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2–18. The illness of Ahaziah, king of Israel, and his death, as predicted by the prophet Elijah. 2 Kings 1:1. And Moab revolted from Israel after the death of Ahab. The apostasy of Moab, which had become a tributary of Israel since the time of David (2 Kings 8:2) and even under Ahas, who paid tribute to the kingdom of Israel (100,000 sheep and 100,000 lambs per year, 2 Kings 3:4), is mentioned even lower (2 Kings 3:5) in connection with the war caused by this apostasy. Here (2 Kings 1:1) the deposition of the Moabites, as further (v. 2 ff.) about the illness of Ahaziah, is spoken of as a consequence of Ahaziah’s wickedness (1 Kings 22:52–53), and together, probably, in accordance with the chronological sequence of events (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 1 to 4 book of Kings). Ahaziah was unable to undertake the campaign against the Moabites due to his illness (v. 2). 2 Kings 1:2. Ahaziah fell through the bars from his upper room in Samaria and fell ill. And he sent messengers and said to them: go, ask Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron: will I recover from this illness? [And they went to ask.] 2 Kings 1:3. Then the Angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite: Arise, go to meet those sent by the king of Samaria and say to them: Is there no God in Israel, that you are going to inquire of Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron? 2 Kings 1:4. For this, the Lord says this: from the bed on which you lie down, you will not leave it, but you will die. And Elijah went [and told them]. In his illness, which occurred as a result of a fall from the roof (flat, as usual in the ancient and modern east, protected, in case of a fall, by railings or parapets according to (Deut. 22:8); cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 2 to 4 book of Kings). Ahaziah, the unworthy king of theocratic Israel, turns for help and guidance not to Jehovah, but to Ekron to a certain pagan deity Baal-Zebub (Beelzebub) to ask the oracle of this deity about the outcome of the disease. Akron, Heb. Ekron, LXX: Ἁκκαρών, Vulg. Accoron, is a city in the northernmost of the five regions of the Philistines (Joshua 13:3), therefore very close to the residence of the kings of Israel - Samaria; was originally assigned to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:45), then to Dan (Joshua 19:43), but was constantly in the hands of the Philistines (1 Sam. 6:17; cf. Jer. 25:20; Am. 1:8); is now identified with the village of Akir between Jamnia (Yebna) and Jaffa. (Onomast 61. Robins. Palast. III, 230). The name of the Philistine deity Baal-Zebub, “baal or god of flies” or “fly god” (LXX in this place is rendered: Βαάλ μυῖαν, Simach Βεεαξεβουλ, as later in the Gospel, Matthew 10:25; Matthew 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15,18; in Aquila, according to the Hebrew ζεβούβ, also in the Vulgate: Beelzebúb) will be explained in two ways: 1) or (according to Gezenius, Ewald, etc.) “the abominator of flies” - deus averruncus moscarum, like the one revered in Elis Ζεύς ἁποριας (the myth of Hercules, who, making a sacrifice on Olympus, sacrificed to Zeus, the fly-driver, to drive away flies and other insects), and another similar cult of the god Θεός μυιαγρός, which existed in Arcadia and later in Rome; 2) according to others (Müller, Keil and others), based on the transmission of LXX and Josephus (Jude. Ancient. 9:2, 1 – θεός Μυῖα), Baal-Zebub is a fly god (and not an enemy of flies), who had an idol in the form of a fly, or a god to whom flies were dedicated. One way or another, Baal-Zebub represented the announcement of the summer solar heat, accompanied (especially in the coastal Philistine country) by a mass of flies and other often harmful insects; later, the meaning of deity and cult expanded, and under him a mantic institution was formed - the oracle; probably, they were looking for healing diseases here: Baal-Zebub appears on both sides in the story of Ahaziah. (Completely apart is the opinion of Halevy that “yevuv” is not a “fly”, but the proper name of the area). Later Jews identified the name of the Phoenician deity with the name of this spirit or Satan (as in the Gospel): the reason could be the consonance of zevuv and debaba, which among the later Jews meant an enemy, an evil spirit. Moreover, in a modified form (Greek Βεελζεβούλ - change b to l often in the Greek transcription of the Hebrew “ishen”) the name “Beelzebub” meant “god of the dwelling” or “god of dung,” by which the rabbis expressed contempt for the Philistine deity, and then for the “prince of demons” (see Riehm. Handworterbuch des bibl. Alterthuns, I, s. Wed. A. Glagoleva, “Old Testament biblical teaching about angels,” pp. 607–610). “And they went to ask” – LXX addition. The prophet Elijah the Tishbite appears again (v. 3), and again as a messenger of destruction to the house of Ahab; where he was after the final reproof of Ahab (1 Kings 21:1) is unknown. The prophet Elijah receives the command to go and announce the terrible denunciation of Ahaziah from the “Angel of Jehovah” (v. 3), just as the Angel gave him commands before leaving for Horeb (1 Kings 19:5,7). About the Angel of Jehovah as the Lord of the Old Economy. theocracy, like the Logos, see A. Glagolev, “The Old Testament Biblical Teaching about Angels,” p. 85–175. 2 Kings 1:5. And the messengers returned to Ahaziah. And he said to them: why have you returned? 2 Kings 1:6. And they said to him: A man came out to meet us and said to us: Go, return to the king who sent you, and say to him: Thus says the Lord: Is there no God in Israel, why do you send Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron, to inquire? Because of this, you will not leave the bed on which you lay down, but you will die. 2 Kings 1:7. And he said to them: What was the appearance of the man who came out to meet you and spoke these words to you? 2 Kings 1:8. They said to him, “The man is covered in hair and has a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, This is Elijah the Tishbite. When those sent by Ahaziah returned to him and told him the fatal prediction, he, according to their description of the appearance (Heb. mishpat, proper “custom”, Vulg.: figura et habitus) of the predictor: “all in hair (Heb. baal sear - having a hair shirt, cf. adderet, 1 Kings 19:19; Matt. 3:4) and leather girded with a belt” (v. 8), decides without hesitation that this is the prophet Elijah: obviously, such attire was typical for the prophet Elijah, as later for many other prophets (Is. 20: 2–3); in its meaning it is close to sackcloth, sackcloth (1 Kings 21:27): it meant the state of repentance, which the prophets depicted in their personalities, as well as the denial of the luxury of modern life and a call to primitive simplicity (cf. Matt. 3:4,11:8; Heb.11:37). 2 Kings 1:9. And he sent the captain of fifty to him with his fifty. And he went up to him when Elijah was sitting on the top of the mountain, and said to him: man of God! the king says: come down. 2 Kings 1:10. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. 2 Kings 1:11. And the king sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he began to say to him: man of God! This is what the king said: Come down quickly. 2 Kings 1:12. And Elijah answered and said to him, If I am 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. From the very fact that Ahaziah sent a detachment of 50 people. soldier (the Jewish army was divided into detachments of 50, 100, 1000 people (Num. 31:14,48)) towards Elijah, the king’s hostile intention towards the prophet is visible (maybe the king feared resistance from the prophet’s admirers). And the appeal of the first two Pentecostals to the prophet (verses 10, 12), devoid of respect, expressing, on the contrary, a command and, perhaps, a mockery of the prophetic dignity of Elijah. This commonality of the mood of the hundred warriors and their two leaders with the mood of the wicked king himself can explain the severity of the heavenly punishment brought down on them by Elijah, although this punishment remains the exclusive property of the Old Testament in its difference from the New (Luke 9:54). “Those who accuse the prophet (of cruelty) will move their tongues against God and His prophet, because He sent fire... One must know the truthfulness of God’s providence, know that God lawfully punishes those who sin and benefits those who please Him. It is clear that the Pentecostals and their subordinates were in agreement with the intention of the one who sent them, which is why they suffered punishment from God” (Blessed Theodoret, question 4 to 4 of the book of Kings). 2 Kings 1:13. And he sent a Pentecostal man a third time with his fifty. And he rose up, and the third Pentecostal came, and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him: man of God! Let not my soul and the soul of your servants—these fifty—be despised before your eyes; 2 Kings 1:14. behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former Pentecostals with their fifties; but now let not my soul be despised in your sight! Instead of the expression “for the third time” (Hebrew shelishim), it is better to accept the reading of “third” in accordance with the LXX (Codes XI, 44, 52, 56, 64, 74, 92, 106, 119, 120, 121, 123, 134, 144, 236, 242, 243, 244, 247 in Golmes; in the accepted Greek text there is no corresponding word), the Vulgate and the Slavic text; the pious mood of the third Pentecostal, the leader of the new Pentecostal, saved him and the soldiers from the fate of the first two detachments (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 4). The prophets, as bearers of God's revelation, had to meet with respectful attitude from people (cf. 2 Kings 2:23–24), as well as unconditional obedience (cf. 1 Kings 13). The death of the first two detachments was a warning to the worshipers of Baal in the kingdom of Israel. 2 Kings 1:15. And the Angel of the Lord said to Elijah: Go with him, do not be afraid of him. And he arose and went with him to the king. 2 Kings 1:16. And he said to him, Thus says the Lord: Because you sent messengers to inquire of Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron, as if there were no God in Israel to inquire about His word, you will not leave the bed on which you have lain down, but you will die. Fearlessly appearing to Ahaziah, the prophet Elijah repeated to him his previous (2 Kings 1:6) prediction of death. 2 Kings 1:17. And he died according to the word of the Lord, which Elijah spoke. And Joram [the brother of Ahaziah] reigned in his stead in the second year of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, since he had no son. 2 Kings 1:18. The rest of the things that he did concerning Ahaziah are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. Instead of the childless Ahaziah (the LXX Slavs do not have the comment in Article 17 about the childlessness of Ahaziah), his brother Joram reigned. “There was a law that the kingdom should be inherited by the children of kings, and if there are no children, by an older brother or closest relative” (Blessed Theodoret, question 5 of the 4th book of Kings). The time of the reign of Jehoram of Israel is determined differently in three different places: a) here (v. 17) - in the 2nd year of the reign of Joram of the Judah son Jehoshaphat (cf. 1 Kings 22:50); b) in (2 Kings 3:1): in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat and c) in (2 Kings 8:16) it is said that, on the contrary, Jehoram of Judah reigned in the 5th year of Jehoram of Israel. The last two dates are justified by the testimony of Chapter III about the joint campaign of Joram and Jehoshaphat against Moab; the date of this place is explained, perhaps, by the fact that Jehoshaphat of Judah for some time (about 5 years) could have had his son Joram as a co-ruler. You might be interested in: