kjv@2Kings:1:1@ Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
kjv@2Kings:1:2@ And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
kjv@2Kings:1:3@ 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 unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?
kjv@2Kings:1:4@ Now 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.
kjv@2Kings:1:5@ And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?
kjv@2Kings:1:6@ And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
kjv@2Kings:1:7@ And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?
kjv@2Kings:1:8@ 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.
kjv@2Kings:1:9@ Then the king sent unto 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 spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
kjv@2Kings:1:10@ 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 thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
kjv@2Kings:1:11@ Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.
kjv@2Kings:1:12@ And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
kjv@2Kings:1:13@ 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 besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.
kjv@2Kings:1:14@ 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 thy sight.
kjv@2Kings:1:15@ And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.
kjv@2Kings:1:16@ And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
kjv@2Kings:1:17@ 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.
kjv@2Kings:1:18@ 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?
Hopefully, we are beginning to see why God was not too much for the establishment of the monarchy early on. He had Samuel warn the unified kingdom in very personal and family level terms that any commoner would understand and fear. There is just so much political distraction and bloodshed resulting. This is what those of influence wanted however. This is what they got.
It occurs to me that throughout the kings the high priests are pretty much silent. We see an occasional prophet, but, what about the general day to day counsel and influence of the church. This is not to say that they weren't there, it is to say that there is little mention of their role and position in these national matters.
We have here a king that did right and yet the Lord smote him with leprosy. That the Lord is said to have done it may show a purpose or intent but, the verse does not state shat that might be. We can guess perhaps that not all the high places were removed and yet other kings had done the same. We could guess that maybe it was for the purpose of someone(s) other than the king. Or it may have been no purpose at all other than to develop him in a way different than other kings. The Lord's judgment is perfect and true whether we know why or not.
It must be said that these assassinations are becoming much to commonplace in Israel. It is evident that none are seeking the Lord and that the stability and psyche of Israel are effected.
I thought that the ways of Jeroboam were in eliminating the use of the Temple in Jerusalem with the two golden calves, it was a falsified form of Judaism. Here I am seeing sacrifice and high place worship which suggest Baal. Have the two religions merged or morphed?
This is one of the key chapters in the entire Bible. We see the final fall of Israel in all of it's horror. God's protection is completely lifted and only Judah remains. Key is the complete discription of what God had expected, how they had completely failed, and how the invading and occupying forces felt (fearing the Lord but, planting there own regional gods just the same). Considering the hope and the warning declared by the elderly Moses, this is a sad sad end.
Even the holy objects of old have now become idolatrous objects. Braking the object helps us to see that it wasn't the object itself that performed the previous miracles but what the object symbolized.
What would Judah had done had it not been for the strength and conviction of Hezekiah? We tend to think that when a man is strong desperate sittuations never come against him, somehow he just handles things before they get out of hand. For some this is true. For others however they are strong before and they are all the more stronger for the desperate experience. Leaders are tested. The stronger they are the stronger they are tested. Weak leaders are rarely tested because they fail at every turn and compromise to every situation.
What a terrible moment tiny Judah faces here. A true test of their conviction to Jehovah. There is no way for them to stand by their own resource or aliances. The Assyrian envoy calls his shot, puts the situation in brutally clear terms, compares Jehovah to all the other gods that have been defeated, bribes the citizens support against king Hezekiah. Jehovah preforms His work in a way that one could make no mistake that it was only by His own hand.
What a terrible moment tiny Judah faces here. A true test of their conviction to Jehovah. There is no way for them to stand by their own resource or aliances. The Assyrian envoy calls his shot, puts the situation in brutally clear terms, compares Jehovah to all the other gods that have been defeated, bribes the citizens support against king Hezekiah. Jehovah preforms His work in a way that one could make no mistake that it was only by His own hand.
What a terrible moment tiny Judah faces here. A true test of their conviction to Jehovah. There is no way for them to stand by their own resource or aliances. The Assyrian envoy calls his shot, puts the situation in brutally clear terms, compares Jehovah to all the other gods that have been defeated, bribes the citizens support against king Hezekiah. Jehovah preforms His work in a way that one could make no mistake that it was only by His own hand.
2012 - pBiblx2 Field Wise Bible System Version 2.0.9d - GPL3
