2 Kings 1:1-18
God Judges Ahaziah
1 Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2 Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.” 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 to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah departed.
5 And when the messengers returned to him, he said to them, “Why have you come back?”
6 So 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 to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”’”
7 Then he said to them, “What kind of man was it who came up to meet you and told you these words?”
8 So they answered him, “A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.”
And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. So he went up to him; and there he was, sitting on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him: “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down!’”
10 So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. 11 Then he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men.
And he answered and said to him: “Man of God, thus has the king said, ‘Come down quickly!’”
12 So Elijah answered and said to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
13 Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, and said to him: “Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. 14 Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties. But let my life now be precious in your sight.”
15 And 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 to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”
17 So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. 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?
Are there other gods to seek? Is there no God among His people already? These questions accused Ahaziah from the mouth of the LORD’s messenger Elijah when the king ignored the LORD and asked for guidance and help from a lifeless idol named Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. That non-existent being could not give the king of Israel any assurance or answers for his recovery from a nasty fall. Only the Living God in heaven (Romans 9:26), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matthew 22:31-32, Acts 14:15) could answer him or any of us with true authority and power. No imaginary god carved by the hand of man or by his reasoning can have any power or influence on us; only the self-existing Living God whose name is I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14, 15) has any answers for us (2 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Thessalonians 1:9) as for Ahaziah who ignored and rejected Him. May we never follow that erroneous example of Ahaziah’s disbelief in any way or seek help anywhere but from who is real, but trust and obey to worship Him only and not seek answers elsewhere that have no response or help. When Ahaziah sent messengers to inquire of a lifeless idol non-entity, the LORD sent an angel to Elijah to intercept them, asking why they believed there was no God in Israel among them all along. He then pronounced the wages of sin (Romans 6:23) on Ahaziah, namely death for his sin of idolatry gleaned from his parents before him. Ahaziah was so angry that he sent a force to capture the prophet and bring him back for daring to deny him access to an idol and receive the healing he felt he could obtain from out of a powerless source in defiance of the God of his people. The LORD sent fire from heaven to eradicate those opposed to His messenger not once, but twice, until the third captain humbled himself before God and was spared. Elijah went and pronounced judgment on the king denying the LORD and putting another before Him as he broke the first commandment. This time there was no heir for Ahaziah to pass on his idolatry to so Jehoram took the throne of Israel. We learn from this passage that there is no source for our help and for living but the Lord who loves forever, and that rejecting Him is fatal to both body and soul. Why then should we ever be seeking help from other gods of our own making such as philosophers and false religions do?
No comments:
Post a Comment