"Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years." (1 Kings 22:51) Jehoshaphat was king of Judah for twenty-five years, so Ahaziah became king of Israel eight years before Jehoshaphat's death. The author of the book of 2 Kings is taking us back several years in time to pick up where he left off with the kings of Israel.
"He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He served and worshiped Baal and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, just as his father had done." (1 Kings 22:52-53) Ahaziah is wicked like his parents, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He is also compared here to Jeroboam, who was the first king of Israel after the northern tribes seceded from a united nation with the southern tribes. Jeroboam introduced a form of idolatry to Israel by setting up images of golden calves as representations of the Lord so his people would not make pilgrimages into the southern kingdom of Judah to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. At first these religious locations were intended as substitute places for worship but the people quickly descended into idolatry. When King Ahab married Jezebel of Sidon, she introduced Baal worship to him and the worship of Baal soon became the state religion of the northern kingdom.
During Ahaziah's short reign he entered into a trading enterprise with Jehoshaphat. You'll recall us talking about this while we studied the life of Jehoshaphat. The Lord was displeased with Jehoshaphat for unwisely building a navy of trading vessels with the sinful Ahaziah. The Lord destroyed the ships to break the alliance between the two kings. After the first fleet of ships was destroyed, Ahaziah proposed starting over but Jehoshaphat had learned his lesson and he wisely refrained from renewing the partnership.
"After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel." (2 Kings 1:1) The Moabites were made subject to the nation of Israel during the reign of King David, according to 2 Samuel 8. In fact, David quite viciously defeated the Moabites in that passage of the Bible and no explanation is given for the conflict and subsequent slaughtering of two-thirds of their men. David was closely related to the Moabites through his great-grandmother Ruth, which is why during the years King Saul sought David's life we found David sending his parents to the king of Moab for their safety. Some scholars speculate that the Moabites treated David's parents cruelly but if so the Bible doesn't say anything about it. We really don't know why David harbored such animosity toward the Moabites after he became king. It could be that the Moabites attacked the nation during David's reign, just as we found them coming to attack Judah during the reign of King Jehoshaphat.
The Moabites begin to rebel against the northern kingdom after the death of King Ahab. This rebellion may have begun as refusing to pay some or all of the tribute they would have been required to pay to Israel. But later the rebellion will result in military action as we continue on through the book of 2 Kings. Before King Ahaziah can do much to quell the rebellion, he suffers a serious accident in his own home. "Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself." (2 Kings 1:2a)
This upper room may have been a rooftop room such as we've studied before. Homes of that era had flat roofs and the roofs were utilized as extra living space or as sleeping rooms for the family or as guest rooms. You'll recall that Elijah lodged for a while in the rooftop room of the widow at Zarephath. Evidently Ahaziah leaned against the lattice that was being used for a balcony railing around this upper room and the lattice gave way, causing him to plunge to the ground. Depending how tall his palace was, the upper room may have been more than one story from the ground.
Ahaziah is severely wounded but in his distress he doesn't repent of his sins of idolatry and call out to the God of Israel for help. Instead he sends messengers to consult the prophets of Baal. "So he sent messengers, saying to them, 'Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.'" (2 Kings 1:2b)
While this is going on, the Lord prepares the prophet Elijah to speak to the messengers. "But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, 'Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!' So Elijah went." (2 Kings 1:3-4)
Ahaziah will be angry when he hears Elijah's message and he will send men to seize him and bring him to Samaria. But fire will come down from heaven, just as it did when Elijah called out to the Lord on Mount Carmel, and the first two companies of men sent from Ahaziah will be consumed by it. The third company of soldiers, fearing the power of Almighty God, will not meet the same fate.
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