Elijah Denounces Ahaziah
Moab rebels after Ahab's death, and Ahaziah, injured in Samaria, sends to inquire of Baal-zebub about his recovery. Elijah intercepts the mission with the LORD's question and declares that the king will not rise from his bed.
A1fter the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. 2Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.” 3But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ 4Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”
The messengers return at once and repeat the prophet's words to Ahaziah. From their description of the man in hair and leather, the king recognizes that Elijah has spoken against him.
5When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?” 6They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” 7The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?” 8“He was a hairy man, ” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.”
Ahaziah sends two captains with their fifties to command Elijah down from the hill. Each time Elijah answers that if he is a man of God, fire may come from heaven, and each company is consumed.
9Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’” 10Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” 11So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’” 12Again Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.”
A third captain comes kneeling and asks for his life to be spared, and the angel tells Elijah not to fear him. Elijah goes down and repeats to Ahaziah the same charge and the same sentence of death.
13So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours please be precious in your sight. 14Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now may my life be precious in your sight.” 15Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” 16And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.”