June 21 – Reading 172

June 21 – Reading 172

by Chris Rainey | June 21

“NO GOD IN ISRAEL?”
(2 Kings 1:1-3:27)

Is it because there is no God in Israel…? – 2 Kings 1:3, 5, 16

“He is jealous for me
Love’s like a hurricane, I am a tree…”
– David Crowder Band, from the song “How He Loves”

Imagine growing up in the household of a king, knowing that when the king dies, you will ascend the throne.  Ahaziah spent his youth waiting for his moment to come. His parents were an Ancient Near Eastern pagan power couple, Ahab and Jezebel. It was an intermarriage between an Israelite and a Sidonian, between a man with a monotheist heritage and a woman who was a practicing pagan polytheist. (As often occurs, her paganism prevailed in the relationship.) She was the first of the affluent “real housewives” who created lots of personal and professional drama in her family and influenced her husband to live as if there was no god in Israel. Sadly, her son was trained in her faith, and when he was older he did not depart from it. Ahaziah would call on that faith when he ascended the throne after his father’s death in battle. He probably thought he still had a lot of time to prepare for this moment in his life, but was thrust into the kingship suddenly. Sometimes an opportunity comes before we are ready.

Less than two years into his kingship, Ahaziah takes a tragic fall from the roof of the king’s palace in Samaria and is severely injured. He knows his injuries are bad, and he wants to find out if he has more time to live or if this injury will result in his death, so he looks to the faith he was handed from his parents and pursues the god of Ekron rather than the God of Israel.  Ahaziah sends messengers to Ekron to consult Baal-Zebub (later used in the New Testament for Satan), but they are immediately intercepted by the prophet Elijah, who has been told by God that Ahaziah will not recover. The messengers take the message back to Ahaziah (verse 4). His life will end before he is ready, and he is unable to accept that news. He wants more time.

Ahaziah then sends a small military regiment of fifty men to see Elijah, and they command him to come down from the hill he is sitting on. Instead of obeying their order, Elijah calls down fire and it consumes the fifty men. Ahaziah, undeterred, sends a second regiment of fifty, and they meet the same fate. The same God who had answered Elijah by fire on Mt. Carmel to Ahab answers by fire to his son. Clearly there is a God in Israel, and he is Elijah’s God. The third group of fifty humbly invite Elijah to come with them, so he goes with them and delivers the news directly to Ahaziah (verse 16). Because he has chosen to pursue a pagan god to inquire about his future as if there is no God in Israel, he will not recover. His time has run out, and he dies with no son to take his place. 

There is a God, and he is jealous for us.

Application:
Ahaziah remained true to the religious practices of his family, and was met with the same tragic outcomes as his parents.

Reflection:
In Jonathan Edwards’ book, The Religious Affections, he argued that conversion to God involves both intellectual assent (there is a God in Israel) and heartfelt affections for God (I am jealous for God and he is jealous for me). Why did Ahaziah display neither of these characteristics? Is your faith more characterized by one perspective or other? Why?

Closing Prayer:
Lord God, we acknowledge that you are the one true God, the God of Israel and the God of all. Forgive us when we look to other sources for guidance and assurance, as Ahaziah did. Help us to seek you first in times of trouble and uncertainty. Strengthen our faith, not just in our minds but also in our hearts, that we may truly love and follow you. Protect us from the temptation to stray from your path and help us to trust in your will for our lives. Amen.