God Judges Ahaziah

The little boy was sent by his mother to buy a 65 cent loaf of bread. While the baker was putting the bread into a bag, the boy noticed that the loaf looked rather small. “Isn’t that a small loaf of bread for 65 cents?” “You’ll have less to carry,& … More

Honesty

After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. The writer in this chapter tells about Moab’s independence from Israel and the results of idolatrous practices by Ahab’s successor, Ahaziah (v. 1). He also describes how the last recorded prophetic act of Elijah is performed. The reign of Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, only lasted two years. The king had suffered an injury from falling through the lattice covering a window to his upper room and probably fell to the ground below (v.2). He immediately dispatched his servants to the Philistine city, Ekron, to consult with the priests of Beelzebub who he believed to be a god of healing powers.

An angel of the Lord told Elijah to intercept this group and tell them that the king would soon die, and they returned to the king to give him the message (vv. 3-6). Feeling insulted by Elijah who had challenged his royal command, Ahaziah ordered a band of soldiers to arrest the prophet and drag him before the throne (vv. 7-9). Two groups of 50 each were consumed by a judgment of fire and a third group begged for mercy and were spared (vv. 10-14).

Elijah decided to accompany this group back to the king’s bedside where he repeated the message that the king would die (vv. 15-16). Very soon Ahaziah died “according to the word of the Lord” (vv. 17-18). Ahaziah was evidently quite young and was not succeeded by a son. Instead his younger brother, Jehoram, succeeded him to the throne. The kings of Israel and Judah at that time had the same name.

Application

Elijah was committed to do and say what God wanted him to say and not to what the king wanted to hear. He spoke with honesty from his heart. Before religious words come out of my month I need to make sure they are coming from my heart.

II Kings 1:1-18 (English Standard Version)


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