Ekron

But now the Lord will strip it of its possessions, and hurl its wealth into the sea, and it shall be devoured by fire.

Ashkelon shall see it and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are withered.

The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited; a mongrel people shall settle in Ashdod, and I will make an end to the pride of Philistia.

I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth.

It too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.

Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that no one shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again overrun them, for now I have seen with my own eyes.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon.

I will turn my hand against Ekron and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.

Thus says the Lord, verse 9, for three transgressions of Tyre, and for four I will not turn away its punishment, because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, which shall devour its palaces.

I will destroy the king of Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.

I will turn my hand against Akron till the last of the Philistines are dead, says the sovereign Lord.

This is what the Lord says.

For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not relent, because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood, I will send fire on the walls of Tyre that will consume her fortresses.

And then Christianity gave Baal another form of survival by turning him into a demon, Baal Zebub.

The deity associated with Ekron eventually becomes Beelzebub or Beelzebul, a name connected in the New Testament with the Prince of Demons and the Kingdom of Satan.

This is how Baal entered the modern occult imagination.

There's a lot of contemporary references to Baal and ceremonial magic that say they draw their influence more from medieval and early modern grimoires than the ancient Baal cycle found in Ugarit.

But instead, he sent messengers to consult a false god.

Verse 2 says, Ahaziah instructed them, "'Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.'" Beelzebub was a pagan deity worshipped in the Philistine city of Ekron.

Ahaziah's decision to consult this false god revealed more than curiosity about his future.

It demonstrated where he actually placed his trust.

He lived in Israel, the nation that God chose for himself, but when his life seemed threatened, he looked somewhere else for answers.

Well, the angel of the Lord told Elijah to intercept Ahaziah's messengers and confront them with this question.

In verse 3 we read, "...is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?" That question exposes the heart of Ahaziah's sin.

The issue wasn't just that he consulted the wrong spiritual source.

And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick.

And he sent messengers and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease.

But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

And Elijah departed.

and when the messengers turned back unto him he said unto them why are ye now turned back and they said unto him there came a man up to meet us and said unto us go turn again unto the king that sent you and say unto him thus saith the lord is it not because there is not a god in israel that thou sendest to inquire baal-zebub the god of ekron therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely die and he said unto them what manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words and they answered him he was an hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins and he said it is elijah the tishbite then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty and he went up to him and behold he sat on the top of an hill and he spake unto him thou man of god the king hath said come down and elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty if i be a man of god then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty and there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty and he answered and said unto him o man of god thus hath the king said come down quickly and elijah answered and said unto them if i be a man of god let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty and the fire of god came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty and he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty and the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before elijah and besought him and said unto him o man of god i pray thee let my life and the life of these fifty thy servants be precious in thy sight behold there came fire down from heaven and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight and the angel of the lord said unto elijah go down with him be not afraid of him and he arose and went down with him unto the king and he said unto him thus saith the lord forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of alzabub the god of ekron is it not because there is no god in israel to inquire of his word therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up but shalt surely die so he died according to the word of the lord which elijah had spoken and jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of jehoram the son of jehoshaphat king of judah because he had no son now the rest of the acts of ahaziah which he did are they not written in the books of the chronicles of the kings of israel chapter one CHAPTER II and it came to pass when the lord would take up elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that elijah went with elisha from gilgal and elijah said unto elisha tarry here i pray thee for the lord hath sent me to bethel and elisha said unto him as the lord liveth and as thy soul liveth i will not leave thee so they went down to bethel and the sons of the prophets that were at bethel came forth to elisha and said unto him knowest thou that the lord will take away thy master from thy head to day and he said yea i know it hold ye your peace and elijah said unto him elisha tarry here i pray thee for the lord hath sent me to jericho and he said as the lord liveth and as thy soul liveth i will not leave thee so they came to jericho and the sons of the prophets that were at jericho came to elisha and said unto him knowest thou that the lord will take away thy master from thy head to day And he answered, Yea, I know it, hold your peace.