Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 1:1–8, “Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And 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, enquire of Baalzebub 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 enquire of Baalzebub 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. And Elijah departed. And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back? And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
King David originally conquered Moab but by this time Moab decided that Israel was in such disarray that they could afford to rebel against their overlords and become independent. Such was the reduced state of the formerly great but now divided kingdom. Ahaziah, the new king of Israel was looking out of one of the windows in his harem, which had windows covered with lattice so that no one could see in. He was badly hurt and sent messengers to the gods that his mother worshipped to see if he would be well again. Previously, when Jeroboam’s son was ill he sent a messenger to see a prophet who served the true God of heaven but Ahaziah had slipped so far away from the Lord God that he didn’t even think about consulting the Lord. As the messenger left to consult Baalzebub, Elijah found the messenger and told him that Ahaziah would surely die of his injuries. When the messenger came back, Ahaziah asked him why he was so quick and he messenger said that he met a prophet along the way. Elijah was a rugged individual who lived in the wilderness, most of the time, and dressed in rugged outdoor clothes. The messenger described Elijah to the king and the king knew that it was Elijah who had given a message from the Lord.
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