2 Kings 1:1-8 - Daily Devotion - 1 July 2026

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

Introduction

A few years ago, we worked through the books of 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 Kings in our daily devotions. This month we’re making a start on 2 Kings.

Let’s quickly get up to speed before we begin. 1 & 2 Samuel describe the reigns of Saul and David, the first two kings of Israel. David was God’s chosen king. God made a covenant with David, that his line would endure, and David was (mostly!) faithful to God.

In 1 Kings, David’s son Solomon builds a temple for the Lord in Jerusalem. But later in life, he abandons the Lord and worships idols. As a result, God tears the kingdom in two. All the northern tribes of Israel become a breakaway kingdom (also called Israel). Only the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin remain loyal to David’s line. They became the kingdom of Judah.

However, the northern kingdom of Israel turns out to be even worse than Judah. In Judah, at least some of the kings were faithful to the Lord, and the line of David continued. In the north, all the kings without exception led the people to worship idols.

The Lord began to raise up prophets in both kingdoms to call the kings and the people back to the covenant. The most famous of these was Elijah, whom God raised up to combat the most dangerous and evil dynasty of kings in the northern kingdom of Israel – the dynasty of Omri. Omri’s son Abah and his wife Jezebel promoted the worship of the Canaanite gods Baal and Asherah.

After some epic confrontations between Elijah and Ahab, at the end of 1 Kings, Ahab and Jezebel are killed. However, the dynasty is not done – Ahab’s son Ahaziah is now king of Israel.

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1 After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

2 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.”

3 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?’ 4 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.

5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?”

6 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.’”

7 The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”

8 “He was a hairy man, ” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.”

“It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Stephen Shead

You could perhaps say this is an early example of an unsecure communication line being intercepted! Ekron was a Philistine town, and King Ahaziah was hoping to receive an oracle from the pagan god of Ekron to get better. But when the message comes back, he realises he’s been hacked … by Elijah, the prophet of the Lord, the true God – who should be his God!

Are you currently tempted to look for spiritual guidance or a “fix” to your problems from somewhere that you know would compromise your faith in Jesus? If so, confess that now, because God is already all over it. Ask God to help you always resist the temptation to clutch desperately at ungodly solutions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen is our Senior Minister.