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The Histories · Old Testament

2 Kings 1

2 Kings 1: Ahaziah's inquiry of Baal-zebub and the fire on the captains

General context

Moab rebels against Israel after Ahab's death. Ahaziah falls through a lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and sends messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether he will recover. The angel of the Lord sends Elijah the Tishbite to meet the messengers with a question, whether there is no God in Israel, and a sentence: the king will not come down from his bed but will die. The messengers turn back, and the king recognizes the hairy man with the leather girdle as Elijah. He sends a captain with fifty men to bring Elijah down from the hilltop; fire from heaven consumes them, and a second company is consumed in the same way. The third captain kneels and asks that his life and his men's lives be precious in Elijah's sight. The angel tells Elijah to go down without fear, and Elijah delivers the same sentence to the king in person. Ahaziah dies according to the word of the Lord, and Jehoram reigns in his stead because Ahaziah has no son. The chapter closes with the formula about the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 1:1, 2 Kings 1:2, 2 Kings 1:3, 2 Kings 1:4, 2 Kings 1:5, 2 Kings 1:8, 2 Kings 1:9, 2 Kings 1:10, 2 Kings 1:12, 2 Kings 1:13, 2 Kings 1:15, 2 Kings 1:16, 2 Kings 1:17, 2 Kings 1:18

2 Kings 1 (KJV)

1Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.

2And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.

3But 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 enquire 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 because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire 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 an 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 an 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 and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.

12And Elijah answered and said unto them, 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 captain of 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 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 enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire 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?

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Historical context

The chapter does not name Ahaziah's father; 1 Kings 22:51 says "Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria", and 2 Kings 1 opens "after the death of Ahab". Two men called Jehoram appear in one verse: the successor who "reigned in his stead" and "Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah", whose second year dates the accession. Only the Judean Jehoram's father is given here; 2 Kings 3:1 later calls the Israelite king "Jehoram the son of Ahab". Ahaziah is addressed as "the king of Samaria", and his fall takes place in Samaria. Baal-zebub is identified only as "the god of Ekron"; the text gives no other description of that god. The sentence against the king is delivered three times, by the angel to Elijah, by the messengers to the king, and by Elijah in person, with the wording of the question shifting from "there is not a God in Israel" to "no God in Israel to enquire of his word". The narrator states plainly that fire consumed two captains and a hundred men. Moab's rebellion is recorded in one verse and not developed here. The chapter does not say what the king's disease was or how long he lay ill.

Cited passages: 1 Kings 22:51, 2 Kings 1:1, 2 Kings 1:17, 2 Kings 3:1, 2 Kings 1:3, 2 Kings 1:2, 2 Kings 1:6, 2 Kings 1:16, 2 Kings 1:14

Literary context

The chapter runs on repetition with one break. The king's messengers are met by a question and a sentence, and the same sentence returns in the messengers' report and in Elijah's final speech. Three captains go up with fifty men each; the first two order Elijah down in the king's name, and each time fire answers. The third captain kneels, calls his men Elijah's servants, and cites the fate of the two companies before him, and only then does the angel send Elijah down. The command "Come down" from the captains sits against the sentence that the king "shalt not come down" from his bed. Elijah is identified not by name but by the messengers' description of a hairy man with a leather girdle, and the king supplies the name. The narrator closes the sequence by tying the death to "the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken" and then moves to the succession and the standard formula about the chronicles.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 1:4, 2 Kings 1:6, 2 Kings 1:9, 2 Kings 1:10, 2 Kings 1:11, 2 Kings 1:13, 2 Kings 1:14, 2 Kings 1:15, 2 Kings 1:7, 2 Kings 1:8, 2 Kings 1:17, 2 Kings 1:18

Key moments

  1. Ahaziah sends to Ekron (2 Kings 1:2). After falling through a lattice, the king sends messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub whether he will recover.
  2. Elijah's sentence on the king (2 Kings 1:4). The angel of the Lord gives Elijah the word that Ahaziah will not come down from his bed but will die.
  3. The hairy man identified (2 Kings 1:8). From the messengers' description the king names Elijah the Tishbite.
  4. Fire consumes the first fifty (2 Kings 1:10). Elijah answers the captain's order and fire from heaven consumes him and his men.
  5. The third captain kneels (2 Kings 1:13). The third captain falls on his knees and asks that his life and his men's lives be precious.
  6. Elijah speaks to the king (2 Kings 1:16). Elijah goes down and repeats the sentence to Ahaziah face to face.
  7. Ahaziah dies; Jehoram reigns (2 Kings 1:17). The king dies according to the word spoken by Elijah, and Jehoram succeeds him because he has no son.

For reflection

The first two captains repeat the king's order and are consumed; the third kneels and asks for his life and his men's lives. What in the chapter separates his approach from theirs, and what does it leave unsaid about the hundred men who died?

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