Episode 145: God burns 102 men to death

2 Kings 1

King Ahaziah asks Baalzebub about his injuries

1 ² King Ahaziah of Israel was injured in a fall and sent messengers to ask Baalzebub if he would recover. ³ An angel of God said to Elijah,

Go say to Ahaziah's messengers,

Don't we have a god of our own?

Why are you asking Baalzebub?

This is what God says: “Ahaziah will die.”

⁶ When the messengers returned, they said to Ahaziah,

A man told us to say to you, “You're going to die because you asked another god.”

⁷ Ahaziah said, “What did this man look like?”

⁸ The messengers answered, “He was a hairy man with a girdle around his loins.”

Ahaziah said, “He is Elijah!”

God burns 102 men to death (for asking Elijah to come down from a hill)

⁹ King Ahaziah sent a captain and fifty soldiers to meet with Elijah. They found him sitting on top of a hill and said to him, “Come down.”

¹⁰ Elijah said to the captain,

If I'm a man of God, let a fire come down from heaven and burn you to death.

And a fire came down and burned them to death.

¹¹ So Ahaziah sent a second captain and fifty men. They found Elijah and the captain said to him, “Oh man of God, the king asks you to come down quickly.”

¹² Elijah said to the captain,

If I'm a man of God, let a fire come down from heaven and burn you to death.

And a fire came down and burned them to death.

^13-14 So Ahaziah sent a third captain and fifty men. They found Elijah and the captain fell on his knees and said to him,

Oh man of God, please let me and my fifty soldiers live.

Don't burn us to death like you did the last two groups.

¹⁵ An angel came to Elijah and said to him, “Go with the captain, and don't be afraid.”

So Elijah went with the captain to see King Ahaziah.

God kills Ahaziah (for asking the wrong god)

¹⁶ Elijah said to Ahaziah,

Since you sent messengers to ask Baalzebub, you will die.

¹⁷ So King Ahaziah died according to the word of God that Elijah spoke.

Ahaziah’s brother, Jehoram, became king of Israel since Ahaziah had no son.