16. AHAZIAH
AHAZIAH
"Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said.’Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.’ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah.’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?" 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."’"
2Ki 1:2-4 NKJV A haziah, Ahab’s son and successor, quickly showed that he had no regard for the Lord. Of him we read that he "did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin" (1Ki 22:52). The main focus God gives us on this king’s life relates to what he did about an injury he suffered in a fall, an injury that was to prove fatal. God often tests us in seemingly little things, but these things reveal the true condition of our hearts. Totally ignoring the painful lessons his father Ahab had had to learn, Ahaziah left Jehovah completely out of his thinking - something both foolish and dangerous to do. He sent his messengers to inquire of the "lord of flies," Baal-Zebub, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron associated with healing. Jehovah had Elijah intercept the messengers and send word by them of the king’s impending doom. Where do we place our confidence when we are sick or injured? We can truly be thankful for doctors and other practitioners of the healing arts, for medicines, medical equipment and tests of all kinds. We are free before God to make full use of them. But our trust must not be in things or in people, but in the Lord alone!
"He said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. And he sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he sat on the top of the mount. And he spoke to him: Man of God, the king says, Come down! And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, And if I be a man of God, let fire come down from the heavens and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from the heavens, and consumed him and his fifty."
King Ahaziah recognized from his messengers’ description that it was Elijah who had told them that he would not recover from his injury but would die. He and all Israel knew who Elijah was, a man of God. The king now sent a detachment of soldiers to arrest him. Their captain rudely demanded, "The king says, Come down!" Down through the years many men of God, male and female, have been confronted with a "Come down" from the authorities. To this day the militia or police in many lands still harass Christians and haul them off to torture, fines, and imprisonment. Where the enmity of godless authorities is not so crass, their opposition still makes itself felt. The state wants to rule supreme. Pilate told our Lord, "Dost Thou not know that I have authority to release Thee and have authority to crucify Thee?" (John 19:10). But God rules supreme. Elijah called down fire from heaven upon this insolent captain and his fifty, and a little later upon a second, even more insulting one. What he did was right - wicked Ahaziah was really challenging God. God is no less able to act to protect His own today. But we live in a day of grace and are to show the spirit of our Lord Jesus who endured griefs, insult, and injury, suffering wrongfully. He, "when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not; but gave Himself over into the hands of Him who judges righteously" (1Pe 2:23).