Useful Bible Studies > 1 Kings Commentary > chapter 22
The Books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings were originally in the same book. The person who divided it into two books also split the record of Ahaziah’s rule and his death. So, to read the complete account of Ahaziah’s life, we must read from 1 Kings 22:51 to 2 Kings 1:18.
Ahaziah was the first of Ahab’s sons who became the king of northern and central Israel. His brother Joram would rule after him (2 Kings 3:1). Joram would be the last king from Ahab’s family.
During his short rule of 2 years, Ahaziah followed the same evil and cruel behaviour that Ahab had done. He would have known about the judgment that God made against his family because of that evil behaviour (21:21-24). He should have turned from that evil behaviour and put his trust in the true God (Ezekiel 18:21-23).
However, instead, he seemed to hate God as much as his father had done. Ahaziah followed both Jeroboam’s false religion, and the religion of the false god Baal. When his life was in danger, he chose to inquire of another foreign god. That false god was called Baal-Zebub, and his temple (house of religion) was in Ekron (2 Kings 1:2). Ahaziah perhaps chose that god because his former gods had not protected him from danger.
This behaviour made the true God angry. We will see how the true God sent Elijah to declare his (God’s) judgment against Ahaziah in 2 Kings chapter 1.
© 2024 Keith Simons
This book is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words), which was developed by Wycliffe Associates (UK).
March 2024
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© 2024, Keith Simons.