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

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

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 not because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?

4 Now therefore thus said the LORD, You shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed.

5 And when the messengers turned back to him, he said to them, Why are you now turned back?

6 And they said to him, There came a man up to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king that sent you, and say to him, Thus said the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.

7 And he said to them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?

8 And 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.

9 Then the king sent to 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 spoke to him, You man of God, the king has said, Come down.

10 And 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 you and your fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

11 Again also he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, O man of God, thus has the king said, Come down quickly.

12 And Elijah answered and said to them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

13 And 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 sought him, and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life, and the life of these fifty your servants, be precious in your sight.

14 Behold, 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 your sight.

15 And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him to the king.

16 And he said to him, Thus said the LORD, For as much as you have sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore you shall not come down off that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.

17 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.

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?

Elijah calls down Fire from Heaven

1. Moab.. Ahab] Moab had been conquered by David ( 2Sa 8:2), and at the revolt of the Ten Tribes had. passed under the authority of the northern kingdom. The revolt here alluded to took place, according to the inscription of Mesha, before the death of Ahab, whereas the present passage implies that it happened later, in the reign of Ahaziah or Joram: cp. 2Ki 3:6.

2. A lattice] lit. ’a network,’—perhaps a balustrade. Baal-zebub] supposed to mean ’lord of flies,’ in the sense of being their controller and averter, since flies are one of the greatest plagues of Eastern countries: cp. the Gk. Zeus Apomuios. But in kindred names like Baal-Peor, Baal-Hermon, etc., the second element is the name of a place, which suggests that -zebub is likewise a local name. Ekron] One of the five confederate Philistine cities, lying nearest to the frontiers of Israel.

3. Is it not because, etc.] RV ’Is it because there is no God in Israel?’ and so in 2Ki 1:6, 2Ki 1:16.

8. An hairy man] better, as in RM, ’a man with a garment of hair,’ a characteristic dress of the prophets: cp. Zec 13:4; Mar 1:6.

9. A captain of fifty] a recognised division of the Israelite army: cp. 1Sa 8:12.

10. Let fire come down] The king in despatching soldiers to arrest the prophet dishonoured the Lord, whose servant Elijah was; and the unity that subsisted between a king and his subjects (as between a father and his children) was so strongly felt in ancient times that there was little sense of the injustice involved in the death of so many innocent persons for the sin of another: see on 2Ki 9:26. A consciousness of individual rights only asserted itself gradually in Israel (see Jer 31:29-30; Eze 18:2-4); and a spirit akin to that of Elijah was manifested even by the Apostles, but met with rebuke from then-Lord ( Luk 9:55).

17. In the second year of Jehoram] The calculation here arrived at seems to follow upon what is stated in 1Ki 16:23, where Omri begins to reign in Asa’s thirty-first year (Omri’s 12 + Ahab’s 22 + Ahaziah’s 2 + Jehoram’s 1 = Asa’s last 10 + Jehoshaphat’s 25 + Jehoram’s 2). A different reckoning is adopted in 1Ki 3:1.

Had no son] Jehoram, who succeeded Ahaziah, was his brother.