. It also bore witness to the faithfulness of Elijah, who spoke this word and no other word. This is also an important lesson for us: we must speak only God’s Word.
Because Ahaziah had no son, his brother Jehoram became king in his place.