Ahaziah and His Sickness 

2Kings 1:1-18

INTRODUCTION: Ahaziah gives us a powerful type of the sinful condition of last man the wrong ways to seek deliverance from the sickness unto death. There is a good salvation message in this lesson.

I.                     ELIJAH PROPHESIED THE DEATH OF AHAZIAH (1:1-4)

A.      The Rebellion of Moab (1:1)

1.    The people of Moab

a.         Descendants of Moab, the son of Lot and his eldest daughter (Gen.19:30-37)

b.         Replaced the Emims (Deut.2:9-11)

c.         Abraham and Moab were both descendants of Terah

d.         Given their land by God (Deut.2:9)

e.         Refused passage to Israel (Num.20:18-21)

f.           Held Israel in bondage for 18 years (Judg.3:12-13)

g.         Fought against Saul (1Sam.14:47)

h.         Defeated by David (2Sam.8:2)

2.    The land of Moab

a.         Field of Moab (Gen. 36:35; 1Chr. 1:46); heart of the land of Moab; south of the Arnon and north of the Zered

b.         Land of Moab (Deuteronomy 1:5; 32:9; Judges 11:18); north of the Arnon to the hills of Gilead

c.         Plain of Moab (Numbers 22:1; 26:63; 31:12; Joshua 13:32); plain east of Jordan directly north of the Dead Sea

3.    The rebellion of Moab

a.         After the death of Ahab; Ahab humbled himself and God deferred some judgment until after his death (1Kings 21:27-29)

b.         Becomes a recurring problem

(1)       Under Jehoram (2Kings 3:5)

(2)       After the death of Elisha (2Kings 13:20)

(3)       In the latter years of the kingdom of Judah (2Kings 24:1-2)

B.      The Sickness of Ahaziah (1:2)

1.       The reign of Ahaziah

a.      He reigned over Israel as the son of Ahab (1Kings 22:51)

b.      He did evil in the sight of the Lord (1Kings 22:52-53)

(1)     He walked in the way of his father – Ahab (v.52)

(2)     He walked in the way of his mother – Jezebel  (v.52)

(3)     He walked in the way of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin (v.52)

(4)     He served Baal and worshipped him (v.53)

(5)     He provoked the anger of the Lord (v.53)

c.      He reigned for two years over Israel (1Kings 22:51)

2.       The sickness of Ahaziah

a.      As the result of a fall – A type of the fall of Adam and Eve

(1)     He crossed a line he should have respected

(a)     Through the lattice

(b)     As Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit

(2)     His transgression (crossing a forbidden line) resulted in a fall

(3)     The fall resulted in a sickness unto death (Romans 6:23)

(4)     The sickness cannot be cured by going to the wrong gods

b.      Through the lattice of his upper chamber

(1)     The upper chamber

(a)     Wealthier home owners would build a room on their roof (2Kgs.1:2; 23:12; Acts 9:37; 20:8)

(b)     The room was sometimes used as a guest chamber (2Kgs.4:10)

(c)     Used as a place of worship in the early church (Mk.14:12-16; Acts 1:13)

(2)     The lattice

(a)     There were few windows on the street side and these were high

(b)     Windows were usually covered with a lattice for screening and protection from thieves (Judg.5:28; Song 2:9)

(c)     The children of Israel were required by the law to build battlements on their roofs so that no man might fall from them (Deuteronomy 22:8); Evidently, Ahaziah felt that as king he was above this law. His neglect cost him his life.

3.       The inquiry of Ahaziah

a.      He sent to Baalzebub the god of Ekron

(1)     Ekron was one of the five cities of the Philistines (Joshua 13:3)

(2)     Baalzebub (Beelzebub) is the “prince of the devils” (Matthew 12:24)

b.      He inquired whether he should recover of his disease; notice the progression; compare James 1:14-15

(1)     He fell

(2)     He was sick

(3)     He had a disease

(4)     He died

C.      The Prophecy of Elijah (1:3-4)

1.       He questioned their actions (v.3). Why go to Baalzebub?

a.      To a god far away; Note: it is amazing to see the great lengths people will go to in following after false gods (1Kings 18:25-29)

b.      To a god who cannot help them (Isaiah 44:9-20)

c.      When the true God is near (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

2.       He provided their answer (v.4)

a.      Ahaziah will not come down from his bed

b.      Ahaziah will surely die

II.                   THE MESSENGERS REPORTED BACK TO AHAZIAH (1:5-8)

A.      The Return of the Messengers (1:5)

1.       The messengers turned back

2.       Ahaziah questioned their actions

a.      They could not have been to Ekron and back

b.      They could not have gotten an answer from Baalzebub

c.      He understood the limits of his god; contrast this with the unlimited powers of God (Isaiah 40:28-31; Jeremiah 32:27)

B.      The Report of the Messengers (1:6)

1.       “There came a man up to meet us” – the truth tends to make strong men; false religion makes men effeminate. This explains why God is always looking for a man in degenerate times (Jeremiah 5:1; Ezekiel 22:30)

2.       He sent us back to the king with a message

a.      Is there not a God in Israel?

b.      You will surely die

C.      The Identity of the Prophet (1:7-8)

1.       What “manner of man” was he? (v.7; Matthew 8:27)

a.      Who would interrupt the messengers of the king

b.      Who would send such a message to the king

2.       The description of Elijah (v.8)

a.      A hairy man

b.      With a girdle of leather about his loins (compare John the Baptist in Matthew 3:4)

3.       The identity of Elijah (v.8)

III.                  AHAZIAH SENT SOLDIERS TO FETCH ELIJAH (1:9-15)

A.      The First Captain and his Fifty (1:9-10)

1.       The captain and his fifty (v.9)

a.      Sent by king Ahaziah

b.      To Elijah sitting on a hilltop

(1)     He did not hide

(2)     He did not run

c.      Sent with the command: Come down; Note: the world is always trying to get God’s people to come down

d.      Acknowledged Elijah as a “man of God”

2.       The fire of the Lord (v.10)

a.      Sent down from heaven

b.      Proving Elijah to be a man of God

c.      Consumed the captain and his fifty

B.      The Second Captain and his Fifty (1:11-12)

1.       The captain and his fifty (v.11)

a.      Sent by king Ahaziah

b.      Sent with the command: Come down quickly; The word quickly is now added. Since the first tactic did not work, Ahaziah just did the same thing again with more zeal. This is like so much that is called religion.

2.       The fire of the Lord (v.12)

a.      This time Elijah addressed “them” (not just the captain) showing us that men are responsible for who they follow

b.      This time the “fire from heaven” is called the “fire of God.”

C.      The Third Captain and his Fifty (1:13-15)

1.       The captain and his fifty (v.13-14)

a.      Sent by king Ahaziah (v.13)

b.      He fell on his knees before Elijah (v.13); evidently, this was not commanded by the king. A man cannot find God’s mercy until he refuses to blindly obey the prince of this world.

(1)     He besought Elijah

(2)     He pled for his life

(3)     He pled for the life of the soldiers

(a)     They are called “thy servants”

(b)     Let their life be precious in their sight

c.      He acknowledged the sentence of death on him (v.14; John 3:18, 36)

2.       The mercy of the Lord (v.15)

a.      According to God’s word

b.      By the angel of the Lord – a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ

c.      With a command to the man of God to go (Matthew 28:19)

d.      With the obedience of the man of God

(1)     He arose

(2)     He went down with him unto the king

IV.                AHAZIAH DIED ACCORDING TO THE PROPHECY (1:16-18)

A.      Elijah Repeated the Prophecy (1:16)

1.       By sending messengers to Ekron, Ahaziah was declaring that there was no God in Israel

2.       As the result of seeking after false gods, Ahaziah will die (“therefore”)

B.      Ahaziah Died as Prophesied (1:17-18)

1.       He died according to the word (v.17)

a.      The word of the Lord

b.      The word spoken by Elijah (Amos 3:7)

2.       Jehoram reigned in his stead (v.17)

a.      Beginning in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat in Judah

b.      Jehoram is the brother of Ahaziah and he reigns because Ahaziah had no son

c.      The two Jehoram’s; we are entering a period of history when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah both have a king named Jehoram. This gets more confusing when the families intermarry later. More confusion is caused because the Jehoram of Judah co-reigns with his father Jehoshaphat for a number of years.

(1)     Jehoram of Israel begins his reign in the second year of the reign of Jehoram of Judah (2Kings 1:17)

(2)     Jehoram of Israel also begins his reign in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah and father of Jehoram of Judah

(3)     In the fifth year of Jehoram of Israel, Jehoram of Judah begins his reign; that is, the one independent of his father Jehoshaphat (2Kings 8:16)

(4)     Evidently, Jehoram of Judah reigns alongside of his father for about seven years.

3.       The remaining acts of Ahaziah are to be found in the chronicles of the kings of Israel

CONCLUSION: Jehoram recognized his sickness but he did not go to the right source for healing. When he was forced to look to the right source, he approached it is the wrong way. Have you recognized your need for healing? Have you gone to the true God for healing? Have you approached Him in humility and faith?