Chapter 20—Shall We Consult Spiritualist
Physicians?
“Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was
in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them,
Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron whether I shall recover
of this disease. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite,
Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say
unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to
inquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron? Now therefore thus saith the
Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone
up, but shalt surely die.”
This narrative most strikingly displays the divine displeasure
against those who turn from God to satanic agencies. A short time pre-
vious to the events above recorded the kingdom of Israel had changed
rulers. Ahab had fallen under the judgment of God and had been
succeeded by his son Ahaziah, a worthless character, who did only
evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father and
mother, and causing Israel to sin. He served Baal and worshiped him
and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, as his father Ahab had
done. But judgments followed close upon the sins of the rebellious
king. A war with Moab, and then the accident by which his own life
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was threatened, attested the wrath of God against Ahaziah.
How much had the king of Israel heard and seen in his father’s
time of the wondrous works of the Most High! What terrible evidence
of His severity and jealousy had God given apostate Israel! Of all this,
Ahaziah was cognizant; yet he acted as though these awful realities,
and even the fearful end of his own father, were only an idle tale.
Instead of humbling his heart before the Lord he ventured upon the
most daring act of impiety which marked his life. He commanded his
servants: “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron whether I shall
recover of this disease.”
The idol of Ekron was supposed to give information, through the
medium of its priests, concerning future events. It had obtained such
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