Observations and interpretations:
(1) Who is God to Ahaziah?
v,6 ‘This is what the LORD has said: “You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”
(NET) For the third time in this chapter we read the Lord’s sarcastic question to king and the accompanying announcement of judgment. The repetition emphasizes one of the chapter’s main themes. Israel’s leaders should seek guidance from their own God, not a pagan deity, for Israel’s sovereign God is the one who controls life and death.
When the messengers brought back this news, it was supposed to bring Ahaziah to realize that the LORD had supernaturally knew his injury and his inquiry to foreign god. However, no such surprise was found in Ahaziah's answer. v.7 The king asked them, “Describe the appearance of this man who came up to meet you and told you these things.”
All he wanted was to hunt down the prophet and perhaps to teach him a lesson.
Reflection: Sometimes we are so stubborn that even death would not be enough to bring us to repentance. Ahaziah did not turn back to God in his death bed. How about us? In what way, we are stubborn?
(2) Who was the prophet to the captain of 50 soldiers
A. the first captain
v.9 (NAC) Rather than repenting, Ahaziah sends a squad of fifty and its captain to detain Elijah. The king seems to think he can control and intimidate this prophet, but he is mistaken. Jezebel made Elijah run once, but he refuses to run now. Instead, he calls fire down from heaven that consumes the first two groups sent to take him. This ability to get fire once again marks Elijah as “a man of God,” a true possessor and proclaimer of God’s word.
B. the second captain
v.11 (NET) In this second panel of the three-paneled narrative, the king and his captain are more arrogant than before. The captain uses a more official sounding introduction (“this is what the king says”) and the king adds “at once” to the command.
Reflection: Who is the prophet or servant of God to you? Do you think they should listen to your command "at once?" God is so small and man is so big to these 2 captains. How about you? Do we fear man more than we fear God?
C. the third captain
By this time, even the captain realize who was the prophet. He was someone who who can call fire coming down from the sky and kill him and his men. However, the king who sent him was too stubborn to acknowledge that and kept sending more captains...The captain showed the humbleness that the king should have had.
13 The king sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours. 14 Indeed, fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. So now, please have respect for my life.
(NET) The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.
(NET) The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.
Reflection: 2 captains died before him to make the 3rd captain realize that he needed to be humble to ask for mercy before God. What does it take for us to realize that we need to be humble before God?
Audrey
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