2 Kings 1:1-18 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 2 Kings 1:1-18. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
2 Kings 1:1-4 (NIV)
1 After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”
3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’
4 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!'” So Elijah went.
On verses 1-4: Ahaziah king of Israel falls and injures himself. He wonders whether he will recover from this accident or die from it. He decides to consult Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron on the question. The Lord’s prophet Elijah brings a message to Ahaziah, stating that Ahaziah’s actions have offended the Lord. By seeking another god for help and not consulting the Lord first, Ahaziah showed that he places his hope in other things more than he does in God. Elijah also tells Ahaziah that Ahaziah will not recover but will certainly die.
What can we learn from this? Who you consult first for help is a reflection of who you really trust. If you keep consulting someone or something other than God first, then you may be trusting in an idol instead.
2 Kings 1:5-18 (NIV)
5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”
6 “A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”‘”
7 The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”
8 They replied, “He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist.” The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!'”
10 Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.
11 At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!'”
12 “If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
13 So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants!
14 See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”
15 The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
16 He told the king, “This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”
17 So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
18 As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
On verses 5-18: Ahaziah finds out that it was Elijah who gave the message that Ahaziah would die from his illness. Ahaziah twice sends a captain from his army with 50 men to apprehend Elijah, saying “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!'” (v9, v11 – in the second case, the second captain is even more forceful: “come down at once!”). However, each time fire comes down from heaven and consumes the captain and his men. When the third captain comes with his 50 men, he takes a humbler approach: on his knees he asks Elijah to have mercy on his life (v13). God tells Elijah that he may go with this third captain and that Elijah need not be afraid of him. Elijah goes with the third captain to King Ahaziah and delivers the same message of Ahaziah’s impending death. Just as Elijah predicted, Ahaziah dies (v17) and is succeeded by his brother Joram, since Ahaziah had no children of his own.
What can we learn from this? The first two captains had no respect for Elijah or for the Lord. So they approached Elijah pridefully and God “fired” them. The third captain had respect for Elijah and came humbly before him and was received by the man of God. Likewise, let’s be careful to approach God and the leaders God has placed in our lives not with a prideful, condescending, disrespectful attitude but with a healthy respect and humility. For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Father, may I be careful to treat you and the leaders You have placed in my life with a healthy respect and humility, knowing that You watch everything we say and do. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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