Whom Jehovah holds
1 Kings 22:40, 49, 51-5340So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. (1 Kings 22:40)
49Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not. (1 Kings 22:49)
51Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. 52And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, 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 to sin: 53For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done. (1 Kings 22:51‑53); 2 Kings 1
Contemporary Prophets: Elijah
Scripture records a dark catalog of iniquity concerning Ahaziah. Yet it is only what might be expected of the offspring of such a couple as Ahab and Jezebel. So matched in wickedness were his parents that nothing short of a miracle of grace could have made him anything better than the description given of him here:
Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, 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 to sin. For he served Baal, and worshiped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done (1 Kings 22:51-5351Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. 52And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, 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 to sin: 53For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done. (1 Kings 22:51‑53)).
“And 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, inquire of Baal-zebub [‘lord of flies] the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease.” Ekron was the northernmost of the five chief Philistine cities, and contained the shrine and oracle of the vile abomination called Baal-zebub (the Beelzebub of the New Testament). Men love the gods that are most like unto themselves, so it is not surprising to see Ahaziah sending to this miserable Philistine god. But the sick king’s messengers never reached the oracle. The God of Israel Himself, sending His prophet to intercept the king’s messengers, answered his question.
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 unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die (2 Kings 1:3-43But 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 inquire 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. (2 Kings 1:3‑4)).
The messengers returned to their royal master, and related what had taken place and the prophet’s message. “What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?” the king inquired. “And they answered him, He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.” In his perverse folly, Ahaziah ordered at once that the prophet be apprehended. But now the strong hand of Jehovah must be felt by the perverse king and his haughty captains: twice the captains with their fifty men are consumed by fire from heaven. But, as the third captain humbly pleads for his own life and the lives of his men sent out to arrest Jehovah’s prophet, the angel of the Lord bids Elijah, “Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.” There, in the presence of the king, Jehovah’s judgment is unflinchingly repeated to him.
“So 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.” This Jehoram, also known as Joram, was another son of Ahab (2 Kings 3:11Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. (2 Kings 3:1)) and therefore brother of Ahaziah.
“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?” Yes, and they, with the wicked acts recorded here, are written in God’s books above, as well as all the deeds and doings of every man’s life, whether it be good or evil. Solemn facts for us all!