Who is King Ahaziah of Israel?

Quick Facts

Father: King Ahab, 1 Kings 22:40
Mother: Jezebel, 1 Kings 22:52
Predecessor: King Ahab, 1 Kings 22:40
Kingdom: Kingdom of Israel
Succession:  8th king
Length of reign: 2 years, 1 Kings 22:51
Successor: Jehoram of Israel, 2 Kings 22:17
Bible references: 1Ki 22:40, 1Ki 22:51-53; 2Ki 1:1-18

Disambiguation

King Ahaziah of Israel
King Ahaziah of Judah

Ahaziah reigns in Israel

The name Ahaziah means God has seized. When the wicked King Ahab died, his son Ahaziah, whose mother is Jezebel, was made king. King Ahaziah was the 8th king of the Kingdom of Israel. He reigned for a short period of 2 years in Samaria, the capital city. He was no better than the kings before him and was guilty of perpetuating the sins of Jeroboam and the religion of Baal which was introduced into Israel by his parents. (1Ki 22:51-53)

Ahaziah took advantage of the relationship between his family and King Jehoshaphat to team up with King Jehoshaphat to make ships in Ezion-geber which would sail to Tarshish to trade for gold. But God ruined their joint business expedition by destroying all the ships because His hand was against Ahaziah, the ungodly king. Moreover, God sent Prophet Eliezer to rebuke King Jehoshaphat for allying himself with the ungodly king Ahaziah. (1Ki 22:48-49; 2Ch 20:35-37)

When Ahaziah took the throne after the death of King Ahab, the Moabites rebelled against Israel, against Ahaziah’s authority. Ahaziah had had to mobilize his army for war against the Moabites to subjugate them but that never happened, probably, because he fell sick and died so soon before he could hatch a plan for it. (2 Kings 1:1)

Ahaziah’s death is quite a story to tell. King Ahaziah fell from the balcony of his chamber which was upstairs. On account of the fall, he was severely injured and was bedridden. Anxious to know whether or not he would recover, he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron, for him. This move of the king displeased God. So He sent Prophet Elijah to intercept the messengers and send them back to the king with the message that he would not recover but would die. (2 Kings 1:2)

On hearing the message, and learning that it was from Prophet Elijah, Ahaziah sent a captain of fifty with his 50 soldiers to fetch Elijah for him. When they came, Elijah was sitting on top of a hill, and the captain demanded that he go with them to Ahaziah. Then Elijah responded, saying, “If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.”  And fire came to consume them.

The king sent a second batch and they also suffered the same fate. Then the king sent a third batch. This time, the captain among them humbled himself and begged for his life. And because of the word of an angel, Elijah went with them to King Ahaziah and boldly said it to his face the same message that he would not recover but die. So the king died according to the word of God spoken by Elijah and since he had no son, his brother Joram ascended the throne. (See 2 Kings 1:1-18)

Major events during Ahaziah’s reign

  • In his day, the Moabites rebelled against the Kingdom of Israel. (2Ki 1:1)
  • A fleet of ships built by Ahaziah and King Jehoshaphat was destroyed by God in Ezion-geber such that the business they intended to use them for also failed. (2Ch 20:35-37)

Contemporaries of Ahaziah

King Jehoshaphat had reigned for 17 years when Ahaziah became king. They were in a good relationship. (2Ch 20:35-37)

Category; Ahaziah belongs to:

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