II Kings Chapter 1

Please read:  II Kings 1 –

It is becoming clearer why it was that Israel was defeated and forced to leave or die when the Assyrians encroached upon them in 722 BC.  We see that one king after another led the people down a pathway of sin and destruction.  They literally turned their backs on God and chose to worship other gods.  The southern kingdom of Judah was not much better.  They had a few kings who followed after God and tried to clean up the idolatry in the land, but for the most part their kings also were evil and turned the people’s hearts away from God.  The southern kingdom would eventually be taken captive by the Babylonians in 586 BC.

We could close our Bibles right there with those sentiments that the nation of Israel was done for, but that is not the end of the story.  There is so much more.  There is God’s redemption!

Let's Reflect

1.  The book of II Kings picks up with the reign of Ahaziah the son of Ahab.  Ahab had died and we read that Ahaziah is in bad shape.  What happened to him?

2.  Ahaziah sent his servants to go and speak to the god Baal-zebub whether or not he is going to die.  But God heard this ridiculous command given to the servants and He spoke to Elijah His prophet.  Don’t you love the question that God told Elijah to put to the servants of Ahaziah?  What was the question?

3.  When the servants told the king what Elijah had said, he asked what the man looked like.  They described him as wearing a garment of hair.  This was the mantle of a prophet, a garment of animal skin.  Ahaziah knew instantly who the man was.  He had dealings with Elijah when his father was king.  Ahaziah’s plan was just to take Elijah out of the picture.  So, what did Ahaziah do next?

4.  Elijah knew why these men had come.  Besides the 50 soldiers and their captain there had to have been others who followed so they could see what was going to happen to Elijah that day.  Those fifty soldiers and their captain all died by fire from heaven.  But notice how Elijah spoke.  He was a man of great faith who believed that God was not going to allow him to die at the hand of Ahaziah.  What did Elijah say to them in faith?

5.  The king sent another group of 50 soldiers and their captain and once again fire came down from heaven and those men were killed.  You would think by now that Ahaziah would have wised up, realizing that he was not going to win against God.  But in his stubbornness, he sent a third group of 50 men and their captain to take Elijah captive.  This captain knew what was going to happen.  What did the captain do?

6.  God stepped in hearing the plea of the captain.  He told Elijah to go with the men that God would keep him safe.  So, Elijah went with them and stood before the king and gave him the same message he had given to the servants of the king earlier.  What judgement did Elijah speak to the king that would occur because he had sought to inquire of a false god?

7.  Verse 17 can be a bit confusing because there were two kings with the same name.  The man that followed Ahaziah was not his son, a man name Jehoram (or Joram).  He began to reign at about the same time as the king of Judah and his name was also Jehoram.  What was the name of the king of Judah that preceded Jehoram?