{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "kind": "event",
  "id": "ahaziah-israel-elijah",
  "era": "divided-kingdom",
  "order": 188,
  "title": "Ahaziah seeks an answer from Ekron’s god",
  "group": "elijah-ahab",
  "date": {
    "kind": "relative",
    "label": "Israel · Ahaziah son of Ahab"
  },
  "pin": [
    35.195,
    32.276111
  ],
  "pinConfidence": "Identified site",
  "pinPlace": "openbible-a041bb3",
  "summary": "After Ahab, Ahaziah rules Israel and is injured in a fall. He sends to inquire of Baal-zebub at Ekron, but Elijah intercepts the messengers with a word of judgment. Two companies sent to seize Elijah perish by fire; a third captain pleads for his men and is spared.",
  "context": "The story includes both lethal judgment and the third captain’s appeal; it should not become a model for using violence against opposition. This Ahaziah is Ahab’s son in Israel, not the later king of Judah with the same name. With no son to succeed him, his brother Jehoram takes the throne.",
  "question": "How does the third captain approach Elijah differently from the first two?",
  "locationNote": "Samaria is the location of Ahaziah’s injury and royal confrontation. The hill on which the soldiers encounter Elijah is not identified.",
  "passages": [
    {
      "reference": "1 Kings 22:51–53",
      "range": [
        11022051,
        11022053
      ],
      "translation": "bsb",
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2022%3A51%E2%80%9353&version=BSB",
      "availability": "bundled",
      "verses": [
        {
          "book": "1 Kings",
          "chapter": 22,
          "verse": 51,
          "text": "In the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah, Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria two years."
        },
        {
          "book": "1 Kings",
          "chapter": 22,
          "verse": 52,
          "text": "And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin."
        },
        {
          "book": "1 Kings",
          "chapter": 22,
          "verse": 53,
          "text": "Ahaziah served and worshiped Baal, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "reference": "2 Kings 1:1–18",
      "range": [
        12001001,
        12001018
      ],
      "translation": "bsb",
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%201%3A1%E2%80%9318&version=BSB",
      "availability": "bundled",
      "verses": [
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 1,
          "text": "After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 2,
          "text": "Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 3,
          "text": "But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 4,
          "text": "Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” So Elijah departed."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 5,
          "text": "When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 6,
          "text": "They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 7,
          "text": "The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 8,
          "text": "“He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 9,
          "text": "Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 10,
          "text": "Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 11,
          "text": "So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 12,
          "text": "Again Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 13,
          "text": "So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours please be precious in your sight."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 14,
          "text": "Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now may my life be precious in your sight.”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 15,
          "text": "Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 16,
          "text": "And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.”"
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 17,
          "text": "So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. And since he had no son, Jehoram succeeded him in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah."
        },
        {
          "book": "2 Kings",
          "chapter": 1,
          "verse": 18,
          "text": "As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    {
      "range": [
        5006013,
        5006015
      ],
      "kind": "teaching",
      "note": "Moses forbids pursuing other gods.",
      "reference": "Deuteronomy 6:13–15",
      "translation": "bsb",
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%206%3A13%E2%80%9315&version=BSB"
    },
    {
      "range": [
        42009051,
        42009056
      ],
      "kind": "parallel",
      "note": "In a later and different setting, Jesus rebukes disciples who ask to call down fire on an unwelcoming village.",
      "reference": "Luke 9:51–56",
      "translation": "bsb",
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%209%3A51%E2%80%9356&version=BSB"
    }
  ],
  "places": [
    {
      "id": "openbible-a041bb3",
      "name": "Samaria",
      "coordinate": [
        35.195,
        32.276111
      ],
      "kind": "City",
      "confidence": "Identified site",
      "confidenceSource": "editorial",
      "sources": [
        {
          "label": "OpenBible.info: Samaria (CC BY 4.0)",
          "url": "https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a041bb3/samaria-1"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "mapPeriod": "divided-kingdoms",
  "further": [
    {
      "label": "OpenBible.info: Samaria (CC BY 4.0)",
      "url": "https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a041bb3/samaria-1"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "sources": [
      {
        "name": "editorial",
        "ref": "content/authored/divided-kingdom.json"
      }
    ],
    "review": "draft"
  },
  "eraName": "Divided Kingdom",
  "interactiveUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/?event=ahaziah-israel-elijah",
  "attribution": [
    "Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.",
    "Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.",
    "Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm"
  ],
  "translation": "bsb",
  "url": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/ahaziah-israel-elijah/",
  "markdownUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/ahaziah-israel-elijah/index.md",
  "jsonUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/ahaziah-israel-elijah/index.json",
  "cautions": "Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.",
  "revision": "edac5be68815fdf2"
}