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1 Kings 2 Prelude to Elisha Now therefore thus saith the
LORD, Thou shalt not come down
from The first book of Kings closes with a record of
the reign of Ahaziah of Israel, who came to the throne after the death of his
father Ahab. Ahaziah is ascribed a reign of “two years over Israel,” but
actually his reign was but a year in duration. It was customary for the kings
of Israel in the north to count the last year of their predecessor the same as
the first year of their own reign. Thus the last year of Ahab was the first of
Ahaziah, and the “second” of Ahaziah was the same as the first year of his
successor, his brother Jehoram, also son of Ahab. But Jehoram came to the
throne following the passing of Ahab. This explains how it
is that Ahaziah came to the throne in the “seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat,”
reigned “two years over Israel,” yet his successor Jehoram came to the throne
in the “eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat” (1 Kings 22:51; 2 Kings 3:1). The Sins of His Father During his brief time on the throne, Ahaziah
followed the sins of his father Ahab, supporting the calf worship instituted by
Jeroboam more than seventy years earlier, and supporting the Baal worship
introduced into Israel through Ahab’s wife Jezebel. For this cause
he suffered the judgment of God. The account of this constitutes the first
chapter of the second book of Kings, which in turn is followed in chapter two
by the taking of Elijah, leaving Elisha as his successor. Thus Elijah was the
prophet through whom God communicated his judgment upon Ahaziah. Ahaziah had been
injured in a fall through a lattice window in an upper chamber and was injured
enough to be concerned about his life. But rather than seek information through
a prophet of Jehovah, he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub (Baal of the
flies) at Ekron, a city of the Philistines. At God’s command Elijah intercepted
the messengers, and he gave them the message cited in the text at the head of
this page. When Ahaziah received
the message he sent a captain with fifty men to apprehend Elijah, but when they
arrived, Elijah called down fire from heaven that consumed them; likewise with
a second band sent thereafter. A third captain with his band came also, but
pleaded with Elijah to come with him to the king. Elijah complied. When he came
before Ahaziah, Elijah explained that because Ahaziah inquired of Baal rather
than Jehovah, “therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou
art gone up, but shalt surely die” (2 Kings 1:16). “So he died according to the
word of the LORD which Elijah had
spoken” (2 Kings 1:17). Three Woes The fire from heaven indicated the judgment of
God. The two occasions of this represent two judgments of God. Though a third
time the same manifestation was withheld, in fact the third occasion was the
most disastrous for Ahaziah, for it ended in the death of the king. Inasmuch as
the house of Ahab, that Ahaziah continued, is a picture of apostate Christendom
during the Gospel age, and inasmuch as this system is destroyed by three “woes”
upon them—trumpets five, six, and seven of Revelation—it is likely the three
occasions of judgment in this first chapter of Second Kings represent the three
woes that end the power of Christendom. These three judgments complete the present age and introduce the kingdom. So in the record of Second Kings, these three judgments are the final ones recorded before the next chapter narrates the taking of Elijah and the establishment of Elisha as the prophet in his stead. Thus the transition from the Church, the Elijah class, to the Ancient Worthies, the Elisha class, is at the conclusion of the last three trumpets of Revelation, and those introduce the kingdom of Christ. |