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Prophets and Kings
of man was he?” They answered, “He was an hairy man, and girt with
a girdle of leather about his loins.” “It is Elijah the Tishbite,” Ahaziah
exclaimed. He knew that if the stranger whom his messengers had
met was indeed Elijah, the words of doom pronounced would surely
come to pass. Anxious to avert, if possible, the threatened judgment,
he determined to send for the prophet.
Twice Ahaziah sent a company of soldiers to intimidate the prophet,
and twice the wrath of God fell upon them in judgment. The third
company of soldiers humbled themselves before God; and their cap-
tain, as he approached the Lord’s messenger, “fell on his knees before
Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray
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thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in
thy sight.”
“The angel of Jehovah said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be
not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the
king. And he said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou
hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is
it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? therefore
thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but
shalt surely die.”
During the father’s reign, Ahaziah had witnessed the wondrous
works of the Most High. He had seen the terrible evidences that God
had given apostate Israel of the way in which He regards those who
set aside the binding claims of His law. Ahaziah had acted as if these
awful realities were but idle tales. Instead of humbling his heart before
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the Lord, he had followed after Baal, and at last he had ventured upon
this, his most daring act of impiety. Rebellious, and unwilling to
repent, Ahaziah died, “according to the word of the Lord which Elijah
had spoken.”
The history of King Ahaziah’s sin and its punishment has in it a
warning which none can disregard with impunity. Men today may
not pay homage to heathen gods, yet thousands are worshiping at
Satan’s shrine as verily as did the king of Israel. The spirit of idolatry
is rife in the world today, although, under the influence of science
and education, it has assumed forms more refined and attractive than
in the days when Ahaziah sought to the god of Ekron. Every day
adds its sorrowful evidence that faith in the sure word of prophecy is