Introduction
We reached the end of 1 Kings at the end of August. Since then I’ve preached on prayer and on the eldership and there was a one-off sermon on creation to new creation. Then we had our harvest thanksgiving and the BB and GB enrolments and Phil Dunn from EMF was here one Sunday morning. So, that’s what we’ve done on Sunday mornings since we finished 1 Kings. And now it’s time to begin 2 Kings.
Of course, originally there was only one book of Kings. However, when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek around 200 years before the birth of Christ, the one books of Kings was divided into two books. And that’s the way it now appears in our English translations.
But I wonder how much of 1 Kings you can remember? Let me jog your memory. The first eleven chapters of 1 Kings were all about Solomon and how he succeeded his father, David, as king of Israel; and how he established his reign and built a palace for himself and a temple for the Lord; and how the Lord blessed him and his kingdom, so that he became famous around the world for his wisdom and wealth. And so, you might remember how the Queen of Sheba visited his kingdom and she was overwhelmed by what she saw and said:
The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!
And his people were happy, because they had all that they wanted and each man sat under his own vine and fig-tree, which is a picture of peace and contentment and well-being.
That was in the first eleven chapters of 1 Kings. The first half of chapter 12 was about how the one kingdom of Israel was divided into two separate kingdoms after Solomon’s death. There was the smaller, southern kingdom of Judah, which Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, ruled over. And there was the larger, northern kingdom of Israel, which Solomon’s rival, Jeroboam, ruled over. And the rest of 1 Kings is about that divided kingdom, with the narrator telling us about the kings in the north and the kings in the south. And whereas every king in Judah was descended from David and Solomon, so that there was a certain stability in Judah, things were different in Israel and very often the new king was not related to the previous king. And so, we don’t find the same stability in Israel as we find in Judah.
And the narrator follows the same general pattern when telling us about most of the kings. He normally begins by giving us basic facts about the king: when he began to reign and how long his reign lasted. And then he gives a brief assessment of the king: whether he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord; or whether he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. And then the narrator tells us about one event from the reign of the king. So, the narrator doens’t go into very much detail and he’s not giving us a full account of the life of every king. He’s being selective. And the pattern for each king ends with the narrator saying that the other events in the reign of the king are written in the book of the annals of the kings. Those annals no longer exist, but presumably they recorded in greater detail what happened during the reign of each king.
And since that’s the normal pattern which the narrator follows for most of the kings, you can perhaps tell that the person who was responsible for dividing the one book of Kings into two books divided the book in an odd place. He should have finished 1 Kings at the end of verse 50 of 1 Kings 22, which records the death of Jehoshaphat. And then verse 51 of 1 Kings 22 should have been the beginning of 2 Kings, because in verse 51 the narrator begins to tell us about Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, who succeeded his father as king of Israel. Following the normal pattern, the narrator tells us when he began to reign and how long his reign lasted. And you can see that his reign did not last long: only two years. In fact, it was probably less than two years, because the narrator normally rounds the number of years up. And then — and still following the normal pattern — the narrator gives his assessment of the king. And he tells us that Ahaziah did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. Ahaziah’s mother was the wicked queen, Jezebel; and you can read about Jeroboam in chapter 14. And as part of the narrator’s assessment of Ahaziah, he tells us in verse 53 of 1 Kings 22 that Ahaziah served and worshipped Baal and provoked the Lord to anger, just as his father had done. And that’s where 1 Kings ends. But it shouldn’t end there, because we’re only half way through the narrator’s record of Ahaziah’s reign. And what we read in chapter 1 of 2 Kings is the one event from the king’s reign which the narrator has chosen to tell us. And and in keeping with his normal pattern, the narrator tells us at the end of chapter 1 that the other events of Ahaziah’s reign are written in the book of the annals of the kings.
So, whoever divided the one book of Kings into two divided it in an odd place. But there’s something else which is odd in today’s passage. In keeping with the normal pattern, the narrator chooses to record for us one thing from the life of the king. And the one thing he chooses to record for us is not really about the life of the king. It’s about his death. The whole of today’s passage is about the events surrounding the king’s death. When someone famous dies, an obituary for that person appears in the newspapers. And the obituary will tell us about the deceased person’s life and achievements: all the things which made this person well-known. And we would think it very odd if the only thing the obituary told us about the deceased was the events leading up to that person’s death. That would be an add obituary. Or when there’s a funeral, someone will pay tribute to the deceased person. The minister or a member of the family will tell us about the deceased person’s life. And we’d think it was a very odd tribute if we confined the tribute to the events leading up to the person’s death.
But that’s what we have here. And perhaps that tells us everything we need to know about this king. Since he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, since he served and worshipped Baal, and since he provoked the Lord to anger, then perhaps we don’t need to know anything else about his life, because this tells us that his life was a wasted life. Our catechism tells us that our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That’s what we’re here for. That what our lives are for. That the purpose of our lives. That’s what we were made to do. And since Ahaziah served and worshipped a false god, then he failed to do what he was made to do, which is to serve and worship the Lord. His life was a wasted life, because he did not do what he was made to do. But the person who serves and worships the Lord lives a fulfilled life, because that person is doing exactly what he or she was made to do. You may never be famous. You may never have an important job. You may be a nobody in the eyes of the world. But if you’re serving and worshipping the Lord, then you’re living a fulfilled life, because you’re doing exactly what you were made to do.
Verses 1 to 8
Let’s turn now to verses 1 to 8 where it tells us that Moab rebelled against Israel. King David defeated the Moabites many years before; and we read in 2 Samuel 8 that they became subject to David and they brought tribute. That arrangement probably continued over the years; and Israel would have benefitted from the tribute and taxes which Moab paid them. And so, Moab rebelling against Israel in the days of Ahaziah’s reign would have been a blow to the nation’s economy. It is also a sign for us that Israel was not the mighty nation it once was under the reigns of David and Solomon. Its grip on neighbouring nations was weakening. And it’s perhaps likely that we’re to understand that Moab’s rebellion was the result of God’s anger with Ahaziah. At the end of 1 Kings it says that the king served and worshipped Baal. And so, he provoked the Lord to anger. And as a result of the Lord’s anger, Moab rebelled.
And presumably we can say the same about what happened next. Because he provoked the Lord to anger, the king fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. We can imagine him laid up in bed now, wondering whether he will live or die. Will he recover from the fall or will it end in his death? And this would be the opportune time for him to consider his relationship with the Lord. Since he was now facing death, you’d think he would want to make peace with God so that he could face death with confidence, knowing that when he dies, he would go to be with the Lord. This would have been an opportune time for the king to think about such things. But instead of turning to the one, true God, he turned instead to Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. The name Baal-Zebub means ‘Lord of the Flies’. The scholars think that the god of Ekron was really called Baal-Zebul, which means ‘Lord of the Princes’. If that sounds familiar to you, it’s because the same name is used to refer to Satan or the Devil in the gospels. The scholars also think that the narrator has changed the name deliberately to ridicule this god’s followers. So, his followers may think he’s Lord of the princes, but really he’s only Lord of the flies, which buzz around dog’s dirt. So, the narrator is perhaps poking fun at them.
In any case, having rejected the true God, all Ahaziah is left with is this false god, this fake god, who can do nothing, because he is nothing. And so, he sent messengers to consult this false god to see if he will recover or not. And it’s perhaps likely that he was also hoping that Baal-zebub would heal him.
This, of course, is one of the things we’ve been talking about on Sunday evenings as we’ve gone through the book of Colossians. I’ve said that people always turn to religion to help them deal with the sin and misery in their lives. But, instead of turning to the true religion and to the true God, people turn to false religions and to false gods. People turn to false religions and to false gods, because they’re sinners, who repress what they know about the true God because it’s unacceptable to them; and they exchange the true God for false gods. That’s what Ahaziah had done and it’s what people still do today. And when they come face to face with death, they have no-one to help them, because the thing they trusted in to help them at such times of crisis turns out to be nothing at all.
Well, the king may have turned away from the Lord, but the Lord had not yet turned away from the king, as we will see from what happens next. The narrator tells us that the angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah and told him to say to the king’s messengers, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-zebub?’ In other words, why are you consulting a false god, when you should be consulting the one, true and living God? Why are you trusting a fake god, when you should be trusting the true God? Why look to him when you can look to me? And the angel of the Lord told Elijah to announce to the king’s messengers that the king will not recover from his injury. He will surely die!
Elijah went and repeated the Lord’s message to the king’s messengers. And the king’s messengers therefore returned to the king. The narrator tells us that the king wanted to know why they had returned. He wasn’t expecting them back so soon. And they explained that a man came to meet them. They apparently didn’t know that it was Elijah the prophet. He was just ‘a man’ to them. And they explained to the king that the man told them to return to the king and to give him this message from the Lord. And that’s what they have done.
And when the king heard about the man who met them and about his message, he asked them to describe the man to them. What did he look like? The NIV says he had a garment of hair and had a leather belt around his waste. The commentators tell us that it wasn’t so much Elijah’s garment which was hairy, but it was Elijah himself who was hairy. And because of his distinctive appearance, the king knew exactly who they were describing.
Verses 9 to 17
And in the following verses — verses 9 to 17 — the king sent soldiers to arrest Elijah. You see, the king was treating the Lord’s prophet as his enemy. That’s why he wanted to arrest him. But Elijah was not his enemy; Elijah was his friend, because Elijah was telling him the word of the Lord, which is true, and not false. He was telling him the truth. And though the Lord’s message to Ahaziah appeared to be a message of judgment, it was, in fact, a message of mercy, which is why I said that the Lord has not yet turned away from the king. The Lord sent Elijah to tell the king what would happen in the future if he did not turn from his unbelief and turn back to the Lord. When the Lord announces future judgment and condemnation, he’s announcing it in advance so that those who hear have time to repent. As it says in 2 Peter, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise. That is to say, when God promises to punish the wicked, and when the punishment does not come immediately, it’s not because God is being a slow-coach. It’s because he’s being patient with us, because he doesn’t want anyone to perish and he wants everyone to come to repentance. The Lord wanted the king to repent. And so, he warned the king that he will die, so that they king would come to his senses and repent and live. That’s what happened later in the life of King Hezekiah. We read in 2 Kings 20 that King Hezekiah was ill. And the Lord sent Isaiah the prophet to Hezekiah to tell him to put his house in order, because he was about to die. And the king prayed to the Lord; and the Lord was merciful and let him go on living. That’s what happened to Hezekiah when he turned to the Lord. And if Ahaziah had turned to the Lord, the Lord would have let him live. But Ahaziah would not listen; and he treated Elijah as his enemy, instead of as his friend.
And so, he sent his soldiers to arrest Elijah. In verse 9 we read that he sent a captain and 50 men. The captain went up to Elijah who was sitting on a hill and said to him that the king wants him to come down. And Elijah replied that if he’s a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume them. And fire came down from heaven and consumed them. Remember what happened at Mount Carmel? The prophets of Baal called on Baal to send fire. And nothing happened. And then Elijah called on the Lord to send fire. And the Lord sent fire down from heaven to burn up Elijah’s offering. And so, the Lord revealed that he is the true God. But this time he sent fire to reveal that Elijah is a true prophet. And is Elijah is a true prophet, the king should listen to him.
But the king does not listen. He sent another captain with another 50 men. And the same thing happened: fire came down from heaven and consumed them. But the king still does not listen. And he therefore sent a third captain and a third company of 50 men. But this captain fell on his knees and begged Elijah for his life and for the life of his men. And this time, instead of sending fire, the Lord sent his angel to Eligah to tell him to go with the captain to see the king.
And when Elijah stood before the king, he repeated the Lord’s message. So, this is the same message which we heard back in verse 3 which the messengers repeated to the king in verse 6. And now that Elijah has come in person, he repeats the same message, because this is the message the king needs to hear: he doesn’t need to go to Ekron to consult Baal-zebub, because the one, true and living God is in Israel. And you will surely die. And the Lord’s message of judgment is also a message of mercy, because if the king repents, he will not die, but will live. So, will you repent? Will you turn from your false gods and turn to the true God? Will you serve and worship him instead of serving and worshipping false gods?
Verses 17 and 18
But look now at verse 17, where it tells us that the king died. So, he did not listen to the word of the Lord which came to him through the prophet Elijah. And so, he did not repent and turn from his unbelief. He did not repent and turn to the one, true and living God.
Conclusion
And the Lord continues to send preachers like Elijah into the world to call on men and women and boys and girls to turn from their unbelief and disobedience and to turn to him for forgiveness and for life. Whoever continues in their unbelief and disobedience will surely die. And then, after death, there comes the day of judgment, when all those who did turn to God in this life will be condemned and sent away to be punished forever. But all those who turn from their unbelief and disobedience and turn to the Lord will live, even though they die. They will still die, like everyone else. But for them, death is the doorway to eternal life in the presence of God; and ultimately they and all of God’s people will live in body and soul with the Lord in the new and better world to come. That’s the great hope which God gives to all those who listen to his word and who turn from their unbelief and disobedience.
And God is able to give us eternal life in his presence because of his Son, Jesus Christ, who came into the world to be our King. And unlike King Ahaziah, who died because of his sins, the Lord Jesus Christ died because of our sins. He gave up his life on the cross to pay for the sins of his people and to pay for all that they have done wrong. He took the blame for his people and suffered the punishment that they deserved so that his people could be spared. He died, so that his people could live forever. And if Jesus Christ is your King, if you’re trusting in him for forgiveness and eternal life, then you do not need to fear the grave, because the grave is, for you, the entrance into God’s presence. And you do not need to fear the fire of God’s judgment, because God’s fire will not fall on you. It will not fall on you, because the Lord Jesus Christ, your King, was punished in your place; and he has made peace for you with God forever.
And since we have peace with God through faith in Christ our King, then we can always go to him in our adversity. When Ahaziah was facing adversity, laid up in bed after his accident, he turned to a false god for help. But a false god is nothing and can do nothing. But those who believe can turn to the one true and living God through Jesus Christ our King and seek his mercy and his help for all our adversities.
And when you eventually come face to face with death, and when you look back on your life, you’ll know that it was not a wasted life. It was not a wasted life, because you did what you were made to do, which is to serve and worship the one, true and living God, and Jesus Christ his Son, who gave up his life for you so that you can live with him forever.
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