2 Kings 1:1-18 - Exposition

THE REVOLT OF MOAB . THE ILLNESS , IMPIETY , AND DEATH OF AHAZIAH The narrative of the Second Book of Kings follows on that of the First Book in the closest possible sequence. The history of Ahaziah's reign begins in 1 Kings 22:51 , and is carried on, without any real break or pause in the sense, to 2 Kings 1:18 . How the two books came to be divided at this point is quite inexplicable. The division is most unhappy. Not only does it, without apparent reason, draw a strong line of demarcation in the middle of a reign; but it separates what it was evidently the intention of the writer most closely to connect—viz. the sins of the monarch and their punishment. Ahaziah began his reign by openly showing himself a devotee of Baal—by "walking in the way of his father and in the way of his mother ," the wicked Jezebel: therefore calamity immediately smote him—first Moab rebelled, threw off the Israelite yoke, and re-established its independence; and then, within a short space, Ahaziah himself met with an accident which produced a dangerous illness. The writer relates barely the former fact, but enlarges on the latter, which gave occasion for one of the most remarkable of the miracles of Elijah.