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2nd Kings 1 is all about rebellion, the rebellion of Moab against Israelite rule after Ahab’s death as well as Ahab’s son’s rebellion against God and the consequences of that rebellion that flowed through Israel’s army. Eliyahu showed both Ahaziah and his army that God (and God’s servants) deserved respect.
“Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.” (2nd Kings 1:1)
We are given an excellent example of those who are rebellious and those who are not rebellious.
The very next thing we are told is that King Ahaziah falls ill shortly after this rebellion starts. We don’t know how many weeks or months apart these events occurred but we do know that Ahaziah only reigned for a couple of years.
We are shown that Ahaziah’s first instinct is to appeal to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, who is a the Philistine god of death to find out if his illness is an illness to death. He is asking the God of the Flies to tell him if he is going to die. Death and dying is associated with flies. It’s the job of flies to take dead things and turn them back into dirt. That’s not a bad thing, that is what they are.
God, through Eliyahu (Elijah), heads Ahaziah’s servants off at the pass and gives them the answer to Ahaziah’s question, even though Ahaziah hadn’t inquired of Him.
Eliyahu’s mission on earth was to re-teach the children of Israel about God. This prophesy was one of Eliyahu’s last tasks from God and this incident is just as much a teachable moment as Mt. Carmel and Eliyahu’s other prophesies.
In this chapter God calls Ahaziah “the King of Samaria,” and not the King of Israel. In Baal culture, there is no difference, they are the same. The people of Israel are starting to understand that there is a distinction between the king and God.
Eliyahu tells the king’s servants to tell the king in 2nd Kings 1:4, “You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die.” Ahaziah knew who God was and he made a conscious decision to rebel against God by inquiring of the god of Ekron instead of the God of Israel.
After their meeting with Eliyahu the Tishbite on their way to Ekron, the servants immediately return to the king. The king knew they could not have arrived at Ekron and back in that amount of time.
God pronounces a death sentence against him because he was in active rebellion against God and when the men described the person who gave the message, he knew who did it. Ahaziah knew who Eliyahu was and had seen the power God gave him yet he consciously chose to go to Ekron for answers instead of Eliyahu.
Ahaziah doesn’t respond well to Eliyahu’s prophesy so he sends out the first captain of 50.
This first captain climbs up the mountain and approaches Eliyahu face to face and fire comes down and burns him and his soldiers up. The second captain with his 50 men did not climb the mountain but spoke the same command further away. He kept his distance, he perceived that Eliyahu was a powerful, dangerous individual. The third captain went up the mountain and bowed or knelt and asked politely for Eliyahu to come with him.
The third captain shows us how to get through our difficult times and tasks. He bowed down and God spared his life. God tells Eliyahu to go to Ahaziah and repeat the message he had given to Ahaziah’s servant.
This prophesy was repeated twice to the Ahaziah but we read it three times. We have three messages, three captains, three reactions, three deaths. When we see the number three and death combined, we can safely assume Messiah in this story. The third death was not scheduled. The third death was the death of the third captain, who was spared and the king, Ahaziah, took his place. The king will die for a particular type of person. The king dies for the person who is not rebellious. The third captain was supposed to die but was spared.
Life and death are not permanent in God’s eyes. For us, death is permanent but for Him, it’s a temporary state.
These last few events in Eliyahu’s life, he is teaching us about the Messiah. It’s a short chapter and pretty straightforward, but there’s more to come in 2nd Kings 2.
Speaker: Daniel Agee. Summary: Tammy.